Sam and the Boundary Waters

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Terry

About six months ago I was given the name of Sig Olson’s youngest son, Robert Olson. He and his older brother made up the composite character Sam affectionately called Sandy “The Squoip”. Sam and Sandy used to torment Giny mercilessly with a little batty routine about a certain boid and woim. Although it drove Giny crazy then, when I read this story to my kids, they almost die laughing as I give my best Sandy”The Squoip” impersonations.

This weekend (January 14-15), I am very fortunate to be able to interview Sig’s youngest son about his memories of Sam and Giny. Steve Yahr, who is writing the companion book on Sam’s life, will be going with me on this trip. So many questions run through your mind before an interview like this. To be sure, it will become a memory that we will not soon forget.

Quotable

"Nothing is fully possessed until gratitude is expressed." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg 232Nothing is fully possessed

"Animals are individuals to me, and I am glad I think of them not only as serving man with flesh and hide, but also as co-partners in the glorious revelation of the infinitude of life."Animals are individuals to

"Fear is the screen that hides from our view the friendship native to the wild heart. Wildness is only a form of fear, for when kindness and patience have penetrated the veil, we see unmistakable evidence of the love in all forms of life."Fear is the screen

"Our failure to understand the true nature of things has put so many creatures on the undesirable list that if all were destroyed of which people do not approve, there would be little wild life left." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 71Our failure to understand

"A fireplace is the supreme part of a home, I wouldn't want it to be without one. But it has an appetite that knows no end!"A fireplace is the

"When a wealth of heavenly good is wrapped up in that one word, friend. It gets interwoven one way or another with everything that is right and desirable in life."When a wealth of

"The enemies to our happiness are more in the nature of mistakes, errors, superstitions, fears — things that have no power or substance except that which we give them in ignorance."The enemies to our

"A person must stand on holy ground to realize… that in himself are talents and the opportunities through which he must work out his salvation. Not in the world, but in his own character in his work. Success is not measured by comparing himself with his neighbor, but rather in the degree he cultivates and uses his natural ability." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 231A person must stand

"Why don't we fight the thing that causes the trouble and not one another? Why don't we fight hatred and fear, selfishness, greed, all the things that destroy human happiness. Slightly modified, only removed who was talking and the between comments." Seven Secrets of Somewhere Lake‚ pg. 95Why don't we fight

"Nature abhors the congregation of her creatures. She fights against the evils of our population. In the hearts of her children she plants an irresistible instinct for spreading, searching out new lands, seeking, ever seeking what lies just beyond the horizon." Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 69Nature abhors the congregation