Thoughts from Mom ~

There’s an  old saying that goes, “In the spring a man’s thoughts

turn to love.” Well in the fall, his thoughts turn to hunting!

Here’s a little poem I jotted down one evening as I sat thinking of

our little piece of paradise we call Woodpecker Hollow.

We Are Deer Hunters

Three of us at the family camp

Dressed in green camouflage

Guns and ammo ready

Quietly walk down the trail

Then climb high into the deer stand

I hear not a whisper

Just the sound of my own breath

Warm and moist against my face cover

Suddenly a snort of a passing buck

Rifle raised, resting firmly against my shoulder

Deer in the sight, hammer cocked

Squeeze gently now

Goodnight deer, goodnight

Mom Reese- Vorp

"Faith is not believing that God can, it is knowing that He will"

Interior Walls

May has arrived and so have we with over 30 sheets of drywall, mud, tape screws, sanding blocks and other sundry tools and materials.  Operation "Inner Walls" has begun.  Weather was against us, but fortunately we thought to bring an enormous tarp with us so we could keep the contents of our cabin -- which we had moved out to the picnic tables -- protected while we worked indoors.

John got right into supervisor mode and Dave and I just threw in as directed.  Pretty soon we had the cabin emptied and contents covered and the truck and trailer unloaded and set up inside the cabin.  We began almost immediately and soon had the entire downstairs sheeted.  Then we moved upstairs and did as much of the loft as we could reach. Finally we put John's homemade scaffold together and finished the vaulted area.  Then cam the mud and sanding. By this time, we had worked for a couple of days straight and were already beginning to feel the effects of our effort. It took us 3 days to finish the mud and sanding stage and finally, paint.  The colors chosen were "Soft Sage" for the ceilings and "Antique White" for the walls.

Take a gander at the slideshow above to see a brief run-through of our work and then note the pic at right of our beautiful new Cub Cadet 19-horse, 44in deck, lawn tractor.  I have since already mowed the main access-way into our part of the woods and our own driveway, as well as the trail down to the center of the property and look forward to completing the trail grooming later on this summer.

Looking forward to the weekend......

Hopefully, this will be the weekend the guys install the solar panels on the cabin. So far the weather forecast looks fairly promising. Another of our projects involves "cleaning up" scraps of this and that, tossed aside from previous projects. Possibly this may be something that April and I can start working on. 

We are also planning to clear a real nice area not far from the cabin that will be dedicated to our loyal, loving four-legged friends. I recently lost my beautiful Sheltie companion of fourteen years - Sheila Nicole. She loved going up to camp with the family,even though, unlike Marley, she preferred the cabin to the woods and water holes. She will be the first of our beloved pets to rest forever near "the cabin at Woodpecker Hollow."

Mom

And the work continues..........

Harvey, John, David, April and I spent the weekend up north working on the cabin. Saturday the guys wired the cabin in preparation for solar power. Not fully understanding how it works, the only way I know how to describe it is that we now have “electric” by way of a car type battery through the use of an inverter. Is this correct guys? Ok, stop your laughing……I did my best to explain it.  I am completely in awe of what the guys did! After getting it set up, we went out to “celebrate” another project done on our cabin………and an awesome project it was to say the least. When we returned back at the cabin we turned on the inside overhead light with the use of a remote, as we drove up to the cabin. It was the most weirdest, wonderful thing in the whole world……….to see a light come on inside the cabin that has only been lit by  propane ..…….and that was turned on by remote control yet!!!

Today the guys finished installing the insulation up in the loft and covered it with plastic. So except for a couple small areas downstairs where they had to remove a small portion of insulation to install the breaker box and the wall receptacles, the insulation work is finished, yay!!! We are now getting excited over the possibility of covering the walls and ceiling with finished plywood or nice paneling that we can live with, is suitable for our home away from home, yet hopefully is fairly inexpensive.

April and I did our best to help out by sweeping, washing some stuff, straightening things out and getting rid of junk, handing things to the guys, carry stuff and trying our best to help where needed.

The solar panels have been ordered and should be in some time this coming week. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the guys will be able to install them next weekend. I couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate my 70^th birthday.

