September 8, 2008

Earlier today we took Joe and our two dogs (Marco and Elsa) to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport so they could fly back to our house in California. After making sure they all got to the gate on time, Kathleen and I made a brief stop at the Mall of America so Kathleen could pick up a couple of books and magazines at the book store there. Then we got back into the truck and started our 5 1/2 hour drive to Leech Lake.

We stopped for groceries Grand Rapids and then made the final hour drive home. We arrived at Leech Lake at 7:45 p.m., and Joe was already home with the dogs. I already miss Joe.

Kathleen and I have joked about it before -- it's always all or nothing with us. In the past two months, our kids Joe, Melissa and Liz were all here at the lake, as was our grand daughter Ashley, several of Kathleen's brothers and sisters, Kathleen's mother, my parents and our friend Rick.

But as we unloaded the groceries from the truck on this late-summer evening, it was just the two of us. It will be nice to spend some quiet time at the lake with just Kathleen. Well, for at least a couple of days anyway. Three days from now our friend Rick arrives from Australia (he arrived with us at the lake way back on May 23 for a 10-day visit), and a week or so later Kathleen's good friend Elizabeth will be paying us visit. So we're going to enjoy a little quiet for the next few days.

The weather today: temperature 62 degrees; winds out of the SSW at 10 mph; skies mostly sunny.

Here's Joe and Kathleen sitting on Paul Bunyan's lap at a rest stop near Brainerd, MN. He sure looks like Al Lindner to me.

September 7, 2008

My parents left early this morning, and then Kathleen and I spent time helping Joe pack his things. We'll leave for Minneapolis around 3 p.m., spend the night near the airport, then take Joe, and our two dogs (Marco and Elsa) to the airport around 9 a.m. tomorrow.

The temperature was 62 degrees today, and while it was breezy, I didn't record the wind speed or direction today.

Here are a few pictures of Joe, Kathleen and I on Joe's last day at the lake. In some of the pictures, Marco (brown) and Elsa (white) make an appearance.

September 6, 2008 on Leech Lake

Today is Joe's last full day at the lake. He arrived at Leech Lake on July 1, and I can't believe how quickly the past two months have flown by. Since it's Joe's last day at the lake, we had to spend some time on the water fishing, and then have a fish fry for dinner.

With the temperature a cool 61 degrees and winds varible from calm to 15 mph and swirling in all directions -- SE then NE and finally out of the west -- Joe and I hit the water at 1:00 p.m. The water temperature was 67 degrees.

While we were in town yesterday, I decided to pick up a couple of scoops of spottail shiners. For more than 95% of my fishing this summer I've relied on artificial baits -- Gulp biodegradables, Northland plastic Slurpies and a variety of crankbaits and spinner baits. But I decided that Joe and I would fish with live bait at least once before he left.

We positioned the boat in 10 feet of water off the Birches and started fishing using Northland Tackle shiner jigs tipped with our spottail shiners. We caught a good number of perch, a few pike, a handful of rock bass, and Joe caught a small walleye. I'm glad he hooked a walleye on his last day on the lake in 2008.

We kept one of the jumbo perch Joe caught, and with the perch we had caught on previous trips on the water, we had enough for a fantastic fish fry.

We headed to shore at 3:45 p.m.

I cleaned the jumbo perch, and the prepped them for dinner. And were they ever delicious! As usual, we served the fish with French Fries, Cole slaw and warm dinner rolls. Malt vinegar, ketchup and tartar sauce joined our table as tasty condiments.

Joe leaves for California tomorrow and I'm really going to miss him. I really love having Joe here with me and Kathleen at Leech Lake.