Piragis Northwoods Company Enews
March 17, 2011
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Greetings!
Happy St. Patrick's Day from your friends in the Great Northwoods. We are having an old-fashioned rainy March day here in Ely. You'd think that Spring was just around the corner, if there weren't 2 1/2 to 3 feet of ice on the lakes. With highs close to 40 we're hoping to move things along faster than we make ice during the night with lows in the 20s. That is March up here in the far North. It leaves us fishing for crappies and skate skiing or even mountain biking on the lakes with studded tires. The adventure never really ends and that is nice, because, some years it feels like Winter will never end either. Remember, that we are holding a two-month long Canoe and Kayak Sale. Unprecedented in the industry, Your Friends in the Great Northwoods, are offering you 10% off New Canoes and Kayaks plus Free Shipping within 500 miles of Ely, Minnesota. If you live farther away, call us and we'll give you a delivery quote. When you take into account no sales tax you are really getting some great savings. This sale will end on May 1st, 2011. Steve Schon and Steve Piragis are your contacts, call them on our toll-free line 1-800-223-6565 and get the best deal on new canoes you'll find anywhere! From the end of the road,
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Traditions: An Important Part of our Lives by Bert Heep.
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In recent days I have been thinking about how important traditions are in our lives. Over the course of time we all develop traditions that take on great significance and value. Many of the traditions that we value have been passed down to us from parents and family members. Sometimes these traditons relate to food, special events or holidays, and for some of us, the love of wilderness and paddling.
I have a client who lives in Whitefish, Montana. He and his sister are planning a trip to Quetico this coming paddling season. John and Nancy had a father who instilled in them the love of wildeness and the love of paddling a canoe. Their father, and his twin brother were born in 1910 and lived in Memphis, TN. Here is a part of a recent email I got from John:
One day, if my sister and I ever get it typed up, I'll share with you the detailed log John and Jim kept of their Mississippi River trips. The logs are fascinating, but they are written in longhand, in a journal, and they do not photocopy very well. John and Jim were two of five sons, all of whom were Eagle Scouts (and there were two daughters). They both ran field hospitals (later called MASH units) in WW2 in northern Africa and in Italy. They were incredibly close -- called each other almost every day until my dad died first, Jim a year later -- and they loved the outdoors. My love of canoeing comes straight from my dad. Once you canoe in the wonderful country where you live, you are hooked for life, and John and Jim loved the trip we took there in 1968. They both played the mandolin and harmonica quite well, and on that trip Jim took his mandolin and John his harmonica, and they serenaded us around the campfire each night. One night while sitting around the campfire, on a powerful transistor radio we had taken, we picked up a crystal-clear broadcast from Memphis, where we all lived. I cant remember what station or program we were listening to, but occasionally, in the background, we could hear the whistle of the Southern Railroad! It was, to say the least, weird!
How cool is that? John and Nancy are trying to convince a few friends to join them on their trip and to aid in that process, Nancy has written a poem to entice them. With Nancy's permission, here is her poem, you can it on the blog.
Read the rest here on our blog .
Call or email Bert or Drew to plan a trip into the Boundary Waters or Quetico wilderness in 2011!!!
Send me your trip stories and pictures: piragis webmaster
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Report on the status of Radio Collared Research Bears in Minnesota
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From the Star Tribune: Wrong decision on study bearsThe DNR's decision not to extend protection for study bears is a black eye for the state - and for hunters.The recent decision by Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr not to extend protection from hunters for study bears wearing radio collars fitted by researcher Lynn Rogers was wrong for the state, wrong for hunters and wrong for hunting.Check out the article here: To Protect or not Protect? . Radio-collared research bears are still considered to be fair game for hunters in Minnesota. Current law makes it illegal to shoot a radio-collared bear only if it is accompanied by a researcher who identifies the bear as a research bear. It is not practical to provide this cover 24 hours while allowing the bears to go about their normal lives. Don't forget to visit the North American Bear Center's Website: http://www.bear.org/They have excellent webcam footage of Lily, Hope, and the two new baby bears in their den and now some of them venturing forth, out of their winter home. Really neat to watch. Don't forget that we are guiding two trips in the pawprints of Boundary Waters Bears this summer: After the Lily Pad Picnic in ElyFollowing in the Pawprints of Boundary Waters Bears July 24 - 29 $1500 (Includes a $500 donation to the NABC in Ely) and: Following the Pawprints of the Black BearJune 25 - July 1 $2000 (Includes a $1000 donation to the NABC in Ely) |
| NEW Trip for 2011 - Kayaking in Quetico |
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We are excited to offer a trip for all of you who like to kayak in the wilderness. Imagine paddling the clear waters of Quetico this summer and experiencing lake travel with new friends and a superb guide in Dave Maynard. Dave just recently retired from his position as Assistant Superintendent of Quetico Provincial Park. He is certainly the person you would like to have guide you in Quetico as he knows the lakes and history better than anyone. Not only will the paddling be great, but the talks around the evening campfire will be very interesting and rewarding.
Here is a little more from Dave:
"I have a true admiration and love for Quetico Park. I now know I can enjoy Quetico in a different way as to pass on my experiences and knowledge of what Quetico has to offer the visitor. In thinking back, I believe the park doesn't owe me, I owe the park to what it has made me what I am today". Some trip info for you: - The dates for the journey are June 18-24, 2011. Arrive in Ely on the 18th, trip starts on the 19th.
- Our popular Full Outfitting package is included.
- Guide included - Dave Maynard
- Starts at Prairie Portage Ranger Station
- We take care of the overnight camping fees associated with a Quetico trip
- You are responsible for your RABC permit (we will tell you all about that), and fishing license if you plan on trying your luck.
- Passport is also required.
- Most of the adventure will be on the Canadian side of Basswood Lake where there are miles and miles of shoreline to explore.
- Motel rooms are included on June 18th and June 24th.
- Cost of the trip is $1495 plus tax
- $300 deposit required to sign up
- Limited space available so sign up soon!
For all of you who have thought about a kayak trip, this is the year to do it. We make it easy for you; so leave the worrying of planning a trip to us. Please don't hesitate to call/email Bert or Drew and we'll answer any questions you have and then get you signed up. For all of you who have called about taking a guided kayak trip up here, this is your chance. Come on up to Ely and make your dream a reality. Kayak tripping in Quetico! Can't get any better than that!
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USED Winter Camping Gear on SALE
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EXP Shortwall TENT (9x11.5) $950 1 left
EXP Outfitter TENT (10x15) $1300 2 left
NorthFace -40 degree Sleeping bag $185 4 left
MD Snowtrekker Stove $170 1 left
LRG Snowtrekker Stove $178 2 left
Ice Auger $65 1 left
Pulk Sleds $400 3 left
Snowshoes (25's)$140, (30's)$145, (36's)$150
Please email Michelle with your order. First come, first sale.
michelle@piragis.com
Get yours before they're gone. 1-800-223-6565. Michelle
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Energy at Piragis Northwoods Company
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The year was 1979 and we just opened up a new store selling wood stove in our garage on Chapman St in Ely. It was a hot July and I spent my week sitting in my garage reading about wood heat and wood stoves and waiting for my first customer. Well, Charlie and Kris Kidd came over one evening and bought a stove from me. It was a Petit Godin, a French stove that burns coal or wood dropped in the long way from the top. That was the start of my business. Window Quilts followed wood stoves and after that big heavy cast iron Buderus boilers and Tarm furnaces. We were committed to energy efficiency back then not because we'd ever heard of global warming but because the US was too dependent on oil and the supply was vulnerable. Boy, hard to believe we are still in that boat and still dependent on Mideast oil 32 years later. Up here at the "end of the road" we never quit burning wood or trying to limit our energy needs. Now we call it reducing our carbon footprint and we have an even more important reason to get off fossil fuels.
