Larry Eckart
Well-known member
Road Trip to Michigan: September 2020
Guys and Dani,
Recently I took an 8-day road trip to Michigan to visit friends and pick up some hunting gear. I left behind decoys and a Pop-Up Boat Blind ten years ago when I moved from Michigan to South Carolina to serve a Lutheran congregation there. Covid ready, I took all my food with me along with disinfectant spray for the one night in a hotel room. I found that throughout my route going and coming that most people wore masks in public and were respectful of social distance.
View attachment A3789FD8-D0DE-483F-8883-B9DB51B5C023.jpeg
At my first stop, for the first time that I can remember, I locked my keys in my truck and had to call a locksmith. Dumb! While waiting for that magic man, my long-dead father's words came vividly to me: ?Always put an extra key under your bumper or quarter panel.? While expensive ($95!!), the experience was educational as I learned how easy it is to open a locked car: get some plastic wedges (even a chain saw wedge) to wedge open the top of the door; use a long coat hanger or other device to tap the automatic lock button.
View attachment AE373455-A45D-40FB-9E6D-3EB0FE8F8F67.jpeg
My destination was near Rogers City in northern Michigan. There, friend Dale had recently purchased a 19' Boston Whaler Outrage. What a beautiful boat!
View attachment 1DBDD9DD-2AA6-406F-BA64-D90894997BF0_1_201_a.jpeg
On the only calm day I was there, we went fishing on Lake Huron. We caught five smaller Lake Trout. Excellent on the table! On the way in I looked down and saw the clear rocky bottom? in 18' of water! I had forgotten just how clear the Great Lakes are with the help of zebra mussels.
View attachment 21A0035B-F9B6-422C-BEB8-EABEAB54E77E.jpeg
Teal season was open. One night we slipped into Dale's 7-acre pond. Teal, woodies and mallards had raised their broods on this nice little hide away. I knocked down one bird, a cripple. Dale sent his Lab. Bird made it to the cattails. Lab followed the bird. I saw the Lab lunge, heard the bird flap. Lab bounced through the cattails to the pond's dam.
And then we heard no more of Dale's fine Lab. He called to her. Silence. He called again. Silence. What the heck? Only later did we find out that she decided to go home (about 300 yards away!) and bring her prize to mom. I couldn't stop laughing. Friend Dale was not so happy. Hilarious!
View attachment 98EF2BC2-96ED-4D11-8312-129BDB95833B.jpeg
My primary purpose was to pick up a Pop-Up Boat Blind I purchased about 15 years ago. Originally made for an 18' Starcraft, my plan is to adapt it to my 16' Lund. Along with the blind, I had some decoys, mostly hand-made corkers, that I wanted to introduce to the waters of North Carolina.
View attachment A7F0CA00-CEFF-4948-9BFC-7AE6BE2099DE.jpeg
View attachment 71E8C27D-9DE0-4546-A963-27169EC778D9.jpeg
View attachment 2CF80D62-A28F-411E-A5B9-DED0083CD1E2.jpeg
These are simple working decoys. I am not and never will be an artist. The heads are not carved, the painting is not meticulous like so many wonderful decoys made on this site. Without allowing those limitations to deter me, I have always loved the way cork decoys ride the water. These floated many times on Mitchell's Bay of Lake St. Clair and Lake George of northern Ontario. But they have not floated for ten years.
Rabbit trail: my wife almost divorced me over these cork decoys. In Michigan, we had a two-story house with a walk out basement and deck outside the walk out. One Sunday afternoon I was happily sanding cork with a Grizzly combo sander when the sliding door opened. A very, very upset wife was staring and swearing at me. How could I possibly get in trouble? I was outside. On the lower deck. The door and windows closed. Or so I thought.
Upstairs on our second floor the master bedroom window was open and mucho dark cork sawdust had risen like a fiendish prayer to that second story window and blown inside all over our bed. What a mess! I am blessed to still be married to that same lady, but to this day, she has an opinion about new cork decoys!
The first colors to appear in the north are not trees but fields of green beans. They are a lovely sign that THAT time of year is coming soon.
View attachment EE73461D-2138-4F77-8AC8-C8784948DDC9.jpeg
Larry
PS: Thanks to you who gave me advice on re-sealing/touch up painting the blocks. I think the mallards and bluebills will be fine but the blacks need some touch up paint. Any recommendations on ultra-flat black paint?
