garyfultz

It Was Worth It

Overheard on this Boundary Water campsite, “Bob would have liked this!”

The Problem with Bob was my constant second guessing myself on pouring so much time into a broken teenager growing the wrong way. layers of funny covered this hurting kid. Was it worth it? Was He worth it? That was my question many years ago. Some of his teachers and the places he got jobs didn’t think so. A military stint in the Gulf War, a few years and then a 7-page letter from a whole new Bob reconnected us. He had a new-found relationship with God. He seemed at peace, was focused and was still funny. Bob became a good radio DJ and was involved with youth work. I could not have imagined this potential in the kid I knew as Bob.

We went to Bob’s wedding. Bob went with me to Boundary Waters and provided his ever-present and much more mature humor. Bob had become a man and a friend who loved God, others, and himself as well. Our lives intertwined and my circle of outdoor friends became his before he moved and disappeared.

I found Bob last year on a posted obituary. My wife broke up our silent grief by saying “It was worth it”. We have come to the conclusion that if we spent seven tough years in youth work, Bob alone was worth our mentoring investment in him. I miss my friend Bob, even though he still owed me a Boundary Water fry pan.

Gary

Winter Again

I touched the window screen in the bedroom with the camera and clicked a shot of local deer sharing our winter in the back yard. I don’t know how any survive winters like this. Many will not after another 18″ of heavy snow last night. Two storm systems clashing on top of us mixed with high winds have deposited every new snowflake onto our driveway.

Can you see the tractor behind the drift?

It looks like a fun job just driving around and playing with the snow. Ow…burned my lip! I’m watching from the window with a cup of coffee. Somehow feeling like I’m in that cell phone commercial. What do you do when things get tough? There is always a storm coming or going in some type of form. I thought of mounting the video camera on the truck last night (what does a white-out look like? ya, all white). A phone call in the height of the storm for help had me bravely (actually stupidly) rescuing a friend who was very stuck in a snow bank a few miles from home. As it turned out he didn’t make it home even after I pulled him out. I guess all 4×4 vehicles are not created equal (its culturally correct to blame the vehicle here). I begged, pleaded and offered our couch in the living room but noooo…He had to try to make it. This morning when I stated “Told you so” He asked me “please let’s not talk about this”.

” Change of subject” (I said) “I’m twice your age but who do you think will meet St. Peter at the big gate first?” Silence. “Hey I’m selling one of my vehicles that stays on the roa…Ow-ch”

Gary

Another picture of a tree outside the window. The snow stays on in 30 mph winds as it was above freezing during the storm and then the temps dropped… Literally frozen in place. sounds like the lakes will freeze much deeper for awhile…sigh, I’m OK as I just secured a BWCAW permit for the end of may in faith that the ice will be off the lakes by then. With all this climate change we are heading for another ice age I’m thinking.

Being an Expert

I’ve often thought of myself as one who fits the ancient category “Jack of all trades, master of none”. When my skills are sifted and labeled, most fall short of the “Expert” bin. I’m sure there are many reasons or excuses I could think of but it does not matter. For now I am satisfied with some of the reasons why I am an expert at a few things important to me.

I have been here several times. 12 portages by canoe and back pack in the BWCAW. I seem to be an expert in this place. Memories of monster fish, many friends, deer, bear, moose, great food, snow storms in may, and home of huge silver pike. If you want to come to this area and need a guide, I would be a good candidate.

Steaks over an open camp fire. Anyone can do that right? Bring them marinating in your backpack, Put a seasoning rub into them, build a fire, wait for the right coals, and serve with a bunch of other great side dishes and a few fried fish fillets. After hundreds of camping meals over an open fire, I’m a better than average candidate for cooking outdoors

I should probably carry a camera more. as a photographer, I’m only okay. I get more points by being in the right place at the right time with birds and animals. Blind luck as it turns out is my best skill…go figure. I guess I should stick to fishing

It's ok to swim in circles today — It’s ok to swim in circles today

Gary

Still wet from his bath he is hanging out his wings in the slight breeze to dry

Sitting Out 2014

My 2014 thoughts have taken me by surprise as I am planning my year ahead after looking back.

