Iron Skillet

Appliances.....I Hate them!

2010-07-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

I don't normally like to complain on my blog, but I'm pretty disgusted and can't help myself. It has to do, as you can guess, with Appliances.
We seem to have no luck with them. I'm now convinced that there is no reason to buy a higher end appliance. You get sold on energy savings, lasting longer, an overall better return on your money.....on and on and on they go. I call BULLSHIT! Why you ask? Well, about 6 years ago we did just that! Here is the list of what was purchased around that time frame of say 6 to 7 years ago.
1. a new Amana fridge, great reviews and farily pricy for a normal looking fridge.
2. Over the range microwave
3. Maytag Gas Range with double oven
4. Medium chest freezer made by fridgidare
5. Dishwasher made by fridgidare x 2
6. Washer and dryer made by maytag (the neptune series) very high reviews

So basicly all the major appliances a house would need.......Now, take a guess at what are still working or haven't been repaired......NONE!

1. Amana fridge....Gone, broke two weeks ago!
2. Microwave.....broke.....no cook no more!
3. Gas Range.....computer Brain went out within the first year, still here but who knows for how long!
4. Chest freezer....Gone, lasted 2 years before compressor failed
5. Dishwasher.....yep, on number 2! First one lasted 2 years....and new one doesn't clean that well anymore
6. Washer and Dryer....as of last night main bearing going out in Washer!

Yep, they've all failed! The topper for me is the washer, especially since i have a sour tast in my mouth after just buying a new fridge 2 weeks ago, now i get to deal with the washer!

These were all bought new, and have been treated well, and not abused......EVER!

Ya wanna know what has lasted? My bait fridge in the shop i got for FREE, the upright freezer i got for FREE, and the cheap as microwave we paid 60 bucks for 10 years ago!

All i can say is i'm disgusted!

well, i'll now get off my soap box, and yes i feel a little better!

Signing off from the North.....where thoughts of a clothes line, a wood fired stove, and an ice box dance through our heads!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

The Derby and "The Legend"

2010-07-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

Well,

At Noon yesterday marked the conclusion of the 4th Bellingham Salmon Derby I've fished in. It was a treat this year to Fish with my Dad...now known as "The Legend" in Bellingham. We had a great time, lots of laughs, and fished hard.....

The rule this year for us was "Plan your Work....Work your Plan" and that's what we did.

What follows is a recap of what happened over the last 3 days......

Day 1 (friday) was a beautiful day on the water. Shorts and t-shirts were the rule! Unfortunatly for us, the fish were hard to find...and the only thing that came to the boat was this wonderfull looking dogfish......SHARK!

"The Legend" insisted on a picture, so i obliged. Sharky was released back to the depths while we ground on, with no fish and calling it a day at 3 p.m.

Day two: Saturday....We awoke to a stiff breeze, and whitecaps on the water. Nice clear skys were in the forcast, but wind and stong tides make for slow going to the fishing grounds. Dad snapped a quick pic. of Bellingham as we were to round the corner of Lummi Island. We were thankfull for the cabin and canvas this morning....lots of spray, and a wet back deck!

We trolled one area, before making the move to where we PLANNED to fish for the day. Just as we setteled into our troll i recieved a multitude of messages from my brother-in-law that he was on some fish and we should head that direction. But, in consulting "The Legend" some words of wisdom were said, "Plan your Work and Work your Plan" and that's what we did....relaizing that running to the hot spot would take quite some time and that by the time we arrived the bite more that likely would be over.....Soooo we ground it out at a trusted spot and at 2 p.m., my rod burried and fish on! After a longggggg run, the fish came to the boat, and "The Legend" scooped her up and a fish was FINALLY in the boat! Just shy of 14 pounds.

We trolled awhile longer and then decided to call it a day, we both felt good. As "The Legend" had stated that morning...we had "Planned our Work...and...Worked our Plan", and in the end it payed off. High fives, and war hoops were the theme as we headed back towards the harbor of Bellingham.....we were on the boards with a Derby fish.

Day 3: Left us with a new plan.....since tides were wrong for where i like to fish we decided to hit a new to me spot, after hearing good things from Brother-in-law Brian. A long run, and sloppy seas we arrived on scene and fished a wonderfull stretch of water. "The Legend" and i both agreed that this was a fishy spot, and a good choice for the last day of the Derby.

We trolled for several hours, had a couple of missed fish and watched a few others get caught. We'd agreed to head in at 10 a.m., fish or not, since the derby ended at 12:00. At the stroke of 10, and as we trolled up to talk to Brian before he headed in, "The Legends" rod shuttered and popped off the downrigger. With lightning reflexs, he was on the rod and fish on! A short battle ensued and another fish was in the boat.........high fives and a fish dance was performed once again as we both gave thanks to Nicole's grandpa, for we both felt he'd helped us out once again.....come to think of it.....this was his old boat, his old rods, and fishing an area he used to love to fish!

So, how big was the fish?????

The fish tipped the scales at just under 6 pounds. Nothing huge, but a keeper none the less, and we each had fish in the derby!

That concluded our trip and we headed for the harbor, in some pretty sloppy seas. We made it in with just 20 min. to spare.

No money was won with the fish but a nice new fishing rod and some terminal tackle was added to my collection.

What a great three days....we fish hard, had fun, and caught a couple of fish too!

So sigining off from the North......were "The Legend" returns..... and where we "Plan our Work...and...Work our Plan" which pays off too!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

An Iron Skillet Returns

2010-07-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

In the cleaning process of tearing down the old shed and getting ready to build the new carport i came across an old plastic tote containing some camping gear. In the bottom of that tote was an old cast iron skillet wrapped in a towel. I unfolded the towel to find this gem! Just a little bit of moisture i'd say. But, hey it's an Iron Skillet.....they can always be brought back to life right???
I found a wire wheel out in the shop and a couple freshly charged batteries for the cordless drill and promptly went to work. It didn't take long and i was getting some pretty good results, as you can see in the picture below.

Once brought back to life i had to find some oil to reseason the skillet with, but we were out! That's when i ran across this sitting on the shelf! A jar of Barlean's Coconut oil!

It didn't take long and i had a nice first coat on the pan. Actually starting to look like it's comming back to life!

A few more coats of oil and she was ready to be seasoned. The BBQ was a great spot, and the old pan could smoke to it's hearts content......(although Nicole and the kids promplty retreated to the front yard....something to do with the smell of burning coconut oil!)

This picture doesn't really do the smoke justice, but i'm sure get the idea of what's going on here.

And, finally the pan was done and ready for use. Looks pretty good to me, and it cooked up some chicken just fine!

So yet another skillet has been added to the collection...or re-added i should say!

From the North....where things are lost, then found, and re-used once again.....which is nice!

Mark..."The Iron Skillet"

A Scone's throw away.....

2010-06-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this story is going to get told, and told.....and told. Much to my dismay, and at the laughter of others. So, i might as well tell my own side of the story. So, here goes....

Yesterday while Nicole and i took Kai to the doctor for his much needed surgery nicole's mom took Isa out to Dutch Mothers, in Lynden, to meet a friend and have a special breakfast. Dutch Mother's is known for there bakery goods, especially there wonderfull Scone's. They are truely a work of art, and often coveted in our house, since we don't often go there, nor eat out much for that matter. Lucky for Nicole her mom splurged and brought her back a special surprise.

While i was out picking up some groceries and Kai's after surgery perscription, Isa and Mema (grandma) dropped by to check on Kai and drop Nicole's special treat, the Scone, off on there way down to Laconner for the afternoon.

In the mean time i arrived home and unloaded grocies, and proceded to do a few more errands around town. Finally around 3:30 i decided to clean the kitchen and get things in order for dinner.

That's when it happened. In my cleaning of the kitchen i found this partially wrapped "object" that looked like somekind of an odd bisquit with a sausage patty protruding from the edge's (unbeknownst to me this was a rasberry filled scone with just the edges nibble on....nicole was savoring evey bite)......This odd looking bisiqiut was also right next to a Mcdonalds cup, hence my thoughts of some leftover breakfast type of sandwich. There also happened to be a couple flys buzzing around it. So, i grabed it and chucked it in the trash.......if, i only knew what i had done!

Dinner came and went, baths with the kids were done, and bed time was shortly upon all of us. I had just setteled onto the couch in my favorite spot, and had found one of my favorite shows "River Monsters" was on, and it was a new one i'd never seen. It was about Parhana's, i was just getting deeply sucked in as they show a dead fish on shore, half eaten, and a few small maggot's crawling on it (this will make more sense shortly).

At just that time Nicole and here Mom mentioned the word desert, and i was gently sucked back to reality with the thought's of something sweet to cure my sweat tooth! Trudy mentioned pie, and Nicole said na, she rather finish her SCONE. I just heard pie, and my mouth was watering like pooh bear looking at his honey pot!

Nicole went to the kitchen and shortly returned asking what i'd done with the Scone. She thought i'd eaten it, and i should have agreed.....but, NOOOOOO......i knew i was in trouble for ridding the house of the treasured scone, and panic instantly set it. I had to cover my tracks and come up with a GREAT story....and quick.....!!!!

What came out of my mouth next is a story that even I can't believe i came up with. Without missing a beat I imediatly claimed that i had found the scone in the kitchen and it was covered with flys, and that maggot's were crawling on it! It came out so quick and with so little thought i knew i was screwed from the start, but once started i knew i had no choice but to go with it....

The look on both Nicole's and Trudy's face was both awwww and disbelief. The both instantly quipped back that they didn't believe me, and that i was basicly full of SHIT. I was realing, i needed some credit to my story.....and i needed some fast.......as only a husbands brain can think, i instantly came to the conclusion that they only way to make this story believeable was to produce a maggot....and if at all possible.....inside the scone!!!!! Ya, that was it....that's what i had to do (this all came to light in a split second, you all know how fast a man's brain can think when needed!)......so i blurted out that i could prove this, and hurried myself out the door...to the saftey of the outside, where i could finalize my plan, and make my story believable......

