July 9, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

For some reason sleep did not come easily last night. My mind raced in a million different directions before it finally calmed. As a result, I know we did not have a thunderstorm until sometime after 3:00 a.m., and maybe not even then.

It did rain here at Leech Lake sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. because the ground was wet when I arose. The temperature this morning was 66 degrees, the wind was 12-18 mph out of the SSW, the sky was overcast and grey and there hung in the air a heavy blanket of humidity that made everything from the floor to the trees damp.

By 10:30 a.m. I had not yet heard from Kathleen, either voice mail or text, if she was still in Minneapolis or on her way back to St. Cloud. Ashley's plane left MSP at 6:00 a.m. this morning, so it is probable that Kathleen dropped her off at the airport and then went back to the hotel to get some additional sleep. I'll wait until after noon before contacting her.

The rain and gloomy weather have put a damper on the "White Goods Clean Up" event at the Ottertail Peninsula Community Center. Each year, usually the Saturday after the 4th of July, several dumpsters are brought to the parking lot and surrounding lawn of the community center and residents are encouraged to bring in their various junk for disposal.

It's an exciting time for many of the locals who show up with trailers attached to their trucks and ATVs in preparation for hauling away treasures that other will throw out. It's funny to see these guys load up on old garden hose, pieces of metal pipe, old coils of electrical wire and other similar items.

And I have no idea why they call it the "White Goods Clean Up." Most of the junk that is tossed out is neither white nor all that good. But it's a fun day for many of the local hoarders.

Kathleen did send me a text just before noon saying that she didn't get much sleep last night, so after dropping off Ashley at the airport she did indeed go back to the hotel for some additional sleep. She needed to vacate the room by 12:30 p.m., however, so she will be in St. Cloud this afternoon.

The wind has picked up here at Leech Lake a bit, blowing at a consistent 15+ mph out of the SSW creating some decent waves, if not the occasional white cap. The flag is flying straight out from its mast. The temperature, according to the thermometer on our back porch, is 70 degrees; but it feels hotter than that.

At 12:20 p.m. the sun peaked out from behind the clouds for the first time today. It is supposed to be partly sunny later this afternoon with high temps in the mid 80s. And by 8:00 p.m., the wind is supposed to calm to under 10 mph, which might make it a nice night for trolling for walleye.

The humidity continued to rise and the stickiness of the air made me want to take a ride on the ATV to cool off. I decided to ride down to the "White Goods Clean Up" to see what treasures the local guys had found.

When I arrived at the community center, I saw Jerry Schiebe, Ron Geppart, Duane Paulson and Warren Snyder. Warren was just leaving, however, so I was left with the other three to chat about the hauls they'd made. Jerry had snagged a still usable patio furniture set, Duane had a truckload of odds and ends including an old computer table which he planned to use for cleaning fish, and Ron claimed the find of a still working lawn mower, among other sundries.

While we chatted a couple of trucks and car pulled in loaded with junk for disposal. Not wanting to sit around and watch, I put on my gloves and helped the guys unload the vehicles and throw mountains of junk into various dumpsters. The humidity was unbearable and soon I was soaked through my clothes.

Once things settled down a bit, I made leave after a 45 minute visit and once again sought the rushing air on the ATV to cool me.

When I got home I stopped by to see what the Newmans were doing and caught them loading their Suburban and just minutes from driving south to their home in Mahtomedi, near White Bear Lake. We bid each other goodbye and looked forward to our next meeting, whenever that may be. And with that I went home and they got into the truck and drove off.

By 3:00 p.m. the temperature had climbed to just over 80 degrees, the humidity reading was at 80% and the wind continued to blow at 12-15 mph out of the SW. The sky was mostly cloudy, but sun did shine through every few minutes.

Kathleen called me while I was outside, thus I missed talking with her, but she did leave a message. She said that as of 2:00 p.m. she was on her way from Minneapolis to St. Cloud and that she planned to see her mother, spend the night and drive back up to Leech Lake sometime on Sunday. That won't leave her much time here, since she is scheduled to fly back to San Jose on Tuesday afternoon out of Bemidji.

I finally did talk live with Kathleen just before 5:00 p.m. and she was planning on taking her mom to Saturday evening mass at St. Benedict's Church. I then listened to a Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on the radio, and even though it was a rebroadcast, it was a wonderful show. Not only was the News From Lake Wobegon very heartfelt, but they had as a guest poet Billy Collins, whose work both Kathleen and I really enjoy.

At nearly 1:00 a.m. the temperature is 70 degrees, but the humidity is at 91%, which makes it almost unbearable to lay down in bed. It feels like I'm laying down on soggy sheets. But alas, I'm weary from lake of sleep last night, so no matter how humid and wet the air is, I'm going to have to call it a night.

No fishing tonight, maybe tomorrow. Too hot. Too humid to do anything but sit around and read the classics. Good night from Leech Lake.