75.   This year Janes and I both turned the big 40. Maffer met this milestone last year and Sooley will join us soon in February. This weekend also happened to be Ronnie's birthday, while Jessica's B-day would follow on Tuesday. We've often ventured to the Sooley family cabin for a fall trip so we decided to hold a B-day event this past weekend. We enjoyed a few days of laughs, adventures & activities.

74.  Janes was the first to arrive at the cabin Friday morning under sunny skies and crisp fall temps. He quickly got the cabin & sheds opened up and fired up the woodstoves to drive out the cool September air.

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72.   I had to work for a couple hours Friday morning but finally hit the highway around 1pm with Project Foreman in tow.

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69.   Janes was already settled in and on active squirrel duty with his CO2 pellet gun when I arrived.

68.   Ronnie & AJ were the next to arrive with their Yamaha YZ250 dirt bikes in tow, they quickly unloaded and hit up the power line road for a quick ride before supper.

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65.   While Ron and AJ hit the power line trail, I checked out the backwoods path we started cutting years ago and extended during winter trip in February past. I was pleasantly surprised to find no dead fallen trees blocking the path, I rode to the end and exited the trail near the first neck on Sooley's pond and rode the shoreline back to the cabin.

64.   Sooley and Jessica were the last to arrive on Friday getting to the cabin around suppertime with a vehicle and trailer loaded full of tools.

63.   Supper Friday was an awesome BBQ with fresh steak, mushrooms/onions, scallop potatoes and a great salad.

62.   Friday evening we decided to light a bonfire as it had rained all day Thursday and we had absolutely zero wind. The Sooley's had quite a pile of debris and old patio decking to get rid of.

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58.   Saturday brought cool temps and quite a bit of rain. After a breakfast of bacon, eggs & coffee, Sooley and Jessica headed to Hearts Delight to pick up building supplies to repair the rear patio.

57.   Ronnie, AJ, Janes and I spent the day picking at projects around the cabin out in the shed, first up was assembling Ronnie's brand new high lift floor jack.

56.   Janes picked up this beautiful 2018 Silverado Midnight edition earlier this year so we took advantage of the crappy weather to haul the wheels off and apply fluid film to the hubs & anti-seize to the lug nuts to prevent the wheels from seizing to the hubs over the coming winter.

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54.   While we were working in the garage Janes kept an eye to his tenderloin roast which we would have for supper later.

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50.   Janes did an amazing job on dinner once again. The tenderloin roast came out perfect, he also prepared an awesome on gravy, turnip, carrot & potatoes.

49.   Saturday night Ronnie and AJ loaded up and headed back to town as they had a family gathering on Sunday. Meanwhile Sooley, Jessica, Janes and I passed away the cool, wet, drizzly evening enjoying a few beverages, cigars, and playing Crazy 8's.

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46.   Sunday arrived and with it beautiful sunny skies. We decided to take advantage of the weather and tackle repairs to the rear patio which had a number of dangerously rotted deck boards.

45.   I popped out as many screws as I could and a crowbar took care of removing the rest of the old deck boards. With the deck removed we found (as expected) a fair amount of rotten structure below.

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42.   The first ten feet of frame had the most damage so we replaced it with brand new pressure treated lumber. We started by first levelling up the remaining section of frame work and cutting new support posts. We sistered up one slightly damaged joist, then framed up the brand new replacement section of framework. 

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39.   Later that afternoon Janes packed up and headed back to town, while Maffer who had been busy on call all weekend finally arrived!

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35.   With the decking installed Sooley and I replaced the rotted out corner post, then cut and installed the top 2x6 handrail. Meanwhile Maffer worked on modifying the back stairs to accept a post and handrail.

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32.   This Erdinger Oktoberfest was new to me and absolutely amazing!

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30.   After a supper of BBQ pork chops, rice and mushrooms/onions Maffer got his Can Am Outlander beast unloaded and started hauling the old deck materials over to the fire pit.

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28.   The old patio which became a definite safety hazard full of multiple leg breaking holes is no more!

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26.   Monday morning Maffer, Sooley, Jessica and I got the bikes and gear ready to commence a firewood hauling operation from the new back trail. A lot of the wood cut to clear & later re-open the trail was stacked in the woods and we wanted to get it out before it became rotten and unusable.

25.   The wood cart Maffer & Sooley repaired over the summer got a new 2" hitch so it could be towed by Maffer's Can AM.

24.  The box trailer was hooked to project foreman to haul chainsaws, fuel, water and more into the woods, and haul out firewood cut into junks.

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21.   Again, my trusty $100 Princess Auto Poulan chainsaw worked well to fall a few trees and junk up a bunch of firewood. It's not a great saw but works well enough with a sharp chain and didn't break the budget for a tool I don't use very often.

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18.   This wind blown stump created a real narrow pinch point approximately half way along our trail. The bikes could fit between this and a large rock without trouble, but the wider box cart would often get caught coming back out the trail. After the 2nd time getting caught here Maffer and I decided to fix the problem by knocking out all the loose rocks & soil, then trimming up the jumbled roots with the saw, permanently fixing the obstacle.

17.   Continuing along the trail the trusty old wood cart suffered a broken tow bar which caused the trailer to roll over on the trail. Luckily Maffer and I managed to right the trailer with the load intact and he gingerly limped the trailer out of the woods.

16.   On the last hill right next to the bunkhouse the boom completely failed, but the mighty Can AM dragged the trailer kicking and screaming the rest of the way to the woodpile using a short length of chain.

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14.   With the wood hauling cart broken, I ran back in the trail to haul out the last load of wood with the box cart, Sooley and Jessica had the remaining pile all junked up and ready to go when I arrived.

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12.   Leaving the turn around spot there is a bugger of an uphill climb on very rough terrain. Project Foreman got unusually hung up on a large rock which eventually led to digging 4 large holes and wedging the box trailer backwards against a tree. Thankfully my WARN ProVantage 2500 saved the day winching the bike & fully loaded trailer up the hill with ease.

11.   When I got home and checked the bike over, I found the snowplow bracket installed two winters ago was still mounted under the bike! The severely bent up bracket clearly showed why the bike got hung up so bad on that large rock instead of gliding over it!

Monday evening our buddy Lester stopped into the cabin for an hour on his way back to town from Long Harbour. Supper that evening was an epic pot of Goulash prepared by Maffer, it sure hit the spot after a long day cutting & hauling firewood.

10.   On Tuesday Sooley, Maffer and I completed some much needed repairs around the cabin which included beefing up the security system with additional Burglar Alarm devices, and the installation of a new Camera System to remotely keep an eye on the place. Maffer and I both had to work Wednesday so we loaded up and hit the highway home around suppertime having thoroughly enjoyed our Fall Trip.

9.   Sooley and Jessica had the full week off and stayed at the cabin a few extra days. Jessica was hard at work making a box of splits for the woodstoves.

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7.   Wednesday Sooley and Jessica took advantage of nice weather and finished up repairs to the back deck. They installed new top & bottom rails and reinstalled all the old spindles which were still in great shape.

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1.   This was another absolutely awesome cabin trip, we had a ton of fun, and got a lot of work completed around the cabin. This will no doubt help ensure the place is around to enjoy for many more years.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith