Photo/Album: Post 5

For this installment of my Photo/Album series -- where I post a picture from Leech Lake and highlight one of my favorite albums -- I've decided to go back a ways in history for both. The photo comes from a guided muskie trip we took back in 2003, and album goes back to 1965.

PHOTO

This is a picture of my friend Rick, who was visiting Leech Lake from his home in Brisbane, Australia, legendary Leech Lake guide Al Maas, my son Joe's shoulder, and a 50 1/2-inch muskie that was taken on a safety-pin style jig in 3-feet of water at the south end of Sucker Bay.

I had hired Maas to guide us on our hunt for muskie because at the time I was relatively unfamiliar with the lake, had never really fished for muskie in a serious fashion, and because it was Rick's birthday present I wanted to up the odds that he caught a fish. He did, and it remains to this day the biggest fish I've seen come out of Leech Lake.

ALBUM


Back when I was in high school I got a turntable for Christmas one year which finally gave me the ability to switch from cassette tapes to LPs which sound infinitely better, in my opinion.

As I started out compiling my album collection I knew I needed to add some Bob Dylan to the mix. Since I was unfamiliar with any of his albums in detail -- although I knew many of his hit singles -- my selection of his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home was made as much by chance as it was design. Boy, did I luck out.

It is not only one of Dylan's most celebrated albums, but one of the greatest rock albums of all time. In the 2003 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, where it listed the Top 500 rock albums of all time (see Photo/Album 4 for the #7 album on that list), Bringing It All Back Home ranked 31st.

Here is the studio version of Subterranean Homesick Blues, the first song on side 1 of the LP, which many people say foreshadowed the invention of rap music some 20 years later.

Photo/Album: Post 4

This is installment 4 of my Photo/Album series. I again selected a photo from my most recent stay at Leech Lake. For the album, I selected what is generally considered to be one of the greatest rock 'n' roll albums of all time. Enjoy.

PHOTO


October, 2009 was the fourth coldest October on record, and for Minnesota that's impressive. It was also one of the wettest and snowiest months on record in Minnesota. This photo was taken from the dock looking back at our harbor and house. You can see that most of the leaves on the trees haven't even fully changed color, yet there is snow on the ground. It would snow at least a few more times before it finally warmed up at the very end of the month and into November.

ALBUM


Soon after graduating from high school I moved into an old house in downtown Lansing, Michigan located just a couple of blocks from the state capital building. One of the guys that lived with me in the house -- Marcus Cafagna -- turned me onto, among many other things, the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street.

I was, of course, very familiar with the Rolling Stones at the time, but for some reason I had not yet discovered this particular album. It was released in 1972, and was the first 2-LP studio release from the Stones. Every song on this album is a gem and I never tire of listening to it.

Some years back, Rolling Stone magazine put out a special issue listing the Top 500 albums of the 'classic' rock 'n' roll era -- from 1964 through 1983. Topping the list was the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, while the Stones' Exile came in at number 7.

If you're unfamiliar with Exile on Main Street, check out this studio version of Sweet Virginia -- it might surprise you.

Photo/Album: Post 3

I went back to a photo from this past June for today's installment of my Photo/Album series, and went all the way back to 1959 for my album selection. Enjoy.

PHOTO

This is a photo of Sucker Bay on the afternoon of June 19, 2009. You can read more about my fishing success that day by visiting this link. I will tell you that I caught one walleye during an afternoon trip on the water, and two more that night while trolling. I also witnessed an incredible sunset during my evening trip onto Leech Lake.

ALBUM

From his late-1940s album The Birth of the Cool to his seminal work with his famous quartets of the 1950s and 1960s to his groundbreaking album Bitches Brew that gave birth to jazz fusion, no musician of the 20th century had more influence on music over a longer period of time than jazz legend Miles Davis.

I don't recall the first time I heard landmark LP Kind of Blue, but I do know that during my college days at Cal Poly I must have listened to this album hundreds of times with my friend Vince alone. John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley provide the dual saxophones on the set and are joined by Detroit native Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly split the session on piano.

Many music critics consider Kind of Blue not only one Miles Davis's best, and not just one of the best jazz albums ever produced, but one of the greatest albums ever recorded. If you've never heard this album, start hear with the album version of the unbelievable tune, So What.

Photo/Album: Post 2

Here is the second installment of my Photo/Album series -- where I post a photo from Leech Lake and an album that I find particularly important to the history of music (in my life).

As will be the case in all such posts, let's start with a photo from Leech Lake.