Mo Vorp

2012 - New Year - Big Plans

Well, it's late February of 2012 and we finally managed to get up north to check out the cabin and all of the other camp sites our family has up there. It's been a pretty rough winter with most of us coming down with at least once or twice a cold or flu, so it's nice when a 40 degree weekend comes along and neither John nor Marley nor I are sick. So, we headed up north to check things out, take down John's new portable deer stand and let Marley run for awhile.

The days were beautiful, if still a little chilly and the skies were that brilliant cobalt blue you see in early Spring (even though that season is yet upon us). We did a long hike over to our neighbor's property -- who is gracious enough to let us hunt there when he is not up himself -- to take down John's stand and to look for sign of that big buck that both he and Tom saw last year but failed to bag. Since it looks as though that old guy got away again, I am ever hopeful for an early archery shot at him this year!

Marley has well defined her territory and always comes when we call her, so I am feeling very comfortable leaving her off-leash when up at camp now. She still doesn't like it though when we leave her in the cabin, to go into town for supplies or a breakfast. John and I are working on a device to take an aerial photo of our camp using a digital camera and a couple of helium-filled balloons. I'll post the picture once we are successful.

We're trying to lay down all of the work we have ahead of us as we have big plans for the property this year. David has finally proposed to April and they want to get married up at camp, so we need to fix the road, at least do a partial finish of the cabin, put in some sort of a decent power and septic systems, as well as some sort of water casement. So, busy, busy busy!

2011 Hunt Report

Well, the season came and the season went and this year I failed to bag my deer. It didn't help that I was only using a bow to hunt and that I basically saw very little deer this year. We did manage to get a look at and even do some hunting over in the Nemaji State Forest area, but no luck there, either.

Both John and Tom managed to bag deer though and between them we processed 2 bucks and a doe. No too bad a haul. We are averaging roughly 3 deer per year off of our 20 acres, so that's not too bad, I think.

We did build a couple of brand new stands this year and managed to clear all of our major trails so next year will be a lot easier moving around. I'm thinking of trying to do a little fowl seeding to bring up the numbers of grouse and pheasants on the property. We have plenty of squirrels and not a few rabbits, so I'm not too worried about them. The turkeys in the area are basically not being hunted so their numbers are growing significantly. I'm hoping to draw that turkey lottery ticket so I can take a chance on one of these majestic birds.

Anyway, not much more to report. Hopefully, we'll have a better year next year!

Checking In

Well, here it is the middle of March in Minnesota and there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground. But, the days are getting longer, the sun is getting warmer and soon, it'll be Spring again!

John and I trekked up to camp last month and spent the night when temps got down to around 4°. But, even though it was mighty cold outside, our woodstove kept us snug and warm inside. It was quite difficult cutting through the hard snow just to get back in, but John's jeep made short work of it and once in, we were, afterward able to come and go as we pleased.

This past weekend, we again made a run up, just to see how things looked and to site-in our new Bear Charge bows (see picture left) which we had purchased with our tax refunds. And, as with the previous week, there appeared to be no human disturbance in the area at all, and everything was just as quiet as you can imagine. We had one smallish tree-fall that had to be moved off the road, but otherwise, there were no further issues.

The bows perform magnificently! I found I couldn't miss my target once I got used to using a site with a bow. John still needs to do a mite of adjusting on his to account for his eyes, but otherwise, they are spot on. I can't wait to put mine to use on turkey, deer, whatever!

Lastly, when we were up during the last weekend of the hunt last year, we had lost the canopy from our gazebo. Well, I ordered a new red one and it is ready to install at camp, once the weather gets a little more into the rainy season and less the snowy one.

Happy 7th New Year!

Happy New Year Folks! Nothing much to report as of now. Mostly just to let you know that today marks the 7th anniversary of our ownership of the property! This is most exciting to us, as you might image, and we are really looking forward to ramping up for the Spring runs. What with all the work we have to do around camp and of course fishing and camping and trail riding, it sure looks to be a busy Spring and Summer for us.

A question has already risen about the Summer Get-Together and Yes! We are going to try to put this on as an annual event, so mark your calendars, family and friends! We are looking at potentially trying again for the second week in August -- the weekend of the 13th and 14th -- and I promise, we will get the road fixed long before then and will have many more activities to do, as well. And hopefully, even more sleeping space.

