August 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (One Week Left)

I was up at 7:15 a.m. this morning in preparation of the window repair guy stopping by at 8:00 a.m. The temperature was 59 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was blowing hard at 17-25 mph out of the NW. White caps and big waves rolled across the lake.

One week from today I leave "our oasis on Leech Lake" and make the journey back to San Jose. I hate to leave here, but I must. I have much to do in the Bay Area and my first week back will be a busy one. Joe leaves next Tuesday, from Minneapolis, so I will be driving him down to St. Cloud on Monday so he can see his Grandma Coyle one more time before going back to California. Then on Tuesday I'll drop him off at the airport, drive back to Leech Lake and begin preparations for my own departure.

Henry from Anderson Windows showed up at 8:10 a.m., fixed part of the problem, but in doing so discovered that other parts had worn out and that they needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, he didn't have the parts with him and it'll take him 10 days or more to get them. By then I'll be in California. I told him to go ahead and order the parts, then when I've got my Fall trip to Leech Lake planned I'll give him a call and schedule a time for him to finish the job.

No sooner had Henry left than Dave stopped by. Dave is a local carpenter who is doing some major remodel work at the Malay's and I asked him to stop by because I noticed a sag in the kitchen floor. Dave took a look at it and determined that when the previous owners of our house remodeled the kitchen, and put in the island, the floor was never reinforced. Over time, the weight of the island has caused the floor to sag. It must be repaired before the weight does some serious damaged. Dave said he could do the work over the winter and we agreed to stay in touch to schedule that work. It's always something.

In the early afternoon Joe and I took a bike ride to the community center and back, a nice 6-mile ride. Then we spent the afternoon just hanging out doing our own thing. Since it was Friday I went into Cass Lake to the Great River Pizzeria to get the Mission Road pizza, which is basically a taco on a pizza -- Mexican flavored taco meat, onions, black olives, jalapeno peppers, and lots of cheese. Then after it's baked we add fresh chopped lettuce, sour cream and salsa. It is unlike any pizza we've ever had and it tastes great!

Nature Update: On my way back from Cass Lake while driving down Sucker Bay Road to our house I counted five small maple trees that had changed into their Fall colors of pinkish red, orange, golden yellow and red. I've noticed that the smaller, younger maple trees change earlier than their more mature relatives. I think there's a children's story book that might come from that observation.

After our pizza, Joe and I decided to go fishing. The wind had calmed down to about 8-12 mph out of the NW, the sky was clear and the temperature was a cool 62 degrees. We motored out to 10 feet of water in front of Giza's cabin and started trolling our Minnow Raps. During our first pass south into Duck Bay I hooked into a fish as we passed Second Duck Point. I reeled it in and found it to be a good-sized fish that measured a full 21 inches; a Leech Lake slot fish. I immediately released it back into the water.

We made several more passes from Second Duck Point into Duck Bay, but neither Joe nor I could hook another fish. We came ashore at 10:30 p.m., watched a movie on DVD (Albert Brook's Mother) then called it a night.

Tomorrow if the weather permits, we're going to try to get in some muskie fishing. Good night from Leech Lake.