Should I keep fishing? Here’s a view when I dropped the camera down on the action.

Should I keep making music?

Am I wasting my time taking a week off every year to lead a group into the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, take kids fishing, do more photography, write and do some public speaking?

Honestly, I’m not sure how much initiating I want to do. I’ve laid my time investments out on the table and it seems like a BWCA map with myriads of options (all seemingly good) knowing full well that time has done two things as I get older; sped up and shrunk. Then there is hunting. I have to find big blocks of time to get into the woods.

3 miles above elk camp. A few feet away from the warm sun.

I feel a bit squeezed for some reason since work is a full-time job on the side. I still haven’t mentioned the COFA fall retreat (formally called Fish Camp) in September or the trip to a third world country my wife and I are talking through.

2014, I am so tempted to just watch. Like a pew sitter in church or a basketball player on the end of the bench (been there). The temptation to merely quit initiating things with others is harder than it’s ever been.

So far the signs for my life’s priorities seem covered up. It’s in my DNA to forge ahead and survive whatever adventure that comes. I have more maps of lakes then I can possibly get to but I’ll end up on some of them! I want to go winter camping in the BWCA again in March (when it get’s above zero hopefully) who wants to come along? I want to plan another BWCA trip, go elk hunting, go muzzle-loading for deer or bear, fish a couple of times a week on average and ski the mountains again. I would like to get to Peru to see some kids we support. I would like to do so many things but I don’t see a path to do them all.

I feel like I will be sitting out 2014 if I cannot find a way to do more than I did last year. I am a player not a watcher. I don’t always plan well, say things properly, have the right equipment, or let others catch the fish. I don’t even know many people here in northern Wisconsin as we just moved. I work long hours at my job, but it’s no excuse for me to not be doing what God created me to do (I’m pretty sure it somehow involves fishing!)

Gary

Upstream Truth

The Mouth of the mighty Mississippi river. Where one can walk across the river without getting wet. It’s a hard truth to believe if you live where the river is a mile wide. To find the truth it’s a long ways upstream. So it is with many truths in life. From picking the right stocks for the future to finding out what is rumor or truth about your co-workers, there is the easy way to live (just be gullible) and there is the hard way (time, energy, and often a lot of work).

My wife and I checked out a new church this Sunday. We had the distinct impression that these people put in a huge amount of preparation time to communicate how Mary’s child Jesus would be God’s answer ultimately for world peace, and in the meantime peace individually even when our world has been turned upside down in all the calamities of life. That my friend is “Upstream Truth”. If I told you about this kind of Peace in the middle of a school shooting, cancer, job loss, or rush hour traffic; we would be starting out our conversation quite a ways downstream. I must admit that I was brought all the way to the source in this service when most churches are closer to standing downstream with the rest of us with two fingers raised like a 60’s hippie saying “Peace man”.

I get very frustrated with “downstream” conversations. As a guest speaker I remember telling a true account of winter camping. I snowshoe-d in with 11 others at -38 degrees in the Boundary waters in February. In Minnesota they believe the account (or maybe just nod in agreement) but in Iowa not so much. I don’t blame them, it does sound far fetched. Probably as far fetched as some of your stories in your crazy moments. “Weather” conversations for us are more upstream than “How about those Packers?” being new to Wisconsin.

We live in a day when students Google, Copy,and Paste term papers and think it’s good enough work. Jobs are supposed to be created for us with all kinds of benefits, it’s a bad thing to tell the truth (especially statistics) if it offends someone, sound bytes played often enough are believed, defending oneself with a gun is a bad thing, and buying my grand daughter a PETA shirt (People Eating Tasty Animals) could get her expelled from school. It’s almost as bad as saying “Merry Christmas”. It’s hard to really know people, or is it?