Once outside, i pannicked...yep, so much for being calm! I ran to the alley, to find the garbage can.....empty! It was garbage day, and everything had been picked up! Just when i was about to admit defeat and return to the house to face the music i spyed a small pice of pizza crust, and a dead maggot laying next to the garbage can, in the gravel.....as a last resort my small brain concluded that the Pizza crust kind of looked like a small piece of scone, and well the maggot, even though dead, would be believable in intself.....i glimmer of hope filled my eyes ( or was that tears holding back the possible wretching for doing something this disgusting) as i scraped up the maggot with a stick and placed it oh so gently on top of the crust and rubbed my hands in a little dirt to make it look like i'd dug through the garbage to prove my point ....

I made a bold entrance back inside the house, holding my prize and showing both Trudy and Nicole what i'd found as evidence. My conclusion that the maggot would be the focus was entirely wrong as they both pointed out instantly that i was holding a piece of pizza crust, and that the maggot had been dead for quite some time. I was busted.........

For the next 20 min. I tried to reaffirm my story, but it was all for not. They could see through my story like swiss cheese. They poked and proded me for the rest of the night...every time getting me to give up a little more information or contradition's in my see-though story.....and with every one of those loopholes found, they'd both giggle and laugh as only a mother and daughter can.....

So this morning as i finish up typeing this story i can't help chuckle at how silly i'd been....if only.....if only!!!

In the end it was just a Scone thrown away.

From the North where men make special trips both to the garbage and to lynden to find scone's that have been lost....but, not fogotten.

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Fathers Day

2010-06-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday was fathers day as most of us dad's experienced. I really hadn't expected much but, to my surprise i was in for quite a treat!

I awoke, made my morning coffee and hopped on the computer in the kitchen, all the while awaiting the pitter patter of little feet comming down the hallway, indicating the little ones were awake and looking for dad as they so often do during the weekend mornings. An experience i enjoy and treasure every time it happens.

It wasn't to long and i could here Kai's feet shuffleing along, and moving slower than usual. As he rounded the corner of the kitchen he was lugging a bag of presents nearly as big as himself. He said "Hi dada" dropped the bag and gave me a big hug around my leg. Was pretty cool to say the least. Isa wasn't to far behind and we lugged the presents back to the family room while mama and grandma gathered around. As i unwrapped gifts, this was treasure number 1. A picture of "Da Bub" with his oh so familiar smile!

Next came another picture. One Isa had made for me. A picture of Dad with fish and crabs! The title being "Daddy Get's some fish and some crabs" as only is could say in her sweatest of voices. Pretty cool, and it now resides on the kitchen wall!

Last but not last was a small box containing this CAMERA!

My very first, very own, digitial camera.

Don't get me wrong, i've had others, but they were always hand-me-downs, on their last legs, and never really worked right. The best part about this camera is it's submersible up to 10 meters or 2 hours, is shock proof, and dust proof.....my kind of Camera!

I look forward to trying some underwater fish pictures!

So, after the presents i was treated to a breakfast out, and a day of whatever i wanted to do! Pretty good day for old dad!

So, that's all for now...Signing off from the North.......Where Dad's live high on the hog for a day......and love their familys too......Thanks Isa, Kai, and Nicole!

Mark..."The Iron Skillet"

The New Job

2010-06-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

So I keep getting asked what i do now for a new job, so thought i'd share.....
I now work for Barlean's Organic Oils. We create products using both Flax seed oil and fish oils, both focused around Omega 3, 6, and 9 fats (all good fats). We make everything from the fish oil capsule's that many of you take every morning, flax seed, flax oil, fish oil's ie: cod liver oil, and one of the most popular Swirl....wich is a blend of fish or flax oil made to taste like a fruit smoothie. This was created for people who hate to swallow the fish oil pills, or can't stand the taste of flax oil or fish oil products.
Barleans has flavors such as mango peach, orange cream, choc. rasberry, blueberry, stawberry banana, lemon, and Pina colada....to name a few.

Where i exactly fit in at this place is in the Bottleing department. I started out in the clean room learning a fairly complicated and interesting machine that is designed to bottle Barlean's swirl products in an array of different sized bottles.

Here is a picture of what the entire contraption looks like. (there are actually two bottle machines operating in this room, the other bottle's true oil such as flax oil/fish oil it is located just on the other side of this machine in the picture) This room would be known as a clean room.

The bottle's start here, in what is called the bottle sorter. We run sizes ranging from 8oz, 12oz, 16oz, 24oz, and even 32oz.. The sorter can hold approx. 400 bottles and can process them in about 5 minutes.....

This is where the action happens. The touch screen control's everything for the most part. You can see 4 nozzles in the picture, we typically run 6. The box with the blue touch pad is a nitrogen doseing machine. Each bottle gets a dose of liquid nitrogen, to elimante bottle's from panneling (sides being sucked in due to pressure changes)

From there the bottles run down to the capper, pictured below. They spin around in the rotary chuck and a cap is placed on and then tightened and then conveyered to another room where a label is put on.

Since i started my job has changed from operating this machine to learning a multitude of different equipment. I've been promoted to a different position with a main task of elminiating down time, allowing for more bottles to be produced in the end.

So the new job is a far cry from the world of Land Surveying, but i can honestly say i enjoy the New job and has allowed me and my family to begin a new chapter in our lives.

So, Signing off from the North.....Where things in bottles not only taste good but are good for ya....which is nice....

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Back by Request

2010-06-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

Well, i'm back by request.

I haven't posted in about 4 months now. A lot has happened in that time and i just haven't found the time to post on the blog. Not that i didn't want to mind you, but it just hasn't been high on my priority list. So, i'll try and get back on track......

So....in a short quick recap.....over the last 4 months i've landed a job, landed some fish, and as of yesterday turned in my pole building plans to the city of bellingham (the pole building is to house the boat's). So that's it in a short nutshell.

I've got more stories but, this will have to do for now.

I'll end with a couple of pictures of the end of "Cod" season.

The elusive..."Blue" Lingcod

One of 3 nice sized Cabazon we caught that day.
So there you have it, i've finally posted once again, and hopefully i'll keep it up!

From the North.....Where fish are landed and......Jobs are too....which is NICE!

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

Fish On!

2010-06-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

Mark hasn't posted in awhile and there have been several requests, so I kidnapped his blog to post some pictures!

These fish are from his last fishing trip last Saturday with Chuck.

He had quite the catch, even including a BLUE lingcod!
All for now, but maybe I can get him to post about:
- our family fishing trip
- digging clams
- his trout/kokanee fishing trips
etc/etc/etc!

Boot Beach 2010...Day 3

2010-02-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Day three had all three of us fishing together. The water looked promising, and a day of fun fishing was about to begin. It was nice to be laid back on not really care if we caught fish or not. Day 3 was about enjoying each others company and having a good time. It's not often anymore that the 3 of us are able to get together and fish.

Here is Dad and Ben at the start of the day.

After a little hole hopping, we ended up in some unfished waters, and the old man of the river struck hard and fast......out of no where Ben and I both looked up to see, yet again, Dad's rod doubled over and him fighting another fish!

It didn't take him long, and this little lady was at the bank, with my meat hooks wrapped around her tail. She was a beautiful fish and fought well. Once again, another wild steelhead, so......out come the pliars and a quick dehooking.

A little quick admaration of such a beautiful fish before she was then sent on her way.

Not 10 minutes later i hear warhoops comming from Ben. It was his turn to do battle. He did a great job, even if Dad and Brother Mark were full of lots of fish fighting advice. Ben reacted like a pro., and i'm sure bit his tounge due to all of our suggestions.

We got a quick "grip and grin" of Ben, and this pretty little lady was sent on her way too. What's that on Ben's head you ask? A camera, of all things. Yep, he got both dad's fish and his fish on video! Have to admit, as we watched it later that evening it was prettty darn cool! Hummm, fishing video's could be in the near future!

After that last fish, Ben was satisfied as we all were. Mission acomplished, over the course of the last 3 days we'd all caught a fish and had a great time. We ended up back at camp and had a good lunch and the decision was made to hang out and finish the trip off with a short hike down to the river from the camper. By the time it was deemed to go fishing, Ben was preocupied with building a fire and a bike jump so Dad and i headed off for the last witching hour of light to make a few last casts.

It didn't take long and once again i felt the surgeing headshakes of a fish and watched as it came to the surface. Only to have me gear come flying back to me. Leaving only a scale on my hook as proof that i had indeed had a fish on, which was to be the last of the trip.

Dad and I fished till dark. I just soaked up the peace and solitude that only a river can provide while makeing those last few last casts. Color faded to black and white, and the orange glow of the sun was about to disapear, as i snapped one last picture. My favorite picture of the trip.

I'll call this one "Old Man of the River"

Thanks "Dad" for such a great trip. I'll think of it often, as i anxiously await our return to such a special place.

Signing off from the North

where rivers make things right in the world....and we catch a few fish too...which is nice!

Mark .....The Iron Skillet

Boot Beach 2010.....Day 2

2010-02-16T08:45:00.001-08:00

Day 2 of Boot Beach 2010 started out with questionable conditions. We'd recieved lots of rain overnight, and the river rose quite a bit, but hey we were here to fish. Lucky for use we'd brought along a few secret weapons and they paid off!
We started day 2 up river in one of Dad's favorite spots, we'd fish though the hole once, and we're going back through some less likely spots when i looked down to see dad's rod doubled over and it was fish on! This battle was exceptional for a fish that had been in the river for awhile, another hard fight and another fish with an adipose fin attached. Here he come's headed in.

A soft landing, and a quick pop of the pliars, and this guy was turned right around on his way. A healthy splash of his tail, and sailing back to the depths of river deserved high fives and a feeling of satisfaction for dad.

