May 25, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was a cool 44 degrees, the sky was mostly clear with just a view high wispy clouds and a stiff wind out of the north at 15-18 mph. There are few white caps rolling across the lake, making it a morning we'll stay on shore.

I spent a good chunk of the morning dealing with Delta Airlines trying to change the date of my flight from Bemidji back to San Jose. As is always the case when dealing with any airline, I spent long periods of time on hold, spent considerable time with an agent trying to change the flight, only to be redirected to another agent because the first one couldn't help. Of course, another long period on hold was encountered between speaking with agents. This really shouldn't be so hard.

After going around and around on dates, times and charges, I finally settled on a new date for my return to California. Total time on the phone with Delta was 1 hour, 7 minutes and 14 seconds. I still have another flight to change, but I'll do that on a different day. They simply wore me down by constantly putting me on hold, playing crappy hold music, and charging outlandish change fees. I sure with Southwest Airlines flew to Bemidji!!

After my lengthy call with Delta, I made a call to a friend of mine regarding a business opportunity. But alas, we traded voice mails, so nothing accomplished, yet.

T&K Outdoors showed up at the house/cabin at around 11:15 a.m. to cut the lawn. It's the first time they've been out this year, and it's good they're here, the grass is nearly a foot tall in many spots. If I lived here year 'round I'd make the investment in a good riding mower and tackle the chore myself, which I actually kind of enjoy doing. But since there are periods throughout the spring and summer when I'm not here to mow the lawn, it makes sense to have T&K take on that responsibility.

When T&K was finished with the yard, Rick and I went on a bike ride. We rode down Ottertail Point Road to Duck Point Woods and rode back to where you can see the eagle's nest. The eagle -- I couldn't tell if it was a male or female since both have the white head -- was in the nest guarding either the eggs or eaglets. It's not everyday you get a chance to see a bald eagle nesting in the wild.

Once back at the house/cabin, I planted one of the three colorado blue spruce trees that I bought in town the other day. I still haven't decided on where I want to plant the other two. Since it's supposed to get down to as low as 30 degrees tonight, I moved the two potted trees into the garage to keep the roots from freezing.

While I was planting the tree, Rick took down the old antenna that was out by the lake at the house. It has been there for years and has never been operational since we bought the house back in 2001. All that remains is a 10 foot high metal pole and a small cement slab. I'll have both of those removed when WC Excavating comes to work on the harbor walls, most likely sometime in early June.

The wind never let up today. It was blowing at 17-22 mph out of the north, with gust even higher. There have been white caps on the lake all day, and only a few hearty (or foolish) boaters were out on the lake.

For dinner I barbecued a brined chicken, cooking it beer-can style, where a 3/4 can of beer is placed inside the chicken for barbecuing. We'll finish off the potato salad I made a few days back as the side.

No fishing today. The wind was simply too strong all day to make it worthwhile. I'm not a pro walleye fisherman that has to go out fishing regardless of the conditions. Instead, I'm here to enjoy the lake and post updates about what's working to catch walleyes and where they're biting. I'll leave the unpleasant weather conditions to those who get paid to fish. Until tomorrow...