All good things must come to an end. The playhouse is complete. After 27 hours I can say it is done. Today I had to hammer in the anchoring stakes, build the picnic table and assemble the slide and mount it to the side. Of course Tyler was there to try out the slide to make sure I did it right, he said it will do. LOL

Without any further delay,

This thing has been quite the project but you know I am glad I did it and I think it looks great. Don’t mind me if i take a second to pat myself on the back.

Here we are on day 3 and I’m at 24 1/2 hours into this project. I am almost wishing this was my own. This is looking more awesome than ever. On part 2 I had left off with the peak of the main roof with the cupola on it. Now for part 3 I will start off with finishing the main roof.

Now don’t be to scared but here I am working on the peak vents.

This next picture is going to be what they call the front porch and the roof trusses that I also had to put together.

Of course my building partner Tyler who was hamming it up had to try out the fancy windows that open and close. Believe it or not the shutters open and close as well.

And here is the last thing I did today. I built the swing arm and hung the swings and slide. Looks pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

As before I want to thank my wife Heidi for all her help with sorting parts and picking the right pieces. If it wasn’t for her helping I would not be a far as I am. There is a part 4 but I can also call that the finale. All I have left to do is put the slide together and secure it to the right side of the house and put together a picnic table that goes inside the porch area.

Oh ya I almost forgot that the area under the main house is the sandbox which is suppose to take approximately 16 bags of play sand. And you really can’t see but, the back of this play house is going to have a 4′ high picket fence so the kids won’t fall down the nasty, steep slope that is back there.

By: Rick Kratzke

Well I just finished day 2 of this project and I don’t mind saying it’s time for a few cold one’s. Today I spent 7 1/2 hours and got quite a bit accomplished I think but, I’m still not done. Here are the pictures from today.

Here it is with the side rails on.

This picture has 2 out of the 3 roof trusses on it.

It is beginning to look like a house with the front wall done and the two opening for the windows.

The final bit for the day was to put the middle roof truss in and the peak of the roof with the cuppola on top. That was enough for one day, I should be able to do more this weekend.

By: Rick Kratzke

I like to do what I call side jobs to fill in the gaps financially as well as give me a couple bucks for my pocket. Some of these side jobs are small and some are not so small. This one I’m doing now is not so small and is nothing short of huge.

I have started building this playhouse for the single mom that lives next door. She bought this as a kit after asking me if she bought it would I build it. I of course said sure thing but, first I had an area to clean up before it arrived. This was the perfect spot except for a small tree that was in the middle (say goodbye to the tree). With that being done she had ordered it and when it came it came via tractor trailer (oh my god) so there was a few boxes and a lot of pieces.

This next picture is just the frame for the main house. It will have a second floor to it with a roof to boot. My little helper Tyler was there and when he wasn’t helping he was supervising.

These next two are the main frame with a ladder and small rock wall for the little tikes to climb and then there is one with the second floor done.

There is going to be a lot more to do, this thing is really big. There will be a swing set on one side and a slide on the other with a picnic table under a lower roof which is not there yet. A small house for kids. It is made with cedar and pine so it smells awesome. Some of it does take two people so my wife Heidi was out there helping me which was a huge help to me. What is also nice about it is that it can be seen from the neighbors kitchen window and my kitchen window and she said Tyler can come over and play on it at any time.

By: Rick Kratzke

In a previous post I had mentioned we were off to see the circus, well we are back and we had a great time. Before I tell you how it went I just want to mention that quality time spent with family whether it be your wife, husband or your kids or all of they above should be cherished because times like that can keep you going for a long time to come.

This first picture was of a couple of chinese acrobats that did some amazing things. I think if I tried some of these I would break something.

Of course in the middle of the show my wife Heidi called my name and I happened to look over to see what she wanted but, I didn’t realize that she had the camera and I had a mouthful of cotton candy which is very good by the way.

This is during the elephant part of the show and let me say that they were some of the best trained animals that I had ever seen.

This last picture was part of the finally and went very well. For the price of the tickets we got a show and then some I feel.

Good times had by all. I was very happy to see a smile on Tyler’s face and my wife Heidi as well. We all had a good time and that is what it’s about. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

By: Rick Kratzke

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has come to Hartford Connecticut.

My wife Heidi and I are taking Tyler to the circus today. It will be our little get-a-way for a few hours, lord knows we need it. Tyler hasn’t seen a circus yet so it should be interesting to see his reactions.

