July 20, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

This morning it was once again hot and humid; gone was the cool air from last evening.

At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 75 degrees, the humidity was at 92% and the wind was at 8-12 mph out of the SSE. There was a mist emanating from the ground as if the wet grass was creating its own low-level cloud.

Just an hour and a half later, at 10:00 a.m., the temperature had climbed to 80 degrees and the humidity hadn't backed off a bit, still registering at 90%. It was already uncomfortable and it was still two hours shy of noon.

The guy from T&K was out this morning, in the sweltering heat and humidity, to mow the lawns at the house and cabin. For the first time since the harbor work was completed back in late June, the grass was mowed in the section that had been torn up by the heavy machinery that was necessary for the harbor restoration. While there are still some spots where the grass hasn't grown in thick quite yet, overall the lawn is coming back nicely.

I know I'm obsessing about the humidity, but here's a snippet from a CNN news story on the heat wave that's enveloping much of the US:

"Minneapolis, Minnesota, recorded its highest dew point ever, 82 degrees, on Tuesday. The dew point temperature is a measure of atmospheric moisture."

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I ran out of leeches last night on the water so I took the ATV for a spin up to Birch Ridge. I took the ATV rather than the truck since the ATV provides an open-air, and thus cooler, ride. Ann, the wife half of the husband and wife team that runs the resort, was behind the counter in the bar/office/lounge and told me A.J., the dock hand, was down in the live bait area of the fish-cleaning house and could help me.

I picked up two containers, two dozen, leeches, paid Ann and then rode back to the cabin to get the leeches into some fresh water. I decided to check on the jumbo perch that I caught last evening (and which was on the menu for today's dinner) and I'm glad I did. The combination of being in captivity and in warm water had the fish looking rather "fatigued." Immediately I set about filleting the 12-inch jumbo perch and got the fresh fillets into the refrigerator. A beer-batter coating will be the perfect compliment to the pure white meat of the perch.

After filleting the perch, and cleaning up, I was hot and covered in sweat (or was it just the air?). Not wasting any time, I gathered up the bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap and took a refreshing camp bath in the relatively cool waters of Leech Lake.

At about 5:30 p.m. I took the ATV down to the Malays to say hi to their son Sean who is visiting from Colorado. Sean, and my son Joe, have become friends over the years, and I've gotten to like Sean and have spent several hours with him in the boat fishing. It was good to see him again.

While sitting at the Malays the wind began to pick up, and by the time I left it was blowing at 17-25 mph out of the WSW. The wind blew hard for most of the rest of the night. And maybe it was the wind, or the cold front that followed it in from Montana, but the humidity dropped to 64%. It was the first time in nearly a week that the humidity has dipped below 80%. Although the temperature at midnight was 70 degrees, it felt cool and sleep should come easily tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going into Bemidji to get the truck serviced, to pick up paint so I can paint the out-buildings at the house and run several other errands. If the weather permits, upon my return I'll try to get out fishing. Tonight it was simply to windy to go out onto the water. I love fishing, but I'm not going to battle 3-foot waves and white caps to do so.

Until tomorrow...