August 1, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

The first day of August arrived hot and humid. The temperature today topped out at 86 degrees, while the humidity was up near 80%. The dew point was over 70 degrees so it was a muggy day to say the least. The wind was variable throughout the day ranging from just a light breeze to 15+ mph out of the NW.

Rather than eat breakfast at home this morning I drove into Bemidji where I ate at Perkin's. I needed to go into town to pick up 20 gallons of outdoor stain which I will apply to the house once Joe arrives in MN to help me.

I also ran some other errands in town, like going to the UPS Store to send some of the things Jayden left at the lake back to him, and get some groceries to hold me over until Joe arrives.

I didn't get home until just before 3:00 p.m., which is the time John Newman had invited me over to have an late-lunch/early-dinner with him and Clarence (the guy from whom we purchased our beautiful Leech Lake house). While I was hurriedly put away the groceries my phone rang and it was Lainy Malay. She sounded upset and I soon learned why -- she had a bat flying around in her house. She asked if I'd come down and capture it for her.

I put the frozen and cold grocery items away and left the others for later. I went next door and retrieved my live-well net which is the perfect size to capture the flying rodents. Armed with my net I took the ATV down to the Malay's and met Lainy on her back porch. She let me in and pointed through the French doors toward the kitchen, telling me that there were actually two bats in there. On closure inspection I spotted three bats in flight.

I opened the door and made my way in. I spotted one of the little mosquito catchers resting on the wall. I effortlessly covered it with my net and took it outside where I released it. I then propped the front door open hoping I could herd the other two out without having to capture them. Wrong.

The two bats continued to fly around the house, but in an amazing display of hand-eye coordination I snagged one out of midair in a single fluid motion. But as I carried it to the door it escaped my net forcing me to swipe at it with the net. I clipped it with the metal frame of the net knocking it to the floor. Unfazed, the rodent began crawling across the floor while screeching at me. I went to scoop it up with the net but in the ensuing struggle the bat was injured. I finally got the wounded animal outside where I let it loose in the wooded area between the Malay's and their neighbor's house.

Now it was time to find the third little night flyer. But despite a thorough search of the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom neither Lainy nor I could locate the third bat. I figured it must have flown out the open door while I was preoccupied with the wounded bat so I declared the premises "bat free."

I then went home, cleaned up and went next door to the Newman's. I spent several hours with John and Clarence conversing, eating grilled chicken sandwiches and enjoying the nice breeze that had picked up; cooling things off somewhat.

While I was at Newman's, in fact just before we were getting ready to sit down for our meal, John got a call from Lainy Malay. The third bat, the mystery bat, had appeared and she had it trapped on the back porch. She wanted to know if I'd come down and get it outside for her. I went home and repeated the process from earlier -- get net, ride ATV to the Malay's and hunt bat.

I spotted it on the window as I entered the back porch. Sensing that I was there to do it no good, the flying rat leaped from its spot on the window and took flight. In a repeat of my earlier feat of bat-catching, I captured the bat with just one well-time swipe of the net through the air. With it entangled in the mesh of the net, I opened the door to the porch and let the bat go safely outside.

With the bat situation again under control, I went back to Newman's to enjoy the tasty grilled chicken sandwiches. I came home around 7:30 p.m. and spent a quiet evening at home.

I did make sure to listen to some Grateful Dead music in honor of what would have been Jerry Garcia's 70th birthday. Smile, smile, smile.

Leech Lake sunset, August 1, 2012

There was a nice sunset, and I wish Kathleen could have been here to enjoy it with me. I know she went running at the ranch tonight after work, but it's just not the same as having her run down W. Shores Rd. followed by a series of lunges down the driveway. Hopefully she'll be able to return to Leech Lake soon.

Good night.

July 31, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

How in the world can this be the last day in July? It seemed like just yesterday it was early June and I was picking up Kathleen at the airport for the start of her wonderful, spectacular visit to Leech Lake. Now it's the end of July. Wow.

Well, the weather certainly felt like a day in late July. The temperature at 8:30 a.m. this morning was already 75 degrees, the wind was light at 8-10 mph out of the WSW and the humidity was on the rise. The sky was mostly sunny with just a few high clouds.

As the day progressed the humidity went up as did the heat. By late afternoon the temperature was in the high 80s and the humidity was at least 75%. The wind remained fairly steady at 8-12 mph out of the SW.

Around 3:30 p.m. John Newman made his way over to my boat lift in preparation for a couple of hours on the water. Our plan was to pull spinner rigs with nightcrawlers for walleye and if that didn't work switch to jigging with leeches, fatheads and artificial bait.

I motored the Lund IFS 1850 Pro south past Second Duck Point, deployed my 8-hp Honda, 4-stroke kicker motor and John and I then started pulling spinners. John was using a bullet weight in front of a spinner of purple beads and blades while I used an in-line keel weight pulling a chartreuse crawler harness/spinner rig. I kept the boat moving  at 1.3 to 1.7 mph which was sufficient to keep the spinners over the weeds. I took us up Sucker Bay to Schiebe's cabin, but other than a few small perch bites neither John nor I caught a walleye or jumbo perch.

As planned, we switched up tactics and to jigging while drifting. Again I motored us past Second Duck Point in 12 feet of water -- which was 80.7 degrees -- where we deployed the drift sock and dropped our jigs in the water. I tipped my jig with a leech while John opted for a fathead. We caught a few small perch but no jumbos or walleyes.

The wind had died down to just a breeze so we pulled in the drift sock to keep the boat moving at .45 mph ground speed. But our attempts to keep moving were to no avail and we caught nothing more than small perch. So at 6:00 p.m. we decided to give up and come ashore.

I spent the rest of the night listening to music, reading, talking to Kathleen and the kids on the phone before heading off to bed. A week from today, August 7, my son Joe arrives in MN. I look forward to seeing him.

Good night from Leech Lake.