The more I think about it the more Jim Baxter’s comment about this place being more of a – “cult than a vacation destination” – the more it rings true! But its a cult of fun! And Janet will never ask you to drink the “cool-aid”! Maybe some vodka – hmm – maybe a lot of vodka (vodker for the folks from Chama) but never the cool-aid.

Just a quick update on the Trebuchet. Brian and Andy gave me a lot of help erecting the “A” frames and ramps and the bear hunters got it up the other day! Hey just a second – let me rephrase – the bear hunters placed the throwing arm into position.

Here’s a shot of the Treb superstructure with the ramp for placing the throwing arm.

The throwing arm needed a some counterweights to balance it in Bruce’s trailer on the way down to the device. Harvey is so svelte that Mark had to lend a -er- “hand”.

The Treb throwing arm is in place and here’s the crew that did it. I have since gotten the several more braces in place and have fitted the bearing caps and tied them to the superstructure. I have to do a little more adjustment to the bearings and machine the throwing arm to accept the sling release hardware and cocking traveler pulley and put the weight box on in the next few days. After that I’ll be putting the base hold-downs on and putting more support rocks under the the whole shebang before I power it up. I estimate it should be done in a couple weeks.

Its sunny and crystalline clear today and warm – two bears have already been shot this week and the fishing is still fantastic. Well, I am off… (to work – not a mental state comment).

First week of Bear Camp: 5 hunters, 4 bear killed. They have killed two 140 pounders, one 160 pounder and this 280 pound monster.

That is Brian Ruth in the picture. He would have liked to have killed this bear but, alas, he got one of the 140 pounders. He just happened to be the only hunter around when I took the picture and I needed someone for size reference. The guy that got this bear was Jim Slocum’s nephew Marcus who came all the way from Florida.

There is one more night for the last hunter to get his bear. Maybe we can start out 100% like last year.

Is there any other place on earth where they are so deliciously impressive and appalling at the same time? – Mary Colombi

Yes – I have been slacking and busy at the same time. My favorite part of summer has come and gone with the Baxter Clan with bean bags on the beach almost daily and hundreds of games of Oh Shit and Darts. The Texas Hold’em tournament went to Brian and Kim.

The Vodka on the Beach National Holiday was a success featuring guests of honor Doug and Cathie White and Chester and Marion (the Warden) Jachymek. We had two – count ‘em TWO Mojito Mondays as well as Emily’s Boom Chicka Wa Wa day and dance night at the Lodge. Bart and a host of friends trekked to Smooth Water Lake for a day of swimming and site seeing. We had a pretty good day of pike fishing on Spider lake, I caught 12 – 13 with a top end of 38″.

The trebuchet “A” frames are going up and progress is being made daily with Bart supervising whilst Baxter courses the beach with his pack of ruffian hounds. We have also been doing some fishing on the one sunny day a week (on average) that we’ve been getting.

Our new baby – Bart has been getting fishing lessons with his daddy …

and boating lessons from his big brother Baxter.

He has exhibited good boat standing form too.

Our upcoming events include (but are not limited to) a big day on the Grassy and a trip to Mond, four sunny days in a row, “Battle of the Titans” drinking contest (an Olympic demonstration sport this year!) and a trip to Obushkong.

The lake is down to o.65 feet and was 73F yesterday. We’ve had a cool night so I bet its back down to 71F today.