Our good friends and almost family, Jim and Denise and their son Robbie also were in camp and so we all had meals together and shared cooking and cleaning assignments.  Since Jim & Denise have embraced Max and my family as part of their own extended family, I was elated that we could all be together.  We usually fished together and kept an eye out for each other out on the water and the fact that everyone got along well added to the pleasure and relaxation of the week.

Fishing was really good and everyone did very well and so dinner was often the fish we had caught that day.  But probably the most memorable part of the trip was  our trip over to Obabikon Lake. There were three boats of us. Jim and Denise were in the lead, Lynn and I were second, and Eric and Robbie were bringing up the rear.  Suddenly, Jim & Denise slowed to a halt and were looking back, I stopped also and Lynn said look at Eric & Robbie.  Eric had their boat in a sharp turn and they were circling slowly.  Robbie was standing with a big net poised to net something in the water, and net it he did.  It was a good sized snapping turtle swimming across the lake.  Lynn and I got our boat about 15 feet from theirs and then I smelled it!  Yowee, did it stink!  We got some photos of it and they let it go.  We have always referred to that week as Robbie’s great turtle round up. 

Robbie and the turtle.

Lynn, relaxing on the dock.

Lynn, doing her Jimmy Houston impression and kissing the smallmouth.

Lynn, Eric and I relaxing in Jim & Denise’s cabin.

Friday night, close to ten PM, I was on the computer when all of a sudden Billy began barking in a very aggressive manner. I shouted for him to shut up, but it didn’t work so I got up and checked the back porch, the front porch and the yard. I saw nothing and told him to relax.

I went back to the computer and in a few minutes he started again. Back I went and still there was nothing. By this time Cassie was up and walking around so I figured that it would be a good time for their late night walk. Outside they quickly relieved their bladder and we were walking down the drive when over the shed to the west of the house a huge bolt of lightening and an almost immediate thunder clap. It was close, and loud! Billy surprised me by turning quickly and charging back 20 steps or so towards the shed looking up in the air and barking and challenging whatever it was that made that nasty sound. His feet were planted wide apart and his back was arched ready for action. He was not the least bit afraid of it and dared it to do it again. Which it did and that just infuriated him even more. By this time I was along side of him and was petting him and telling him in a calm voice that there was nothing to worry about. There was another huge lightening bolt and thunder clap while I was trying to calm him and his reaction was calmer. So I decided we should go back in the house. I helped Cassie get up the steps and the instant we were in the house the skies opened up and it poured for about 10 minutes. We got lots of water in a very short time which made me happy. This was another fun adventure with Billy.

So they got together and hatched a plot; ”lets give dad another dog, a young one with lots of energy, that will help a lot.”  I am positive they had a conversation something like that, but they deny it, and then look at each other and go “wink, wink, wink”.  

So an opportunity presents itself.  Sadly, Rocky’s dog, Malachi, dies.  Then, with deep love and tenderness toward her little sister, Lynn, wink, wink, gives Rocky her 3 year old English Bulldog, Billy.  A strong, energetic, beautiful, loving, pain in the ass.  John, who has carefully stayed in the background says to dad, “That is a lot of dog, I don’t think it will last with Rocky”.  

Of, course, after a couple of weeks of “problems”, Billy finally is too much dog for Rocky to keep.  So sweet old dad says; “I’ll take care of him until we figure out how to get him back to Lynn”.   Ha!, the trap has been sprung!  The kids are so pleased with themselves.  They love it when a plan comes together!

Well, dad has a surprise for the kids.  Billy is lazier than dad by far.  All he wants is to sleep, eat, pee, poop and chase Attila the grouse.  (Attila the grouse has been hanging around for over a year now and thinks that dad’s property belongs to grouse and not humans.)

Today, Billy finally caught Attila!  And what did this ferocious dog do?   He  head butted Attila a half dozen times, let him up and then chased him from on end of the property to the other.  After that Billy came home and slept for 3 hours. 

Yep. The conspiracy the kids hatched is really working.  Now dad has a bull dog that is more bull than dog.  Who the hell ever heard of a head butting bull dog? 

Kevin was 10 1/2 at the time and was full of energy and excited about almost everything.  He would discuss almost any topic with great enthusiasm and ask questions for hours on end.  At least I would not be bored during the drive.   In retrospect, bored was never an option during that trip. 

We left Rhinelander Wisconsin and headed for Minnesota with the idea of fishing at Mille Lacs Lake, a well known place for great fishing.   We spent a day fishing and caught a few small fish.   From there we went to Mobridge in the heart of South Dakota where we fished another day.  The winds were very high that day and we did not catch a thing.  Fishermen’s luck was not in our favor, but we had a great time.