If we get there an hour and a half early we get to go into the main circus rings and meet the animals and some performers which sounds kinda cool. Heidi has her camera battery all charged up so I hope they let us take pictures.

This post is kinda short because we have to go so we can get in early but hopefully I will have more to show you later.

This article is so true in a lot if different areas and it is a shame that the kids today would rather watch tv or play video games than enjoy the fresh air in the great outdoors as well as enjoy nature and everything around it. I have two son’s, the older one does not really show much interest in hunting or outdoor sports for that matter. That is ok, he is old enough to make his own decision. My younger son will be 6 in July and he absolutely loves being outside and has already gone on a couple of shed hunting hikes where he appeared to have a great time. This year I intend on getting him out Trout fishing and maybe in the fall I will take him out with me deer hunting once or twice (on a nice warm autumn afternoon) of course.

Getting back to the article, down in Florida is no different than some other areas. We as hunters can only introduce our youth to hunting and the outdoors in hopes that they will find it interesting enough to stick with it.

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Frank Pickett came of age when a fishing pole, a bow and arrow, a couple of buddies and the great outdoors provided a young man with all the entertainment he could want.

Nature was the focal point of life, Pickett said. It’s just how he was raised.

“When you use the outdoors, you respect them,” he said.

The values of his upbringing even led him to transform hunting from a hobby to his career as co-owner of Pickett Weaponry, the local hunting supply headquarters in downtown Newberry, he said.

But Pickett fears his type is a dying breed.

“You think kids today want to get up at 4 a.m. to sit around and swat away mosquitoes and wait for something they’re not even guaranteed to catch?” he asked. “Nope, not when there’s a TV right at home.”

He said he can’t even convince his own nieces and nephews to peel themselves away from the computer or TV long enough to join him on a hunting trip.

Their idea of big excitement is playing Xbox,” he said.

Pickett’s situation mirrors a trend witnessed by outdoorsmen across the state.

The tables have turned.

Florida’s newest endangered species are the hunters themselves.

Reasons for the Decline

Society’s evolution has changed the significance of hunting from a means of survival to an entertainment form, and competition for the entertainment dollar has never been fiercer.

Preston Robertson, Florida Wildlife Federation vice president, said the myriad of entertainment options current technology offers overshadows the appeal of the outdoors, especially to youngsters.

Nature seems uneventful compared to the mesmerizing animation and interactive adventures children see on the Internet, TV and video games, Robertson said.

He even referred to the diagnosis of “nature deficit disorder,” a syndrome stemming from lack of time outdoors, as coined by his favorite author, Richard Louv.

“If you don’t start hunting young, you probably never will,” Robertson said.

But children aren’t the only ones staying out of the woods.

When hunters find the time to get out and hunt, they want a quality experience with beautiful scenery and large deer, and Robertson said Florida doesn’t have it.

“We have changed to a completely urban society,” Robertson said. “There’s a Wal-Mart where I used to hunt.”

In addition, the majority of hunters don’t even seek Florida’s deer because most bucks are killed before they reach a desirable size, he added.

“We are probably the last state left without a bag limit,” he said.

A bag limit states the number of a certain animal a hunter is permitted to kill each season.

Unlike Florida, Georgia hunters are permitted to legally kill two bucks per year.

“I have heard of Florida hunters bagging as many as 150 bucks in a year,” he conceded with a sigh. “It would break your heart.”

Florida’s lacking animal management program has caused a large portion of outdoorsmen to flee the state to hunt in the hopes of finding game worth hunting, he said.

Adding traveling costs into the mix only lengthens the list of negatives people must evaluate when they consider hunting, he added.

And to make matter worse, the current state of the economy doesn’t provide room for many people to splurge, he said.

License Statistics

Robertson said the steady decline of hunting license sales over the past few years makes it hard to deny the loss of interest in the sport.

“The numbers have crashed,” he said. “I don’t see how you can look at it any other way.”

A resident gold sportsman license costs $100 per year and grants outdoorsmen permission to hunt and fish an assortment of species.

Sales of resident gold sportsman licenses plummeted from 20,075 in 2006 to 1,546 in 2007, according to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC.

“Less than .05 percent of the Florida population even buys a hunting license anymore,” Robertson said.

Douglas Shinkle, policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said hunting and fishing license sales are essential to conservation efforts in Florida because they comprise nearly all of the FWC’s funding.

