2023, Gatherings, History, Nature, Uncategorized

Refuge

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A couple of weeks ago Husband and I went to a barbeque in the Killdeer Mountains. The Killdeer Mountains are about 45 miles north of our town. They are really two mesas formed by wind, and river and lake erosion. The highest point is only 975 feet. There are lots of trees there. It was a sacred place for our native tribes. There also are badlands on three sides. One of the last battles of the Civil War was fought there in 1864, when General Sully fought some Sioux who who the government wanted removed from the Upper Missouri area to protect communication lines to the gold fields in Montana and Idaho. It was also part of punishing any natives for the Dakota War of 1862 whether they had participated in it or not. You can see the remoteness of the area, despite oil drilling activity.

You can see a mesa from the plains that surround it.

A nurse friend of mine and her brother inherited 4000 acres of land in the Killdeer mountains, part of a ranch owned by their great grandfather. We had the barbeque at a lovely, old hunting cabin there, where my nurse friend goes for rest and relaxation. She doesn’t hunt. A neighbor runs cattle on part of the land. The bulk of the 4000 acres has been turned into a nature preserve by my friend and her brother with the help of the Nature Conservancy. There is a mountain lion there as well as elk in the tall spruce and pine trees that grow all over the place. It is peaceful and quiet. We didn’t see the mountain lion, but it was fun to know it was in the area. Some friends brought their bird dogs to the gathering, who had a blast running around and looking for the wildlife. Other friends brought their children, who did the same thing.

Where would you like to have a rustic cabin? What sort of animals would you want in your nature preserve?

27 thoughts on “Refuge”

  1. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Right now I don’t want a rustic cabin anywhere. I want to stay at home for awhile and do nothing but weed my garden. (Or as of today I could legally smoke weed, even though it is not my thing). But then I spent two years of my very young adulthood living in a remote place housed by a trailer. I loved the remote place. The trailer was so-so and quite mousy. So I got my first cat. We had loons, wolves, deer, birds of prey and Northern Lights.

    Since this is all fantasy, a cougar/puma would be nice but a bit scary. I enjoy watching birds of prey. The return of eagles, hawks and owls, rare in my childhood, is so interesting and beautiful to watch. Loons are wonderful to see and hear, as well.

    Here is the Smothers Brothers’ bit on pumas in the cravise

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  2. I didn’t see them on TV often, but the Smothers Brothers seemed fun. Puma.

    I found the Flip Wilson show on some random TV channel the other night. I liked his show when I was in 4th grade and I had an autographed picture of him. Lost it somewhere in time.

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  4. I’d probably want a rustic place on the North Shore. So that implies having the usual wildlife suspects around: deer, moose, bears, all the birds, etc. Otherwise, a mountain cabin in the US or Canadian Rockies within easy reach of a decent sized town for supplies, etc.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  5. Living out here, we would vacation in a big city. My family, in town, wants to vacation in the country. It made it tough to plan family gatherings, haha.
    We know how lucky we are to live out here.
    And yet a place with water is always nice. Something about the sound of water…
    I could take the wilderness for a while.
    I’m still waiting to see a bear around here. They’re around. I love the hawks and eagles…

    Friends who have worked at the Teddy Roosevelt park and the show in Medora, do get tired of having no internet. And the heat and sometimes the remoteness…

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  6. I think I’d like one on the river, but in a wooded area, and with a high bank so flooding wouldn’t be an issue… I’d like just all kinds of birds to listen to, including bluebirds which I never see here. An the usual mammals, the deer and things like fishers (read about them in the Minn. Conservation Volunteer mag.). Would like a pond nearby with peepers and dragonflies, herons…

    The rustic cabin should be updated with plenty of insulation, and I know there are ways of building for maximum air flow so you don’t need a/c. Are you taking orders?

    Nice that so much land is going to a nature preserve. We’ve read recently (Black Elk Speaks) about this area from the Native American point of view, and I wish some of it could go back to them.

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    2. The cabin in the Killdeer Mountsins has electricity and running water and a flush toilet. There is a lovely stone fireplace in the livingroom and two bedrooms.

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  7. I’d want a rustic cabin up on the North Shore, probably northeast of Grand Marais. I’d want owls and loons calling at night and lots of birdsong during the day. I have a need for the sound of waves breaking on the shore. I grew up on Cannon Lake and I’ve always missed that sound. I also love the sound a strong wind makes in the trees when there are no human sounds around. Those sights and sounds make me feel very humble, as does the big lake.

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  8. Itasca State Park for the cabin.
    Lots of birds, of course, but no parrots. They cannot survive outdoors in Minnesota. Now a bird sanctuary would be awesome.

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  10. This all puts me in mind of the late Steve’s beloved Lake Superior cabin which some Baboons visited. It was rustic and the views were spectacular. No pumas/cougars.

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  11. I only want a rustic cabin if I can have the kind Renee mentioned with running water and electricity. I’m too much of a city-girl to go too rustic.

    Said not-too-rustic cabin would be in northern Minnesota or Wisconsin. Lake view would be nice and not too too far from civilization and the grocery store. (I am such a wimp.)

    As long as all my animals are getting along, I want some of just about everything…..

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  12. I have always wondered if I ever had lived a solo secluded life as I have always known would be best for me what would happen with me and food/weight. I have battled weight even obesity at times my whole adult life. But since this process with Sandra started 26 months ago I have lived a solo life and have lost 52 pounds and not been on any diet plan or intent. Today I did not realize I had not eaten anything until I came home at 4:30 after visting her and doing PT. I just ate a bowl of home made chicken soup. But this has been an odd odd day after an odd odd weekend, right before our anniversary. She has slipped a great deal. I will not tell the details. Right when I went through the picky business of reapplying her through the county and dealing with my health and switching banks. I have an 8 a.m. zoom meeting with a doctor up in the suburbs to hear about my pancreas and then meet with a lawyer to update our will. Not all that solo a life is it. But a solo life makes you either binge on junk or just get tired of dealing with food at all. Even though a Holiday gas station opened on my doorstep, I have grown tired of dealing with food and eat very simply.

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  14. I am a displaced Southern Californian. Whe word used for a remote place in the woods is, like where you are, “cabin”. Now I reside in Western Michigan, where the word for the same thing is “cottage.” I learned from someone in upstate New York that the word there is “camp.” No matter what, I won’t have one of them. Folks ’round here only use one verb for visiting their cottage, “work on”. Maybe they don’t want people to think they are relaxing (which would be sinful), but I wan’t nothing of it. Should I head for the woods, I want something where any labor involved is just the travel.

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