Ok guys, I've clowned for a while here with no real reports on the progress of the camp for a while now.
The building is as I have last posted updates for the most part. I did how ever build a quick & "rustic" gun rack which is a vertical 11 gun rack, close to a foot deep, about 5' high & just over 3' wide. the only thing i really spent any time on at all was the barrel groove board which has notches ... circles actually, 1.5" circles hole saw cut with a 3rd of the hole open for inserting barrel... holes spaced ever 3" on center.
but it's all made from non dimentional rough cut oak boards (aprox 1x4's)
& it has a shelf up top for boxes of ammo, grunt tubes, bino's etc.
above the gun rack, sitting on top of it is a full body mount bobcat that my cousin shot around 3 years ago while deer hunting. The cat really adds to the cabin, looks very nice in there & I'm proud to have it in there.
I also made a simple gun leaning rack for the porch on the outside of the shack so we can rest guns outside if we like, very handy for mid day returns to the shack when you don't care to fog your scope etc.
that's about all I have to report as far as the building itself.
The real improvements are to do with the occupants, the camp members & visitors.
I just couldn't be happier with the advancements we've made in that area. That's where the real fruit of the whole project lies.
the comfort level, confidence.. the ability to relax & enjoy ourselves & each other. To joke & laugh, to tease each other about what ever little mishaps may have occured. To eat well, sleep well, share gear & ideas. Share advice, help each other..
I look back to the beginning of this post. There were goals & a deadline for the wooden building in the forest. The deadline was so that we could be there to build on other things during the MN rifle deer season.
Well we did it, we made it. The building, the structure itself is there, and the other kind of "building" that goes on inside of it, well that's comming along very nicely.
We are sad now when it is time to pack up & go home, when it is time to leave the little shack in the woods. I guess that means we are successful in our efforts. It's like the walls of the shack are beginning to absorb some of the memories & good times had within. We now hate to leave the little shack in the woods, I guess that means we're doing it right.
For this I have to thank all of the occupants, my children taylor, nathan & little "cabin buddy" joey. My wife Pam for taking such good care of us all with meals, cakes, pies, bars, cookies... all the constant cleaning & housekeeping. She's the camp mom, takes care of us all. The rest of my family that has part taken which is my nephew "the boy" you know who you are boy.... thank you for accepting the camp as your own, the fact that you have taken ownership makes me very happy. My neices, girl 1 & girl 2. What fantastic girls, or in girl 1's case, what a fantastic young lady & girl 2, what a precious... younger lady
I love you both. And of course the other camp mom. thank you so much for the time you have spent with us, for the screws you drove in the flooring at that stage in the project, for all of the cleanup chores you do when you are up, for the bobcat... and for making it so easy to enjoy these kids by doing such a wonderful job with them. (but maybe don't wear white outside anymore until after deer season is over
And of course my uncle, the boy's grandfather who I have looked up to since I was a toddler. I do so appreciate your company, your stories, the pictures you have brought up recently, the food & supplies... Mostly your company, it means so much.
I plan on being out there again tomorrow to get an early start on the last weekend of our MN deer rifle season.
I have some firewood to cut, some road repairs to do, and of course, I have a big fork toe'd rutty swamp buck to hunt.
Dave