August 4, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

The primary feature of today's weather was the wind. From the early morning hours throughout the day and into the evening and night, the wind was blowing at 15-20 mph with gusts often up over 25 mph. It was not, however, out of the same direction all day long. It started this morning blowing out of the WSW before gliding northward to a west wind, before it settled in as a NNW wind later in the day and into the night.

The temperature this morning was a cool 61 degrees at 9:00 a.m. and climbed to no more than 72 at its warmest. The sky was filled with clouds most of the day, with only brief periods of blue sky and sun. And by 7:00 p.m. it started to rain. A hard rain fell at least three time between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., but never for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

This afternoon I spent quite a bit of time on the roof of the house putting zinc stripping along the peak of the roof to keep the mold and moss from growing. There is some mold and moss already present, so I may need to spray it with a diluted bleach solution. That should kill what's there and along with the zinc prevent any new mold and moss from growing.

I also took a long ATV ride around the peninsula today; not fast, just a slow, steady pace to enjoy the beauty of the Ottertail Peninsula.

Later in the evening, just after sunset, I spotted a German Sheppard-looking dog wandering on the road and at the end of our driveway. I had seen this dog earlier in the week when I was at the Newman's and their dog Bernard chased it away. I also saw it wandering in the area mid-week. I figured it must be lost. The poor dog was soaking wet from the rain and looked scared. I got some of our old dog food and put some in a bowl. I took it out to the driveway and put the bowl on the pavement. I then called to the dog before retreating to the porch in order to give it some space and not scare it.

The dog, which I've dubbed "Buck" from Jack London's Call of the Wild slowly made its way down the driveway toward the bowl. Cautiously the dog made its way to the bowl and then very quickly devoured the food. I also brought the dog a bowl of water but as I approached, it trotted up the driveway keeping its distance. I left the bowl of water and went to refill the bowl of food.

When I returned with a fresh bowl of food, Buck again moved away, waiting for me to leave the bowl of food. I placed the food on the driveway and again walked up to the porch. Slowly, Buck made his way to the bowl of food and again quickly ate the entire bowl. He was obviously very hungry. I think someone drove him out here and abandoned him. Just to make sure I checked with several neighbors and the resort, and while some people report having seen him, no one knows whose dog it is. It has no collar or tags, and it won't let me get close enough to him to pet him which would enable me to feel for a microchip in his scruff.

I'll keep on feeding Buck as long as he keeps coming back. I hope that over time he'll begin to trust me enough to where I can pet him and try to find out who he is and where he came from. Stay tuned.

"Buck" the abandoned dog I fed tonight.

I didn't get out to do any fishing today because it was too rough for me, but John and Karen Newman were brave enough to make it out and they reported catching a couple of good-sized perch which they kept, and a 22-inch walleye, which they immediately put back into the lake.

A break in the clouds over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Leech Lake 2012 -- Flashback

I discovered this photo on my phone of my wife Kathleen which I took on the evening of July 13, 2012. That  was the week we spent together alone at Leech Lake before she had to go back to California. With any luck, she'll be able to return to Leech Lake to celebrate the beautiful colors of Autumn.

My beautiful wife Kathleen on our dock at Leech Lake

August 3, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

As was the case yesterday, at 8:00 a.m. there was low rumbling of thunder, a light rain falling, a cool temperature of only 61 degrees and a light breeze out of the north at 3-5 mph. But unlike yesterday, as the morning progressed the weather didn't clear up.

At 10:30 a.m. the rain finally did cease, but the ground was wet, puddles stood in the driveway and sky remained grey and overcast. The temperature was steady at 61 degrees, and with a dew point of 61 degrees, the humidity was pegged at an even 100%.

Just before noon the clouds began to part and the sun came out. By 12:30 p.m. the clouds were nearly gone from the sky, the temperature had warmed to 82 degrees and a good wind of 10-15 mph was blowing out of the south.

It was right around this time that I gathered my wallet, phone and keys and drove the truck into Cass Lake. I had invited John and Karen Newman over for pizza this evening so I needed to go to the Great River Pizzeria to pick up a couple of unbaked pizzas. I'll bake them fresh and hot for dinner.

Once home from "town," I decided to go fishing for an hour so. With the wind coming out of the south, I positioned the boat so that the wind would push it out into the Bay and north to a spot between the house and cabin in 12 feet of water. I noted that the water temperature had dipped a bit to 79.3 degrees.

I jigged with a Northland grub for a full hour but caught only one medium-sized perch. At 4:30 p.m. I came ashore to prepare for the Newmans arrival.

We enjoyed a beer or two while the oven heated, and then had a wonderful pizza dinner -- a classic combo pizza and one with pepperoni, mushrooms and anchovies. It turns out that all three of like anchovies so that pizza took the biggest dent.

The Newmans left by 8:00 p.m. as the sky darken not only with the sun dropping toward the horizon, but with a severe thunderstorm moving into the area. I checked the Weather.com "maps in motion" and saw a band of very heavy storm activity moving toward Leech Lake and scheduled to hit between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Given our experience with the bad storm on July 2, I lowered the flag pole, shut the windows and prepared for the worse. Luckily, it the storm that hit tonight was no where near as bad as the one in early July. Sure, we had lots of lightning and thunder claps directly overhead and tons of rain, but the wind was only 20-30 mph compared to the 80+ mph wind with which last month's storm hit us.

By 11:00 p.m. the storm had passed for the most part, although we did get some rain throughout the night. I kept the stereo unplugged -- due to the close proximity of the lightning -- so I watched a DVD rather than listen to music tonight.

Good night from the shores of Leech Lake.