Author: Sue Ahrendt

The cooler weather, a few rains have reduced the fire danger in the woods—all fire restrictions were lifted yesterday at noon.

The crisp September weather isn’t disappointing the lucky few that get out in the woods this time of year! At Tuscarora, the kids have returned to school, Andy and I and staff members Andy and Paul are getting into the groove….busy covering all the jobs around here…

I sort of get a kick out of slipping out the back door of the kitchen where I am cook and waitress, and greeting the same people in the store for fishing licenses, and then scooting over to the office on the short cut path, just so I can see their faces as they walk into the office and see me behind the desk. I feel like an old Jonathon Winters TV skit. Or when Eddy Murphy plays all the parts in his movies.

And the seasons go round and round…

It has been a dry August in our neck of the woods—and the USFS has closed the Border Route Trail and the Kekakabic Trails. Campfires are banned in a large portion of the BWCA.
Use of gas or propane cookstoves are allowed at any time. Bring them!

Ken Bradbury shared his photos with us–he just visited Seahorse, Warclub, Bingshick, Brant Lakes.

Lots of recovering forest in this route—-and during this busy week in August, they were completely alone exploring these berry-laden lakes. They found little evidence of human visitors anywhere.

Ken said the berries were so plentiful that you could lean out of your tent and grab a handful—and they went on and on over the hillsides around Bingshick.

Sounded like a great trip.

The last couple of weeks have been (Minneapolis) Washburn Highschool repeated reunions…Last week the Spriggs sisters—Mary (with Bill Butler) , Martha, Margaret and their families and their neighborhood families took over the place — This week, Katey and Ann and Scott brought their families and their fathers. Even Chris Pensinger showed up (he was a little surprised to see so many people from our Class of ’82!)

Every morning at 6am I walk down memory lane with these wise women–and we untangle the snags in our lives, just like we did when we were 16 and walking around Lake Harriet. Who imagined that the 30 years would pass so quickly?

The Bailey/Leck families get along splendidly—you might recognize Ann, Managing Editor of the Washburn Grist. Now she runs the Energy Star program for the EPA. I’m sort of proud of her for that one.

Scott (behind his daughter Zoe) married to Katey (voted Daisy Mae at the Sadie Hawkins dance) was a star on the debate team, if I remember correctly. Also on the staff of the Grist… now he is a lawyer of course, and crafts fishing rods from a pop cans.

This year Stu Leck (Katey’s dad) turned 75, and he’s legally blind. I am very sorry about this, but I am grateful to have him to grill , because I’ve never been able to ask those questions—and he’s still so darned spunky (he does the blind buddy-downhill skiing thing). Questions like– How come you rarely ever touch the cane to the ground? and Why did you just pop your head inside the motor shop like you were checking it out…are you faking it–or smelling that dark shed? And how much does it cost if you decide you want a seeing eye dog? I wonder if he realizes that he’s my model of how to handle a disability with optomism and style?
Sometimes I think we’re the same as when we were 16. When Mary (Homecoming Queen, 1982) brought in the polyester pants for all of us, she was joking of course, but I still wore my flesh colored pair, and I had to laugh continuiously because these people are ridiculously funny—and my daughter puzzled at the hilarity—and I realize that we’re NOT 16. We’ve done the unthinkable; we’ve turned into our mothers.

Here at Tuscarora there is a chill in the air in the evenings and the mornings—although the days still get hot, we’ve slipped toward fall. The pages of my summer have fluttered past like the pages of my life. The blueberries are ending, some leaves are changing and I want to hold on to it all. It’s been a great summer…..

All around, I’ve been lucky in life, I want to reread the chapters with these people (with the exception of 8th grade…I didn’t really like 8th grade much)…yet—I’m still anticipating the fall, the pages and the people ahead. Who could ask for more than that?

Bill Tipping and Jim Hanneman are here to prove that you needn’t sacrifice fashion for high tech synthetic clothing. These days, you can have it all.

Perhaps you too can find your fashion niche at Tuscarora??

Jim noted that his peach pants are a ladies size 14—a perfect fit–almost as if they were custom tailored for him!