Christmas presents'

Hello to all,
Well this may sound a little odd, but today i made myself a christmas present. As i was finishing up EVERYONE else's christmas projects today, i came across a brown paper bag in my shop. I thought "this is odd, where'd this come from." As i opened the bag i found an old set of Mtn. Goat horns, and a giant ceder shake bolt. A flood of memories came back all at once. What i'd opened was something very special to me and that i'd saved and hidden only for myself to find on just the right day. Well, today must have been that day. What i'd uncovered were the horns (i belive the only horns) of a mtn. goat, my grandfather, Jim Blankenship, had shot back in 1965. When Grandpa had passed, and all horns had been given out i'd ended up with these. They were a treasure to me, since today Washington only give's out once in a lifetime Mtn. Goat tags....and they take a lifetime to get! So, i'd set them aside, along with a Giant old growth cedar shake bolt from grandpa's house, with the intentions of mounting them when "just the right day came along". Well, as most of you can guess......today was that day.
As i prepped things in the shop for cutting the old "shake bolt" i had to look at a pic. of gramps holding his goat, and thought you all would enjoy that too.
The horns even had the tag still attached. As i read this, it was October 2nd, 1965!

With a little band saw work, and some touch up with the sander, i had the horns attached to their Cedar Plank, and hung on the wall, in the most appropriate of places....."The Man Room".

So, as i worked on this small project i shed more than one tear. I thought of "Big Timber hunts", that he always talked about, and that i now finally understand. I remebered the first deer i shot with him, the green chevy truck's (one of which my brother now drives), the christmas recaps of hunting seasons that were now in the past, and most special of all, the glitter that danced in my grandfather's eye's as he retold his story's from the passed, that only a select few of us will ever know.

Who'd have thought that an old set of Goat horns would have such meaning and remeberance?

So, to everyone out there, MERRY CHRISTMAS. I wish you your own memorie's of the passed, and a happy holidays to all.

From the North.......Where thoughts are jogged,......people are missed......and new memories are made every day too....which is nice.

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

SAUSAGE!!!!!!

Today was Sausage day. Chuck and i both had the day off today (a.k.a.....laid off) so we'd agreed that it would be a good day to make some sausage. We'd made a batch about a week ago, and to our dismay we are each down to what is left on this plate of a 10 pound batch of landjager sausage (landjager is a German Sausage also known as "hunter sausage"). We'd used bear meat this year, and both agreed that it was the best batch yet! Hence the reason there is only this much left after such a short period of time!

So, today we decided to make another batch, this time using a pepperoni/salmi mix to make some bigger loafs for the up comming christmas holidays......
These are scheduled to hit my smoker tommrow morning, and go ALL DAY! Chuck will do the same with his batch and then we'll divide it up at the end. His batch it the "HOTTER-N-HELL" version.....and my guess is that the two of us will be eating most of his with LOTS of cold beer, cheese and crackers.

The next sausage session is probaly going to be next week......what's on the menu you might ask.....well, brawt's are what we have planned. The italian brawt was a hit with the locals last year, and we've had requests for more of those style bun busting dogs!

So, that's all for now......

From the North.......where sausage is made......the beer is ice cold....and we eat and drink both too.....which is nice.


Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

The End of Snow Whitey.....ALMOST!

That's right boys and girls you read the title right! Today, was almost the last day for Snow Whitey! See she's been down and out since the Tuesday before thanksgiving. I had the right side front brake caliper sieze up on me! I'd taken "Duckuby" (that's what she's called when she hauls all the duck hunting STUFF) to the Slater Road corn rows, and on the way back the right side brake caliper decided it was done.....about the time i'd hit the Lummi indian reservation. I wasn't about to stop and leave her there on the side of the road, i'd of returned to a bullet riden, stripped down hulk! So i stompped down on the gas, pounded my fist on her dash and screamed "go baby go" while at the same time prayed to the lord himself that i'd make it home. God must of had pitty on me that day, because i made it. Once parked in the driveway the front wheel steamed and almost glowed red, due to the siezed brake! I wasn't sure what to do, but lucky for me, my father in law was here (in my book one of the best mechanic's whatcom county has ever seen). He advised me on the brake, and even braved the rain, and showed me what to do. I can't say thankyou enough! Chalk up another valuable/usefull lesson learned from Cal! So, we went to Schuck's and he helped me order the part, which wasn't due till after he was to leave, but we went over how to replace everything and bleed the brakes.....leaving me with just enough confidence to do the job.