We fished awhile longer here, and i managed to loose 2 fish, seeing both breifly. Guess i'm just a little rusty. We headed back to the camper for some lunch then a quick trip into town for some gas and ice and a plotting of where we should fish this evening. The river was on the clear and dropping meaning for some more promising fishing.

Once back we headed down river into where i'd caught my fish the day before. Within a few casts i hear the rustle of boots on the beach and look down river to find dad doing this once again!

Another fish on! And this one was making a big splash....indicating a BIG fish!

Ya, it's a big fish!!!! Gotta wait for it though.....

WOW! Now that's a HOG and a hatchery fish to boot! Gutted and gilled this fish tipped the scales at 13 pounds, so if you add 2-3 pounds for the guts and gills this steelhead was in the 15-16 pound class. That's a nice winter fish in any river!

So, that ended day two of the trip. Just as we arrived back at the camper brother Ben arrived and we had a great dinner of fish taco's, cold beer and an evening filled with a lot of bullshit!

Stay tuned for day 3.......

From the North where we head south to see big fish too...which is nice

Mark...The Iron Skillet

Boot Beach 2010.....Day 1

2010-02-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

Well once again February has rolled around and the annual Boot Beach Camping trip was finally here. I think this is the third year we've fished during presidents day weekend, and it has never let us down yet. This year was no exception......so, here is how the story goes.....

My original plan was to come down thrusday afternoon, but those were changed since i had a JOB interview, and i wasn't about to pass up anything with the word JOB in it, so i did my interview on Thursday, and Friday morning i headed down to meet up with Dad for some fishing, while hopeing to here a ya' or na' on my hopefull job before cell phone service was lost........
At 11:30 cell service was lost and i arrived to find dad in the camper tying up some jigs, and getting things ready for some fishing. He told me how great Thrusday had been, with him catching 3 steelhead, with two being hatchery keepers...this trip was looking good already!

We had some lunch and fished a few spots, and then headed back to the camper and hit one last hole before calling it a day and heading for some dinner.
Luck was on my side and within just a couple of casts it was "FISH ON!"
This guy put up a great battle, lots of big powerfull runs and more than a couple of great jumps. After a few minutes, he was getting tired, and a quick visual inspection showed an Adipose fin still attached, indicating a wild steelhead that must be released.

A quick flip of the pliars, and me manageing to dump everything out of my pockets....He was ready for a quick "Grip and Grin" photo, and sent on his way back up river.

And that concluded fishing for day one.
We headed to "town" and along the way came into cell phone service once again. Low and behold i had a message from Barlean's with them wanting me to call them regarding my interview. With some phone tag and left messages, i finally got a call back just as dad and i were getting ready to eat some good looking Pizza! A short minute later it was a high five with dad, i had been offered the job!
What a day.....what a year! For the first time in over a year i felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders! I was to start on Wednesday at 8 a.m.......man...what an awsome day!

Stay tuned for days 2 and 3.......

From the North where things are looking up....which is nice

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Welchs' Bet's

2010-02-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Well, today found me home again with Isa. Thankfully she is on the mend and should be headed off to "school" in the A.M.. I'm amazed how fast a little medicine can work it's magic. She made a drastic improvement between yesterday and today! She felt well enough to help me work on the boat. She wants to go fishing, you know! As does Dad, but it's hard to justify with the work situation and all. The reality is, the boat has almost 2 year old gas in it (it does have a double dose of fuel stabilzer in it) and needs to be run. So, the last few weeks i've been chipping away at adding things in preperation of a fishing trip. I think after today, with the help of Isa, "Welch's Bet" or is that "Welched Bet" or "High Five" or "Big Red" ..........is ready to go on it's first fishing trip with me at the helm.
I know this may bore most of you, but this has been my bright spot as of lately, and i'm going to give you a little recap of the things that have been done over the last few weeks......so, bear with me........here goes

So the first addition to the new boat was installing my 9.9 yami. from the old boat. A great trolling motor, and i hope it will be a good fit on the back of this old gal.

In order to mount the kicker motor i had to install a new fuel water seperator system, that had two ports, and can directly draw from the 100 gallon fuel tank (yes, you read correctly, 100 GALLONS!). The nice thing about this new system is any water can be drained from the bottom of this filter system, and hopefully will ensure clean fuel.
My next big task was mounting my other fish finder/gps to the one dad left in there. At first i was just going to run one unit, but the more i thought about it, the more i liked running two. Why run two you might ask? Well, now i can run one unit in full screen gps mode, and the other unit i can run in full screen fish finder mode. Overkill you might think? Naaaaa....we're talking man talk here......more is always better! The nice discovery was the placement of the new gps antena. Notice the "hockey puck" with the cord near the window in the picture below. A little Marine 5200 and she was glued in place recieveing a perfect signal, even with my hand placed over the top! (A good thing, to say the least)!

A view from the helm postion, the cool part of these two units is the fish finder mode unit i put on a swivel base and will be able to turn it, so i can see it while running the trolling motor from the aft of the boat (Told ya i was gonna get a little detailed here!)A little more "messing about" and i discovered this old lowerance bottom reader in the dash. Dad had told me it didn't work, but to my surprise with a little bit of "elbow grease" i got this one up and running again too! Here's the proof, sitting in the driveway, she's reading 2' deep........and right she is! 2' from the bottom of the hull to the ground!Isa had a lot of fun today, She got to watch the movie Aladin up in the cuddy cabin, while i worked on the other stuff. I'd ask her quite often if she was done....and each time she'd say "nooooo dadda, i want to stay in the boat, we go fishing o'kay?". I told her this weekend, and i hope to keep my promise as long as the weather holds.And last but not least, we had to mount "woody" up somewhere. He still likes his postion on the bow. So i Think with a few zip ties we can accomodate his request!

So, from the North....

Where Boats, kids, and the promise of a fishing trip keep our chins up and we still spit into the wind too.....

Mark..."The Iron Skillet"

Hunting Daddy....We go Hunting...o'tay?

2010-01-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday and today found me home with Isa. She's come down with a cold that's going around, and since i'm not working much, i was glad to stay home and have a little Dad time with her while brother went off to school. It was a pretty quiet morning yesterday, and i'd been working on some laundary and cleaning, when i realized it had become just a little to quite. So, i found Isa in her bedroom. This is what she had on! (Notice the vest on the floor, well that was to be next for her atire) She saw me and asked or stated for that matter....."We go Hunting dadda, Kaikai not here, just me and you...o'tay?" As she reached for the sky and asked me to pick her up.....

This going hunting thing has become quite the thing to do as of lately, especially since Isa recieved her very own pair of Bino's over christmas. Just last week we (Kaikai, Isa, and I) made a very special hunting trip....to try Isa's new special Bino's....we were to look for "Bears" and Dears'". So we bundeled up and headed out.....lucky for me there is a nice little trail to the beach from our house that is "just right" for a "Quick give momma a break hunting trip"...

As you can see Isa put her Binoc's to good use. She must have stopped and used them a 100 times....and each time she would tell me that "evry ting looks toooo smawll".....Note the picture below.....

It took awhile for her to realize that she was looking through them Backwards! I wasn't about to spoil her fun though, and eventually she figured it out.

Kaikai on the other hand had to be strapped in. He's not one to follow the path very well, and was insistant on aquireing every rock and stick that was available, making for SLOW progress.....Needless to say, he wasn't real happy about being strapped in....I call this the "ejection seat postion" lucky those straps held!

We ended the trip in a small field just before the house. As you can see Isa was a little upset that we didn't see anything, but fortunatly there's always a next time.

So signing off from the North....

Where we "hunt" in our backyards, look for "bears and deers'", and get to feeling better too....which is nice!

Mark...."the Iron Skillet"

Easy come....Easy Go!

2010-01-22T06:31:00.001-08:00

Well as the title says......Easy come.......Easy go!
Yesterday Ol- Whitey" became someone elses. It was time to turn her loose. It was a good experience, and it proved that we COULD benifit from an economy car for me to drive around town (the savings in gas was amazing compared to the truck). The down side was that after Whitey's freeze up, she wasn't quite the same, and the fix-it costs were eating into the money savings department.
So.....off to the next owner.
A quick add on Craigslist and she was gone within 24 hours! The price you ask?????? Well, i'll just have to keep you guessing....but, more than i paid (she was free :)) or had invested. Now the quest begins for another free car, whose name may be Ol-White-Too!

Signing off from the North......
Where some things are free.....then sold for more......and old cars rule the roads!

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

Health care plans for pets? I wish!

2010-01-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

I think i may need to write a letter to our new president. I'd like to ask him to incorporate one more thing into his new Healthcare reform...it wouldn't take much, just a little extra wording, a little extra money, and a whole lot of drama between two political parties. Whats the the extra you ask....how bout a little health care coverage for our pets....ya know they get old too!

All jokeing aside, i got a little dose of how expensive the vet can be this last Sunday (ya, sunday, when only emergency pet clinics are open). What happened you ask.................

Well, here is the story...

Saturday night before i went to bed i loocked up the house and shooooed the two dogs off to their kenel for the night. They both looked like there normal selves and off they went. The next morning, we woke and took our time getting up in the morning, and finally about 8 a.m. i deemed it time to feed the dogs. I opened the door to find my old trusty (crusty) Dingo sitting there waiting paitently for his morning vitals, giving me the evil eye! Something drasticly wrong with him..........The picture says it all, look at his left eye!