Fall Hunt - 2010

Well, the hunt did not go as well as we had hoped. The first wee was OK, not being to very cold or having too bad a weather situation, but it seemed like the neighbors, who were camped right on the State Park Line were shooting every thing that came up out of there and we hardly saw a thing. I let a little wee one go and never even saw another all season. John shot a smallish button buck which we turned into some really tasty ground meat and sausage, and on the last day, Tom pulled off a nice shot and got a spike.

W are planning to try some differant stuff this coming year which should put us back on track, including starting out in archery season which puts us there long before the neighbors and should give us a fighting chance and some Spring and Summer plantings that hopefully will create a draw for the deer across our property from a different direction from the State Park and make it fair for all concerned.

Family Get Together

As noted in my previous posts, there was much work to do. Rob and Vicki came out early last week to both settle in and get started on some of the tasks. Rob and John did some major clearing around what is now being called the camping area, or camp grounds. This is the area directly to the south-west of the cabin, in amongst the trees of what might be called the side yard. Rob also stabilized ans built on to his 10x16 platform creating a small front porch for it, as well as a real nice step for the side door. Later on, due to weather issues, we were forced to also add a big 18x20 tarp over it to protect it from the rain and wind.

Rob, John and I finished the 10-foot section of the Pavilion Deck and mounted the Gazebo irons and roof to it. John had to welt it in a couple of places where it had broken. Then we set about putting up a somewhat sturdy, if not very pretty guardrail around it finish it off, at least for this year. Rob then set about assembling the 10-foot picnic tables which he later painted in a nice green. He also painted the smaller picnic table and the front door. Rob also built a ridiculously sturdy little coffee table that I may just keep as a firepit table or something. John continued to work on the roads as much as the weather would allow and he also welded the futon bed up that I brought with me when I arrived. Mom, Vicki and I, when I wasn't mowing, made further preparations for the upcoming party event.

Mom hung her curtains which look fantastic! They have a real nice deer print on them. Mom and Vicki also organized the cabin and picnic areas and Mom bought a nice canopy for to cooking area to protect from the rain. Dan came up later in the week and he and John worked on the signs for the party. We ended up having to hold all of the cars at midway down the Pine Hill Trail and had to go out with Our 4x4s to ferry folks in. This was due to the rains that simply wouldn't stay away and left us with nearly car-sized, foot deep puddles to wade through for most of the road back to the driveway.

The Party was a blast! We had a fireside bar-be-que on Friday night with cake and beverages and music. The Helseths were represented in fine style by Mom-Irene, Donna, Deanna and Al Kunitz and their daughters. Speaking of whom, Emily came with her new husband Keith Miller. Thanks guys! Also my kids came and Dad and Ma and Janell were there. Of course, along with my turning 50 this year, Ma turned 73 on that following day and so we carried the festivities on into that Saturday with Bar-be-que ribs and chicken, cold salads and fruit. We finished off the day with another bonfire and some wind-down time as most of the party goers had gone by that evening.

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of beds we have and the rough camp grounds and the weather we were having, many of our folks had to stay in hotels for the night. Next time, we expect to have a bunk house completed, along with smoother campgrounds, more tarps to cover tents and a better road down which to travel. Also on the docket, a Finnish Sauna and possibly, a 8-10 person Spa. But first, a well.

Building the new Pavilion Deck

Well, we are at last in the process of rebuilding the gazebo. Actually, as you can see by the title, we have taken to calling it the Pavilion Deck, or simply just Deck. This is due to the fact that the "gazebo" portion is only going to be a small part of the deck itself and will more resemble a rectangular pavilion than a polygonal gazebo. On the first weekend of July, I began digging 9 of the overall 11 3-foot holes that would be used to hold the poles for the deck. The first row of these I managed to get cemented in by the end of my stay.

Two weeks later, John, Mom and I went back up north and while Mom started working on cleaning the cabin and measuring the windows for the new curtains she is making, John and I finished leveling and cementing in the remaining poles. Then we laid on our outer frame rails and the inner cross rails and made ready to receive the primary joists (see first image). We, John and I also added a project to our weekend to slightly move, widen and deepen the firepit. Now, in its new location, it is more visible and accessible to the front of the cabin, while remaining a safe enough distance from it. Also, it is now roughly five feet across, 1 foot deep and is surrounded by 1 ring of stones. This will allow us to have some really lovely bonfires this Summer.