Now time for a little intermisson, i don't normally type this much.....and i'd guess nobody reads this much on a blog.....so PICTURE TIME BABY!

Snow Whitey..."All jacked up and almost dead"
Another shot.....i call this....."She Rides again"

And my favorite.........i like to call this ......"Grrr!....I'm a BADASS!"

Alright, intermisson over....hope you got your snacks and went to the bathroom.....

So, The brake part came in and as of yesterday i finally had time enough to attempt putting on the new caliper, and preparing the car for the road again. To my surprise, it was just as easy as Cal had said, and i was done in just a little under two hours. Not to bad, in my world of car works.

That being said i still needed to bleed te brakes to be truely done, and that's a two man job. So, a quick call to Chuck...and an 8 p.m. time was set to finish off whitey.

Well, with little effort, and in no time at all we had the brakes bled and Whitey was back in business.....at least so, i thought.

Just as Chuck was leaving he asked...."have you put any ANTIFREEZE in her yet, it's supposed to get down to 14 deg. tonight?"...i Quiped back..."naaaaa she don't need any freaken' anti-freeze" ......oh how i now regret that comment.

Well, you guessed it. This moring i awoke to a frozen solid car! I was sick to my stomach knowing, $5 worth of anitfrezze would have solved this but.....OHHHH NOOO.

After a little trial and error......a call to chuck.....a call to Dad.....a call to Brian...... it finally dawned on me to call the master of car's and there workings....MY FATHER IN LAW!

After much debate in all the other phone calls, call simply says...."Thaw the water pump, and LET HER RIP"......he said she'd steam and steam some more, but that should do the trick.....and that is what i did!

Two hairdryers, a heating blanket, a blow torch, a small brush fire, and a two burner coleman stove all going at the same time under the car did the trick and in no time she was thawed enough to giver her a whirl.

She fired off, steamed a lot and in a little over an hour she was back on the road!

So from the North....where car's freeze rock solid under a moonlight night, we look to the south for helpfull advice, and where free cars drive once again...which is nice!

Mark....."The iron skillet"

She's gone!

Well today was both a sad and happy day all in one. Today, was the day i sold my boat to someone else! Happy to be out of a payment, but sad to see her go. As she was pulled out of the driveway, i couldn't help but start thinking about all the adventures she had let us have out here in the San Juan Islands. So, here are a few pictures in her honor.

Early morning, and the rising sun. There is nothing like rounding the southern tip of Lummi Island. I get the same feeling every time.....like i've just passed into another world!
One of her last trips i made with her. This was taken on the west side of San Juan Island. A trip i did by myself (80 miles round trip). I'd just finished up with a limit of salmon, and was starting the journey back to port.

Last years salmon derby, trolling indian village....(my favorite place to troll)

Another early morning trip. Not sure who's along this day, but a friend snapped this pic. as we were in tandem heading to the fishing grounds.

And last, all spiffed up ready for her new owner. She actually cleaned up pretty nice.

So as Brad, the new owner, pulled her out of the driveway i stood there and smiled. I smiled to the fact, that she was going to be used some more, and taken care of too. She's head to Telegraph Cove, at the northern tip of vancouver island. A place i've been to several times, and think of often. Brad and i both chuckeled as we used the fraze "small world" as we talked of Telegraph cove, and other places we'd fished in common. So it feels good knowing she's found just the right new owner, and that she'll contiue to catch fish as she did for me.

So, from the North.....where boats a bought and sold, the travel even farther north, and handshakes still can seal a deal....which is nice.

