October 6, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Although it was cold this morning at 9:00 a.m., only 35 degrees, the wind wasn't blowing nearly as hard as it had been the past two days. The wind was out of the north at 12-15 mph, definitely breezy, but not as strong as it's been. The sky was mostly sunny, so the leaves shown bright yellow across most of our properties.

After a hearty breakfast, I set about with many winterizing chores. I started with taking the power cord off the dock. For the past several years my good friend Rick has helped me run the power cord out to the end of the dock in May -- to provide electricity for the boat lift motor and canopy light -- and for the past several years I have taken the cord off the dock in October by myself, usually in cold and windy conditions much like today. As much as putting the boat in and out of the water signals the start and end of each open-water fishing season, so too does running power out to the dock and then wrapping it up. And since the power is the last thing removed from the dock before the dock itself comes out of the water, today signaled the definite close of the season.

From there I folded up the boat lift canopy cover and stored it in the garage. As I was putting the canopy cover on the shelf I bumped into one of our bikes. That got me thinking that it was a good time for my daily ride to the Harbor and back.

On my ride I had a brief stop and chat with Glen and Gabe, two of the residents of the Harbor. They were out mulching and vacuuming up leaves on their properties. They share a property line and working together to clean up the fallen leaves is obviously a task they've tackled together before.

Back at home it was time to climb up onto the cabin roof and clean out the gutters. With that chore out of the way I removed the solar lights from the two paths between the house and cabin and stored them for the winter. Next, I took apart the hammock and stored it for the winter. I also collected firewood in anticipation of a fire in the fireplace later tonight.

I also cleaned out the fireplace. Then it was time to get cleaned up before driving down to the Ottertail Peninsula Town Hall for the annual pot luck and association meeting. I realized that this is the twelfth consecutive year that I've attended the pot luck/meeting. Many of the usual attendees, including the Malays, the Newmans and Norm Hanson were obvious in their absence. But other regulars, such as the Boyds, Porters, Schiebes, Gepperts and Snyders were there.

Getting down to business at the Ottertail Peninsula Township meeting/pot luck

As is tradition, after the meeting there is a raffle with door prizes (usually handmade) contributed by area residents. Tonight I won a cribbage board made by Mark Boyd.

Once home I immediately went to the end of the dock to watch the sunset. It's been so overcast the past few days that there's been no real sunset to watch, just grey skies turning darker until it's completely dark. But tonight there was some good color to the sunset.

Another in an endless series of great sunsets over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Sitting on the end of the dock got me chilled, so I went inside and got a fire going to warm up the house, and myself, since the temperature outside had dropped to just above freezing. I enjoyed a quiet evening listening to music and enjoying the fire. I also kept up with the day's sporting events, including the Tigers win over the A's in the first game of the ALDS

There is still a lot more work to do to winterize the house and cabin before I leave on Wednesday, including cleaning the gutters on the house, cleaning the house and cabin, laundry, cleaning out the refrigerators, etc. It'll be another busy day tomorrow, but at least I'll be at the lake.

Good night from Leech Lake.

Four days and counting.

October 5, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Today was another cold, very wind, grey day with snow flurries on and off all day. The temperature may have hit 38 degrees today, but for most of the day it hovered between 32 and 36 degrees. The sky was grey nearly all day, with just a brief few moments of midday sun. Snow flurries, which melted upon landing on the ground, fell from sunrise to sunset.

My first order of business for the day was going down underneath the house in the crawlspace and closing up all of the vents. While I was down there I emptied out the 'stair way to heaven' mouse trap, which yielded enough mice to fill a plastic grocery bag half full. I then rebaited the trap, added new antifreeze to the bucket and set it up for more rodent eradication.

Despite the inhospitable weather, I did spend several hours outside. I planted fertilizer stakes around our crab apple tree and next to nearly a dozen pine trees. I also went on a bike ride to the Harbor and back -- although gloves would have been a good idea. Then around 5:00 p.m. I removed the 17-inch walleye, which I caught earlier in the week, from the basket from the lake and cleaned it in preparation for dinner.

As it turned out, I wasn't very hungry and a full-on walleye dinner just didn't sound good tonight. I put the fish in a resealable bag and stored it in the refrigerator for either Saturday or Sunday night dinner.

The snow flurries continued long after dark. I meanwhile, spent a quiet night listening to music and having a fire in the fireplace. Weather permitting tomorrow, I need to fold up and store the boat lift canopy and clean out the gutters over at the cabin. At that point the 'winterization' of the cabin should be complete.

Good night from Leech Lake.

Five days and counting.