The third annual Gentlemen's weekend lasted from (approximately) 20 October to 25 October this year. A smaller group than usual was able to attend despite the fact that no work was planned, or allowed, for the weekend.
Panorama of the Cabin. Another attempt to make a panorama. There are still problems with it but I am getting better. There is a larger area covered. A full scale version (about 9MB) with resolution high enough to see that I did remember to lock up the sheds and for Jon to study the damage to the chimney is also available.
I was not able to leave Cleveland on 21 October at 2PM. Despite this I made it up to the cabin by 11 PM. I arrived to a big fire and a cold beer. The "project" this year was to burn one of the big stumps near the cabin. There was some thought that we would be able to burn it all the way down but as we worked on it we realized that was crazy. The stump was very large, very wet, and very hard wood. Even so, we kept a good fire going around it during the night.
Most days during the trip were lazy ones. We spent much of the day working on the stump and made good progress. Using the chainsaw, the axe, and appropriately placed fires we made a good dent in the stump. Even so, much of it remains for next year (see below).
A small bit of finish work was done on the cabin. The facing on the eaves was installed completing the roof replacement done last year.
It was a beautiful UP fall day, cool and sunny. I got some good shots of the area around the cabin. The water was calm, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.
The Detroit crew went adventure camping. They left in the afternoon and returned the next day around 12:30 PM. They started from the old Kalamazoo Camp and went exploring. They found a nice site to camp and had a good hike.
The rest of us undertook the other usual Gentlemen's weekend activity, shooting. The target consisted of whatever scraps we could find, cans, pieces of chalk, targets, .... Many, many rounds were fired. There were not nearly the number of guns as usual since some of the better armed gentlemen couldn't attend. Even so, we did the best we could in filling the woods with lead.
The other "major" activity we undertook for the weekend was to take down some dead trees. Or so was the plan. We started with one the was heavily leaning. Doug went at it with his chainsaw but the chain kept coming loose and once came totally off. After this we worked at it the old fashion way, with an axe, a two man saw, and a wedge. It took awhile but eventually started to lean and then fall. Of course it got hung up on a large pine tree. The first task was to roll it off the stump. Even after this it was hung up. Next various attempts were made to get it to fall. Eventually we all just climbed on it and bounced on it until it broke loose and slowly slid down. We all rode it to the ground. The core of it was totally rotted out leaving a large, open hole in the middle of the base. Since this tree took so long to fell we called it good enough. The branches were trimmed from it and brought to the stump for burning.
Unfortunately after this Jon had to head back home to get ready for a business trip. The rest of us kept the fire going around the tree stump, finished off the keg of Bell's Best Brown, and talked about all kinds of things (most of which we don't remember).
The next day started out as beautiful as the previous one. We took the opportunity to do more shooting, including shooting some skeet with a Doug's double barrel twelve gauge. Most of the clay pigeon's survived except when Doug was shooting.
Shortly after this the Kalamazoo crew packed up and headed home. I took advantage of the great weather to get a few more shots of the area, in particular of the cabin from the back (a shot I rarely get). The roof really does look great.
The Detroit crew arrived back from their camping. We did a lot more shooting before they packed up and headed home leaving me at the cabin for the final couple of days.
I spent the rest of the time up there alone. Fortunately the weekend was chosen during fall break, the one weekend I could attend. Since I drove so far I decided to take advantage of my time up there. Monday started cloudy and it rained but it was still good being up there. A couple of the guys from the Lucky Buck stopped by and I got a chance to talk to them and show them the cabin.
As noted above we did make a lot of progress on the stump though it may not appear that way! A lot of it was burned but there still is a lot of work to do on it. There is always next year. Other plans were made for next year too, including replacing the 50 gallon drum that currently serves as the drain for the since (which also always clogs, perhaps we can fix that).
Tuesday started out as a nice day at the cabin. I got a reasonably early start and had a leisurely drive home. There was a lot of rain in the lower peninsula but otherwise was rather uneventful.
As always it was great to be at the cabin. We are already looking forward to the next trip!
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craig@copi.org
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