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

Turkey day 09'

Well, yesterday being thanksgiving, found me watching Kai, while being thankfull he was feeling better than the day before. He'd had a super high fever the day before and a modest one most of Thanksgiving. Soooo ....it was decided that he could hang with dad while the rest of the family headed out to the Benders (Nicole's sister) house for the elusive DOUBLE turkey dinner. There were promises of food brought back, so that was good enough for me.
Kai followed me around as i cleaned a little house and did some more dishes. At some point i must have gone to the bathroom and come back out.......it took a couple minutes for me to realize the little guy wasn't right beside me. So i called for him and he answered.......inheredaddainheredadda.....translation...."in Here".....So i peared into the bathroom and here he was. Practicing his "Peee". I laughed so hard i had tears, and was pleased a boy and his Dad were able to share such a special moment!

He just has to figure out how to get that darn diaper off, and he'll be pee'en like the big boys!

Well, with all that being said, i had to have some time with Isa, so she helped me bake a blueberry pie. I'd told here during our blueberry picking outings that she'd get to help me bake a pie.....And she did. So here is the outcome. A pie from pickings to pan. Have to say it was a little runny, but darn tasty!

So from the North...Where men bake, cook, and clean......Little girls bake pies.....and little boys know what to do too.....which is nice.

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Duck 2009, Trip 2...The Season Really Starts

Well, as the title says. I found myself in trip number 2 of 2009/2010 duck season. This one had been planned for the last few weeks, with a former co-worker. He's been hitten the duck grounds hard, and has managed 70 ducks already this season, with many a trip under his belt. For me, today was the first serious day of the season. Unfortunatly, the ducks didn't want to coperate. None the less, it was good to hit the "corn", try the new duck cart out, and get back into swing of things.

Here are a couple pictures of our set up. I know it doesn't show it all, but we've got 5 "Wind ducks" this year, along with a cart that'll carry 48 ducks, along with the dozen field decoy's i can carry, for a total of 60 decoy's. Needless to say, we've got a pretty good spread this year, only time will tell on how well it pays off.

When we arrived in the dark this morning this little puddle had 200 + ducks roosting in it. Pretty cool to hear that whirrrrrrr of wings, with inadvertant quack's as they take off.

Unfortuantly, the weather didn't turn nasty like it was supposed to, and the roosting ducks didn't return, like they have in past hunts. Way it goes i guess.


Of course we have to have a picture of the "hide out" in the "corn". Man, that cart was nice and i think we really "upped our game" this year. Chase give'n the high sign......to bad it didn't bring in any more ducks!


And, last a picture of me with the only duck of the morning that was dropped, a small bull pintail.
By 11 we called it a day with little flyer's and clearing skys. Still, a good day to re-aquaint ourselve's with the corn, and for me to get back into the swing of things.



so, signing off from the north. Where ducks sometimes fly, seasons blend from one to the next, and we still have fun too....which is nice!


Mark...."the Iron Skillet"

Another Season Starts

Yesterday found myself at home. I worked around the house, wrapped Nicole's birthday presents and finished most of my list of "To-Do's" by about 1:30. It was kind of rainy and nasty (like it's been for the last few weeks) so i decided that it would be a good day to start duck season of 2009. Nothing special mind, just a good hike and see if i couldn't puddle jump a bird.

So.....that's what i did. Walked a few miles, just enough to get a good sweat going and just about where i normally turn around up popped this nice drake mallard.

A couple quick bursts from the trusty stoger shotgun, and down he went. I nice way to end a good hike, and to start a duck season. (Sorry about the picture, doesn't really do this guy justice, but he'd been stuffed in a coat pocket for awhile before i got a chance to snap a photo)

So, there you have it the start of duck 2009. Whith the last day of deer season on Sunday, i'll be full swing into ducks by Thanksgiving.

Like i've said before we live in a pretty cool place if you like the outdoors. There is always something to do!


So, from the North......Where birds fly south......we shoot to the North........and get ducks too......which is nice.


Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

The End of a Season

Well, this last Sunday we came to the end of a hunting season for me. Bear season is now officially closed. This was a season of many a logged mile, and i enjoyed every footstep. In total I'm not sure how many trips i did, but it was a heck of a lot more than last year. In total i think we saw 5 or 6 bears for the season, with me missing the only shot taken for the season.


So as i awoke this morning thinking of the places i've been this year i thought i'd share a few of my favorite pictures with everyone once again. (you can click on the picture to make it bigger)




A picture of early in the season......"The Secret Bowl"

Another early season shot......."Lupin on the divide"


End of September.........."Early snow in the high country"

This last Sunday, the last day........"C-man.......a.k.a. HardCore"

Last day, in deep snow..........."Snowshoes for the end"

The last day found us in deep snow, and lower down than we normally hunt, so we strapped on the snow shoes and went for a hike. What a fun way to end the season. Although, i found myself thinking................

WHAT?....WHAT??????? I've got to wait another year to do this again! I think my face says it all

"WHAT?"

So, From the North,

Where one season ends and another begins.....Things are both lost and found on the mountians......and, we look forward to next year too.....which is nice!

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

SNOW WHITEY'

Well, as some of you already know, i aquired a "new" car this last weekend! I should say a "new" to me car. What i aquired was a 1988 Subaru dl, two door, hatchback. Everything about her say's "SPORTY"! Even the amount of miles on the car say "drive me more". So with Approx. 239,000 miles "snow whitey" became mine! She's not filled with a lot of luxuray, as you can see in my nice blury picture. Even the radio is missing! The picture is blury cause the door fell off as i was snapping the photo! (just kidding)

So, now for a few glamor shots. I just love the no grill, no hub caps, and a font wheel so caked in oil that it's saturated forever. Speaking of oil, might have to buy a little stock in oil now, after driveing this old gal. Seems she has somewhat of a leak.....or two or three!

Now for the head on shot......could you imagine seeing this pull up in your rearview mirror on I-5 doing 75 mph.? Nothin but RAW POWER there!

So, some may ask....how much does one pay for a 1988 subaru with 240,000 miles on it? For me NOTHING! Yep, this car was free! We all know i can never say NO to free! In fact when we drug it home on Saturday it didn't even run! With a little of this, a little of that.......some duct tape......bailing wire.......even a few shot of wd40.......and we had this P.O.S. running once again!

Turns out, that even with the oil sheen it produces in the driveway (take into acount i don't have to kill any more weeds in our gravel driveway) and the gear oil i have to add once in awhile to the tranny, she gets close to 30 mpg.! Factor that with $25 a month insurance and i've got an around town communter that beats the old dodge hands down!

So, from the north......where cars with 240k are just broken in, and we buy stock in oil too!

Mark.......the leaky iron skillet!

C-man saves the season!

Well, we were starting to think that we may not get anything this year. I missed a bear a week ago. We'd had a chance at another bear last thursday and the deer had all but disappeared...... Things just wern't falling into place. Just the way it goes sometimes.
Lucky for us Chuck never quits or gives up. His persistance finally paid off yesterday!


As the story goes........
Just as Chuck was to call it a day and start on the trail back to the rig there was the big forky standing beside the trail. (as a side note, we'd seen this deer in the preseason several times, and we're amazed at the size of his body) The deer initally bolted but, after a little cat and mouse Chuck got his chance.
So with 30 min. of daylight left the work began!
It took Chuck and Aaron quite some time to get that old guy out of there. You seen Aaron tore his A.C.L. this last spring, and isn't of much help, except to pack the guns out so......The C-man , manned up, cut the deer in half, he put half in his pack, and drug the other half all the way back to the rig (about 4 miles)! His saving grace was there was a foot of snow, and mostly down hill to help with the pulling otherwise it would have been a two trip deal.

My part of the story comes in at 11:30 i hear my cell phone make a beep and i just happened to be up putting Kai back down to sleep. So, decided to look at the phone. I see there's a text message......from chuck.....asking "you still up?"....my response was something to the affect of "I am now....dip-shit" so, that prompted a phone call only to find out he'd poped the big one and could use a hand getting it out of the rig since Aaron lives upriver and had already been dropped off. So.....at midnight i made my way over the chuck's house to help him get this toad out of the truck and hung up in the garage.