Today we visited our neighbors door to door because we had not met any yet. We gave them a tin of fresh baked cookies (by my wife) and a Christmas card to introduce ourselves. I think one couple had never had visitors who were not selling something or asking for money. We went with very low expectations and found our neighbors are just like us, in need of more friends. Who would have thought that a knock on the door of our neighbor and a few cookies would bring us immediately into some intimate truthful conversations. My kind of people for the most part, and willing to do about anything for more conversation in the future. “Upstream” conversation with a little work (cookies), and a little courage (Ring doorbell), and now there is no more wondering what our neighbors are like. We went to the source.

Psst…I may have found some crappie hotspots as a bonus! Donn (with two N’s) knows where there is a map.

Gary

Fitting In, Maybe

I thought of this picture as I met some local guys going about their business. According to them the hunting and fishing is terrible and the business climate worse. I know otherwise, or we wouldn’t have moved here. Business is good and so is the fishing.

The mornings are frosty and cold in Wisconsin where we have made our new home. I guess life’s transitions often feel that way. New people, though sometimes friendly, hold on to their jagged edges lest one gets too close. The prospect of building friendships in a new place seems to have cold and prickly boundaries. After all, why go through the pain of breaking or melting the ice between perfect strangers? My hope is that we will find the season of spring soon and let our buds blossom.

Realistically though, I have already put on my big boots and trampled on a few ice crystals round town (in a bold but friendly way with a smile on my face). I guess I’m wondering how they will take me in as I try to give them the impression that I assume they are friends who don’t know it yet. I know that it bothers some that I smile and nod as if they have amnesia and should know me from somewhere. It’s not a game for me, relationships are one’s life blood, even mine.

Oh, and those local boys I met? They probably think I just don’t get it. Truthfully, I don’t. I suspect we both have a lot to learn.

Gary

Moving and Other Crazy Notions

I remember standing beside the mailbox thinking how symbolic a fall sunset can be. We have 20 years invested in this very rural northern Minnesota place on the planet. I guess I thought I would have plenty more seasons to enjoy what I have always called “Home”.

A strange place will soon be home. Strangers now will soon be friends. But Lord Wisconsin? Same Latitude, same job, same company, lakes country, but Lord those cultish Cheese-heads? (I know, Viking people are no different). Housing is higher, gas is higher, real estate taxes almost triple, muskies instead of walleye, closer to my beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Lord I’ll go.

Change tells secrets and puts a mirror to one’s hidden self. I am less of a risk-taker than I thought of myself. My mind is still 28 years old but my body is as the mirror on the wall says. Change whispers that I don’t have as many friends – much less as close of friends as I thought. Change urges me to trust God more and myself less. How dare Change knock on the door to my life much less enter without my permission. This time, for now, I concede. Change is right.

I have begun to make friends with Change, a bit guardedly of course. With all the sediment being stirred off the bottom of my life’s paint bucket I have been secretly hoping to splash some color where we land. Then again Change has already said his piece. As if the voice came from the setting sun or a rustle from a falling autumn leaf; “How much, how high, how wide, rainbows or neutrals, roll up your sleeves and go dream young man”

Gary

Meanwhile I’ll still be running fish camp in a few days (which means a lot of catching for me and just fishing for some). Change says I was bragging…”was not”…We will see as I will post pictures!

Stumbled Upon Outdoor Truths

I realized yesterday that I have spent over a year of my life leading trips in remote wilderness settings. Three years have been logged taking people fishing from boats, banks, and canoes. 12,614,400 seconds of ones life doing these kind of things (rough calculations here) has led me to discover some profound truths

Fishing is always good. Catching is a bonus.
Good food, good mood.
The bounty on the weatherman expires when the sun comes out.
Most animals like people food.
Most animals can eat people food containers
One dry match beats a Rolex after three days of rain.
The banging of pots and pans summons all the bear in the area.
One’s true character is exposed somewhere between the first and thirteenth portage.
Always bring extra rods, reels, tackle, and sustenance when kids are present.
Mosquitoes test any honorable relationship one might have with God
Famous last words”I know this area like the back of my hand”

