It is only the last week of January and I am already running out of room to push snow in our driveway. It doesn’t seem like we have gotten that much more snow than usual but a little bit at a time is adding up fast. If you are tempted to walk through the woods, you can expect to be waist high in the white stuff. The high winds this week caused a lot of heavy drifting and the shoulders of the road are getting higher every day.
I have been told that the fishing has been pretty good this week but I could not tell you first hand. Work has been very steady this winter and right now I am busy every day. I wish I could say I was guiding every day, but pounding nails is keeping the baby in diapers right now. It is funny because my father was a homebuilder and I always told him that I was not planning on following in his footsteps. Living on the Gunflint Trail you have to take what you can get and to be honest, I really enjoy the work.
My father always had me doing the “grunt work” on his job sites and the variety of work we get up here is a lot of fun. One week we could be finishing some drywall and the next week we could be chain sawing through the ice to repair a water line. It is very rewarding to design things like stairways to the lake for people. Every cabin on every lake up here is unique and you tend to do a lot of re-inventing the wheel. The added bonus is meeting all of the people up here and how nice they have treated my family and me.
Our daughter Sophia has been inundated with excellent gifts. She already has two children sized fishing poles, one a Barbie and the other Toy Story. Last week some friends gave her a pink Daisy BB gun and my friend Bobbo gave her an FL8 Vexilar depth finder. Those gifts might seem strange anywhere else but I would say she is off to a great start.
Of course there has also been a lot of very nice clothing, toys, and even diapers, gifted to her as well. I was afraid to buy too many diapers in case she outgrew them before we used them up and now I realize that you cannot have too many diapers. I told people we were either having a boy or a “tomboy” since we did not know the sex until she was born and these gifts will certainly help me.
Rachelle and the baby are in the cities this week visiting her family and I will join them this weekend to go to Des Moines with my family. They have been gone for a couple of days and the house does not seem right with them gone. I actually feel a little bit guilty with all of the sleep I have been getting. Rachelle is still on maternity leave and I have no idea how people can do it without some time off.
Whenever she seems to be getting overwhelmed I like to play some practical jokes on her to keep the spirits up. Last week I snuck a miniature Butterfinger candy bar into Sophia’s diaper and told Rachelle that I think she needs to be changed. Rachelle nearly jumped out of her skin when she took her diaper off. After she settled down I told her to take a shower and relax a little. While she was showering I dumped a pot of ice cold water on her and I am pretty sure her scream was heard for miles.
I guess that men really are just little boys in bigger bodies.
Cory Christianson, a graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388-0315.
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