Retirement R & R

MLBob Furia

MLBob Furia

Well-known member
Sounds like an oxymoron, but a good buddy who I've hunted with for the past 25 seasons called Monday to ask if I'd like to head off to a cabin his family owns on 65 acres in central Indiana. He teaches at a local college and had the week off between sessions. Turned into three days right out of Macquarrie's "Nothing To Do For Three Weeks."

The cabin was built in the 40's, and his wife's grandfather purchased it in 1950 when he retired. It passed down through her family, and they now own it. Dan has 5 boys who all grew up hunting deer and turkey on the property. Our kids are just about the same ages as his, and they are all good friends.

Here are a few pic I took while we were there....

Remember that line from the Old Duck Hunters: "I was home, all right. I have another home, said to be much nicer. But this is the talk of persons who like cities and, in some cases, actually fear the woods"

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This is a hunter's cabin. Well maintained, yet still pretty much unchanged since the 40's - save for the mounts of game taken by Dan and his boys.

One of the many Turkeys that have been taken on the property :

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A nice buck that one of Dan's 17 year old, twin sons killed this fall. Dan and four of the boys took bucks on the property this year. This one was his son's first with a bow. One of his HS football coaches does taxidermy, and insisted on doing a mount for him when he saw the pictures of this deer. he did a nice job ( and check out the craftsmanship on the way that stone was laid for the fireplace! They did good work in the 40's).

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The first buck Dan ever took on the property. Used to be over the fireplace, until it was replaced by his son's bow & arrow buck. Nice to sit and talk about hunting with Dan's boys - who you'll never once hear say something like, " Oh yes, that's the deer (or turkey) I "harvested" this year.

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Spent the days walking the property, checking out the 9 tree stands on the acreage, cutting firewood, shooting crows, and just enjoying doing nothing in particular. All I know is that the fire felt good every eveningafter a big dinner.

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Speaking of eating, there were steaks, and breakfasts that would make one's family doctor cringe. Eggs in butter, crispy slabs of goetta, and plenty of buttered toast to soak up the yolkes. All washed down with lots of good coffee.


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Wonder what my lipid profile looks like right now? In a place like this I really didn't care. One evening as we sat on the porch while the sun set, Dan asked if I wanted to drive into town to a wings place for wings and beer. The other option was to open a big can of chicken & dumplings. I told him we could always go for wings at home, and went in to throw some logs on the fire. We ate huge bowls of chicken & dumplings that night with hot corn bread crumbled into it and made use of the beer we had in the fridge.

Heard a big racket one day while out trying to pop some crows. Looked up to see waves of sandhills heading somewhere:

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Does this look like it could be a deer & turkey highway intersection?

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When we pulled into Dan's driveway at home, I told him I felt ready to take on retirement again, and come tomorrowwould be able to carve & make calls with renewed energy. ;-)
 
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Looked like a fantastic way to spend time; no tvs, computers, or cell phones and great company.
Beautiful photos and story.
Best - Paul
 
Camp!!
the thought of it makes the work day go by. I like the quote about city life.

Thanks for sharing Bob.
Headed out to my local Camp to make a butter and egg breakfast right now.


Bob
 
Bob
The knotty pine paneling in that great cabin brings to mind the cabin my parents had on the Mississippi and the great times we had growing up there summers prior to WW II. Not many cabins built at that time remain today. Knotty pine was used inside and out side and my job when our cabin was being built was to shellac the knots prior to the varnish. Great memories.
wis boz
 
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Very nice bob very nice indeed. Sounds like you were home from home. Felt like I was walking with you in those woods. Very nice. Regards scotty
 
Boz -

If you appreciate tha pine paneling, you'd love the wood flooring. Whole place is built on a rock crawlspace, and that floor put down in 1940-something is still perfectly level, smooth, and tight as a drum. True, Dan and his wife make sure to do the necessary upkeep, but I am always in awe at how solidly the place was built.

They had it timbered off this fall, and Dan tells me that with all the slash left around from the tree cutting, he has seen a ten-fold increase in the deer & turkey (and there were plenty to begin with!). The forester they worked with did a quality job. A big bonus were the nice trails left cris-crossing the woods - gives them some access to use a gator. They brought in a bulldozer to clean the logging paths up a bit, and some of the wood cutting we did was to clear a tree that had fallen across one of the trails. That new porch on the side is a result of a tree falling on the old one last month and taking it out.

Somewhere I have a photo of one of my boys when he was a one-year oldsleeping on a blanket we tucked in one of the drawers under the bunk beds . We were down for a visit, and there wasn't a crib, so....
 
Somewhere I have a photo of one of my boys when he was a one-year oldsleeping on a blanket we tucked in one of the drawers under the bunk beds . We were down for a visit, and there wasn't a crib, so....
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Bob,

Dang you must be old,,,,,,,,,, :>) :>) I can remember setting up a port-a-crib for our little one, on one side of our pickup camper. It fit right into the space for one of the twin dinettes.

Looks like your friend has a real nice area.
 
Bob: The next time you go to this great Cabin, call me for breakfast, great place to relax. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Great stuff bob thanks for sharing. Now I can't wait to get back up and open our camp in the u.p.

The best place to relax indeed
 
That second shot of the interior sure brought back memories, Bob. My folks had a friend who had a cabin like that up in Walker, Minnesota, that we used to go to every year. Beautiful shots of a well taken care of dwelling along with the 65 acres that go with it. Just like going to Heaven on a daily basis. Good grief I have it bad because I was salivating while looking at those trees---had my chainsaw ready!
Al
 
Sounds great Bob! Double up on your Lipitor and live out your golden years in style! ;).
 
Bob that reminds me of some of the cottages my granddad used to rent for lake trout fishing in NY. Love the breakfast pics. As long as your splitin' wood and what not, don't worry about the limpids! Just remember, half the doctors in the U.S. graduated in the lower 50% of their class!

Bob, do you still carve those miniture duck heads we used to get over at the MLB site?
 
Bob, do you still carve those miniture duck heads we used to get over at the MLB site?
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Wow,Howard - you have a good memory. I must've done hundreds of those for Mark back in the day. Used to carry a pocketful of blanks and a whittling knife everywhere I went.

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Haven't done any in a long time. P.M. me your address and I'll root around in some old boxes down in the shop, and see if I can turn any up.
 
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I'll root around in some old boxes down in the shop, and see if I can turn any up.
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Now we know why Bob occasionally carves a headless feeder. hehe :>) :>) Can't remember just where he put that head.
 
Dave, those heads are about the size of a quarter and just absolutly beautiful work as you can see in the picture. I have a ringneck, bufflehead and a goldeneye. Bob would make hat pins out of them and I have used the ringneck as a tie pin.
 
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