June 5, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

I woke up around 7:00 a.m. this morning and tried to go back to sleep, but I had no luck. So I got up. I checked the temperature, it was already 64 degrees on its way to a predicted 80 degrees. The sky was sunny and blue and the wind was light at 3-5 mph out of the ESE.

As I ate my breakfast and drank a cup of coffee I noticed that one of the suet feeders I put out for the birds was down. And more than just down, the branch of the tree the suet feeder was attached to was nearly completely pulled off of the tree. The branch, which had to be 1 1/2 inches in diameter, was more accurately ripped from the tree than broken off. By the size of the broken branch and the way the suet feeder was pulled apart, I suspect a bear had a nice suet snack last night.

Now I cannot categorically say it was indeed a bear that did the damage, since I did not see the perpetrator, the way the suet was hauled down is consistent with a bear's behavior. In the spring, and here in the northwoods it is still spring, a mother bear who is tending to a cub or two will get plenty hungry and roam far and wide of a quick snack. I've had bird feeders, which were perched atop inch-diameter metal pipe, bent in two as if it was a flexible straw, so I know how powerful bears can be when hungry. And although I did not see a bear last night, I have seen bear in the yard on several occasions over the years so I know firsthand that they do visit our properties.

I cleaned up the broken branches and rehung the suet feeder (we'll see if the damage happens again tonight) I set about a number of chores I have been meaning to get to. I installed an antenna for the tuner in my stereo system and hid the wire with plastic cord channel molding, stacked some new books on the bookshelf, hung some pictures, washed the dock, did some laundry, put clean sheets on the guest bed, etc. It was a full day of housework with only a break for a sandwich at lunch.

As the day moved on, the temperature climbed. At 3:30 p.m. the temperature was 81 degrees, the sky was mostly cloudy, although sun shined directly over the house and the lake was calm due to lack of wind. What little wind there was was coming out of the ESE at 5-8 mph.

Afternoon clouds on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

I decided to go fishing at 4:20 p.m. but was frustrated by some boat lift issues. I've got a call into Shore Brothers and hopefully they can come out soon to correct the problem.

Once on the water I motored out to a spot in between our house and cabin in 12-15 feet of water and jigged with a minnow. I caught a big rock bass, a good-sized perch and pike. I decided to head back to shore after only a half an hour on the lake so I could put a call into Shore Brothers about the lift before they close for the day.  I'm not sure I'll take the boat out until the situation is fixed because I had a very difficult time getting the boat back onto the lift when I came in from fishing.

I thought about going fishing after dinner, but decided against it. So for the rest of the evening I stayed home, listened to some music and watched an old Sherlock Holmes movie. Good night from Leech Lake.