I was shocked to say the least, over night his eye had completley clouded over! No ryme or reason, it just did! I felt sick to my stomach, and instantly thought my poor old dingo was going blind, and raceing thoughts of his doom were flashing before MY own eyes!
With steady hands Nicole thumbed through the phone book to find "urgent pet care" and a quick call was made. By 9 a.m. Monty was being seen!
The vet himmed and haaaaad over what was going on, and told me she wanted to do some blood work, and it could be this or that or some more of this and a little more of that.....By this time i'd come back to reality and my pocket book was starting to talk to me! With me being mostly laid off, every nickle counts around our house right now....and vet bills ARE NOT part of the monthly budget! So the vet talked me into the blood draw and a few tests and then she told me what she thought it was......Basicly Monty is to FAT! Something to do with Lipid cells carrying extra fat in his blood stream and somehow that can cause the eye to cloud over and if not treated fairly quickly can cause damage to the eye (although she did say it would take awhile to make him go blind). Her final soultioun were some pregnazone eye drops (a steroid) and it would clear up fairly quickly, and a follow up with my regular vet on Tuesday for the blood work out come, and a final diagnosis.
The vet then disappered for awhile and came back with eye drops and my bill. As i read the bill i came down to the total......$275! I think me turning white as a sheet was signal enough, as the Vet quickly left the room leaving me only one option of leaving and paying!

So, pay i did......after i got home and started the doses on Monty, his eye started to clear within 1/2 a day, and today it's back to normal. As for me i've stared at the cost of the bill about 10 different times......here's the breakdown.....$100 entry fee......$130 for the blood draw & labs.....$16 for the eye drops....and the rest is taxes and misc. charges.

So Mr. Obama.....how bout a pet care plan?........after that i need to talk to ya about my unemployment benifits...but that's a whole nother post alltogether!

Signing off from the North........Where pets get sick.....vets cost a lot.....and i'm broke now too........which is NOT nice!

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

Something Special

2010-01-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

So Saturday found me with a little time on my hands. Nicole and her mom entertained kids, and it left me to a little tinkering out in the shop. As i was cleaning i came across an old Green Chest. I'd aquired this chest when Nicole's Grandpa George had passed. Everyone always loves to see what's in a chest, and to my plesant surprise this one was filled with old wood working tools! Since the the chest made it to my house i'd always had the intention of mounting some of the tools in a shadow box and hanging them in our house. As it turns out the tools were Nicole's Great Grandfathers.....so prettty old and pretty cool!
With the shop cleaned, it was the prefect time to finish part of this project (the other part of this project is to make 3 more of these for other family memebers) and add it too a wall in our house.

A picture with me before it was to be mounted on the wall

On the wall, and looking pretty good!

Those tools also go with these ones i aquired from my grandfather when i built the addition on our house.

I'm not sure if everyone would think these things are neat, specailly hanging up in our dining room, but i sure like the looks of them!

So, i'll keep this short and sweet today

Signing off from the North........Where tools are used......as art too.....which is nice

Mark......The Iron Skillet

Look Who's Back!

2010-01-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday went from Fun to Fu_ked up in the matter of a phone call.

So as the story goes.......

I didn't have any pressing work yesterday, so i got up and got nicole and the kids on their way for the day and then worked on installing the pond safety net that we've had for several years, and that Nicole has asked me repeatedly to install, so i did. I'd dreaded this project, and figured it would take at least a day to get done. For once, not the case. I found myself done and the project cleaned up by 9:30! If i'd of known it'd go that fast i'd have put in on a long time ago.....!!!!
So once finished, i decided to go down to holiday market and sportsman wearhouse (sporting goods stores) to look for just one more hunting jacket. A quick call to my buddy Gene, and the two of us were leaving town by 11 a.m.. It was good quality MAN time, and the bullshitting never stopped. We were just about done and ready to head back North on I-5 when i get a call from Nicole at around 2:30 p.m.. Her first question was "Did you take the kicker motor off your boat b4 you parked it out at grandpa's old house" my answer "yes" ..her response....a deep sigh of relief. Then she filled me in on the rest of the story. Seems that some time between Monday and Friday some thieves stole just about everything they could get their hands one out there. She told me all this, but my initial reaction wasn't of much concern. Before i'd taken the boat out there i'd taken everything out of it....i mean EVERYTHING.....well, almost..
So, Gene and i'd headed back north with the conversation filled mostly with what we thought they'd stole....and what we'd do to someone if we caught them stealing stuff from us. The final plot of justice involved duct tape, zip ties, and an IRON SKILLET.....i'll let you fill in the blanks on that one. So, by the time we got back to bellingham, i had vented long enough and was ready for what we'd find.
We arrived around 4 p.m., and did a once over of the boat. Footprints were found inside the boat, and the drop curtian unzipped, but nothing was missing.....so i thought. Gene and i agreed that it'd be best to tow her back to my place, and get her out of the theft zone. I went to jack the big motor up....a.....no power...that's wierd....no power on both batteries......very odd.........
A quick inspection of the battery storage area revealed both batteries missing! Dirty bastards stole em!
So another trip back to town, to purchase new batteries, and back out to the farm with a handfull of tools to install the new ones (have to have a battery to jack up the motor so the boat can be towed home).
So i installed just one battery, after looking at the jumbeled f'd up mess of wires they left me with (installing both, in the dark, in a hurry, and with a handfull of tools wasn't the best of conditions. )

This picture really doesn't due the justice of what's in this small hole, where two batteries live...only Dad will know what a pain in the ass this involves.

So with the aid of Gene (I CAN'T THANK HIM ENOUGH FOR HIS HELP), and a little trouble shooting, we installed one battery, jacked up the motor, hooked the boat to the truck and headed back to my house in one of the biggest rain storms of the year, and one of the darkest nights i've ever driven in! (another PAIN IN THE ASS)

So, at 6 p.m., this is where the old gal got parked for the night. In the FRONT driverway, under the SPOTLIGHT!

So today i'm out to purchase a couple of big tarps, seal her up tight, and park her back in the hole behind the garage. I'd hoped to leave her out at the farm, under cover for 2 more months while i built the new carport she's to reside under...but, no dice there. Just means i have to build it faster!

So, that's my tale of woe. It could have been worse, that's for sure! Nicole's uncle had his brand new 25 hp outboard stolen off the back of his boat stored right next to mine!
The only thing i can say is those thieves didn't get much from me, after a phone call to dad, it turns out the batteries were older than dirt and due to be replaced. Still sucks though.

Well, I've rambeled long enough for today.

From the North.....where things thought safe aren't, stuff gets stolen, and justice is plotted too....which is nice.

Mark....The Iron Skillet

Christmas spending......

2010-01-07T15:32:00.001-08:00

Hello to all,
I keep getting emails asking why i haven't posted for awhile. In all honesty, there really hasn't been that much to post about. We had a good Christmas and it was a lot of fun, but Nicole's blog highlights all of that....so i havn't had much to blog about.
So, at the request of other's i'll blog about a little christmas spending.
We always seem to get a little mad money for christmas from mom and dad, and my Grandparents, and every year i try and purchase something i'll have for quite some time and when i use it i'll think of them.
So here are the things i purchased this year:

First on the list, a new Food Saver Vacume Packer. I have no idea how many fish the old vac. packed, but it was a lot! I hope the purchase of a new one doesn't give me the old Jinx on catching fish this next year! So, the Thank You goes to Mom and Dad on this one, i'll think of you guys every time i seal up a package of fish :) Second on the list of "must have's" was a new Cordless drill. I've been without for over a year, and today was the last straw! While working at Yeager's today building some shelving and installing a new office door i fought the cord to me elec. drill long enough and vowed to head to Hardware Sales once finished and buy a new CORDLESS drill....so i did! This Hitachi was the best deal in the place, and is ranked right along side makita and dewalt. This one just happened to be on sale.....so home it came.
So, Thank You, Grandma and Grandpa.....I'm sure i'll get years of use out of this one, and will be sure to think of you every time i use it!.......:)

Last but not least, my third and final purchase.......A new Hunten' coat. My gortex coat finaly died this last season, and refused to repel water anymore. So, a discovery in Cabela's Bargin Cave had me quickly ordering this nice Gortex Packable Jacket. If you can't see it in the picture.....well, it's because it's CAMO BABY!......i know a little corny.....but, couldn't resist.
So, another Thank You goes to Grandma and Granpa for this one. I'll think you every time i put it on, and head for the Mountian.

So there you have it. Not my typical Action, adventure, broken car, full of Bullshit typical story that i'm known for......just some normal stuff for today.

Signing off

From the North......Where men shop......and buy shit too!

Mark.....The Iron Skillet!

Christmas presents'

2009-12-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!!

2009-12-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-03T12:20:00.001-08:00

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'

2009-11-27T07:16:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-20T06:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T05:43:00.001-08:00

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'

2009-11-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-10-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-26T06:39:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-15T15:49:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

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"

Blue Sky, Berries, Bears....and SNOW!

2009-10-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I had this post all planned out but, for some reason this bloger program won't let me move my pictures around this morning.....so..... I guess i'll kind of go in reverse order here today.

Yesterday I found myself with a day off, and some time to get up into the hills to do a little hunting. What an amazing weather shift we've had here in the last week! As i parked at the trailhead yesterday morning i was greated to that soft crunch of new snow as i stepped out of the truck. Man i love this time of year! So, i dawned my gear and headed up, up, and up some more until once again i came out on "The Ridge" as we call this spot. What a cool hike. Nothing like hiking in deep timber, in the dark, in the snow and then pop out into a giant meadow basin filled with snow!

This isn't the most conducive for bear hunting, but with Deer season only a few short weeks away i wanted to check on a couple of Bucks that we've had a hunch would be hanging out in this basin. Sure enough, it didn't take me long and i found them. I wish i could have taken a picture of these two old grand bucks, but my battery died in the camera and the distance they were at wouldn't have done them any justice. Let's just say they were BIG! I watched them feed for over an hour and then eased back out of the area and messed around in another basin for a few more hours before heading back to the truck and back home by 4 to greet the family and have dinner going.

I love this time of year for the fact we go from summer to fall in a short weeks worth of time!
Look at this picture from just last Sunday. Although it did freeze up here that morning, it was 65 deg. at 2 p.m. when i took this picture!