The FWC allocates its funds to researching and preserving Florida’s water, land and endangered species, which is crucial to Florida’s weakening environment, Shinkle said.

Remedial Programs

A plethora of state agencies and lawmakers are searching for remedies to treat the financial plague caused by the decline of hunting, Shinkle said.

Because hunters and fishermen have generally comprised the majority of the FWC’s funding, they held most of the power as to how the money was spent, Shinkle said.

So Florida lawmakers created the “Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund,” an account financed by revenue extracted from someone other than sportsmen’s pockets, he said.

This fund allows environmentalists urging the FWC to spend money on other conservation efforts than just those related to hunting and fishing – such as preserving the Florida panther – to have a larger impact, he said.

“States are obviously concerned about the drop in hunting license revenue and looking for ways to diversify,” Shinkle said.

Several strategies have been formed through Florida statutes to help the Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund grow, he said.

One statute enforces a charge on tickets given for speeding by more than 5 mph that is deposited into the Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.

The statute states that the charge increases proportionally with the amount by which the speed limit is broken.

Another statute enforces a $4 charge on the price of Florida car registrations for any car previously registered in a different state.

Additionally, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, known as NSSF, awarded the FWC $64,400 to increase hunting activity in Florida and fund research to identify and convince hunters who are leaving the state to stay in Florida, instead.

The grant to Florida was part of $724,980 the NSSF awarded to fund hunter recruitment and retention to wildlife agencies across 12 states.

The Significance of Hunting

“Hunters are truly a group on the front line of witnessing the impacts of global warming,” said Mary Burnette, National Wildlife Federation spokeswoman. “It is destroying the environments of the animals they hunt.”

Hunters’ passions toward preserving the environment makes them an integral part of conservation efforts, Burnette said.

“Their numbers may be falling, but they are becoming increasingly vocal about the dangers of global warming,” Burnette said. “Right now, we need anyone and everyone to speak up.”

Robertson agreed.

“You have to preserve the land to be able to hunt it,” he said. “The reason I’m such a diehard environmentalist is because I’m a hunter.”

Animal-rights enthusiasts and environmentalists often mislabel hunters as enemies when they are in fact an essential part of a healthy environment, he said.

“I support ethical hunting,” he said. “People who use the outdoors become advocates for conservation.”

The deer population doubles every season, he said. A deer surplus has significantly more negative impacts on the ecosystem than killing deer.

“Hunters are the only way to keep that population in check,” he said.

He said nature needs as much help as it can get right now, which is why the recruitment of a group as involved in preserving nature as hunters is essential.

“Hunters are becoming an ever-diminishing pool,” Robertson said. “And it’s a shame.”

By Elizabeth Leva for The Herald

A week ago today I went and set up my deer cam out where I hunted last fall in hopes of getting some spring time deer photo’s. I took my son Tyler with me and even though it was gloomy and overcast with sprinkles every so often it was still a good afternoon in the woods.

Before we even got out to where I set up the deer cam we spotted a heron flying over the swamp which I pointed out to Tyler and explained what they were. As we got closer to the spot where my camera was (which is practically next to the swamp) I spotted more heron, actually about six of them. They would periodically fly off and come back to the nest. I have seen herons before but not in their nest and not six of them all together like that .

It was really cool to watch them and like I said before I had never seen so many in one place and in their nests. We finally made it to my deer cam and I explained why I put it there in that spot and what I was hoping to find out. I can tell he is keeping interest and I am trying to keep it interesting for him. So far so good and by the way after only one week I had three pictures so at least I know they are using that trail.

During the summer when I am not chasing whitetails around I like to do a little Trout fishing. There is nothing better than sitting on a river/stream bank with a line in the water and feeling that tell tale tug tug and knowing there is a trout nibbling on your bait.

This year I hope to take my son Tyler and teach him about Trout fishing and how much fun it can be. Thanks to our Department of Environmental Protection the preseason trout stocking has begun in preparation of opening day. Here is a Brown I caught a few years ago which to me is big weighing in at 2 pounds and is 16″ long.

I just found this and I felt it was very well written and I wanted to share it.

A Whitetail deer emerges from a winter deeryard.
(Photo David A. Murray)

The cold wind blew across the snow-covered landscape with a vengeance. Thermometers idle below zero and seem frozen, along with everything else.

