Category: Life at Tuscarora Lodge

We Minnesotans in Cook County are a very simple people this time of year. All we really talk about is the weather. We just can’t get over it.

In college I remember learning about Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs. If I have it right, at the very bottom of his pyramid theory are the needs for air, food, water, shelter… or “some way to achieve a constant body temperature.” Then…people move up the to safety, then belonging, esteem, self actualization.

That’s all well and good and noble, but during January and February, we’re all stuck at the bottom. We do like our winters, but that “achieving-a-constant body-temperature part” takes over. And now…it’s March…and these past few days…it has been in the 30’s! And sunny! And we’re dancing. The sun feels so WARM. Nothing actually HURTS. Can spend the entire afternoon out there…it’s glorious! Still winter by all standards, but it’s so FUN to ski and slide and wander around and play broomball and actually be able to throw snowballs and build things.

No worrying about self actualization when all we need to do is sit on the deck with the sunshine on our faces…and be competely happy. No transcending going on. At least for the next few grateful weeks…we’ll all be talking about the weather.

Andy’s PCL buddies were up and visited Seagull Lake….Trent, Mike, and Mark, on their annual spring trip, also spiced up our Winter Tracks broomball game. Lucky us! Unlucky Mike, but he is sure a good sport, even while headfirst in the snowbank, even while taking the ball to the lips, and becoming Charro-for-the-day.

During lunch Mike and Mark sat at the counter and noticed a stray Calvin and Hobbes book. Shelby and Daniel have collected them all; Daniel studies them, and has a Bill Watterson (creator) worship thing going.

Twice last week, visitors at the kitchen counter noted that comic book.

And both times, we had to pause for a moment of connection. I had to smile for a second to bond with somebody else who recognizes the brilliance behind Calvin and Hobbes.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone to one of my favorite Quetico travelers. I haven’t actually met this guy from East Peoria in person – I was someplace with the kids when he visited – but I can always recognize his deep drawling voice, and we have really good phone conversations. He had to cancel his summer trip, because his plant closed.

We not only hear it on the news, we hear it on the phone. The middle schoolers from Indiana live where the unemployment rate is now 12%. My heart goes out to these folks, and I worry. All the experts have opinions about toxic assets, the mortgage crisis, the stimulus packages. These are sober times, there is plenty to be concerned about…

Then, I notice the book on the counter and remember Calvin. It occurs to me that I can learn from Calvin. Part of the profoundness of his comic philosophy is that he actually spends his time subtly pursuing the purpose of life.

But at the same time, he’s enjoying the wild ride.

I’m calling this the Calvin Effect. Life is full of serious issues, sad circumstances. And in no way do I mean to minimize those. Yet Calvin manages to consider it all from the playful side.

Other important books say the same thing, but …today…I’m listening to Calvin..

“Sometimes it seems things go by too quickly. We are so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.”

” I say if your knees aren’t green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously reexamine your life”

“You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.” (click on the comic if you want to actually read it)

“Get out the time-fracture wickets Hobbes, we’re gonna play Calvinball!”

Every once in awhile, on lucky days, you get a chance to hang out with somebody who embodies the Calvin Effect….a human Calvin. I’d say, never pass up those moments!

I’ve got coffee and the couch…and a dog who manages to arrange herself so that she can rest one paw and her chin on me, and keep one eye on the bird feeder if needed, and sneak in a quick kiss if I talk sweetly to her…really nice early morning moment.
The temperature is already above zero, and the sun was up before I was.

Last night we went to Trail Center where the local radio station was broadcasting “The Roadhouse” show as part of the Gunflint Trail Winter Tracks Festival….it’s a tradition that we’ve come to look forward to. The restaurant was hopping, we knew people at several tables… and I always get a kick out of the whole live radio bit. The interviews make me laugh a little because I feel like we’re faking it, complete with great realistic props–headphones and microphones…like the kids and I used to play with at the Children’s Museum when they were little.

About 6pm multiple pagers went off….many members of the Gunflint Trail Fire Department were in the crowd. We listened to the call for an ambulance….. An unscheduled event for this family of six—who had been on John Silliman’s Guided Snowshoe Hike Friday afternoon, and might have been getting ready for the Guided Wolf Howl Trek? I don’t know.

At any rate, the mom and dad (a former EMT) headed down in the Gunflint Trail Ambulance, with several other EMTs from the department. They had to pull the ambulance over a couple of miles from town, so Dad could safely deliver his 5th child..a healthy little boy…an unscheduled Winter Tracks Wonder.

We have big plans for today….the kids will carve a snow block, my friend Kelly is doing presentation, Tuscarora broomball at 2, dinner at Gunflint Lodge… great fun.

but I’m musing over the unplanned events of life, sometimes the most wonderful of all!

Thanks to Treg for sending photos of some of Cook County’s upstanding citizens.

(photo from lonniedupre.com)

Lonnie Dupre is an honest-to-goodness Polar Explorer. His occupation in life, if you can imagine. Sometimes he does carpentry work, public speaking, writing, advocating for the Arctic sea. But I believe when he fills out the forms that ask for profession, he gets to write in Polar Explorer. Definitely a write in, because I’m betting it’s not on any drop down list.

He’s been preparing for his next adventure: The Peary Centennial Expedition…leaving on Friday. To the north pole (photo from pearycentennial.com)

Kelly and Lonnie are very welcoming when I’m loitering in town…in their little artsy energy efficient house. Kelly Dupre and I have been working on a book project–more on that later. Kelly has an entire drop down list of her own—besides being the Beloved Wife of a Polar Explorer.

Not to worry, even if they look like little rodents. These paws were custom sewn for the expedition.

You can see that Kelly doesn’t mind taking a break from her artwork to do the important taxing job of testing of the equipment…

So….what are the job qualifications of an Explorer? Adventurous, inventive, playful, congenial?? Check check check check.

Or maybe…it’s genetic. Lonnie is actually related to Jacques Cartier…the French Explorer that claimed Canada for France. Can you see the resemblance???

Note that Lonnie is testing the sausage that he’s bringing on his trip. …..a little moldy tasting, if you ask me.

He’s been trying to gain weight since Christmas. Stock up on calories…every bit helps. Somehow that part isn’t working for him. A weird perspective really.

It makes sense that there is so much inventing going on…because once they get to the Arctic…the group has to be self sufficient. He’s been on so many trips, he knows exactly what he wants, and how he needs to modify his equipment.

I’m always interested in the little details…how to keep warm, how to keep ice out of the sleeping bags,.. how much of what they plan to eat every day…

The hand crafted bindings to match the gigantic boots.

The “skins” for the bottom of the skis:

The stove system with custom made pot contraption:

The muffin things were from a special trip to a certain Thunder Bay Bakery…hundreds that were transformed into some sort of hockey puck wheat cracker thingswhen dried out in the oven. Apparently they’ll just put them in their pockets during the day, and they won’t even crumble. Not so easy to chew either, but they are sort of tasty.

Everything was dried out or partially cooked. A lot a lot of bacon to cook for 8 weeks of bacon cranberry pemmican…

Maybe you can already tell that Lonnie is one of the good guys…he and Kelly will be busy bees between now and Friday…then…you can follow him as he heads to the North Pole.