This spot is refered to as "The Secret Trail". Good name huh? The seceret in this spot is there is NO trail! Anyway, no bears this day either. We ended up near the top of the rock that morning before asulting a few other spots and heading back to the meadow for some water and the trek back out to the rig. Chuck and I did manage to each fill two containers full of blueberries while we hiked around. Nothing like those berries. So sweet and tasty this time of year! Once home and sorted i ended up with 6 cups worth......just enough for a blueberry pie for Thanksgiving!

The Berry picking was really brought on the day before by these three chracters.

My friend Chuck his wife Minda and there two kids Jake and Livy invited Isa and I up to pick some berries and have some lunch on the mountian last Saturday. Actually Kai and Nicole were invited too, but Kai was sick that day so, they opted to stay home and rest. So Isa and i are never ones to pass up a chance to hit the hills so away we went.

Isa really likes Livy, and had to have a picture with her. So the wish was granted.

While i had the camera out, i might as well try and get a good picture of Isa with Mt. Baker in the background. I told Isa to smile.......and well, she did.......I call this her Cheezy smile.....eyes closed and all!

Not to be distracted for to long, we had some berries to pick right....so pick Isa, pick!

After not to long i here this little inocent soft voice say...."Look dada i pick berries" so i had to get a picture of that too.

Most of Isa's berries were consumed before they ever made it into the container, Jake and Livy's berries had the same fate. The kids had fun though, and a good time was enjoyed by all.

So with that, i'll wrap this up.

From the North.....Where blue skys are filled with snow and blue berries taste good too!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

For Sale

2009-09-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time to let her go. I purchased this boat in 2004, shortly after completing the dory. We/I have used this fishing machine a ton since it's arrival in our driveway 5 years ago. I've enjoyed it in all kinds of fishing conditions from flat calm to big swells and spooky white caps out here in the San Juan Islands, and she's always brought me home safely. She's been a good boat, used hard but never abused and now needs a new owner.
The ONLY reason i'm selling her, is that Dad has presented an offer on the big 22.5' Stratos that i can't refuse. So, i've polished this old girl up and preped her for her next owner. I can only hope they enjoy and use her as much as we have.

So, here are the spec.'s:
I'm the second owner, but know the first owener personally and have a full history of the boat from it's original birth.
Made by RiverHawk Marine in Salem Oregon in 1999 but sold in 2000.
Know as the Cuthroat model, and advertised as 20' long
Mercury motor, 1999 model year, also sold in 2000. Originally sold with a jet pump (hence the 140 jet decal) but the prop. was put back on prior to my purchase and is actually 200 hp.(no i don't have the pump). The motor has approx. 500 hours on it. There is no hour meter, so that's my best guess.
The motor has had new gear oil, new plugs done every year. This last april i also had a new water impeller installed.
The boat hold 40 gallons of fuel, in a center belly tank.
Hull has a 12 deg. v up front and flatens in the back.
Has duel batteries, with switch installed.

So there are the basics of the craft.

Price $8500 o.b.o.

Following are a few pictures

My next step is to get this girl listed on Craigslist, but for now i wanted to try it on here first to preview what i want to say......so hope you can all bear with me on this one :).

From the North......Where boats are loved most when .......you buy them.......and then sell them too!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Kaiden's Kitchen

2009-09-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, today i awoke to a sick boy. Kaiden spiked one heck of a fever last night, so it was my turn to stay home with him today. I don't mind, spending time with the kids....sick or not.....is time well spent in my book.
We made it to the doctor only to find out it's a virus, Rose-e-ole maybe? So, he was pretty chipper at the doc. but, that's what motrin can do. So we came home, and he was ready to eat some lunch.
This week every day after work i've worked on completing the kitchen project, and i'm happy to say Minus one piece of floor molding, the kitchen is DONE!
So today was as good a day as any to break in the newly redone kitchen nook. I placed Kai at the table for the first time, and his eyes got as big as a saucer! He is now officially a "BIG BOY"!
Needless to say he was more than eager to eat some food. Sooooo he had some mac and cheese, a hot dog, and some real cheese followed by some purple juice. He was more than happy! (one must note that wouldn't normally make this kind of meal, but it was there and quick!)

So, you can all see Kai, enjoying his big boy chair.
The door trimmed out, Nicole's wonderfull hutch, and the old table ALL put back in place.

A little of everything here, looks like this will be a good place for the family to eat and be together at meal time!

This isn't actually a lunch picture, more of a breakfast shot of the boy and his "milk and toast". He was actually waveing at the time, since i told him he needed to hurry up and eat so we could head to the doctor.....or in "kai..kai" language....we go "bye-bye's"

So, check another one off the list for me. Now on to the next project. What might that be you might ask? Stay tuned, there's always lots to do around an old house like this!

From the North......Where kids get sick......dad's play Mr. Mom......and kitchens nooks are used again too....

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

The Secret Bowl

2009-09-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

Friday marked what we deemed our first bear hunt in ernest. So we headed up a certian Divide trail and dove down into one of our favorite Bear Bowls.

Here's a shot of one of our favorite spots.

Another shot, just a little differnt angle. I had a pretty good viewing spot this morning. Found a nice deer/goat bed (goat tracks were everywhere!) that was nesteled right into the side slope next to a patch of jack firs. Great spot to hang out for a morning.

Chuck set himself up lower down in the bowl in a similar spot, with a little different angle to view from.

Unfortunatly, no bears showed this morning. We thought surely, that we'd see one. But, not the case. So, at 11:30 we called it and started our hike out of this beautiful country.

We decided to head up, to intersect the trail. In the past we've headed down. But, at noon, Chuck informed me he wasn't feeling well, and thought he had the stomach flu, and that he'd already puked up his breakfast. Said, he'd waited till then cause he didn't wan't to ruin the hunt.

So, up we went. This is a shot half way to the top, Zoomed in on the pukemaster.

Zoomed back out for a little perspective. Chuck is the little dot!

We finally reached the top and the trail. Mt. Baker decided to poke its head out. So I had to get a picture of it with a portion of "The Secret Bowl"

Once back on top we made our way back along the trail. We then came to a huge bowl that i couldn't resist takeing a picture of. I'm sure there are bears in there on occasion, but there is a lot of foot traffic on this trail which follows the ridge line to the right hand corner of the picture where the green turns to rocks, where the trail then dives off the other side of the mountian and back to the rigs. I was impressed by the vastness of this basin, hence my reason for sharing.

So, by 3 we'd finally made it back to the rig. I felt great, but Chuck looked like hell! I'm still in awe he ground his way though all that and made it back to the rig.

So our Bear season has now started in ernest, and we'll be hitting the hills just about every weekend between now and november.

So from the North, where it's good to be back, the hills are full of berries, men hike sick, and we do some hunting too!

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

DONE!

2009-09-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official.....as of 1 p.m. today i'm all finished up with the projects here down south. I actually got WAY more done than i had originally thought i would. As of now, both rooms are totaly done! That includes trim, moldings, shelf system, and moving kevin back into his beloved "blue room".

So, included are some finishing shots of a job even i'll say are well done!

A picture of the first room, with some molding up.

Another shot, of the done floors with trim installed.

A shot of the custom shelf Trudy asked me to build.
We had some flooring left over, so with a piece of plywood and some handy saw work....a nice looking shelf was born.

A little better angle of the nice looking shelf.

What would you put on such a nice looking shelf, one might ask...........................
Well, kevin's New Wii video game station.....of course!

A pic. of everything hooked up ready to go for when kevin comes home on the buss here in a few minutes.

We, also have to have one last look at Kevins bedroom, with custom thresholds installed, and a picture to capture some of the custom joint work at those non-square corner sections......just a little challenge for me!
Look at this corner work..............Don't worry, it wasn't that bad of a head scratcher.....Hey, maybe that's why i don't have any HAIR!

And, last but not least. A few pictures of kevins room ALL DONE! Look at what a nice room this boy has!!!!!!!!

And one last look at those good looken floors, and a Spectacular room!

From the South where bald men burn in the morning sun, projects get done, and i'll return to the north tommrow too!

Mark.....the "IRON SKILLET"

Have work????? Will Travel

2009-09-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

I made the statement a while back that....I'd travel anywhere for work....So, not long after i made that comment i discovered i'd been booked to do some work in....of all places.........Vegas baby....VEGAS!!!! Turns out my inlaws had heard that statement and had big plans for me.

So on friday i found myself on a plane headed for Vegas to install of all things Bamboo Flooring. Now i've done all the flooring in our house, but it was the fake, snap together flooring. This flooring Cal and Trudy had picked out was the real deal....no fake stuff for them. As i rode on the plane i could only hope that things would go smoothly.

Saturday found Cal and i running around for a compressor, a hardwood flooring Nailer, and a few other misc. items needed for the install. Finally after a couple of extra trips we got things straightend out and flooring started to go down. I finally quit at 7 p.m., but i'd almost finished the first room. A long day but the success was worth it! Here is a shot of the first room done, this is to be kev's temp. room as we worked on his room.

Sunday, i awoke to a new helper eager and willing to help haul out old carpet, throw away the old pad and pull all the staples from the floor. I kinda think Kevin was eager to get this stuff done, because then he'd get his room back!

Take a look at this intense concentration!

Got to have a shot of my bald head pulling carpet....man i really am bald!
Sunday night found me about 3/4 of the way done with Kevins room. Finally around 3 p.m. my body said it'd had enough, and i had to quit for the day. So here is where i left it for Sunday night.

After hard work like that and 100 deg. heat, there is only one thing that sounds good.....

ICE COLD BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Old Leroy....or Elwood, as i call him, shared a cold beer in celbration of one room done, and 1/4 of another to go.

Well, it's time to get to work.

From the South where it's Hotter'n'Hell, dogs still drink beer, and we put down some floor too!

