Bunkhouse Livin’

I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to communal housing and I never know what to expect.  Group situations can easily be some of the best times of your life (like SCA New Hampshire Corps’ magical cabins) or it could be simply mediocre.  If luck isn’t on your side, it could be straight up awful.  

Currently I’m staying in a government bunkhouse which is conveniently located in the same compound as the office and various shops and garages.  It has the capacity to house 12 seasonal workers in six bedrooms with two beds per room.  The beds have the option of being bunked to create more space but I left mine separate.  

A sleeping bag, flannel/vest pillow, and bed sheet. I’m all set.

This summer we had six folks in the bunkhouse, five men and myself.  Three were Minnesota natives while another was from Illinois and a the fifth a Coloradan.  We all happen to be students at various stages in our college try with most of us graduating this upcoming spring.  I lucked out this year with a seasonals all the chill side and hardly any conflicts to speak of.  Although we all purchased and cooked our own meals, occasionally we would go to the local watering hole, The Pond, or into Bemidji for dinner.  

For entertainment there’s a ridiculous amount of movie watching.  I’m thankful that no one is a huge fan of horror or thrillers since I’m easily spooked.  

The Princess Bride

There’s also a massive amount of fishing which entails a filleting process whenever they boys return from a trip.  Fishing trips normally took place after work during on a weekday so I generally opted out since my bedtime was earlier than most.

Not even close to catch limit.

Art (foreground) is a filleting pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With six seasonals working in different departments, our bedtimes and morning alarms were staggered.  Lets just say the walls in the bunkhouse are excessively thin but I tend to be a heavy sleeper.  The problem was falling asleep in the first place. 

This hallway gets spooky at night when you’re alone.

Communal living is great because you have an automatic social circle (or just as easily, people you don’t get along with).  Asides from random dinners together or trips to the grocery stores, we’ll help celebrate someone’s 21st birthday on a work night.  

We lost count of drinks. Happy birthday, Ben!

Plenty of naps take place in quiet Blackduck.

Zack atop a picnic bench because ticks.

A decent amount of baking as well.

Even saving a kitten left on the highway shoulder!  

The capture and relocation of a woodchuck.  

Root beer keg for what seemed like endless floats.

Lee starting the wild bunkhouse kegger.

The fields across Highway 71 sport magnificent sunsets that my photograph doesn’t do justice.  

 

 

 

It’s just me and Lee now.  My days are numbered and I’ll be leaving Blackduck in less than two weeks.  I haven’t started counting down by days but the day that I bus back down to Minneapolis will be seem like a surprise sure enough.  Things are quieter than they’ve already been, we were never much of a rowdy group.  This season with Jarrod, Art, Ben, Lee, and Zack has been a relaxed one and that’s an interesting way to have experienced my summer.  

Living room

My food cabinet in a state of disarray.

One of two bathrooms.

July hail storm.

My room

Trusty backpack and chacos.

Photo blog: Great Minnesota Get-Together

The USFS was at the Minnesota State Fair on August 22nd to inform the public about the 2014 Capitol Christmas Tree which is coming from the Chippewa.  Talk about killer.  I got to travel down with folks from the office as we spent a couple of days in St. Paul.  At the state fair there were tables set up so that folks could make ornaments for the tree.  The state fair is significantly larger than any in Washington and I must confess that I was overwhelmed.  It’s common knowledge that you can find practically everything and anything on a stick here, most likely deep fried as well.  There were some amazing displays and so much going on.

Again I can’t figure out how to format the photographs to fit together so I apologize for the lack of structure.

Random critters were scattered around Como Park in St. Paul.

Como Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Como Park

Como Park

What a building!

My supervisor Lisa in the middle.

State Fair Crew

Sleeping on the ground so they gave me all the pillows…?

Patti informing guest about the USFS.

Sweet youth based program!

Holler at Beltrami.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way too many people for comfort.

 

Milk samples, of course.

 

Wendy, the woman who keeps the office organized.

 

Structure in the background is the swine building.

 

Biggest boar, 800 pounds.

Holy smokes quilt

Delicious cider! Can’t wait for fall in Washington.

Salmon on a stick??

ALL YOU CAN DRINK MILK FOR A BUCK

Mandatory food on a stick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo blog: Weekends

With three day weekends I’ve got plenty of time to do whole lot of nothing.  However with the good graces of bunkhouse mates who have cars, I get to go on the occasional adventure.  Lately my weekends have been shortened to the standard two-day weekends most folks get as I fill in at the office on Fridays.  Here are some photographs depicting what I do with my days off.  Wordpress is too smart for me and I haven’t figured out formatting so apologies for the lack of structure.

 

Judy and Aaron hosted me my first weekend in Minneapolis!

