A wet weekend

A wet weekend
Nikolai is getting better and better with each trip in the canoe, and even had some knowledge to share with his dad about what he was doing wrong in the canoe. To his delight, he ended up in the front and dad in the middle on a recent trip in a canoe.
By Allan Olson
The seasons are definitely changing; the weather has been windy and wet lately, and while we didn’t get as much rain last week as originally predicted, it was still a wet and windy weekend overall.
I had hoped to spend most of the weekend outdoors, doing some geocaching and maybe looking for some partridge/grouse for the dinner plate, but the weather just was not very cooperative for that sort of activity.
Friday afternoon was the nicest part of the weekend, and my niece, Nikolai and I spent some of it on the water, going after a geocache located on an bog/island in the Mississippi River. It took some patience with three of us in the canoe, trying to balance each other out while floating down the river, but we finally found the right landing spot on that chunk of land to make our adventure. I got out of the canoe and made my way through some thick brush and was nearly to the spot when my right foot sank in mud. I was so close to not getting wet, but that one misstep cost me. I pulled my foot out of the muck, being careful not to lose my shoe in the process, and continued on my adventure. I found the container carefully tied to a tree, then made my way back to the canoe. This time, I encountered another spot that wasn’t solid and stumbled forward, managing to get wet all the way up to my right hip. Thankfully, I had been smart enough to leave my pockets empty. From there I made it back to the canoe, and the three of us made it back to the vehicle. 
After that break in the day, I changed clothes and headed back to work. Nikolai and my niece went home, since at this point Nikolai had been up for over 30 hours after participating in an overnight trip with his classmates at Itasca State Park the day before.
In the gloomy damp weather on Saturday morning, my niece, Abigail and I headed south to help pick our stretch of ditches along Highway 71 in the Park Rapids area. We hadn’t gone very far before all of our shoes were soaked because of the tall wet grass in the ditch. About that time, I remembered that I had my water boots in the vehicle, but since my shoes were already wet I didn’t bother changing. We were done with that project and on our way home by 11 a.m. My plans for more geocaching were cancelled in favor of getting dry feet and a warm house. After a busy morning, I had a very relaxing afternoon and evening.
I stayed in bed on Sunday morning, watching television until about 10, before getting up to do my part in the breakfast preparation. I made the sausage, bacon and syrup while my wife and Nikolai took care of the kitchen prep, including getting the batter ready for pancakes.
My youngest brother showed up about the time breakfast was getting started, so we shoved some food in his direction and afterwards we were able to get the water line hooked up to the fridge so our ice maker works again.
Our next project was heading to the gun range, where someone was waiting for us to help get our rifles ready for the upcoming hunting season. The result was great for us, because we learned that our reloads had been re-loaded too many times and were not creating good shots. His recommendation was to start over with new brass and pitch the rest of the old stuff. All was good for Nikolai – he got his scope shooting where he needed it to be, although he could use a little more target practice.
This weekend the plans include taking photos at a family reunion, covering the annual Cystic Fibrosis fishing event, possibly a trip to Itasca State Park and maybe even a trip to NightScreams for some late night entertainment. It looks like its going to be another busy weekend.
Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.

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