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

The Outside's DONE!

2009-08-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what can be done when you wake up at 4 a.m. and can't sleep. Don't ask me why, but lately when i wake during the night weather it's 2 a.m. or 4 a.m., i have a hard time getting back to sleep, so.....yesterday morning was no exception. So i got up, while everyone else slept, whent outside to find it surprisingly warm, and thought "What they hell, why not paint." So, that's what i did. Yes, it's dark at 4 a.m., but the outside light was just enough to keep me painting until dawn broke at around 6. It was actually pretty peacfull that early, and the "Old Dingo" was more than willing to keep me company.

By, 10 a.m. i had the trim all painted and was done with the paint! I'll say that even i think it turned out pretty good.

From the yard looking at both sides.....Truely DONE!

As for the inside it's getting closer. One more layer of mud on the taped seams, and it will be time to apply some texture to those newly sheetrocked walls.

Todays tasks include, the above mentioned layer of mud, Stain the deck, make another batch of Kraut, make some Zuchini Relish, and start the boat cleaning process. If I get that all done, there is always more to do around "This Old House"..........and my list is LONG on "to-do's".

Well, signing off from The North.......Where we rise early, work all day.....and finish things too!

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

SAUERKRAUT.....the first batch of the season

2009-08-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Well, after 3 weeks, my first batch of SauerKraut was ready to can. So i emptied the crock and ended up with 10 beautiful pints of wonderfull tasting SauerKraut!

I actually had 11 jars, but number 11 decided not to seal, so to the fridge it went and will be consumed in the next few days! Now it's time to start batch number two! There are about 6 more good sized heads of cabbage still in the garden.......so, they will be processed this weekend!

Well, that's all for now.

From the North, where "Kraut" is consumed, and MEN can things too!

Mark...."The Iron Skillet"

Rocks up!

2009-08-25T06:50:00.001-07:00

This last Saturday found me at home fullfilling my promise to Nicole that i'd get the sheet rock up in the kitchen. So that's what i did. Of course, as everything goes with an old house it took longer than expected. So after a trip to the store for some more elec. wire to move the light switch for the outside light......and then actually completeing the lightswith move, and finishing hanging the rock, i was finally done around 4 p.m..

Now it's time to tape and mud. Something i've had little experience with but, i'm sure with a little patience it'll come out fine.

So, that's it for this post. I'll be sure to post an update once the tape and mud is up, and ready for texture.......One things for sure, this project is getting closer to being done, and we're all looking forward to eating in the kitchen.

So, From the North, where promises are made and kept, and we hang rock too.

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

A Few Fish

2009-08-24T06:32:00.001-07:00

The last two weekends i've been fortunate enough to be able to go out fishing. The weather has been nice enough to make the journey out to the West Side of San Juan Island. This is an 80 mile round trip, and has to be perfect weather to get out there and back. But, as luck would have it both of these weekends the weather gods smiled on us and allowed us to fish on "The Outside".

Lots of fish running on the outside, with the chance at a little bit of everything.....Pinks, Silvers, Kings and even a few Sockeye!

Saturday the 15th found me fishing by myself, since the guy that was supposed to come along was a "No Show". To bad, he missed out on some FUN fishing. I lost countless fish that morning, Including a nice king. I finally setteled on 3 pinks and a nice Sockeye. Needless to say i had my hands full running the boat, running the downrigger, and netting my own fish.....nothin' better than a little excitment!

Isa insisted on a picture with me, so here is Isa.....and the fish.

I'd already started on the cleaning proccess when Isa reminded me of a picture of the catch, she kept pointing at "The big one dada....what's this?" So, the big one is the Sockeye, and Isa can't help but touch it.....just a little.

Yesterday, found me and a couple friends back out at the same place, in search for some more fish. The action wasn't as hot as the weekend before, but we still managed a cooler full.

Always, have to have that "Full Cooler" picture

My helper was right out, once again asking "What's the big one dada?" Lucky for us we were able to boat a small king, about 7 or 8 pounds. Isa, insisted on a picture.....and once again, had to touch it....."just a little" (Mama is getting tired of cleaning bloodspots and fish slime out of this childs clothes !)

We released another small king, and lost a handfull of other fish. At the end of the day we setteled on 5 pinks and one king. A fun trip filled with constant action, and some good B.S.'n was had by all.

This will probably be the last trip of the season for me in my boat, starting this next week it will be cleaned out and spiffed up as i get ready to sell her, and prepare the house for it's up an comming replacement! So stay tuned, pictures will come some time in September of the new boat.

Well, sigining off from the North......Where we catch a little of everything, don't turn our nose's up to pinks, and kids like fish too.

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

For My Grandmother

2009-08-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

My Grandmother gave me the coolest flower bulbs this last year, and recently they've been giving us quite the show. Enough for me to admire them daily, and exclaim how pretty they are.

So that being said, these flowers are truely worthy of sharing with everyone else.

So, here they are....for all to enjoy.......

For the life of me i can't remember their names......it was "Mexican.....sumthin sumthin" i'm sure Grandma will let me know.

In the mean time, i'll continue to admire them, and then think of my Grandma's special gift as i watch them continue to bloom.....and bloom......and bloom.

Thanks Grandma, for such a special treat.

From the North......Where Men like flowers, and have a soft heart too..........

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

THE QUILT OF ALL QUILTS!

2009-08-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well, the title says it all.
My Mother has quilted for years, and has produced MANY wonderfull quilts!
But, that being said, this last visit she showed me a quilt that i truely fell in LOVE with.
This is one of the COOLEST quilts she's made.......and she's made a TON! No insult to what mom's made in the past, this is the ONE that just struck my fancy the most.
So.......I just have to share with everyone else in the world.

So, here it is........the ULTIMATE SALMON fish quilt.
NICE JOB MOM!

Of course we have to have a picture of MOM with her product.
Again, what an AWSOME quilt!

I'm sure in the short, near, future i'll have a picture to share of the finished product.

BUT.....for now, everyone can DROOL at a glimpse of the BEST fish quilt around!

From the north......where we fish....and admire QUILTS too......

Mark...."THE IRON SKILLET"

PROJECT UPDATE

2009-08-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many have wondered if i've made any progress on the house project.....and well, yes I have.

Over the course of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, i managed to go throught 8 tubes of caulking, 3 skill saw blades, and just a few pieces of hardi plank siding left over from the additon of 2004.

As sunday ended i found myself done with sideing and caulking....a big relief since the rain started on monday!

so a couple pic. to prove i've made progress.

The done side, ready for paint!

And, another side ready to paint.

Getting closer,

now time for some "rock" on the inside, and some paint on the outside........

From the North where projects continue.....and we complete some too.........

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

When you think you're all alone?

2009-08-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

hello to all,
Haven't posted in awhile, but been a little busy. So i've found a little time this morning.

With last Sunday, marking August 2nd, and the 2nd day of Bear season here in Washington, the urge was too much to resist and Chuck and i found ourselves near mt. baker. Grinding out some trail and batteling the bugs!
After 4 miles of being in the timber, we finally broke out into the open....and a few less bugs, to allow us a couple of quick pictures.
Mighty pretty country!

Have to have a picture of the "c-man" with is modified head net. Those hunter orange saftey vests worked suprisingly well, for keeping the bugs out of our faces....yes they were that bad!

Just when we thought we were all alone, we hear the sound of a chopper. Odd time to hear a chopper, especially up here. Pretty soon, the chopper bears down on us, and sets up at a hover at eye level! Pretty wierd, it was a border patrol chopper....and we were a hell of a long ways from the border!

After a couple of waves, he hovered on down the ridge towards where we'd parked the truck.
Turns out he was looking for lost hikers, and he actually found them a short while later.
(two young men, that got lost and spent the night) So i guess he had a reason for buzzing us.

an hour later we reached the end of the trail, and were at where vegatation ends and rocks begin.

Here is a shot from the end of trail, we proceded to dive down in the hole from here.

It wasn't long and we were down in the bottom looking back at the top where we'd been just a short while ago. At this point one thinks about the fact that we have to go back UP THERE and then still back to the truck!

It was worth going down though. We spotted one of the biggest bodied bucks either of us had ever seen! To far away for the little digital camera, but we ended up eating our lunch, watching the deer and searching for fossil rocks for over an hour.

Another shot of some of the bottomlands. Hours can be lost exploring such beautiful country!

Well, after lunch and some exploring it was time to head back up and out!

We'd reached the trail and were about to head back into the timber, and i had to stop and get one more picture. Again, sure is pretty up there

So, singing off from the north.....

Where bugs bite and choppers buzzzzz too......

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

The Window is IN!!!!

2009-07-26T20:22:00.001-07:00

Well,
The window is finally in!
I picked it up on Friday, went crabbing on Saturday morning and tyveked the outside of the house Saturday afternoon. Leaving Sunday WIDE OPEN to pull the old slider, fix any dry rot....and if any time allowed?...install the new window! Think i got it done???????????

Here's a shot from Saturday evening. Showing the "done side" and ready for Sunday morning!

Sunday was an early get up, i knew i'd have a lot to do, even if it was a small opening.
Sure enough once i pulled the old sliding glass door and started chipping away near the chimney, i discovered the dreaded dry rot....that eventually all old houses seem to have.
So i spent about three hours chipping away and replacing a couple of old studs, while trying to be careful not to destroy the old lathe and plaster on the family room side of the house.
By noon, i had misson accomplished and after a quick trip to home depot, some even quicker framing, a lending hand of Chris the neighbor, a few choice swear words.......AND....VIOLA....THE WINDOW IS IN!

So above you can see a picture of the entire projects goal...... out with the old and in with the new!

Have to have an inside picture too ya know. although much less dramatic, you at least get a peek of what it's going to look like on the inside.

