August 21, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Today was a beautiful day all day at Leech Lake. The temperature ranged from the mid-60s in the morning to nearly 80 in the late afternoon. The sky was mostly sunny and the wind varied from 8-15 mph out of the WSW.

After breakfast I went next door to the cabin to finish power-washing the dock. I had put this project on hold while Joe and I stained the house, but now it was time to wrap it up. It took me close to three hours to wash the final sections of dock, but at about 2:15 p.m. I completed the project and it looked great. I put away the hoses, the power washer and cleaned up myself and then had a quick bite of lunch before heading over to John Newman's cabin.

John had invited me and Joe, along with Tom Malay and Ron Newstrand, over to his place for a grilled chicken dinner. Prior to getting the grill going, however, John, Tom, Ron and I took our ATVs back into the woods to survey the many trees that came down in last month's big storm. There are probably a half a dozen big maple and ash trees that fell across the various trails that crisscross our properties and since Tom and Ron both heat their houses with firewood during the winter, John and I wanted to make available to them the fallen trees.

Once the woods activity was complete, Joe joined us back at John's where we reconvened for some cold, malted beverages, some conversation and eventually a very tasty grilled chicken meal, complete with mashed potatoes, Cole slaw and an apple pie (compliments of Lainy Malay) for dessert. Joe and I finally left Newman's at about 10:00 p.m. and came home for a quiet evening before going to bed just before midnight.

We didn't get any fishing in today, but the power-washing of the dock was completed. I have to run into Cass Lake tomorrow to mail some packages, and later in the afternoon I have a work call, but somewhere during the day tomorrow, Joe and I do plan to spend some time on the water. Until then...