August 18, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Today the sun was out for most of the day, the temperature hovered between 65 degrees earlier this morning to a high of 72 degrees by 4:00 and then cooled back down to 65 degrees as the evening progressed. The wind was variable throughout the day at 8-15 mph from the north and NNW. By 5:30 p.m. the clouds rolled in, we had some thunder and about 90 minutes later a light sprinkle of rain, but nothing that should negatively affect the stain on the house.

Speaking of the stain on the house, Joe and I spent the better part of the day applying "butternut-colored" stain the house. We focused our attention today on the side of the garage that faces with road and moved around the corner to the south side of the house facing Newman's cabin.

The garage, partially stained.

It is often tedious and hard work and someone needs to scale the ladder while using an extension pole attached to the roller to reach the higher parts of the house. Joe has graciously volunteered to most of the ladder work. Although I too spent a couple of hours using an extension pole to reach some of the paneling up over my head.

The sections that Joe and I completed today -- from a square footage perspective -- make up close to 60 percent of the cedar paneling that requires staining; not including the front or lakeside decks. Thus, we knocked out a significant chunk of the work today. Tomorrow we'll stain around the big windows of the living room, work our way toward the kitchen and then wrap things up around the master bedroom's bathroom. If we do finish up tomorrow, then we'll take a couple of days off before starting on the decks. I want to be able to do some fishing with Joe; particularly some muskie fishing.

John Newman arrived at the lake this afternoon and I invited him to have dinner with us on Sunday evening. I've got a pork shoulder that I'll slow cook in the crock pot and then make BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, with a variety of side dishes. John accepted and will be joining us for food, conversation and fun tomorrow evening. Hopefully by that time Joe and I will have finished staining the house.

We watched another beautiful sunset this evening before settling in for the night. Joe did some reading and played video games, while I did some reading online and listened to some music. Good night from Leech Lake.

Calm waters during a Leech Lake sunset