Friday Morning at Fifteen Below...

....and no wind right now, which makes it feel quite nice out there! I rolled out of bed before sunrise, and got about fifty layers on. My first mission this morning was to go out and light the bread oven. In case I haven't mentioned it already, it's Winter Tracks time here on the trail, and we are making pizza today.

Of course, in true Heston's style, we weren't quite totally organized at 6:30 am. As I was pulling on my boots, Greg said something about the new roof on the bread oven, the incomplete chimney system, and how we probably should have shoveled it off yesterday, as the hole for the smoke to draw was completely covered. Hmmm, I was trying to process all of this without having had any coffee yet. I realized that this meant that I would be shoveling the roof before I was even starting the fire.

I'm not fond of ladders, especially when I have bulky clothes on. But when I stepped out, and the early morning light was gathering in its beautiful pastel palette, I couldn't help but feel happy. It looks like it will be a fantastic day. I went digging for the ladder, put it up against the roof, and climbed up with my shovel. Slowly I pulled snow off the roof in the vicinity of the chimney spot. Mostly I did it slowly because no matter how I tried, each scoopful would fall right down on me, not the ground. What a sight! Good thing the guests were all still sleeping, instead of watching me. I worked on it enough to get a little hole open, and thought it would be just right to let the smoke escape.

Next I got the fire started, which is a bit of a trick at this time of the year. It takes a lot of birch bark, even if the kindling and wood is very dry. Pretty soon, though, that smoke was sneaking out of the little hole on top, so I knew that it was going to work out. I paused a moment to listen to the birds, who are getting to be very vocal right now. I think they know that we are nearing the change of season, and they want to let everyone else know, too. I filled the bird feeder up for them, and saw several little puffs of redpoll, all fluffed up in a tree waiting for me to finish.

Then I noticed some ravens circling, and I could hear their conversation, too. Since I have yet to learn ravenspeak, I chose to walk down to the lake shore, in case they were talking about a deer kill on the ice, or some other interesting thing. No sign of activity down there, but plenty of fresh wolf tracks all over the place. I saw more birds in the sky downshore a bit, so I am guessing that there might be a fresh kill over near our rustic cabins.

So now since I've started this writing, it's time to go stoke that bread oven again, and try to get the temperature in those fire bricks to about 500 degrees. What a climb from fifteen below. Greg got a laser temperature reader, so we will test it out on the bread oven for the first time today. We will finally know how hot it is in the oven when we bake. But at this air temp, I don't think we will have to worry about burning anything.

Scoopin' the News

Though geographically we cover a large area, this neighborhood of ours on the Gunflint Trail is really a small one that feels as close and comfortable as the kind I grew up in. We keep track of each other, and we watch out for each other. As the list of local bloggers grows, we also find that it is harder to not report twice on what is happening around us. But I've come to realize that even if our news is a little old, or it has already been written up by someone else, that's okay. My voice is different from the next person's, so my readers can get a few perspectives on what's new, what's happening, and what we are chattering about.

It's hard somethimes, though, to actually get a scoop---you know, like they do in the newspapers. I already blogged about this on the Gunflint Trail blog, so in a way I scooped myself (!!), but I am going to post it here, too.

This is the moose I saw on the Trail today, on my way home from town:

Mike Schelmeske of Grand Marais carved this guy, with an owl on the antlers. It is the first of our snow sculptures for this weekend's Winter Tracks Festival. Mike did a fantastic job! My photo doesn't do it justice. Hop on over to here for a larger view (though it is the same picture.)

Being a fiber worker, it is hard for me to imagine working in a material like snow. I can make a snowman as good as anyone else, provided the snow is nice and sticky. Mike showed me the saw he used on parts of this moose. It must be like working with wood, though much easier to cut. He told me that he once worked on a block when it was 35 below zero, and the snow squeaked like styrofoam when he cut into it. I get the shivers thinking of that sound. Yarn and fabric are so easy for me to manipulate. I like to say that I can make them do what I want them to do. I don't think it would be that easy with snow. I actually have a memory of attempting to carve something. It was when I was in grade school, and our neighborhood had a summer recreation program that included arts and crafts. We were supposed to carve a figure our of a bar of Ivory soap. Easy enough, right? You can guess what I ended up with: a pile of soap slivers!

What's even more amazing to me is that the block he started with looked like this:

Last week, Greg and Bob (from Gunflint Pines) used plywood forms to hold the snow. They used the loader to fill them, and in between bucketfuls, they had to jump on the snow to pack it down. Greg reported that it is a much harder task than he realized to jump in that stuff. But it helps to compress the snow, for a nice solid block. That Mike could see a moose in that cube is so cool.

I'm going to stick with my yarn and fabric. And I'm going to make sure that I get out this weekend and early next week to see all of the sculptures that will be springing up in the neighborhood. But as I said over on the Gunflint Trail blog, I'll have to hurry. That sun is already foretelling a hint of spring, and that makes these sculptures very temporary....But what a wonderful opportunity to see some art on the Trail.

Working on Winter Tracks

Seems there is always something to fill the days, when you own your own business. Lately, my attention has been directed towards the upcoming festival, Winter Tracks. I am the registrar of the committee, and as we near the big event, other jobs come along to build in to my days.

Heston's will be a busy spot for the festival. On Thursday, I am hosting a sock knitting meet-up. I tried this last year, mainly because we wanted to add some indoor events to our line-up of outdoor activities. Sadly, no one was able to join me. And without other knitters here, I didn't get to knit! But I am trying it again this year, and I already know of one person who is game to come. Even if you don't knit socks, come on along and join us!

On Friday, we will again be firing up the bread oven to bake pizza, from one to three in the afternoon. This will be our third year of hot pizza slices on a winter afternoon. Doesn't that sound tasty? I have a wonderful memory of skiing in the mountains of New Mexico, some twenty-eight years ago....when we got off the chairlift at the top, I could smell bratwurst and polish sausage being grilled outside. Of course, we had to go have one! Why not make your own memory, with pizza and cross-country skis at our place?

Saturday morning, we will be hosting a snow sculpture competition on the lake in front of the lodge. Now this is one activity that I am really looking forward to watching. Again a memory from years ago involves a snow sculpture festival that the Art Colony sponsored on the Gunflint Trail, back in the early 90's. Watching the sculptors work was amazing. They started with a drawing of their concept, and soon I could see it emerging from the block of snow. How do they do that? At one point they asked if they could borrow a spatula to do some finishing work on one spot, and I noticed the variety of tools they were employing....shovels, scoops, spades, spoons (funny, they all begin with "s"). If you are interested in carving, then by all means, plan to come on over.

The list of activities at all of the resorts is a long one. Check it out on the website, and make some plans to come up to the Trail the weekend of February 26-March 1. It's a great way to have some winter fun!

The Taste of Trout

Paul caught this one in June of last year. It topped the scales just above seven pounds. He'd gone out with his buddies after work that evening, and while they had hoped to catch fish, I don't think that they actually planned on it. Landing this in the boat was quite a feat, considering that we don't have real up-to-date equipment. Even better was grilling it and eating it for dinner.

This winter, the fishermen are continuing to report good catching. Some folks fish right off of our point, easily within walking distance of our cabins. Others take snowmobiles and head east on Gunflint Lake, down near the palisades and the islands. Most reports are of fish ranging from two to five pounds--good eating size, I say.

Tonight, we may have to fire up the grill to cook this one. It's warm again today, and the smell of the grill might be just the ticket to chase away the grey day, with warm thoughts of summer.