Just Looking at a few of my 24 maps reminds me of so many untold stories which in the telling they would be tarnished or maybe a fishing spot revealed. In one large lake (about 12 portages back) the walleye gather in a narrows in five feet of water for about a week out of the year (I and a couple of the original group have proven this several times). A fish a cast is the average. On occasion a monster pike will shut down the walleye bite and the hooked pike will be a great battle. But like I say it’s just a story, but if you do find it in your wanderings use a very large hook or the little ones will drive you crazy.

I would have 10 bullet points but #11 comes from forgetting the maps. So learn one piece of advice in leading wilderness trips; tell no one you are lost and put the person in charge of navigating who bought a map. How else would I find so many great out of the way fishing spots?Here’s to all the guys who read maps as good or worse than me!

Gary

Fishing and Rare Finds

Well I’ll be…huh…yep, excited here.

My Golf Pro Cousin was over for a family gathering and I showed him a couple of my old (I guess they are really old and rare) golf clubs. The short version is that they will end up in a museum. Honorable mention is how excited he got in “the find of a lifetime.” Less than honorable mention is all I can think about is replacing my almost as old fishing rod.

Over the weekend a fishing buddy and I visited one of our lakes way back in the woods and had a rare find to the tune of 75+ bass fighting for whatever we threw in the water. I am very sure that we hit a stretch of weed edge drifting where a fish per cast was 100% for half an hour minus the pike bite offs. 10″ Bluegill were attacking our jigs as well. Chris lost the skin on his thumb landing them the classic way (I had heavier line and the old stout rod so it was heave and hoist). Being it was raining off and on and we were too busy to take pictures anyway, it’s a story without pictures or proof (except for some guys Chris took out the next day).

Guess which rare find excites me the most? Passions are not to be trifled with. I have been told that I have had a one track mind labeled “Fishing” since I could walk. Maybe that’s why I’m willing to take canoe trips into the BWCA Wilderness 47 portages and bull through the brush to hidden lakes that might have fish in them.

To date I have had some extremely rare finds: Two pound plus yellow perch in a lake surrounded by rock walls and a swamp with a one mile bushwhack, brook trout in a small Crystal clear lake up to 20,” 8-12 pound pike in a swamp type lake guarded by angry moose, rainbow trout up to seven pounds in a small clear lake surrounded by cedars hanging over the waters edges, and a small mysterious waterway where I broke my line on all three fish trying to stop them from crossing into Canada a mile away. Do I dare mention that we have hooked at least three fish like my 46″ pike in a lake most people just pass through without a cast?

Sometimes a rare find just happens (like my garage sale golf clubs) but I think most are intentional or at least set-up to happen. I work (maybe “play” is a better word) hard at fishing. I have many rare finds. We worked hard at parenting (with great and rare returns). July 10th 37 years ago I had proposed and we have been committed to each other since…That’s rare. Our relationship with God runs deeper than being religious and that seems to be oddly rare.

Friends come and go and we have not taken the time to have many deep friendships; our loss and sadly not rare. I would trade my golf clubs for being able to be a good friend to more people, but not my fishing rod. I don’t sign off like those fishing shows; “See you on the water.”

Sorry, I’m in search of another rare find. I’ll probably share it with the guys from Fish-camp and that’s about it. I’ll be on a lake less fished probably with my old rod.

Here’s to my friends on the water Gary

Gone Fishing

The Kids and Grand Kids are visiting. The little men (2 & 4) need some captions here. Let me start…”Don’t tell Grandpa we took the boat”. How about “What did Grandpa mean when he gave us fillet knives and a box of band-aids?”

Go Ahead and have fun with it… maybe they will tell me how they got them!

Gary

PS…No I didn’t actually give them knives (for you literal people).