Fall weekender

Last weekend, i stuffed my pack and guns into car once again, to go and see if any game would be waiting for me in the bush. Well, i got only two birds,hazel grouses, but they tasted well, freshly cooked in open fire pan along with generous amount of mushroom,bacon and onion all fried and mixed with cream...kind of a stew you might say.

I found an old but working gas stove at flea market and i took it with me and now it it has a new home and life in the forest cabin where we hang out. i do love open, real camp fire, but i think, that its good to have a stove too, so we can cook a meal inside the house as well. Theres a fireplace too, but its easier to use pan and pot on stove than in fireplace in which you cant build a holder for cooking items.

There was mushrooms, so much that i got 4 bags gathered in some..under an hour. And at next weekend i'll be harvesting more.

I had fun time teaching my girlfriend to drive the pick-up that we use there. She learned to use lowering gears and turn on and oof the spindle locks in front, use the winch and then drive in the actual bush,after she managed to drive in old logging machine tracks.

                             Filling up the tanks from stream, for sauna use.

Off course, i took an advantage to hunt,as i had again this hunting guest pass. And shot some cans etc too,naturally :). My only caths was two pigeons, the bigger birdd were hiding all the time,as there was pretty windy weather and the trees were dropping the leaves and at that time, birds dont fly to branches,sadly.

Although there wasnt much to hunt, i enjoyed the fresh windy days, seeing the nature changing its colours for winter. Already we had -3c temps at nights and i just cant wait, to see days when snow drops and when we have minus temps at daytime too.

 The small bar has to be filled soon too, so when the winters there, you can have some proper drinks after a day in snow.

my girlfriend did a serious cleaning at cabon and from some old box she found his obviously older wood handled Mora. It has a slightly worn blade, and the tip has a minor piece missing,some patina and dirt.

As we came back to home i sanded off the red paint, scrubbed the matel parts a bit, and dyed the handle and then oiled it. Ill be making a new leather sheath over the original plastic sheath too, so now she has a "new" beater knife that she can keep at the cabin always as a spare.

Theres an old road, thats officially used last time, about 50 years ago, crossing thru the cabins yard. I have been looking from maps that the old road went to another road in the bush, that still exists and leads to my friends cabin, in about 9 kilometers from the cabin where i visit.

So i drove the old road that is rarely used by our off-road vehicles, and its still blocked so that even jeeps etc, cant connect to the another road. Its kind of a two roads that used to be one but now theres forest growing thru it. But with ATV i could drive it all the way. It was fun and i saw a lot of moose and deer tracks too, plus few toilets of badger.

At some point i stumbled upon old place where once stood a house, and there was just a fireplaces stone base left and next to it, a pile of moss covered junk.

The word junk in my books doesnt mean anything bad always,though. Like this coffee pot. It must be atleast 30 years old or older. It still had good zinc ? lining and the outer side had a good condition emalium. I didnt find the lid, but i picked it up anyway and brought it to cabin as well as the old coffee jar, and ill be using them as decoratives there somewhere.

The best thing in this trip was that i was given this small cabin, near the large main cabin. It has a small room with bunks, a small room to change clothes and a small sauna, plus a outhouse and a firewood shelter...that is just big enough to take a snowmobile in too :). Ill be removing the inner walls and making it one bigger room,throw away the sauna equipment and replacing the KIUAS with a stove, that has a cooking surface on top of it. Sturdy locks, wooden window covers with hinges, better bunks, a few stools and a table, and ill have comfortable small cabin there too, for me to use,and for my friends who will receive a key too. I still think that ill be using the main cabin if theres more people,so its better to use the woods to heat the big cabin, but if im there alone, ill use the smaller that requires less wood. Theres a well next to it ,with checked pure water. I wont be building anything as a yard, just remove the junk around it,and add a lid above the door, that will be modified to open towards inside,so its easier to go in,even when the high amount of snow is in front of the door.

We brought in to the main cabin, some stuff too. Few coffee pots, more matches, candles, a small skillet and a barbeque thingy made from steel wire, in whicj you can roast meat, bread etc, in between the two folding steel nets.

I got this new brew, that was way too  good it seems. Fireball, a whiskey liquour with some hot spice and cinnamon. It went empty too fast when we were heating up sauna, building a new firewood shelter from logs and throwing the axes :)
It just might be my favourite soft drink for a while.

This puukko has been pretty darn good, especially when i got to make a new sheath. It isnt nice or beautiful i know, but the previous i made accidentally for left handed so i didnt carry the puukko so much, but now i will. It seems to hold the edge super fine and its sturdy enough for any puukko task, but also, its small enough to be used for more detailed jobs as well. It has a nice balance too, a sthe brass parts in the handle add weight to handle, as the blade isnt the lightest one.
The blade is made by T. Kotavuopio, from ball bearing race,and the handle etc. is done by myself, from leatherdyed curly birch, and brass parts i made by casting them from used 308.rifle cartridges.

Well thats about it now. I didnt do anything interesting nor didnt take so much pics  but i thought that some of you might like these anyway.