P.S. No - they didn't coordinate outfits. Yes - their friends thought it was hilarious!
Last weekend we did a quick 6.5 mile exploratory hike to Soldier Park, where we are planning to jump onto part of the Solitude Loop this coming weekend.
Soldier Park was given this name in the 1890's after an official army marker was found at a gravesite on the edge of the meadow. Everyone assumed the grave belonged to a soldier. The truth is somewhat less romantic. In actuality, the grave belonged to a Frenchman who was helping the army survey the area. He died after he accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun. But by then, the name had stuck. And since he died so far from home, it is somewhat befitting that hundreds of people stop by his grave each year.
It was a beautiful day - and breathing in fresh air after all of the wildfire smoke was particularly refreshing.
Last year's summer was atypical for our neck of the woods. We had rain - abundant rain, which was wonderful. It was easy to keep our gardens alive for a change, and the landscape remained a vibrant shade of green almost the entire summer. Heavenly!
But all good things must come to end, and this year we haven't had rain in months. This essentially means that all of last year's abundant growth is dead and combustible. Worse yet, we've had several summer squalls that had copious amounts of lightening but dropped little-to-no precipitation. The perfect storm for wildfires.
There are 2 fires fairly close to us. One is about 45 miles southeast of us. The other is about 40 miles northeast and is creating its own weather, as can be seen in the pic I took a few days ago off our back porch.
Thane FINALLY got around to making sausage from one of the deer he shot last year. (Hey - we wouldn't want to rush these things!) 😂 Plus, with an upcoming hunting season right around the corner, we needed to empty the freezers. Thane did all of the work himself. He ground the meat with some pork fat, reground the meat again, and then fed the hopper to make the links:
After smoking the meat for several hours, the end result was delicious!
Of course the boys were out fishing first thing, and the girls slept in while recovering from a late night with a strong case of the giggles. Soon we all fell into the relaxing cabin rhythm, and before we knew it the weekend came with a new set of visitors. Jacob, Xeni's boyfriend, arrived - as did both Amie and Amy (making, you guessed it, 3 Amy's under one small cabin roof).
Throughout the week we made sure to do all of the cabin traditions - root beer floats, lake raking, sand castle crafting, swimming, fishing, thrifting, photo ops at the old truck, multiple ice cream stand visits, candy store raids, games, movies, etc., etc. But we also did a few new things, including painting the bunkroom, spending a beautiful Saturday in quaint Bemidji and getting a front seat of the northern lights on the beach.
It was an incredible week - in no small part thanks to Ant Sandy, who is incredibly patient with all of us - not to mention the hours of toil she spends standing over a hot stove in the kitchen!
