Hi all. Gruper and I arrived in Camp yesterday afternoon. We had planned to arrive by vehicle; however, massive amounts of snow changed our plans. Holy cow did these people get some snow this winter. Gruper set up a trail cam near our driveway hoping to get unique pics of winter wildlife. What we got instead are some incredible pics of winter life up here. I’ll weed through those pics and do another post this week. It really is incredible how much snow there was.
So, we left Iowa Monday morning. Gruper pulled his boat as usual and I had my new co-pilot Freya the cat. One hour from home I had to pull over and slip her a mickey. She is a very vocal cat all the time…she was unbearable in the vehicle. She had about five sounds she kept mixing–everything from a child-like cry to a full-on scream. Oy. Here’s how she rode after the mickey hit her:
She’s flat on her back with her feet in the air. See the hole in the carrier screen? In between “naps,” she’d wake up violent and start trying to bite through the carrier. Wicked pills that vet prescribed.
OK. So about an hour from Camp we always stop for lunch and make room in my Envoy for groceries, etc. Gruper goes on ahead and starts warming the house, turning things on, etc. I can then get home, put groceries away, and begin unpacking for the next six months. We usually are settled in, enjoying a home-cooked meal by evening. Here’s what I saw when I reached our driveway yesterday:
He was STUCK. I pulled off to the side and realized how grim the situation was. The snow was very deep all the way across our lane. We needed a toboggan and a plan. I volunteered to walk the .3 miles to the house and get our sled. The snow was knee to hip deep in areas. I was not properly dressed (go figure) but trudged ahead. My instructions were to go to our out building, unlock it, and locate the sled before heading back to Gruper. Here are a few pics:
I ventured to that back building in hip-high drifts. It was exhausting! The door wouldn’t open because of some damage caused by heavy snow. I got into the first building but could not find the sled. Being a McGiver-type resourceful woman, I opened a trolling motor box, took out the motor, poked a hole in the top and ran a cord through it. Behold my toboggan:
It was semi-ingenious! It could hold stuff, it was lightweight, etc. I am still very proud of this creation. I began the trek back to the vehicles. Saving graces: there was still plenty of light, it was relatively warm (40’s), and I walk 4-5 miles almost daily at home. Here’s a view heading back down the lane:
It doesn’t look bad here, but it is very deep in spots. I felt like I’d done a stepper for hours this morning! I passed Gruper en route but kept going. I needed to let that poor cat out of her carrier! She is young resilient, but enough is enough. The drugs were wearing off and she was freaked out!
With her in one hand and my sled loaded with various possessions, I headed back up the lane toward the house. Our friends arrived with a snowmobile and helped a ton. I located the toboggan (not at all near the sheds I had to climb into), and they were able to attach it to their snowmobile and bring our coolers, etc.
For the first time ever, we sustained a bit of damage due to the huge amounts of snow. Cabin 11’s stove pipe broke from the roof:
We lost the railing on one side of the fish-cleaning facility:
We currently have no land line for our phone and probably won’t for about a week. Bell Canada is not in good favor with me right now (and they know it).
Here’s a hole my butt made when I tried to slide instead of walk yesterday (butt hole?):
Here are a couple of views from down by our house:
Gruper began a daunting task this afternoon:
He might need these later…
The lake looks about like last year ice-wise. I predict we’ll be fine for opener. Then again, I predicted I’d drive to my door yesterday;)
We were dug in this afternoon and can drive in and out! We’ll need some more work done on some of the drifts. Again, we certainly know things could have been worse; it was just a new wrinkle for us.
I’ll post some of the winter-cam pics later this week. Stay tuned and WELCOME BACK!
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