Another two weeks has gone by and this time Dad joins the three of us and helps John and I finish the lower (or main) deck. John and I had also built a rather sturdy set of steps to front the deck and provide easy access to the platform. We installed joist hangers and used pressure-treated wood to create the structure. We used 16-foot deck boards to clad the deck with and built a special joist setup so we count wrap the entire deck in mitered decking boards to give it that "picture-frame" look.

Preparing for Summer

Not much to report from the property up north this Spring. In April, John purchased a Camp Shower Tent for our Zodi Camp Shower unit and set it up next to the cabin, on the unused tiles from the Gazebo, which we took down to make room for clearing the front and side yards around the cabin. He even built a little sidewalk to get to it from the Cabin porch.

We also, by request of brother Rob, built a 10x16 platform for under his big tent that he is bringing with him this year. We are planning a big get-together reunion of family and friends to celebrate my 50th birthday. So we are working madly, to get the camp ready for the big weekend. While my birthday is on Friday, August 13th, and yes we will be partying a little that night, we are having the big party day on Saturday, the 14th.

We have also begun work on the new Gazebo, which will be a rather large affair measuring 16 foot square on the main landing, roughly 3 feet off the ground, and having a step up to a 10 foot square situated on and hanging over the corner of the bigger platform. To this square, we will rebuild and recover the metal gazebo structure that we have stored away. Eventually, there will be a roughly 5-foot staircase off its back side that leads right down to the trail that goes over our little creek bridge.

Finally, we have 2 big 10-foot picnic tables to construct, and trails and clearings to mow to get ready for the big weekend. Much to do! Much to do!

The 2009 Hunt

Sorry guys! I did it to you again! I keep letting the posts trail off after awhile. I promise I will endeavor to do better in the future.

Anyway, on to the hunt. November came in quite beautifully, if a bit chilly. We had, sometime in the months previous, picked up a Zodi Camp Shower unit, so we felt we were pretty much better prepared for a week-long stay in the cabin, so long as we had a way to keep ourselves clean. Opening day looked full of promise. We -- Dad (Harve, Sr), John, Tom and I -- had spent the previous night settling into the cabin, having had a great meal and told many bad jokes and old stories and generally preparing, with great anticipation for the upcoming day.

Morning came far too early, but we were up and into all business mode as we donned our gear, packed our lunch cans, loaded our guns and capped off our hats with trail lights. Tom and Dad had the furthest to walk, so they left fist, followed closely by John, who decided to hunt neighbor Jeff Jarosz' place, as he had given us permission to do the night before. He and his wife were dealing with some health issues that, as he explained, would prevent his coming up for the hunt this year. I followed last making sure to turn down the lights and creep very quietly and very carefully to my perch. Given all of the gear with which we were encumbered, I think we did a pretty good job of settling in without really making much noise.

Quietly and patiently we sat, calmly waiting for the break of dawn. We could here the early morning critters awakening. We even saw shapes moving about, but it was just too dark to make out anything. Suddenly, just as the sun is getting ready to pop up over the eastern horizon, to light the sky, down the lane come a crashing, squeaking, rumbling noise of a big 4x4 as our western neighbors came bumbling in to their property. Then, of course they whack-crashed through the brush and bramble as they left their truck, having made sure to very loudly slam its doors, to stumble out to the stands, which they made certain to rattle quite a bit before climbing into them!

Not a very auspicious start to the hunt! Any way, later on that afternoon, we got a visit from a couple of very cute DNR officials (hey ladies!) who were checking on a flyover report that said we were baiting. We showed them that we had recently been clear-cut and what looked like corn from the air was really sawdust shavings from the lumberjack's blades. That was our Saturday, pretty much in a nutshell.

Sunday, however told a different tale. Again we crept quietly out to our respective perches. Again we suffered the noisy intrusion of our lower neighbors' entrance into the area. but an hour or so after full light John spots a beautiful 3/5 spike and shoots it as it is running away from him and drops it on the first shot! His first deer, a buck and running away! A guy couldn't ask for much better. So I got down out of my stand and helped him haul it back to camp. By then Dad had come in so the three of us, dressed it out and hung it.

