Cabin Projects Never End

July 10, 2006
Day 4 of the Tulaby Cabin window and siding replacement endeavor.
-Andrew Reporting
We may have bit off more than we could chew. This morning, after three days of tearing down old siding, replacing five of the six transom windows with new Pella double hung windows, we began the process of putting up new siding starting on the oldest part of the cabin; the left-side front when facing the cabin from the lake. Here we encountered clapboards that acted as the original siding of the cabin, however, they have not caused as much frustration as the z-channel that the siding must fit into along the edge of the roof. In all today, we have successfully put up eight pieces of siding, including several pieces that required precise cutting to fit around windows and the rafters.
It’s about 5:00 PM and the three of us are resting, about ready to call it quits, go home, and hire somebody to finish up. Just outside my dad and I were joking back and forth about the day of the project. I was saying on how it was the fourth day already and my dad took it as a slight, when I quickly turned it around and said “Hey, on the fifth day Gandalf is supposed to show up, now I don’t know how much help he’ll be with this siding, but he could be useful against the growing Orc problem we have around here.”
My mother, thankfully, got the joke and busted into laughter with my reference to LOTR: The Two Towers when Gandalf tells Aragorn to look to the East on the 5th day of the siege of Helm’s Deep as the sunrises; this would mark the arrival of reinforcements to defeat the Orcs sent by Sauriman from Isengard.
Whew…lengthy explanation for a simple joke…but I guess that’s how it always will be. Moving along, hopefully by Tuesday evening we will have finished installing the majority of the new siding and be set to head back to the Twin Cities either Wednesday morning or afternoon.
Saturday night, the folks and I watched Wallace and Grommet: The Curse of the Where-Rabbit and enjoyed some cookies that were like the frozen Sweet Martha’s, but from a different company which my dad and I had picked up a few weeks ago in Detroit Lakes Central Market. Last night, the three of us watched The Constant Gardener, a political thriller about drug testing in Sub-Saharan Africa by large Pharmaceutical Companies and exposing the cover-ups of the deaths of innocent people, whom the companies were testing their drugs on. As always for entertainment at the lake, we have the three local news stations broadcasting from the Fargo-Moorhead area or what is referred to as “the Valley”, and some TV shows that I have brought from home including The Sopranos, and most recently the entire season of Captain Power: and The Soldiers of the Future. This show will be the topic of my next post as soon as I am back in the TWC.
We have had some strange weather for July this week. Friday was very warm and humid, however, the weather changed drastically on Saturday morning around 4:30 AM when we had a small thunderstorm pass through leaving us with about a ¼ inch of rain. This resulted in a much cooler weekend with temperatures averaging below 70 degrees and dipping into the high 50’s low 60’s in the evening, excellent sleeping weather for the lake.
The weather has helped with the bugs for the most part; keeping them back in the woods on days with high winds. However, I have somehow managed to attract a total of three wood ticks so far and of course the never-ending attention of mosquitoes and biting Deer and Horse flies that plague the Northwood’s of Minnesota. All the insects know that Andrew “Sweet blood” Wambach will soon be departing, so they are getting what they can while the getting is good.
It is now 2:33 AM, Tuesday July 11, 2006 and I am having the worst time trying to fall asleep. About an hour ago I finished reading First to Fight: Starfist a military-science fiction book by David Sherman and Dan Cragg, which I started a few weeks ago after I finished reading Master’s of Solitude.
I really wish I could find a WI-FI “hot spot” somewhere around here, even though it would defeat the purpose of going to the lake to “get away from technology”, which is completely ridiculous with all the stuff we bring in the form of cell-phones, laptops, Television sets, and DVD players…oh well. A small rant for another possible blog post :-D

Until next time, I am going to try and get some shuteye, but in the mean time…can someone please remove the wood tick lodged in my neck?? jk, although that would be pretty disgusting, though you should always check the space between your socks and the ends of your pant legs, that’s where I have found all of them on me at least ;)

Gnight!!!

Andrew

July 11, 2006
Day 5 of the Tulaby Cabin window and siding replacement endeavor.
-Andrew Reporting
Well, it is now Day 5, as the title can tell you. I am pretty sure my folks were up at sunrise and me a few hours later, and still no Gandalf!!! Never trust a Wizard I suppose…yeah I know that was lame but I couldn’t help it :-D.
This morning we all got up and drove from Tulaby Lake to Waubun to drop off some of the recycling that had been piling up over the weekend. There is a free recycling center right across from the Post Office that accepts paper, plastic, cans, bottles etc. Would have been nice to have known about this a few weeks ago when we had our Cabin Party; Frank and I could have loaded all of the recycling and brought it there or to the one near the Elbow-Tulaby Lake Fire station; then Kristen and I could have taken all the garbage home and not had to endure the smell of “scungy” beer, oh well. From Waubun, we proceeded to the town of Mahnomen; home of F.B. Wambach who lived on a farm outside of Mahnomen as a boy and went to Mahnomen High-school and a few other Wambach relatives that lived and grew up in this area. For the rest of Northwestern Minnesota and the Dakotas, Mahnomen is the home of the Shooting Star Casino owned and operated by the White Earth Ojibwa tribe. We traveled into Mahnomen to retrieve Grandpa’s motor from Steven Andring, who took a look at it and fixed it up for us. Before leaving town, we stopped at the Red Apple Café for some much needed breakfast and coffee. We also stopped at the local grocery store to pick up some necessary provisions so that we could eat some actual dinner, instead of just eating cereal.
Having returned fully fueled, we have put in about two pieces of siding, and are now resting from full bellies and the "napish" state they put us in. Hopefully we can put up six more pieces by this evening and be done by 9 or 10ish.
The plan for tomorrow is to pack up and head back to Brooklyn Park. Friday, Kristen and I are traveling to Hackensack and Big Deep Lake for the annul Schneider Family Lake Lot party hosted by Kristen’s uncle Jack and aunt Judie. Hopefully on Thursday I can get a haircut at the Hair by Stewarts in Dinkeytown or in Brooklyn Park and then pick up Kristen either when she is done working at the State Fair or when she gets home to the Chateau. Before we leave, we need to practice setting up the tent, making sure we have all the pieces as well as making sure to bring sleeping bags, air mattresses etc. I am sure we will have to make a run for snacks and things to bring, perhaps a run to the liquor store as well.
It is about 2:17, and everyone is starting to dose off, I am going to try and grab a quick nap before we hit it again, hopefully we’ll finish up tonight, because I am running out of clothes :-D

So until next time, can someone launch an RPG at that Jet Ski, I am trying to NAP!!!!

Andrew