Yep, the Boundary Waters are still there

Last week I returned from my annual voyage into the Boundary Waters. The purpose of this expedition, and previous trips, was to confirm their existence and document their location in space and time. Readers of this blog will be pleased to know that the Boundary Waters existed along the most remote northern border of Minnesota from 3:30 pm on Wednesday, September 8th through 2:0o pm on Monday, September 13th. Whether or not it continues to exist (and/or where) is anyone's guess. Here's photographic proof of my claims.


Sunset at the end of our first day. The clouds finally broke up as the sun was setting.

Clouds turned out to be a theme on this trip.

Wet sleeping bags were also a theme on this trip. This photo was taken a few minutes after I found my bag lying on the top of the lake (at least it wasn't on the bottom). I'd slept out on the rock down near the water, and left my sleeping bag there while we made breakfast. At some point a breeze came along and blew it into the lake. I guess I should be glad the breeze didn't blow it into the fire.

Tarps setup to ward off the rain. Funny thing about these tarps—the water doesn't really roll off them like water rolls off a roof. Instead, the water seems to collect in the center and form a deep bowl of water that slowly sinks closer to the ground under the weight of all the water. I slept (well, tried to sleep) under this tarp during a rainstorm, and woke up when I felt something pressing on my foot. Turns out it was the water ball in the middle of the tarp that had sunk low enough to touch my feet. That's when I decided to move into the tent.

Prevailing mist.

Ooh, a flower!

I took this picture from the top of an island that was near our campsite. This is on Long Island Lake, and I think I might have been standing on Long Island. Well, at least it was a long island.

Sunrise on our fourth day. We were glad to see the sun, but even better was the fact that the wind had shifted overnight. The fourth day of the trip was when we had to move several miles east, and on this day we had the wind at our backs. Just before we set out we saw a group that wasn't quite so lucky. They were heading straight into the wind, and they didn't look too happy about it.

Our final evening in the Boundary Waters.

And the sunrise on the last day.

This year was much cooler and cloudier than previous years, and we became experts at starting fires with wet/damp wood. I only swam once on this trip, and didn't catch any fish. I did, though, spend five glorious days outdoors and feel very lucky to have been in the Boundary Waters again. I'll look forward to going again next year (if it's still there).

The face that all babies are....afraid of?

I recently came across this video clip on my computer. It bears resemblance to THE FACE THAT ALL BABIES LOVE, although I fear for any child that must experience this form of "entertainment"

First post of the year?

I believe this is my first contribution of the year. I have been blogging prolifically on our Dollar-A-Day blog, so I feel somewhat vindicated. Here are some photos of what I did while Janell was lolly-gagging in Michigan over Labor Day weekend.

This was Janell's surprise. I put sheen stripes on our family room wall. It's pretty subtle, but I think it looks nice. It classes up the joint.
Here you can see the new closet doors that only took about 6 months to install. They're a huge upgrade though. :)

Here is all the taping I did for the accent wall. I used a Ryobi Self Leveling Laser Level. It worked awesome, and really cut down on the time it took to do this. The taping took about 45 minutes. I used Frog Tape for Delicate Surfaces which worked pretty well to stop any bleeding. I should have run a wet rag along the edges to activate the chemical to block the paint bleed.


Here is the finished product. It's 5x5, but I couldn't get the whole wall in the photo. The plan is to cut out birds from plywood, cover them with batting and fabric, and mount them in a few squares (or on the other walls).

In honor of...

I can't believe Daniel is a senior this year! It seems like only yesterday that he was eating whole packages of baloney and telling everyone he had an announcement to make. Oh wait, I think he did do that yesterday...

David, Janell, and I were home for Labor Day weekend, so in honor of Daniel, we all posed for senior pictures. David, Janell, and Daniel, if you like your pictures, I have a few package orders that you can choose from :)






And for those of you who are curious, I just moved to Caro yesterday, and took some pictures of my new bedroom

Ozzie still finding ways to make himself comfy

I'm guessing he will like the baby better in my belly than out. For right now they seem to be pretty compatible.