Later on that afternoon, I was sitting in my perch when I heard a crashing coming from the north part of the property, right along the line. At first, I couldn't see anything. Just then, a tree seemed to move. Then I saw that it was a deer walking cautiously up the border. His nose was in the air and he was being extremely careful about each step. Practically, in slow-motion, I raised my rifle and peered through the scope. I laid the cross-hairs right on his left-front shoulder, took a slow, steady breath and squeezed the trigger. I had heard many stories about the first deer. Buck fever. Nervous reloading. Freezing up and watching it walk right on by. But I experienced none of that. Rather, I felt calm and focused on the task at hand. And that little button buck dropped like a stone, dead in its tracks. My very first deer. At 49. I was elated. Oh, and he tasted good, too!

Tom would go on to close out the week collecting 2 more, one right on top of the other within a 1 minute period of time. So with a harvest of four, 1 doe, 2 buttons and a spike, we had a great hunt for 2009.

Deer Fort

For sometime now, John and I have been working on building his new deer fort. Basically, it's an 8ft by 6ft cabin, with balcony, 9 feet in the air. It has a fantastic 360° view of the entire property and will act as a great summer tree house shelter or overflow sleeping cabin for Spring and Summer camping activities.

We located it behind the cabin, on the other side of the creek where deer stand #1 sits. This cabin will replace that deer stand. Next Summer, we hope to add a lower platform with a nice picnic table and chairs and some hooks for lanterns and hammocks. It sits just 5 feet from a beautiful twin oak tree so ought to be real nice in that setting.

Next time up (10/3) I'll be doing a little work on my tree stand to get it shored up a bit, put some weather walls on it and make a new ladder so I can easily access it. It was a stand we were contemplating for removal, however given the way my knees are acting up and the close proximity of the cabin and the basic traffic patterns of the deer, we made the decision instead to shore it up for use this year and then rebuild it a little higher up in the trees next year.

We picked up a couple of trail cams from Gander Mountain and have been using them to monitor our deer plots and trails. We have caught a lot of does but the big buck, whose hoof-print is nearly the size of my palm has not yet shown up on the camera. We left the cams up north for the last 2 weeks to see if he gets in the shot. Will let you know if we get a picture of him.

Wood Stove

Well, we finally did it! Due to some rather creative financial dancing and careful shopping, we managed to get a wood stove, pipe and crown, along with the protective wall board. It cost a little under $1000 for everything which makes it 1/3rd the cost of the entire cabin! Still, it works like a charm and sure heats up the place. Too much so, if you ask me. Still, it'll be nice for hunting season and trips made this Winter.

In previous week-ends, we had purchased and installed insulation. We bought R11 for the whole cabin, but to date have only managed to get the downstairs and half the upstairs finished. We got the hard half of the upstairs done which means the vaulting part. All that remains inside is to do the loft ceilings and back wall. And then the under floor which is the porch ceiling.

Also, we have to fix the spring arms of the loft ladder. John and I took one side off and noticed that we could easily pull it down a good inch and a half or so, so that'll be done, hopefully soon. We also rearranged the furniture and shelving in the place to get everything in its proper long-term place. We have a little clean-up to do yet, but it's shaping up just fine.

Robbed!

The nerve of some people still gets me! After learning, two weeks ago, that our favorite breakfast spot had been robbed, along with 2 other restaurants in town, we strove to do a better job of locking up our own stuff by cable-locking the generator, putting the tools away in the shed which is normally padlocked and separating the keys to our equipment from where it is normally located.

Never the less, upon arriving at camp, this past weekend, we discovered that we had been robbed! (pictures to follow) The villains had kicked in one of the panels of our cabin door and unlocked it from inside by reaching through the hole they had made. From here they stole John's new $80 fish-finder, Dad's tripod and a battery-operated lantern. Fortunately, they were either too busy or too stupid to lift up the air mattress that was on the downstairs cots, or they would have gotten his $1250 brand-new .3006 rifle.

Next, they took one of our own axes, and chopped through the half-inch cable holding the generator to the cabin and made off with that -- about a $500 piece of equipment -- but anyone who runs a raw camp like ours will tell you, a nearly indispensable one!

We found that they had lifted the tarps on the four-wheelers, but never noticed the keys in the cabin, so we were fortunate there, as well. However, they took our sledge-hammer, which I was using to hold the tarp down on my four-wheeler, and smashed the lock on the shed hard enough to take the lock and the entire bracket assembly completely off. From there they had a bonanza. 2 $200 chainsaws, 1 air compressor and 2 air-nailer guns all worth over $1000. plus several other power tools we are still attempting to identify.