Judy’s and Aaron’s cat, Frank.

Minnesota really likes large statues of things. This is in Bemidji.

 

 

 

Twin Cities pride.

 

 

Rugby!

There’s a lot of sporadic baking on the weekends.

Fourth of July in Bemidji.

Turns out you can’t escape ticks.

Sundays are usually grocery days. Zack and I don’t know what happened to the Cheerio’s bee.

Hammerschlagen at the Pond.

Fishing Lake Gilstead.

Fires outside the Bunkhouse.

Tall Timber Days in Grand Rapids, MN.

A weekend at Lee’s family’s cabin on Horsehead lake.

Tried to read Walden by the lake…

Sauna/boat house.

Egg bake with hashbrowns, cheddar, eggs, bacon, ham.

Tamarack!

The boys.

Lee caught this sunfish minutes after I released it.

Zack has a dragon fly buddy.

More strange statues- giant tick in Bemidji.

Backwoods Bash in Blackduck, MN. Zack’s driving the engine.

 

 

 

There’s something about snail mail

A random box appears!

It’s the excitement of checking your mailbox (or in my case, my desk) every day to see if there’s an envelope addressed with your name waiting. Sealed carefully with prized contents, careful not to rip the whole thing apart, I turn the envelope over a few times.  My heart rate rises as I spy a new object that beckons for attention.

Outdated. Due for extinction. A thing of the past. The postal service has been fighting a losing battle since technology like cell phones and the internet became mainstream but I still check for mail daily. Usually in Washington the only mail I get are hospital bills courtesy of a rugby injury or items from the university. However receiving letters from friends this summer has been a blessing. Living in Blackduck has been tough at times with my social circle only amounting to a handful of people, mainly with the boys who live in the bunkhouse.

I’m terrible at responding to letters in a timely fashion.  I suppose that’s one of the reasons why people are straying from them- our society demands an instant reply to emails, text messages, and the like.   Another reason you might be on the losing end of being my pen-pal is that my thoughts are often in disarray.  If you’ve read any of these blog posts that’s evident.  I’m not eloquent and sometimes my letters are too long or sometimes they’re too short.  Writing was never my strong point but I like to think that these activities are helping.  Corresponding by mail even allows me to vote thanks to Washington’s absentee ballot system.

Do your civic duty. For reals.

Greetings from Coco in Canada!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most amazing things to receive are care packages.  My best friend Emily (we caused mayhem in NH/interned together for SCA) sent a birthday/care package that completely turned around a tick ruined day.

Emily managed to fit a t-shirt in there. Talk about magic.

Kadrina’s gifts

 

Last month Kadrina, a friend who I interned with at One Reel, surprised me with some gifts from Seattle.

 

 

 

 

 

Vienna’s surprise

Today I got back from the field to find a box from Amazon.  Vienna had some snacks and a tin of badger balm sent to me.  Talk about surprises!  The last thing I need in Minnesota is food though as I’m trying to eat what I have without letting any extras go to waste.

Letters are magical though because you never know when you’re going to get them, who you’re going to get them from, and when you just might get one.  However, if you’re not of the snail mail fan club stay in touch via more advanced technology – I lose track of people far too easily.

 

 

The wall’s totally behind…

An update on bunkhouse life- I’ll eventually write a more detailed post on what that’s like.

The fellas from the bunkhouse have been leaving one by one as summer comes to a close.  Jarrod left August 1st while my work partner Zack plans to leave either the evening of the 19th or morning of the 20th.  Zack”ll be heading back to Colorado for his last year of school and has been amazing to work with as well as hang out with in the evenings and weekends. Art and Ben (who were out West for fire duty the last 14+ days) both start school the week of the 25th which will leave just me and Lee in the bunkhouse.

My time in Minnesota is dwindling as I’ll spend about a week in Michigan visiting Emily and a couple of days in Wisconsin before wrapping up my time in the Midwest with one last weekend in Minneapolis.  A last long flight will see me in Seattle on September 22nd.

Despair

A haiku to describe the feeling Zack and I often feel:

Stocking surveys dwell

Mosquitoes and deer flies swarm

Work waits for no one

 

Despair is an emotion that can easily overtake a person.  Stocking surveys are fairly effective at causing despair.  It’s not stocking surveys themselves that are so dreadful but the environment in which we conduct these surveys.  With mosquitoes still in full force, now joined by deer flies, we continue to tread through swamps and wetlands.  We’re in our final push though with less than 25 stands to survey out of the original 110+.  With help from the Linda the silviculturist and Corey the timber supervisor, Zack and I might get away with finishing the project at only 13 stands this week which might be too optimistic.