Heavy iron stoves turned to ultra light Kevlar canoes and my back is far better for it. We still heat with wood at our home and supplement it with a ground source heat pump and 6KW of photovoltaic solar panels. A building the size of our store is another story. Wood is out just because we have too many cooks making the soup here and wood piles take up too much room to heat a 8,000 sq. ft. complex. We did insulating years ago but we continue to seek out every leaky window and door and add more insulation to attics. Our next energy saving project will be to spray foam on the basement walls where conductive heat loss is rampant in our cold winter. 100 year old Ely buildings typically had no insulation so we're still looking for those hard to find spots. 3 years ago we updated our oil furnaces with brand new high efficiency furnaces and installed two air to air heat pumps to override oil furnaces in weather above 15 degrees. So now we use very little oil in a winter and consume more electric power instead. To supplement our power use we installed 48, 220 watt solar panels on our roofs this past summer. On a sunny day we make ½ or more of our own power. We also installed two solar water panels to heat our domestic hot water here in the store and in our outfitting/outlet store where clients take showers after canoe trips.
Results of our efforts to go green have been good so far. We reduced our total energy consumption for the last six months of 2010 by 25% over last year and this fall was a cold one with not much sun. Now the sun is out and the solar is cooking. Stop by when you're in town and ask for a quick tour of the solar panels. We'll happily take you out on the back roof and give you more information to help you decide if solar is right for you. Click here to see what our solar panels are doing right now: http://egauge282.d.egauge.net/. You can always click on the big yellow sun on our home page also to get real time graphs of our solar output. www.piragis.com.
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Tuesday Group in Ely gets the skinny on weasels and fishers (part 2)
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Our friend Roger Powell discusses the attributes and mannerisms of the Weasel Family at Ely's Tuesday Group sponsored by Energy Efficient Ely and Piragis Northwoods Company. Featuring the wonderfully entertaining world of the Fisher. These videos are fun to watch, Roger really enjoys discussing the mammals he has spent a lifetime studying. Each week we get together to listen to speakers on a wide variety of subjects and many of them find their way on to Steve Piragis' You Tube Channel. Here's the link to Roger's talk. The videos are broken into 4 fifteen minute segments. Click here to find more about weasels, fishers and porcupines too. |
Join us on FACEBOOK. Help us grow our Facebook followers. Share Piragis with your friends and click the old "LIKE" button.
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We use Facebook to post quick news about Ely, special sales, fire-ban status in the wilderness, current events and fun stuff.
Thanks for your social media help and thanks for sharing us with your friends as we continue to promote Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog and utilize all means necessary to keep you, our valued customers and trip clients, in the loop. |  |
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Your Friends in the
Great Northwoods | 105 North Central Avenue
Ely, MN 55731
1-800-223-6565 |
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SNOWSHOE SALE
End of season Clearance Sale. No backorders will be taken.
On Sale Snowshoes: The Guide Series Now 20% OFF CLICK HERE
On Sale Snowshoes: The Hiker Series Now 20% OFF CLICK HERE
On Sale Snowshoes: Youth Snowshoes Now 20% OFF CLICK HERE
On Sale Snowshoes: Snowshoe Poles Now 20% OFF CLICK HERE
Our Best-Selling Axe Sharpening Stones from Gransfors Bruks are now back in stock. These tend to fly off the shelves so quick that we didn't even put them in our paper catalog this year. GOT AXE? NEED STONE!
Get your axe back to it's original sharpness with this 2 1/4" round stone. It is coarse on one side and fine on the other. The bottom of the case can be left on the stone for a secure fit and easy grip surface.
Your Price $45.00
We Are Solar Powered Click the link above and you'll find a graph of our energy production and consumption here at Piragis in Ely.
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