I'm buildin' bridges

 01 Jun 2009 12:20:36 am

This week lead us to Maplewood state park near Pelican Rapids Minnysoda. Are instructions were to construct and install a 4'x24' bridge that would connect two trails together in the park. The dnr has all of these great plans for just about everything. The only problem is the designs are from the 1930's. The designs are ok for the most part, but the hardware and materials have changed some since then. The bridge went up pretty smoothly. What you are looking at is 48 cedar, true 2x8's that are laminated together with 70lbs of nails. This baby must have weighed close to a million pounds when we were done. The old bridge which looked more like a dock was destroyed when someone rode a horse over it last fall. I think our bridge could take on a Clydesdale.

Pretty good looking bridge huh?

Here is a proud bunch of guys...we built a 4 foot wide bridge 2 inches at a time



We have now started camping at the job sites to save on costs. It is really fun. It is kind of chilly at night still, but we usually get a fire going and make do. Here was my residence for the week...



Deluxe accommodations...



About 330am on Wednesday morning I awoke to a 40lb raccoon scarffing down our corn on the cob that we forgot to store. I was ticked, but about all I could do was sprint after the fatso shouting obscenities...Which I found out the next night that only makes the big raccoon more upset. He brought reinforcements the next night and we were constantly surrounded by the little varmits. We survived multiple assaults, and we were really lucky to escape with our lives

Here's something I picked for the ladies who have stopped by to read this post



After the bridge was built we went further south to Glacial Lakes State Park to do one more prescribed burn. We burnt 80 some acres up which brings the running total of acres burnt to somewhere around 1800 this spring. Sad to see burning season go, but it was a great experience.

Today I managed to get out on the water, even though we had to fight through a couple of thunderstorms, we managed to find some nice weather after getting soaked for an hour or two. I had a first...I caught my first rainbow trout, actually I caught three. The lake we went to was stocked with these puppies, so my buddy and I decided to check it out. Really clear water, really deep water. Trout hit hard, but after that they were pretty easy to pull in. These were just little guys, with my biggest at 10". I think my modified bass tackle must have been a little too much for them to handle. I got a couple of nice jumps out of one, but if I wanted too I could have just wabashed him into the boat







That’s about it guys, looking forward to another week of work. Going up north from here to kill some aspen trees, and spray some herbicide. Something new in a new place...my routine is that there isn't one

Going to watch the cubs get their butts kicked on Sunday night baseball, and pack for the week....

Have a good week yall

Category : General | Posted By : paul | Comments [8] | Trackbacks [0]