Guys and Dani,
Recently I took an 8-day road trip to Michigan to visit friends and pick up some hunting gear. I left behind decoys and a Pop-Up Boat Blind ten years ago when I moved from Michigan to South Carolina to serve a Lutheran congregation there. Covid ready, I took all my food with me along with disinfectant spray for the one night in a hotel room. I found that throughout my route going and coming that most people wore masks in public and were respectful of social distance.
View attachment A3789FD8-D0DE-483F-8883-B9DB51B5C023.jpeg
At my first stop, for the first time that I can remember, I locked my keys in my truck and had to call a locksmith. Dumb! While waiting for that magic man, my long-dead father's words came vividly to me: ?Always put an extra key under your bumper or quarter panel.? While expensive ($95!!), the experience was educational as I learned how easy it is to open a locked car: get some plastic wedges (even a chain saw wedge) to wedge open the top of the door; use a long coat hanger or other device to tap the automatic lock button.
View attachment AE373455-A45D-40FB-9E6D-3EB0FE8F8F67.jpeg
My destination was near Rogers City in northern Michigan. There, friend Dale had recently purchased a 19' Boston Whaler Outrage. What a beautiful boat!
View attachment 1DBDD9DD-2AA6-406F-BA64-D90894997BF0_1_201_a.jpeg
On the only calm day I was there, we went fishing on Lake Huron. We caught five smaller Lake Trout. Excellent on the table! On the way in I looked down and saw the clear rocky bottom? in 18' of water! I had forgotten just how clear the Great Lakes are with the help of zebra mussels.
View attachment 21A0035B-F9B6-422C-BEB8-EABEAB54E77E.jpeg
Teal season was open. One night we slipped into Dale's 7-acre pond. Teal, woodies and mallards had raised their broods on this nice little hide away. I knocked down one bird, a cripple. Dale sent his Lab. Bird made it to the cattails. Lab followed the bird. I saw the Lab lunge, heard the bird flap. Lab bounced through the cattails to the pond's dam.
And then we heard no more of Dale's fine Lab. He called to her. Silence. He called again. Silence. What the heck? Only later did we find out that she decided to go home (about 300 yards away!) and bring her prize to mom. I couldn't stop laughing. Friend Dale was not so happy. Hilarious!
View attachment 98EF2BC2-96ED-4D11-8312-129BDB95833B.jpeg
My primary purpose was to pick up a Pop-Up Boat Blind I purchased about 15 years ago. Originally made for an 18' Starcraft, my plan is to adapt it to my 16' Lund. Along with the blind, I had some decoys, mostly hand-made corkers, that I wanted to introduce to the waters of North Carolina.
View attachment A7F0CA00-CEFF-4948-9BFC-7AE6BE2099DE.jpeg
View attachment 71E8C27D-9DE0-4546-A963-27169EC778D9.jpeg
View attachment 2CF80D62-A28F-411E-A5B9-DED0083CD1E2.jpeg
These are simple working decoys. I am not and never will be an artist. The heads are not carved, the painting is not meticulous like so many wonderful decoys made on this site. Without allowing those limitations to deter me, I have always loved the way cork decoys ride the water. These floated many times on Mitchell's Bay of Lake St. Clair and Lake George of northern Ontario. But they have not floated for ten years.
Rabbit trail: my wife almost divorced me over these cork decoys. In Michigan, we had a two-story house with a walk out basement and deck outside the walk out. One Sunday afternoon I was happily sanding cork with a Grizzly combo sander when the sliding door opened. A very, very upset wife was staring and swearing at me. How could I possibly get in trouble? I was outside. On the lower deck. The door and windows closed. Or so I thought.
Upstairs on our second floor the master bedroom window was open and mucho dark cork sawdust had risen like a fiendish prayer to that second story window and blown inside all over our bed. What a mess! I am blessed to still be married to that same lady, but to this day, she has an opinion about new cork decoys!
The first colors to appear in the north are not trees but fields of green beans. They are a lovely sign that THAT time of year is coming soon.
View attachment EE73461D-2138-4F77-8AC8-C8784948DDC9.jpeg
Larry
PS: Thanks to you who gave me advice on re-sealing/touch up painting the blocks. I think the mallards and bluebills will be fine but the blacks need some touch up paint. Any recommendations on ultra-flat black paint?
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