October 28, 2009 -- At Leech Lake, One Day and Counting

Today is my final full day at Leech Lake for 2009, and I've got a lot of work left to do to close up the house and cabin for the winter.

My first order of business will be to store the boat lift canopy in the garage at the cabin. I had it out drying on the back deck railing at the cabin, but today it's time to put it away.

I would like to power wash the truck before I store it for the winter because it's so dirty. I hope I have time to get to it. I also have to do loads of laundry, go through all of the food in the refrigerators -- freezing what I can, get some of it ready to give to Tom and Elaine, and throwing the rest away -- put the snow plow on the ATV and move it into the attached garage, and a million and one other little chores.

At 11:30 a.m. the temperature is 40 degrees, the sky is gray and overcast (again), every now and then it sprinkles rain, and the winds are calm.

It's now 6:30 p.m. and I'm in the house for the first time since just after noon. I got the boat lift canopy rolled up and stored in the garage, I power-washed the truck, put it in the garage, disconnected the negative battery terminal and hooked up a trickle charger to the battery to keep it fresh throughout the winter.

With those chores complete I came back to the house where I attached the snow plow to the ATV, moved it to the attached garage, shut the gas line on it and ran the rest of the fuel out of the carburetor. Then it was on to leaf blowing.

For 3 straight hours I blew leaves off the lakeside lawn, the two sides of the house, the porches, the yard by our bedroom, the patch of grass in the driveway turnaround, and the entire driveway itself. The only place at the house that I didn't get to was the yard between the wood pile and the gas tank.

The entire time I was outside there was a heavy mist in the air. It wasn't actually raining, but everything was dripping wet. I finally put the leaf blower away when the light was nearly gone because I wanted to have one last walk down our dirt road before it got dark. So I took my final 2-mile walk to Paulsen's and back for 2009.

I'm now inside having some salad and squash hotdish for dinner, before I start in on the rest of my in-the-house chores.

I've now cleaned out the fireplace, vacuumed the house, mopped the kitchen floor, chopped up and froze onions, carrots and celery, did a couple loads of wash, made the bed and did the dishes. My hot shower felt great.

It's now 11:30 p.m. and in just 10 hours I'll be leaving the house and driving with the Malays to the airport in Bemidji. It's been a great year here at Leech Lake. I had a 10-week visit from the end of May to the end of July, and a second six-week visit from mid-September through tomorrow. I hope I have a chance to get back here sometime this winter to do some ice fishing and to enjoy the winter.

Once I'm back in California I'll be posting only occasionally to this blog. I'll recap some of the fishing stats from this year -- how many walleyes boated, size of fish, time caught, etc. -- as well as post various pictures I've taken during my two visits this year. I'll also post any relevant news regarding the water levels on Leech Lake or any other MN DNR and lake news.

Now it's time for bed. Looking back on these visits, I have to admit, I really love fishing Leech Lake.