They even managed to break into the back of the old pickup we keep on the property and tried to take Dad's table saw, which we were storing in there until later, but apparently, it was too cumbersome to carry off with them so they dumped it into the weeds near the end of the driveway.

Altogether, we figure, in equipment alone, we've lost over $2500 in goods and suffered damages to the tune of roughly $500. Of course, there is always a silver lining. As it turns out, these thieves have hit many, many places in the area recently, and their standard modus operandi (method of operation) is to vandalize and sometimes even burn, which thankfully, was not the case for us.

We have, of course reported the theft to the authorities, who will be sending out a loss-list to my home to report all the missing items and their values and to issue us a blue address tag for our property to make it easier to locate us in the event of another emergency. We also gave a preliminary list to the local pawn shop in the area. And we contacted our neighbors, only to learn that some of them, too have experienced similar assaults on their camps recently. And now having exchanged contact info, we can get in touch with each other in case something like this ever happens again.

Spring Thaw

March is here and while it is quite a beautiful day, it is never-the-less still quite chilly. The Kettle river is as yet mostly ice-covered and snow continues to litter the ground. The sky is a brilliant cobalt blue and the sun is pleasantly warm on the face. We've come up again for just the day to kind of keep an eye on things until we can see some growth to cover up the openness left by the removal of the trees.

We have at last received our check and hola! it is for much more than we originally figured it would be. This means that very likely, we will be able to afford to do all of the things we planned for back in February.

Oh Happy Spring!!!

Day-Camp

It's February now and Dad and John and I decided to do a Day-Trip up to the cabin. Just to sort of check things out and to see if the loggers did anymore clean up since John and I were last there in January. We haven't seen any sign of the funds from this venture yet and are apprehensive of the outcome of that given the amount of detritus they have left for us to clean up. The only good thing of which is we won't have to worry about firewood for awhile!

It's a pretty bleak and grey day out, but we take the time to walk all over the property just to get some different photo angles and to fully appreciate the extent of the clearing. After a bit of exploring and walking about, we sit down in the cabin to discuss plans for this year's work and what we intend to do to complete the cabin project.

Our basic plan for now is to repair the creek bed(s) and put in ditches to divert the overflow water caused by the damage of the loggers' heavy equipment back into the main stream outlets. Also, do a little road maintainence to make it easier to access the property. Then, move on to the cabin, with wiring via an off-the-grid 12v-110v Battery system with various recharge methods (solar/wind/gas generator). Next insulation and wall boarding. Then flooring -- carpet in the loft -- and closeting off the compost toilet, wood-burning stove in the back-right corner and mini-kitchen in the back-left. A futon and dresser for the main living area and futon matts for the cots in the loft. Finally, partially rounded cedar or pine log-style siding, to complete the look. If we have time, maybe we'll even get a well dug, as well.

Loggers

Well folks, I must apologize for once again neglecting my blogging duties and leaving you all in the dark as to the status of Woodpecker Hollow. Here it is January of 2009. We have a new president, the market needs financial crutches just to keep from completely collapsing and the loggers have come and stripped my land of nearly all of the birch trees. This leaves me with -- and I am basing my calculations purely on visual guessing -- approximately only 5% - 10% of my total tree count.

At first glance, it looks pretty bleak, but there are some real benefits here that need to be taken into consideration. First of all, the areas we were thinking about clearing for various reasons, are now cleared--less work for us. Also, you can now see all the way across the property, making hunting lanes easier. We can now map out and make our trails and access roads as we like. And finally, it is easier to walk across the property with less brush growth to fight through.

Here is Panoramic image of the property from the southeast corner. For best viewing, zoom(Ctrl++) it all the way in and use the scroll bar to pan left-to-right and vice-verse.

John And Dad

John went up north to spent a few days and nights up at camp and Dad decided to join him for the first couple of days. They cleared the stumps from around the cabin, pulled out and cut up several trees that we had felled last year and built a lean-to to house the longer logs as they dry.

John also cleared a space for his own future cabin down near the big Red Pine. They also took the time to finish the loft floor and wrap the cabin in Gorilla wrap, not to mention seal the open cracks with spray foam. John reports that the cabin is now pretty air-tight and easily 10 degrees warmer inside than outside. They also managed to get some decent fishing in.