The weekend started out very eventful for mom and dad as they blew a tire on their truck while towing the camper down on Friday afternoon. Luckily, dad was able to pull off onto a side road, get the spare tire on and get back on the road without any additional drama. They also managed to get all of the mowing done on Friday evening which turned out to be a blessing later in the weekend.
Abigail and I arrived at the cabin just before 8:00 am on Saturday morning and got right to work. The goal for the day was planting food plots. I got the broadcast spreader onto the ATV and dad helped me sort out the fertilizer. While I spread fertilizer, dad drove into Fairfield to get a replacement tire for his truck. With temperatures already in the 80's, things progressed slowly throughout the day and included a lot of cool down and drink breaks. After getting the fertilizer spread, I hooked up the disc and got to work on the big field. There were 2 separate food plots to plant in the big field. The 3/4 - 1 acre on the far south end of the field is going to be a soybean food plot with a row of plot screen on the north end of that while 1/4 acre in the middle of the field was planted to sugar beets. Both of these are new food plot crops for me but are very attractive to deer.
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| Disc hooked up and ready to go |
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| Big field tilling up nicely |
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| Big field all tilled |
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| Ready to spread the soybeans |
The heat combined with tilling wet soil put a lot of stress on the ATV and caused it to overheat just as I finished up tilling the bigger plot in the big field. I let the ATV cool off while I walked back to retrieve the plot screen and sugar beet seed along with the bag seeder. After dad returned we headed into town to get some coolant for the ATV and then got back to work. I spread the soybeans and ran the disc back over the food plot. I then headed for the small field where we had 1/4 acre of annual clover and oats, 1/8 acre clover, and plot screen to plant. Since we weren't able to burn off the plot screen from last year, dad got to work raking that off while I tilled with the ATV. Again, the ATV overheated just as I finished tilling. I used the bag seeder to spread the clover and oats before we decided to call it quits until after supper.
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| Small field food plot tilled |
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| Dad raking off the old plot screen to plant the new |
Abigail spent the afternoon playing in the sprinkler while we tried to cool down in the shade. Erin and Bridget arrived in time for supper and had fun playing throughout the evening while dad and I headed back out to finish up the food plots. Dad ran the drag behind the ATV while I finished off prepping and planting the plot screen on the small field.
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| Abigail playing in the sprinkler |
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| Abigail and Bridget playing together nicely |
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| Tilling for plot screen on the small field |
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| Bridget looking for bugs |
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| Erin and Abigail having fun with balls and buckets |
Before heading to bed, we roasted smores over the fire and cooled down watching some of Trolls in the air conditioned cabin. I was also very thankful that mom and dad brought down their camper because my outdoor shower gave out. I was able to shower both nights in their camper.
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| Roasting marshmallows for smores |
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| Bridget ready for bed in the cabin |
It was Bridget's first time spending a night at the cabin and although she had a bit of a rough time getting to sleep, she did pretty well.
The next day was a lot of fun as we were joined by my sister, Melissa, brother, Paul and both of their families for a late birthday celebration for Abigail and Bridget. We didn't let the heat and gnats get to us too much and everyone had a good time. At the girls' request we played with squirt guns and ate hamburgers for lunch.
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| Water guns! |
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| Water balloon relays |
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| ATV wagon rides |
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| ATV wagon rides |
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| Ethan turns 16 in a week so he got to drive the ATV on his own |
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| Hurry up and sing before this cake melts! |
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| The girls with grandma and grandpa |
The cabin is really more my dream than Erin's, but she certainly supports me in it. With 2 young children at home she doesn't get a chance to make it down their very often but I sure do enjoy it when she does. I am truly blessed to have a wife that not only supports, but encourages and embraces my hobbies.
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| Relaxing a bit with the love of my life |
By mid-afternoon, the party came to an end and everyone started to head for home. Mom and dad stayed behind with Abigail and I to enjoy one more day (and to get a little more work done). The original plan was to put a fence up along side the cabin to obstruct the view from deer that cross behind the cabin. The past 2 years we weren't able to get plot screen to grow well there and we have seen a noticeable difference in deer movement when we are actually at the cabin. Late in the afternoon dad and I headed into Menards with a supply list only to find out that we would have to special order the materials. I opted to put the project off until next year instead.
After the failed trip into town, we ended up working on various other chores around the property. The clover plots were long enough to that I decided to mow them instead of spray for weeds. Mowing helps reduce broad leaf weed competition and promotes new growth from the clover, which deer love. With the good weather during late spring, the food plots have all been doing really well. In fact, I think the ridge food plot is the best stand of clover that I have ever grown.
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| Clover on the ridge is growing very well |
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| Clover in the cabin food plot is doing well too |
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| Clover in last fall's cereal grain food plot in the small field is doing it's job |
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Mowed off the last of the rye in the small field, this portion
will be rotated out to brassicas later this summer |
I also got some work done in the garden. My method of tilling in the fall and spraying weeds/grass when planting seems to be paying off. I'm not sure how well the corn is doing, but the zucchini and pumpkins are doing great. I used a hoe to work up the soil directly around the plants and then sprayed gly further out around that to terminate the other weeds and grasses that were just starting to come in. This should give the garden plants a chance to easily compete with the weeds and, as long as we keep getting rain, produce a great crop for the summer/fall.
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| Pumpkins and zucchini are growing well |
The fruit orchard also appears to be having another good year, I counted more than a dozen trees with either apples or pears on them.
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| This apple tree is loaded |
While I got those jobs done, dad worked on some other maintenance items, including working on the switch for the ATV spreader that has been acting up, and began packing up camp to save us time in the morning.
After a good nights sleep, we managed to get a few more things done in the morning before packing up to head for home and pray for rain. We fixed one of the hubs in the soft sided blind that broke last fall, used my new Hooyman pole chainsaw to clear out limbs and brush behind the shed and lean-to, and I took some time to shoot my bow. We also put up a couple of trail cameras in our more usual spots.
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| Dad dragging tree limbs from behind the lean-to |
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| Practicing shots out to 40 yards |
It is hard to believe, but bow season opens in just about 4 months. There is still a lot to do over the next few months, but we also got a lot done. It may have felt more like Labor Day weekend instead of Memorial Day, but we managed to get a lot done and have a really fun time too. With a busy summer ahead, trips to the cabin will be spread out and short, but I'm still looking forward to the next trip. Until next time.