By 1:30 a.m. i was back home, in bed, with a big smile on my face. Our season had been saved, and Chuck, the most deserving of us all, had harvested the big boy! Man, what a season!


I might also add that this deer is OLD! He had hardly any teeth left in his mouth, and what were left were worn down to numbs. We think we saw this deer last year but, he was a 4 point then. We suspect he'd regressed this year due to his age. Now that being said, old deer like that are known to be just a weeeeeee bit tough, sooooooo I think we're going to have a LOT of lanjeager to make!


So, from the North.......were persistance pays off.....and the right men get their bucks too!


Mark......The Iron Skillet

One of my Favorites

Well, this isn't my favorite thing to do but, this post is about one of my favorite people.

Gary Jones, my mom's uncle, or my Great Uncle, passed away this last Tuesday and it has truly shocked us all. Gary will be missed greatly but, one thing is for sure-he'll NEVER be forgotten. He created too many memories for too many people for that to happen.

I heard about Gary's passing Tuesday night from mom and dad. I was shocked, as most were, and as I went to sleep that night I shed more than one tear as I thought of Mr. Jones.

While trying to get to sleep that night I continued to think more and more about Gary and the following day I decided I needed to do something to remember him by. Just for me, for some closure, to share with others how I said MY "goodbye" to Gary.

For the last couple of years I'd had this awesome picture hanging up at work. A picture of Gary, holding a beer, giving the thumbs up, with a GIANT load of wood in his truck. I labeled the picture simply "A big load-a-wood". I looked at that picture often, among that mass of other fishing and hunting pictures taped to our office walls. That one always caught my eye though, and I found myself sharing "A Big Load-A-Wood" with others on more than one occasion.

Wednesday afternoon, before heading home, I took that picture off the wall and sealed it up in a ziploc bag for now i had a plan.

I was to go hunting on Thursday, with two good friends. We were headed in on a long hike into my "Favorite" of "Favorite" spots- the "Canyon Ridge Bowl". There isn't a more fitting spot for me to honor Gary, than by taking him with me on that trip.

My goal was to find a nice sized fir tree, with one hell of a view, and tack Gary's picture to the base of that tree, shed a few tears, and say my goodbye.......and that's exactly what i did!

Here is where i left Gary, a view looking up from the bottom of the bowl. From here he can see all the Bear, Dear, cougar and Goats that will roam threw this basin almost every day.

Here he is tacked to the tree, under a few branches so he won't get to wet on those rainy days.

A picture of one of the biggest trees in the bottom, that also had the best view.

It snowed that morning, just a little, this is a shot looking back to the east. This picture doesn't do it justice on how pretty it was that morning.

A little while later, the snow had melted, but the sun was out and I snapped a picture to the North.

And then another shot looking down into the bottom where Gary was to be pinned up.

And last, before I pinned up my only picture of "A Big Load-A-Wood" I had to take a picture of it.

So here's to you Gary. You'll be missed, but NEVER forgotten. May you have clams to dig, deer/elk to chase, fish to catch, and wood to cut.

From the North.......where Great men are missed but always remembered....and we shed tears too.

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

Old School

As i'm sure you've all heard or read. Nicole has really crunched the budget this year. Due to both daycare costs and my 1/2 time employment. So sacrifices have had to be made. For me this comes in the form of Coffee! I LOVE coffee, and more so i like GOOD coffee. Unfotunatly, good coffee is expensive.....(i.e. not in the budget). So the solution has been FOLGERS. In all honesty i HATE folgers! I think it tastes like rancid, acidic, CRAP! BUT......i'd rather drink that than no coffee at all. So this week, i started on Folgers. The first pot in the regular drip coffee maker took some more hair off my head, and added hair where i really don't need any more...but...i won't go there.

