Arlene's New Hunting Shack

For the past two weekends, Arlene, Mary Sue and I have been building Arlene a new deer hunting shack at Camp Chicken. It has been quite an adventure as we have never built anything like this before.

We started at home by building the frames for the floor, the four walls and the roof rafters and then loaded everything in the utility trailer and hauled it up to Camp Chicken. The next day we assembled the frame and started attaching the OSB board siding.


The next weekend we went to Camp to work on the shack. Only this time Mary Sue and her little dog Tiny spent Friday night with us. It was their first time overnight at Camp Chicken. Tiny did very well for her first "stayover" and seems to really enjoy Camp.

Saturday morning we started bright and early. We attached the rest of the OSB siding. Dan, Arlene's son-in-law and I measured and cut siding and R and Mary nailed it on. We finished everything but the door and took a break for lunch. After lunch, we built the door and attached it to the shack. That was the hardest part really.

Tiny had her own chair with an old shirt of mine for a cushion and from there she supervised the project.

That night, Mary Sue and Tiny, as well as Dan and Anthony, Arlene's grandson, had to go home so it was just R and I at Camp. The next morning we started working again and nailed in a second layer of floorboard and roofed the shack with tar paper.

We finished the roof by attaching metal trim to the ends of the peak to protect the tar paper. As we were taking a break Mom walked in to surprise us and take a look at the new shack.

Goodbye for this year

We all went out to dinner on the last night that Chris, Judy and Ross were here. It was very nice and we all ate too much. Too soon our week with them was over and they were on their way back to Spokane but we made a lot of great memories during their visit. Camp Chicken was a fun and noisy place while they were there. It will return to it's quiet and serene self now and await the fall colors.

Attack Uno at Camp Chicken

We discovered a new favorite game at Camp Chicken during Chris, Judy and Ross's visit. It is called "Attack Uno" and it is very addicting. Grandpa and Grandma even joined in on the fun. We just couldn't seem to stop playing it. We did have to quit at night as there wasn't room in the trailer for all of us to play. But, that was okay as it gave us a chance to see the stars which are very beautiful at Camp.

Chris, Judy and Ross visit Camp Chicken

My brother Chris, his wife Judy and my nephew Ross spent a few days at Camp Chicken last week during their visit with our parents. We had a lot of fun at camp. Ross practiced his BB gun skills even though the BB gun was not very accurate, he still managed to hit the 9-ring. We also played badmitton and croquet. The croquet field was rather rough and quite a challenge so we had to move it into the badmitton court so that it would be on flatter ground.

Pickford Hay Days 2007

Each year Pickford Michigan holds its annual Community Days on the first weekend in August. This year's theme was Pickin' and Grinnin'. Arlene and I went early Saturday morning to set up our chairs on main street to save a spot to watch the parade. My Mom Gloria, sister Cindy and her husband Dave set up beside us. Our friend Mary Sue, her little dog Tiny and her friend Carol sat with us also. The parade was really nice this year and we enjoyed it very much. My Dad's sister Mary Hessel and two of her friends were there and my Dad's brother Dewey Smith and his wife Greta. My cousin Larry Smith and his wife are home from Texas and we saw them at the parade also. After the parade, Arlene, Mom, Cindy, Dave and I went to the Town Hall for the Lions lunch, then walked to the Methodist Church for the Strawberry Social. As you can tell, food is a major attraction at Hay Days.

We visited the Pickford Historical Museum and saw the new Veterans Memorial there. Wow, what a great display. There is a wall plaque with nameplates of Pickford resident's that served or are serving in the armed forces; along with photos, uniforms and newspaper clippings.

We all then went to my Uncle Jays, my Dad's brother, to see their house. This house is very old and Uncle Jay and Aunt Adriene's sons, Larry, Bill and Mark, and their son-in-law are painting it for them. The house belonged to my Mother's grandmother, Margaret Clegg-Wise and then at some point, Grandpa and Grandma Smith bought it and lived there until Grandpa's death in 1968, then Uncle Jay and his family lived in it. So the house has very strong ties to my family.

After that Arlene and I went to the Town Hall to listen to some great blue-grass music played by local musicians, some of whom are good friends of ours.

We took a trip to Camp Chicken to pick up our trailer so that we can go get lumber to build Arlene a new deer hunting shack. We plan to build it in our back yard here in the Soo and trailer it out to Pickford to Camp Chicken in pieces then put it together. Since neither one of us have ever built one before, it should make for some interesting times.