As I navigate extreme middle-age years, I sometimes look back and recall extreme talents that stood out from the hundreds of people I’ve come to know. The talents range from finely- honed skills to innate abilities from the womb. A complete list of these talents would be extremely large for this effort, so we’ll just explore the first six that come to mind. We’ll call them the “Extreme Six” because I’m prone to overworking a word such as “extreme” to a fault. I can’t help it and offer my extreme apologies. Following is a list in no particular order: Don Fultz. On the topic of honed skills, a former schoolmate, teammate, and workmate, Don can hone a knife like no other. One day I came upon him sharpening his jackknife on a sharpening stone when upon completion, he lifted his sleeve and effortlessly shaved a small patch of hair off his forearm. “Yup, that should do,” he said. It was razor sharp and unlike the butter knife edge I could muster when sharpening my fish fillet knife. It’s the reason we were eating fish meatloaf rather than fish fillets.

When asked how he did it, Don talked about primary and secondary angles, the appropriate number of strokes, the cadence of the strokes, and differing pressures required. He made knife sharpening sound like a science project. A sharp knife is a big deal if you’ve ever filleted fish with a dull one. I much appreciated his sharing the skill. I wouldn’t recommend shaving with anything I’ve sharpened still, but then we’re not eating fish meatloaf anymore either.

Rick Aune. Basketball is my favorite sport and many aspects of talent can make a great player. Speed, size, conditioning, strength, mental toughness, ball handling skills, shooting skills, and court awareness are the big ones. A combination of these skills makes it possible for someone 5’8” in height to play even up with a person 6’6” in height. Example – Rick Aune.

I watched Rick’s Cook Gophers basketball team when I was in grade school, but the first time I played against him, he was already the father of four teenage boys. In that game, Rick dribbled around me, passed under me (between my legs), shot over me, stole the ball from me, and generally gave the impression he was from another planet. He thinks two plays ahead and has more trick shots than Annie Oakley, the horse-riding, sharp-shooting star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. But sorry, Rick, Michael Jordan is the GOAT.

Verdella Musech. Long-time Cook resident, Verdella, is a force of nature as my wife puts it and it would take a book to cover her properly. She and her late husband, John, raised nine caring children, owned and operated businesses, and served as community leaders in too many ways to list here. She serves her faith through action. She treats all with respect. Her heart is caring and joyful, she is firm in her beliefs, and open to everyone she meets – what a great way to go about life.

I agree with my wife’s assessment that anything noted here will fall far short of what she deserves. Her talent if you haven’t caught on by now is being human, or most precisely, a perfect example of what a human should be. If you were on wilderness ground and desired to start a brand-new community there, the best thing you could do is get yourself a Verdella to start.

Mike Baumgartner. My wife’s cousin’s son, Mike, lives in Elk River and has been a frequent visitor to our cabin over the years. To say he’s all about fishing just doesn’t suffice. As a small tyke, he’d fish off the dock the entire time his folks came to visit. In college, he worked part-time at Scheels sporting goods, no doubt in the fishing section. Today he oversees a large sales region for a fishing tackle distribution company.

On one occasion, he called to say he’d be coming up to camp on Lake Vermilion. It was the dog days of summer and he asked how the fishing action was. “Sorry to tell you, Mike, but the fishing has been terrible lately and now a cold front will be going through when you get here.” Mike and his buddy came up the next day to a cool, bluebird day and caught their limit of beautiful walleyes in two or three hours. The scenario repeats itself each year and every year he’s using a different tactic – big jigs in weeds, vertical jigging on structure, night trolling weed lines, speed trolling crankbaits, deep trolling with lead core line, etc. It seems Mike could catch walleyes out of a pothole on the highway. I can’t.

Mike Meier. As seasons come and go, so do my interests. Summer means boating, swimming, and state fairs. Fall is synonymous with hunting. Winter is about skiing, snowmobiling, and travel. Spring is fishing time. Not for “Mopar” Mike. Another former workmate who lives in Virginia, Mike is absolutely focused with a passion for Chrysler automobiles, most specifically, the 1957 model 300s. They are large cars with unique features for their day, such as premium sound systems, power steering, power windows, power window locks, power brakes, pushbutton transmissions, and race track-ready Hemi engines, and he knows the size of every bolt holding the Hemi together.

Mike has friends from around the world through his reputation for knowledge and a storehouse of 300 parts, and this notoriety came about before the internet was even a thing. Car shows, road trips, overhauling an engine, rebuilding a transmission and fixing a four-barrel carburetor is likely what he did last week, what he is doing now and what he’ll be doing next week. His treasure of information makes him a precious resource that could put him in a lucrative position for many companies, but he’s retired and having too much fun doing what he’s doing, which is what he always did. It’s good form.

Patrick Wilenius. Our youngest, Patrick, is sadly no longer with us, but he left as one with a rare talent – finding things. Beginning at age 4 or 5, he began to make finding things a personal challenge. If someone misplaced their glasses, needed a four-leaf clover, was missing a button, or had lost the TV remote, Patrick was your fellow. As he grew, he expanded his talent in managing to find fun anywhere and friends everywhere. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to fit in all that Patrick found to do. “Don’t be lame. Do something‚” he wrote for a school project, and it became his mode of operation. Whether one appreciated his competitive, sometimes wacky, fun-loving ways or not, he would find his way into your heart. Finding things – a special talent indeed.

Leo is retired and lives in rural Cook with his wife, Lindy. He is an author of two books, She Won’t Mow the Daisies and The Cabin Experience. Leo can be contacted by email at llwilenius@ gmail.com.