After that first day of black acid tar i started thinking of ways to make this coffee taste better. That's when i found myself remembering last Feburary's fishing trip with dad in the camper. We used the Perculator coffee pot, and had FOLGERS and as my fadeing memory served me right....it tasted pretty good.
That's all it took for me.....so to the shop i went on a search and destroy mission and eventually found my old perk pot, and hastily mixed and matched parts until i had it put back together.
On Tuesday morning, the old pot was set to work, and Wa-la.....i've got some pretty good tasting coffee once again!

I have to say i'm quite pleased. The Elec. coffee maker has been put in the shop, and "old Faithfull" has found a new position in the kitchen.

So...From the North.....Where we say "Bring on the Folger's", make sure to drink it pipeing hot, and go "Old School" too!


Mark......"The Iron Skillet"

Dad's Rule's

Well today found me and Kai at home together once again. The poor boy has had the "swine flu" for 4 or 5 days now, and as of yesterday it was his first day without a fever. So even though he's fever free, it prompted another day home with dear old dad....or as people at my 1/2 time survey job call me.....Marty Stewart, the "Iron Skillet" of MEN! I don't mind, i like my kids and as said b4 sick or not time spent with my kids is a good thing....and sooooooo what if i like to cook, cann produce, and sometimes clean house too! Speaking of cleaning house check out "Bub". Looks like my diligence is paying off!

What's that you might ask? Well, this afternoon, both "Bub" and i were a little stir crazy so i started on dinner, and i gave the little man a box of trix ceral, gated off the deck so there were no dogs to bother him (it was 60 deg. this afternoon!....so no lecture's PLEASE), I put on his heavy coat and shoes, and gave him the deck to have to himslef.
Well, as you can see is didn't take him long to dump the trix, wander back inside and aquire the broom and head back out to "clean things up"......in "bub's" words this comes across as "bmaodfrejofhdoiangoehfiojfrt" don't worry i understood everything! Remember.....i'm Marty Stewart/Iron skillet man! I found the broom, and sent him on his way.

Where might he be sweeping such excess food you might ask? Well, to the two overweight, out of shape, a.k.a. FAT dogs waiting for a tasty morsel! Rember, i gated the deck for NO dogs. Well, to my dismay, that stops neither DOG nor BOY when it comes to food. Needless to say, ALL of them had a good feast!

Don't worry, a boy has to "smash" a few b4 the old dogs get any! An up close shot of Kai, his CLOD STOMPERS, and smashed TRIX!

An "UT OH" shot of the so called "accedient" in progress.

Look at this action photo of "First sight of The Droppings". Notice the look on both "old man Jed's" face and Kai's. Is that looks of Surprise, or Fortune? You be the judge!

From the North.....Where we get sick......battle though it.....get better......and feed dogs too!

Mark.....a.k.a......Marty Stewart......a.k.a........Iron Skillet!

Say Hello To My Little Friend!

Well, here she is in all her glory. The new (to me) boat has arrived! What a monster! I used to think the 20' aluminum boat was a big boat (and it was) but this boat is in another class all together! All i can say is WOW! That and a big "THANK YOU" to mom and dad.
This boat has lots of meaning to all of us, especially to Nicole. This boat was her grandfathers boat, the last one he ever bought and the only one that was ever brand new. He purchased her from Yeagers sporting goods where, Alice (his wife/Nicole's grandma) worked and where Nicole and I first met. So......she has a long story of staying within family. It's good to see her back in Bellingham once again.

Mom and Dad had a safe journey on Friday on their trip up North, making it here by noon. By 1 p.m. we had the boat in the hole and ready for the "hand off" pictures.

Needless to say, i was pretty darned excited!

But, before the change of hands was made official we had to seal the deal with a little boat transfer "bottle". Dad broke out this 5th of Jack Daniels as the bottle to be.

He then proceded to douse her liberaly with a little "brown juice" to give her some good fish mojo and to ensure safe transport in all types of weather.

Needless to say we both partook of a few "pulls" off the bottle too!

So....Signing off from the North

Where boats get bigger, The saying of Thank you isn't enough, and we drink Whiskey too!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"