We drove from there to Mount Rushmore where we joined thousands of other tourists and admired the great sculptures carved into the mountain.  We continued on through the Black Hills National Forest and saw herds of elk and buffalo in the distance.   Descending from the Black Hills, we came onto the eastern plains of Wyoming.  It was not long before we began seeing pronghorns and prairie dog towns everywhere.  At one prairie dog town we watched as pronghorns grazed around the area and a coyote hunted for lunch.  We watched for nearly a half hour, but he never was able to chase something down. 

We drove through the Thunder Basin National Grasslands to the little town of Edgerton.  We had to wait at the gas pump for about 10 minutes while they switched pumps.  We were the first car at the newly opened pump and we received 13 gallons.  As it turned out it was 13 gallons of water and not gasoline.   Driving away, I went about 15 feet before the car died.  The man at the pump seemed to know immediately what the problem was.  He got under the car and checked the gas line and saw it was all water.  They immediately took responsibility.  They put us up at a local motel, had us towed to Casper to a dealer where the entire gas line from the engine back to the tank was replaced at no cost to us.  I cannot say enough about the honesty and character of the people I met there. 

From Casper we drove to Yellowstone National Park.  Along the way we stopped in the middle of the highway twice.  Once for a Golden Eagle in the middle of the other lane perched atop a kill it had just made.  I opened the window just in time for it to hiss at us from about 4 feet away.    The second time was for a huge elk that was in the middle of the road with a broken back. It could only move its huge head and horns.  I had nothing I could use to put it out of it misery.  I drove on and we passed a truck going the other way and the driver waved at us, I hoped that he knew about the elk and assumed he was about to end the elk’s suffering.

We spent a long day and saw all the usual sights in Yellowstone.  By now we were anxious to get home and from there we drove and talked and saw the sights, but did not stop and spend any more time.  This was a great trip and I relive it in my mind often.

The most memorable part of the trip happened back at Mille Lacs Lake when we were done fishing.   On our way to the motel for the evening we stopped at a grocery store for snacks.  On the way back to the car Kevin bent over and picked up something.  When we got to the car, he showed me.  It was over $200, a credit card, drivers Licence and Golf Club membership held together with a rubber band.   He said, “I’m going to keep it”.  I shrugged my shoulders and waited.  For a while he talked about what he was going to do with the money but after a long silence he said. “No, I’m going to give it back.” 

Over the next three hours he went back and forth with these same two thoughts.  He asked me what he should do and I told him it was his decision. He called his mother and she wisely said it was his decision.  Finally he got the telephone and called the phone number listed on the Golf Club membership card.  There was no answer, but he left his name and our motel number and room number.  Boy was I proud.  He had made his decision and it was a good one.

Within an hour we got a return call from the gentleman that lost the card.  He was in the area and came to the motel where we met him and Kevin returned his belongings.  The man took the $100 bill that was in the rubber band and handed it to Kevin and shook his hand and thanked him.   He explained that he was an educator for major corporations and taught business and personal ethics.  He said he now had a new lecture he could give concerning personal ethics.   I believe that day was a defining moment in Kevin’s life and his sense of self.   For a young person of only 10 1/2, he demonstrated the character of honesty and decency that he has maintained as an adult.  I still brag about him.

Here is a photo of an elk about 15 feet from the house on the 3rd of August. 

Every once in a while I find myself at a dead end and have to retrace my steps. But that is all part of the adventure. Spend the night in the car parked in the middle of nowhere? Yep, I’ve done that!

Accompanying me will be my beautiful Golden Retriever, “Cassiopeia”. She is Cassie when I write or talk about her, Cassiopeia when I talk to her. Thirteen years old with three working legs she is always ready to go. “Just jangle the car keys daddy!” She has one bad leg that is more of a crutch than anything. It has been broken twice and has had the head of the femur removed. She does not let that stop her, it may slow her down is all. In the mountains she will roll and frolic in the snow. She is drawn to swimming when we are at water’s edge. The woods seem to be her favorite. She investigates every leaf and twig, sniffing and occasionally flipping something over with her muzzle so she can smell the other side of it. She has yet to find a swath of grass she could not moisten. “I gots ta make water, daddy!”

I have had a lot of dogs over the years, but I have met few that have a less aggressive nature. She considers everyone she meets as her new and very best ever friend. You can feed her a piece of meat and before she swallows it, pry open her mouth and extract it. I have seen people other than myself do that. She not only tolerates that, she looks at you with an expression that says, “I knew you were going to do that, but that’s okay, you will probably give it right back to me.”

Years ago Charles Schulz drew a Peanuts strip showing Snoopy on top of the dog house typing away. Each panel read;

She had always been kind.

Sometimes, however, she wondered if she was appreciated.

“Even so,” she thought, “I shall always smile and be kind.”

Once a Golden Retriever, always a Golden Retriever.

Schulz once wrote that Snoopy’s only regret in life was that he was not born as a Golden Retriever. I think Charles must have known a Golden much like Cassie.