August 15, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

The temperature this morning was a balmy 75 degrees at 10:00 a.m. with overcast skies and a 8-15 mph SSW wind. The temperature would eventually climb to 80 degrees today, but we'd only see brief moments of sunshine in an otherwise very cloudy day.

The forecast for today called for late afternoon thunderstorms, possibly severe, so I made the decision that rather than start staining the house only to have to redo it because of the rain, that we'd wait until better weather to begin in earnest. Joe and I did spend a couple of hours staining the road-side of the house, the part that's underneath the front porch where it wouldn't get wet even in the most heavy rain. I have to say, the stain looks good, and the cedar paneling soaked up the stain suggesting it was definitely time to tackle this project.

I spent several hours power-washing the dock at the cabin. I'm roughly half way done after three days at it. With the staining still ahead of us, I probably won't get back to the dock for a week or more, but we'll see.

Half of the 'cabin dock' washed. Half to go.

As the day went on, the sky grew darker and more green in color. By 5:00 p.m. the temperature started to drop, from a high of 80 degrees to down around 70 degrees. The wind began to pick up and within 45 minutes the skies opened up and it started to rain.

Joe and I scrambled to close up the garages, lower the flag pole, etc. in preparation of a thunderstorm. At 6:00 p.m. NOAA radio warned our area of a severe thunderstorm and recommended seeking shelter. Joe and I went back into my bedroom, which is away from the lake and more protected than any other room in the house. We played chess and waited for the storm to pass.

There was lightning, thunder, rain and heavy wind for roughly 90 minutes. At last, however, the storm passed and the sky began to lighten. We had a wonderful purplish sunset at approximately 8:30 p.m. this evening, after which Joe and I had dinner. We had a quiet night at home and plan to do some more staining of the house tomorrow; weather permitting.

The remaining clouds from the thunderstorm that hit Leech Lake this evening