A little insulation, some Sheetrock, some siding, and........BAMM......BAMMMMM...... i should be done! (not to fear, I'm sure this will take me a couple more weeks to totally wrap this up, between work, fishing, and hunting....so be sure to check back cause I'll have some more to report)

So, after a HOT hard days work, the old dingo and i settled down in the shade of the deck and "cracked" a beer to end the days hard fought victory.

So from the North, where the sun shines during the dog days of summer, and it's HOT TOO!

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

PROGRESS MADE!

2009-07-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
Well, when i left you last time there was a lot of work left to be done, and to be honest there still is. I've had a LOT of help over the last week or so. The family has come back and i've had to really ramp up the amount of work the Iron skillet can produce. Soooooooo, with a skillet in hand.....true work started.......all the sideing removal from the side of the house where the new door, and around the corner where the window is to go started in ernest Saturday....Cal and Trudy no offense but.......i needed to get some stuff done.....sorry if i wasn't real social......

So....skillet and all, this is what was left Saturday night, when i was done in..... both by heat and work! Sunday morning left only the window to be pulled and the new door installed! Yes, i in fact found a door to match both looks and price as Nicole had requested.......see further down for a picture of the fancy new door!

The skillet / window prior to removal.

I had a lot of supervisors and help over the course of this last weekend. One of my favorites and most helpfull was Capt. Kevin and 1st mate Woodrow.....along with an Iron Skillet.....OF COURSE!

Thanks Kev. for all your help, i couldn't belive how strong you were helping me getting the door out of the truck! Good job BUD!

Not to be outdone, the old DINGO, was in action supervising with his favorite Beer! As a side note....did you know that Dingo's actually like a lime in their Corona?......don't ask me how i know this.......

So, i've got to include a couple pictures of progress....RIGHT!

So, here is the new door, with a some insulation installed. We're still waiting on the window...any day now i'm told. Have to say i like this door, although a little paint, sheetrock, and some finishing touches i'll REALLY like this door.

We have to have a picture of the whole scene here....Dingo, Door, and work to be done, pay no attention to the BEER......the Dingo insisted on haveing that in the picture!

So, that's all for now.

From the North.....where projects unfold, Dingo's drink beer and things get done too!

Mark...THE IRON SKILLET

Work in Progress

2009-07-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hello to all,
Well, while Nicole and the kids were gone, i was told i would have the prime oportunity to start on replaceing the sliding glass door with a new 48" by 44" Garden/bay window and put a regular 36" door where the old window is.
Over course fishing, hikeing, traveling.....etc. kind of got in the way a little while they've been gone, but i did make some progress.

The end of Monday night, found me with one wall stripped of it's Lathe and Plaster. I have to say Demo work is something i enjoy! How could a man not enjoy breaking and destroying something? I first crancked up the music as loud as it'd go playing something like metalica or AC/DC.....Whatever hard rock was playing at the time. Then i went to the shop and got a GREAT BIG SLEDGE HAMMER, came back in, let out a "War Hoop" that ratteled the widows and swung for the fences! It felt great! I repeated the hollering and swinging until i was horse and ran out of cold beer to wash down all the dust that came off of the plaster.
About 10 p.m. i was done, and had things cleaned up enough for a picture. My only company monday night, was the Dingo....Old Man Jed thought i'd gone crazy and would have nothing to do with me!

Tuesday night found me back at it again by 5 p.m.. With a much bigger hammer, some more beer, and an even better hard rock radio station. I made short work of the remaining wall, and had everything cleaned up and in the utility trailer by 10 p.m. (this even included mopping the floors!)

Again, i could only find one friend that night, the old Dingo did his job again and supervised me quite well. Although, i found that a can of beer opened or closed is fair game for this dog if it's within his reach.....a true supervisor......
So that's where the project stands. The window should arrive today some time, and i have yet to find a proper door that Nicole will like both in looks and price. Hopefully i'll make some progress this weekend, between all the other adventures that happen up here in the North.

Well, From the North...........Where projects start with WAAAAAHOOOOOOOO and dogs drink beer too!

Mark....The Iron Skillet

The Derby

2009-07-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hello to all,
I know I haven't posted in awhile, but....i've been busy.
I intended to post about Sarnia but, time is short this morning so, i thought i'd do a Derby Recap instead.
This year, due to a broken boat, i didn't think i was going to get to fish the Derby, and was disappointed to say the least. At the last minute my friends Gene and his wife asked if i'd still like to fish the derby and fish out of there boat. Needless to say i jumped at the chance. In the mean time, my boat was fixed and put back together in working order. So, my return trip from Sarnia was planned so that i would arrive on Friday, and as soon as i got home from the airport i'd be ready to start fishing.
Friday found me home by 2 p.m., and fishing by 4 p.m.. Although solo, it felt good to get my big boat back on the water, even if i didn't have nary a strike, and by 8 p.m. i was headed back to the dock. I was in bed by 11 p.m., as i laid my head down on the pillow that night, i did the math and i'd been up for 22 hours.....what a journey that day had been!

Saturday, 3:30 came all to soon, but i managed to drag myself out of bed and meet Gene and Yolanda at the boat launch at 4:30.
It was a beautiful day and I had a good feeling for the day.

As we were headed out of the Harbor i noticed this little gal in the front window of Genes boat.
A dancing hula girl, placed there for luck. Being pretty superstious myself, i had to give her a couple of "strokes" for luck!

We were fishing by 5:30 at my favorite spot, Indian Village, and within an hour we had our first fish on. It was short lived, and only a few head shakes were felt before it spit the hooks. A good sign, but no fish in the boat.
Another hour went by and down went Gene's rod. A short tug of war ensued, and as the fish was almost in the net, when out pulled the hooks. A sinking feeling to see a 10 pound king laying on it's side for a couple of seconds, just 1 foot to far from the end of the net! Off it swam, back to the depths.

20 minutes later, and down goes my rod. I fight the fish as delicately as possible not wanting to lose it, but 10 feet from the boat, the fish takes a funny turn, and out come my hooks! Another 10 pound fish...GONE!

0 for 3, Things weren't going quite as we'd hoped but, we were to stick it out all day, and stick it out we did.
We trolled and trolled and trolled and nothing happened!

At 5 p.m., we started talking about packing it in and heading in. We'd decided on one more pass, and then we'd go.

Well, that last pass paid off and then some. My rod took a dive, and the fish tripped out of the downrigger before i even got it out of the holder.

My Knuckle Buster reel screemed in delight, and Grandpa George's old fenwick rod doubled under the weight of a big fish!

The fish fought well, with long runs, and powerfull head shakes, a great fight for a great salmon.

Gene did a textbook net job, and fish in the boat!

Back at the docks, the fish weighed in at 25 pounds 13 ounces.

We were in the Derby now!

Sunday, was a weather change and the fish were down, with few biters, and for us that ment none.

At noon, the results were in and our fish placed 9th! Not bad at all. My prize was a $300 Bradley smoker. Something i've wanted for quite some time, but could never afford. So things work out for a reason, i picked the smoker, and then gave Gene the smoker i made of wood, since he didn't have one and i promised to build him one. So we ALL got a prize, and some fish to boot!

So, in closeing, i've included my half of the fish. A true SLAB of meat, and ohhhhhh soooooo good!

From the North, were derbys are fun, and we catch fish too!

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

Back In Action

2009-07-04T20:03:00.001-07:00

Well, thought i should post before i head out for a week, meeting up with the family.
So a little weekend recap is in order.
Saturday found the Big boat fixed and BACK IN ACTION for the San Juan salmon opener.
We went 0 for 3 that day. I still am in disbelief that we lost 3 king salmon Saturday. Hopefully, that's all out of my system and when i return for the Bellingham Salmon derby, luck will be on my side.

The weather was outstanding and the gear....as shown..... was working perfectly!

Have to give you folks a shot towards Anacortes, still amazed with how nice it was!

While returning, to Bellingham we found this floating all by itself.
I swear we saw Somali pirates jumping off the back!

Closer inspection revealed an abandoned ship.....set to drift to find its fate somewhere on the bottom of the San Juan Islands.

So, i'll keep this short, and will be sure to post after i return from my adventure to the farther North.

From the North....where boats are in worse shape than mine....and still float too.

Mark....."The Iron Skillet"

Preseason Hunting Hike

2009-06-29T06:05:00.001-07:00

After what seemed like a busy week, Sunday found my hunting partner Chuck and I looking at Church Mtn., for some preseason scouting for Bears. I Goal for the day was to ascend the Western portion of Church Mtn.. This hike was also to test how good our physical stamina is, and if we needed to put in any extra effort before August 1st. rolls around and the season truly begins.

So here is a shot, not to far from where we parked the rig and started our bushwhacking up the Mtn. (there are no trails that lead to the top of Church Mtn., sure makes for some rugged going!)

Here is the view of Baker where we parked the rig and headed into the "Big Timber"

We started our hike at 6 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. we were almost to the top. It was windy, wet, and icy cold near the top. The ground got so steep is was like climbing a ladder and every foothold counted. The new green plant growth is sure slick with a little water on it. Neither of us took a picture at the steepest point, it just wasn't worth trying to fish a camera out of our packs at that point.

So on the decent, i found a flat spot and snapped a few shots.

This is a shot of a more manageable portion of the slope, but still steep though.

We side hilled for quite a ways, checking meadow pockets, that we wanted to see.

At one point i looked back up the hill, and saw these clouds blowing through at around 30 mph., they were worth the shot, and i like to call this next picture "Bear Country".... A prime spot to see one strolling through, unfortunately we didn't get to see a bear on this trip, just lots of sign.

Here is a pic. of the clouds that moved in seconds after the above picture was taken, the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip, enough for me to stop and put on my thermal top!
Checking the meadow pockets finally paid off, and we came across these four deer feeding. The one in the lower left corner was a nice buck, he wasn't going to have much for horns, but was big bodied. I took this picture at about 150 yards, i know it doesn't look like much, but the digital camera doesn't do much justice for distance shots. Was sure fun putting the sneak on those deer though, and made the hike that much more rewarding.