The whitetail deer remain hunkered down in amongst the fir trees and cedar bogs, waiting for early spring to deliver their hope for survival. The old and the weak have already helped the coyote and raven survive the long, arduous winter.

As the days turn into weeks, the deep snow that once covered the ground melts to expose small areas of the forest floor to the sun. The ground cover responds, as do the trees and bushes with buds and new growth.

Early spring offers the whitetail deer its bridge to survival. Soon the browse will be plentiful and the fields green with protein. However, for now, the deer must spend all of its time and energy to rebuild the depleted reserves of the past winter. The inherent fear and avoidance of man becomes secondary to food. The winter deeryards of the Maine Northwoods begin to empty as the whitetails seek out any available food source.

The deeryard

This time of year provides some excellent opportunities for wildlife watching or photographing these magnificent critters.

The first task is to locate a food source in the melted open areas of the forest. To accomplish this, you need to locate a winter deeryard and then fan out from that point. I locate potential deeryard habitat on a topographic map, or look for active winter trails that cross a road, and then explore the area. Well-traveled deer paths, at this time of year, will lead directly between a food source and a winter bedding area, or deeryard.

An essential piece of equipment to explore the area will be a good pair of snowshoes and poles. The snow will still be quite deep in the shaded areas of the woods. Poles will help keep you steady, and make walking up and down hills easier. You can find old ski poles at yard sales that will work just fine. However, don’t skimp on the snowshoes; buy high quality snowshoes sized large enough to carry your weight plus about thirty pounds for winter clothes, boots, and gear. The snowshoes that I use are the Tubbs Pinnacle model (www.tubbssnowshoes.com).

Once you locate deer, try to find an active trail or food source near a woods road or area where you can park a vehicle; I’ll explain why in a moment. Whitetail deer usually feed in early morning or late evening; however, in early spring you are apt to see deer at any time of day.

When I find a good early spring deer location, I mark the location and date in my Maine Delorme Atlas. Whitetail deer are creatures of habit, and I have gone back year after year to successfully photograph in these same locations.

The approach

Once you’ve found and documented some locations with deer traffic, the best approach is to cruise between these sites until you find one with recent activity. At that point, an approach plan becomes the next order of business.

For the deer’s survival, it is important not to interrupt their feeding activity or force them to expend energy to avoid you. Deer, even in the Northwoods, are accustomed to seeing vehicles and generally do not feel threatened by them. Therefore, once you’ve done your homework, and found a travel path that crosses a road, plan to do your wildlife watching or photographing from inside your vehicle.

Find a spot to pull off or to the side of the road, and then shut your vehicle off and wait. This should allow you to get close enough to the activity yet not disturb the deer during this critical time. If the scouting and approach plan was successful, the deer will go about their normal activities; and although they will be aware of your presence, food becomes the priority at this time of year.

Creating memories

Watching deer interact in the wild is a great way to spend a morning or afternoon. Binoculars or a spotting scope will help close the distance between you and the deer, and give you an up-close and personal view of wildlife behavior. If you prefer to photograph the activity, here are some recommendations for successfully capturing great images with your 35mm camera.

Preparing to photograph before the deer show up is a wise move. First, position your vehicle so, from the driver’s side window, you have an unobstructed view of the deer’s food source. Bring your longest telephoto lens for portraits and a medium range lens for group shots. If your longest lens is 300mm or larger, I recommend a beanbag or a window-mount to steady your camera and lens.

Keep extra batteries, binoculars, and any other essentials within reach; too much movement in the vehicle may spook the deer. Even though you are in the vehicle, dress as if you were outside. With the vehicle off and the window open, it won’t take long for the temperature inside to be the same as outside. In fact, it is a good idea to keep all the windows down to increase your photo opportunities, as deer may approach from any direction.

If you use your 35mm camera in the manual mode, setting the correct light exposure for deer is not difficult. As with most mammals, a deer’s coat changes with the season. However, deer are generally an average or mid-tone subject year-round.

Most 35mm cameras, with a manual setting option, have a TTL (through the lens) meter. The small circle(s) or square(s) in the viewfinder define the area the camera’s light meter uses to measure the light. As you look through the viewfinder, put this small circle or square on the deer and set your light meter to that reading. There are always slight variations in equipment and readings, but this will put you in the ballpark.

Early spring offers some great opportunities for watching or photographing wildlife. So, get out and enjoy the changing weather, and create some memories you can enjoy for years to come.

By: David A. Murray & The Boothbay Register