Zack takes a frog selfie

Selfie take two

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although there are the rare moments of sunshine when we stumble upon a dry stand.  One day we even found one that reminded Zack of Colorado and me of the West with the sparse undergrowth and an actual view atop the even rarer hill.

The Colorado seeming stand. Directly ahead of Zack was a vista

We’re a crazy breed choosing to forego the use of DEET most days.  My hands have heaps of small residual bumps from mosquito bites and the scars left from deer flies ripping off tiny chunks of flesh.  Generally our layers and mosquito nets provide adequete protection but once in awhile I give up and douse myself in the neurotoxin, choosing momentary protection over potential long term health effects.  Zack does the same.  Those are the rough days.

A few of many bites

Running a circle polt

 

 

 

 

 

 

We often work in standing water

 

Rough days are also days like today where Zack and I both only got a few hours of sleep.  I spent what seemed like all night tossing and turning (this hardly happens) and avoided checking the time multiple because that would’ve destroyed me mentally.  On the last snooze it was tempting to just shut it off and keep sleeping.  It seems like my partner in crime had the same issue in his room.  Luckily our groggy morning led into a day taking the YCC crew out to re-mark trees in a sale unit rather than stocking surveys.  We’re planning on knocking out the remaining units this week.  Thursday is bound to be another stocking survey day before what will seem like an endless amount of data entry.  Here’s to timber.

 

 

 

Sarah from recreation lends a hand

A ridiculous amount of thistle grew in this unit

Wild berries for the wild minded

Blueberries out of all berries have a permanent hold on my heart.  They are physical embodiment of grand memories with even grander people.  Blueberries are a quick break while doing trail work with my best friend Emily while we served on hitches in the White Mountains (NH).  They’re hiking around Acadia with some friends from SCA’s NH Corps and getting to enjoy Maine’s renown berries.  It’s seeing someone one last time, capping off a day of swimming below a waterfall with an important friend before she moves from Washington to South Carolina for six years of grad school.  Now it’s picking with folks from my first federal position and getting to enjoy the beauty that Minnesota offers.

Some fool wore chacos… lessons learned.

First go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zack the forager

First pickin’

My like for berries, especially wild ones, should have been evident by now.  Wherever we do stocking surveys Zack and I run into raspberries plants and oftentimes blueberries in addition.  We’ve seen strawberry plants but they’ve long passed their prime and have been bare for weeks.  During a survey I once asked Zack if he ever felt like a bear when he picks berries.  He replied yes and I was relieved to know I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.  There’s a decent chance he could’ve just been humoring me but…

Second time around

On Thursday Sarah from the recreation department did stocking surveys with me while Zack check cruised some timber with our supervisor Corey.  Our survey site was located off the Southeast corner of Decker Lake and my, oh my!  Berries as far as you could see.  Nearest to the road were blueberries and as you traveled further south to the survey, raspberries.  It was a perfect picking moment as the mosquitoes weren’t out and the deer flies were hardly a nuisance.  However our mission was to complete the stocking survey in order to move on to a new site- of course it goes without saying we did grab a berry or two as we walked.

Generally being a less than observant person, I excited told Wendy at the office of our find that afternoon.  My excitement spreading, Wendy decided that she was going to pick berries after work and easily convinced me to go along.  Linda was in as well and we all met up at six and set off.  Come to find out, the site I was so stoked about was where Wendy, some of the seasonals (Zack, Ben, Art, Karl), and myself had gone to our first and only other time berry picking.  This time we were on the South side of the road though.

Wendy fears no mosquitoes

It was a glorious picking as we nearly had our buckets filled in less than two hours whereas the first time around I didn’t even have my bucket a third of the way full in what was probably about the same time frame.

Second pickin’

 

There wasn’t enough time to go after raspberries with the blueberry bushes loaded with tiny fruit.  What was I to do with what would be over 24 cups of blueberries?  I talked about canning them on the ride home and Wendy just happened to have a pot and extra jars/lids/bands I could use and was kind enough to drop them off that Friday morning.

 

 

 

Honey!

Never having canned anything before I spent what might’ve been a ridiculous amount of time reading how to can and jam recipes before going with a simple berry, honey, and lemon juice one.  The viscous honey eliminated the need for pectin which I was more than happy about.  I finally got around to processing the berries and making jam on Saturday which turned into an over six-hour ordeal.  With the mosquitoes biting during berry picking I had put quantity over quality end ended up with heaps of leaves and twigs in my bucket that I had to separate from the berries.  Making the jam itself and canning it was actually the quick part.  We’ll see how the jars keep and travel as I plan to ship them to my folks in Washington.  Although the freshly made jam was delicious on just as freshly baked bread.

 

 

 

4 cups of magic

Starting to boil…

Remnants