And lastly, the find of the day. I found a nice hiking pole, laying in the Salal as we were going through the Big Timber on our way up the Mtn. I guess we aren't the only ones crazy enough to try such a hike. What are the odds?
By noon we'd made it back to the truck and had covered around 5 miles. We both felt good, and weren't to sore or tired. A good preseason hike, to get our legs under us!

This morning as i reflect back, i can't help but think what a difference a year has made. Being 55 pounds lighter, and exercising almost every day, found me with lots of energy and feeling GREAT after a hike that would have destroyed me this time last year.

So, I'll close with that.....From the North.....where we hike for a purpose and see animals too!

Mark....The Iron Skillet

The Weekend

2009-06-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well,
When i last posted on Friday we still had to finish off they day. So we met up with mom out at school and had a good visit. Then we headed home and prepped for Dinner.
The only way to end a school year off right is with some homemade Pizza!
So i had three "Iron Skillet's" ready and when Nicole arrived home we created our own "favorite" pizza's. Not sure which are which here but, the pictures almost do justice to how good these were!
I think this was Nicole's creation.
I'm pretty sure this one was my own personal creation: Needless to say i ate it ALL!
Saturday found Isa, Gene, and I headed back to Lake Samish in search of some more of those tasty little trout. This would make 3 days in a row for me.

Isa was all smiles as we returned to the Launch with a cooler full of Kokes to take home.
She prided herself with picking out all the worms prior to there fateful offering on "The Hook"
We couldn't just go alone, So my good friend Gene came along. Good company, and GREAT with Isa. Gene (and I, for that matter) finally got our "cup of coffee" on the return trip to the launch....The fishing was just to HOT to stop for a cup!
I couldn't help but snap a photo of "a man with his coffee" since the topic was the punchline for most of our mornings constant fishing action.

And of course,

we have to get one of those signature "limit" shots. So here is the limit for Isa and me. Another good trip!

So you may ask what we did for Fathers day....... well only one guess......

What else, a trip fishing with the family.

Nicole agreed to go and take Kai along for the ride too.

He didn't like his life jacket was the understatement of the day! So fishing was short lived, but we still managed to boat 7 fish in 40 min. of fishing. That's when it was "time to go" as level 4 of 5 meltdowns had started to occur.

I still enjoyed having everyone in the boat, and it was Kai's first trip to boot!

So a picture of the troops to document our first outing all together.

Not necessarily all smiles though.

And, last as a closing shot to a good weekend.

The old Yami. doing it's duty on another trip, pushin' the dory at maximum speed....8 m.p.h.!

Signing off from the North......Where father's fish with friends and family......and have fun too.

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

Down To A Science

2009-06-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

So the last two mornings I've awoke at the early hour of 3 a.m., to continue trying my had at catching some more of those tasty little Kokanee out at Lake Samish. You may be wondering...why would i get up that early? Well, even I'll admit that's pretty early, but I have to be back home by 6:45 so that Nicole can head off to work, and i can watch the kids.

My goal is to acquire a limit (5 fish) before i need to be home. This is easier said than done. So here is a little break down of how things have to work.

It doesn't get light until 4:30.
I need to stop fishing by 5:45. Giving me enough time to get back to the boat launch, load the boat on the trailer, and heading for home by 6:00.
It takes 30 min. to drive home from the boat launch.
It takes 10 min. to stop and get Nicole a mocha on the way home.
So that leaves 5 minutes to spare!

So since I've made a job out of this entire ordeal......

Here is a picture of my office for the last two mornings, things are working just as they should.

So after all that, you might ask if i achieved my goal?

well, yes, both mornings in fact.

Pretty good fishing in my book!

Gotta have pictures to prove it, right?

This mornings final product before it hit the freezer.

Mission complete.......We've got quite the stack of these in the freezer right now. I think a little canning, and some smoked fish are in the near future.

So hopefully the rest of the day will go as well as the start did.
The kids and i are to pick up some lunch and visit with Mom on her last day of school. Should be fun, I'm sure she'll enjoy our company on her last day.

Signing off....From the North......Where fishermen are hard core....and trout are cooked in an IRON SKILLET!

Mark ...."THE IRON SKILLET"

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

2009-06-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Once again, the Iron skillet found himself at home.....and some cooking was in order.
So our Tuesday night meal was one of our favorites. Chicken Enchilada Casserole....Cooked to perfection in.....an IRON SKILLET....What else would i use?

Here is a picture of the final product, right b4 it came out of the oven. You can see the cheese is just getting that golden brown top.....Perfection!

Here is a shot right before being placed in the oven. There are layers of cheese, tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce, green chilli, beans and a little spice that will put the hair back on a bald mans head!

Gotta have a picture of "mixture" prior to a layer of cheese and tortillas

I wish i had a few more pictures of this to share, but sadly it was eaten so quickly that it was gone before i got a chance to snap any photo's!

So signing off....From the North......where bald men grow hair too!

Mark...."THE IRON SKILLET"

CHOWDER TIME!

2009-06-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning found us waking to rain. We haven't had any rain for quite some time, but for some reason the rain we had Wednesday morning reminded me of Clam Chowder!
I haven't had Clam chowder for a long time, and i don't think I've ever made it.
Well, as you can see, i can scratch another one of the list of "made that now....in an Iron Skillet"

I ended up using some of the horse clams we dug while Nicole's family visited. They are perfect for chowder! Ground through the meat grinder made them just right.
Here's a picture of my bowl full.
No Clam Chowder is complete without Oyster Crackers
Mmmmmmm.....looks good!

So while i was making chowder, i had the kids play on the deck. Was just right, i could keep an eye on them and they could have fun.
Little did i know that Isa filled up her little play box with a whole bunch of water! (So much for keeping the Eagle eye on them) She figured out how to turn on the hose and help herself. (I'd put just a touch of water in for fun)
As you can see, most of the water ended up on the deck!

Here's a better shot of just how wet things got!

KaiKai's diaper looked like a marshmallow it had so much water in it!

And last but not least,
A picture of Isa that says it all about another great day spent with
"THE IRON SKILLET" A.K.A. DAAAAAAAAD!

From the North.......Where chowder's made........and Kids, both big and small, have fun too!

B.O.A.T.....Break Out Another Thousand

2009-06-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

With all the mentioning of the big boat being broken, i guess it deserves its own post. So here is the story.
A few weeks ago while install a new drain plug, i decided to check under the boat and make sure everything looked o.k.. To my Horror, i discovered 8 GIANT cracks in the hull though the bottom of the boat! It was a pretty sick feeling!
After talking with the builders of the boat i was out of luck on them fixing it. So a Aluminum Fabricator here in Bellingham agreed to do the work. So after we made a plan of attack, i started in on dismantling the boat.

First things first. Off comes the big motor. tipping the scales at 500 pounds this was no easy task! Thanks to some expert help from my two good friends Gene and Jon, we had this job done in a little over an hour. I couldn't have done it without them. There connections in the marine/aviation industry were well used in both guidance and use of equipment!

This is a picture of one of the 8 cracks throughout the bottom of the boat.

A boat without a motor just doesn't look right!

As of yesterday i removed the center fuel tank, cleaned out the bilge area and only the fuel filter remains. My hopes are to get it to Dwayne's shop sometime tomorrow. His guess was he'd have it for 10 days to 2 weeks before I'd get it back from him.

In all he'll have a total of 16 cracks to fix. Once i started looking i found more and more. Hopefully his strategic placement of his new welds, a few added brace points, and better welding penetration will solve the problem!

So the plan is to run the boat (once fixed) through this summer, and then look at selling it this next spring and move up into a little more saltwater friendly boat.

From the north.......Where boats cost more than their owners can afford....and wives put up with a lot too!

Mark ......"The Iron skillet"

A Morning of Kokes

2009-06-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well, with the big boat broke down i found myself still wanting to go fishing, and since i had to take everything off and out of the big boat, why not reinstall some stuff on the dory so i could at least do some lake fishing. I'm now glad i decided to do so.
This is the outcome after a morning of fishing at Lake Samish this last weekend. The fishing for these tasty little guys was outstanding. I fished a total of 1 hour on saturday and 40 minutes on Sunday. 4 Nice Kokes and one cutty' was the result for Saturday. Sunday turned out 5 nice Kokes.

These are Saturday's fish
Have to get a shot of the view and fishing conditions out of the dory
Back at the launch by 7:10!

A side shot of the dory before loading her up and heading home for some breakfast

In hindsight I'm glad i didn't sell the dory this last year. It's been a lot of fun with Isa this year, chasing trout in our local lakes and there are a lot more in its future.

From the north.....where men get up early.....and catch trout too!

FIRST POST FROM THE IRON SKILLET

2009-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

hello,

well bear with me this is my first attempt at posting on the blog. Minus Nicole's help none the less.

So this week I've found myself laid off 4 of the 5 days, and all of next week. Between working on the boat, and watching kids I managed to muster up a typical Iron skillet meal for Monday night.

The first portion of the meal was to be salmon patties and shrimp cocktails

Followed by the main course of fresh trout from lake Samish. A couple Kokanee and a couple Cutthroat trout, marinated to perfection and placed in the rack for a proper cooking.

Have to have a picture of an Iron Skillet in action. Boy those Salmon Patties turned out great. I even ate one cold the next day (and i don't like anything cold that has to do with fish, they must have been good!)

Tuesday, found me finishing up the deck project. The lumber is now all in place, I'll wait to stain it when Nicole and the kids are off on there Vacation.

And, lastly a picture of a combo of both new and old product. I tried to reuse as much of the old deck as possible, Once stained there shouldn't be to much of a noticeable difference (at least i hope so).

So that's my first blog from the North....Where we eat well.....and build decks too!