PHOTO


This was taken the on the Saturday afternoon five days before I left Minnesota for California in the Fall of 2009. It's taken from the end of my dock looking south on Sucker Bay toward Goose Island. This was a typical mid-afternoon, late-Autumn day on Leech Lake.

ALBUM


From the first time I heard Frank Zappa's music in 1974, he has been one of my favorite musicians. As I dug deeper into his extremely vast catalog of music (I now own all 80+ titles from Mr. Zappa) I found myself listening to his album Hot Rats more than any other. The cut Peaches en Regalia from the album is generally considered one of the greatest jazz-fusion tunes ever recorded.

It has been covered by numerous musicians ranging from the Dixie Dregs to Phish to Frank's son Dweezil, whose version of the song with former Zappa alumni Steve Vai and Napoleon Murphy Brock won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2009. Check out this clip for the version of Peaches en Regalia from the Baby Snakes video, or this clip for a live version of the song.

Photo/Album: Post 1

Most of my posts to this site happen while I'm actually at Leech Lake. Now that I'm in California, I'm only able to reminisce about being on the water (open or hard) and enjoy the many photos I've taken while at Leech Lake.

Until I make my next visit to Minnesota's third biggest lake I thought I'd occasionally post photos from past visits. In addition, I'm going to post an album that I'm particularly fond of, just 'cause.

So here's the first of my "photo/album" posts.

PHOTO


Here's a photo of our dock, boat lift and boat as seen from the dock at our house. Countless times each open-water season I make my way next door to our cabin, walk down the dock, climb into the boat, lower it into the water and go fishing. Since it's an activity that plays a predominate role in my life while I'm at Leech Lake, it's the first photo in this series.

ALBUM


The Grateful Dead album American Beauty is one of my all-time favorite albums. It contains some of Jerry Garcia's finest songwriting, singing and guitar playing, and it holds a special place in my heart and soul. If you haven't listened to this album, start with this live version of Ripple and move on from there -- "a ripple in still water."

October 29, 2009 -- At Leech Lake, I Leave Today

It's a balmy 42 degrees at 8:00 a.m. The sky is overcast, there is a fog and mist hanging over the lake and there is virtually no wind. Kind of eerie.

I'm scurrying around making final preparations to leave our house at Leech Lake for potentially many months.

I've got the last load of laundry going, the food I'm giving to the Malays is all packed up and the rest of the food has been thrown out. I'm having a quick bowl of cereal, then I have to unload the dishwasher, lock up the cabin and turn on the security system.

As I look out over the lake, I'm hit with the desire of wanting to go fishing. It would be an interesting morning to be on the water. No wind. Heavy mist and fog. Water temperature dropping. I bet the walleye are feeding fast and furious this morning. But no fishing today.

Tom is going to come by in a few minutes to pick up the food I'm giving them and a bag of garbage. Elaine has an appointment in Bemidji this morning and rather than carry around the food with them, they'll put it away before we leave for town. Same for the garbage.

It's now 9:00 a.m. The cabin is locked and security system is armed. I've got the laundry done, the refrigerator is cleaned out, and the dishes are done. The only thing I've got left to do is turn off the water pump and lock the house and arm the security system. I'll do that on my way out the door.

So from Sucker Bay, so long until my next visit to Leech Lake.

October 28, 2009 -- At Leech Lake, One Day and Counting

Today is my final full day at Leech Lake for 2009, and I've got a lot of work left to do to close up the house and cabin for the winter.

My first order of business will be to store the boat lift canopy in the garage at the cabin. I had it out drying on the back deck railing at the cabin, but today it's time to put it away.

I would like to power wash the truck before I store it for the winter because it's so dirty. I hope I have time to get to it. I also have to do loads of laundry, go through all of the food in the refrigerators -- freezing what I can, get some of it ready to give to Tom and Elaine, and throwing the rest away -- put the snow plow on the ATV and move it into the attached garage, and a million and one other little chores.

At 11:30 a.m. the temperature is 40 degrees, the sky is gray and overcast (again), every now and then it sprinkles rain, and the winds are calm.

It's now 6:30 p.m. and I'm in the house for the first time since just after noon. I got the boat lift canopy rolled up and stored in the garage, I power-washed the truck, put it in the garage, disconnected the negative battery terminal and hooked up a trickle charger to the battery to keep it fresh throughout the winter.

With those chores complete I came back to the house where I attached the snow plow to the ATV, moved it to the attached garage, shut the gas line on it and ran the rest of the fuel out of the carburetor. Then it was on to leaf blowing.

For 3 straight hours I blew leaves off the lakeside lawn, the two sides of the house, the porches, the yard by our bedroom, the patch of grass in the driveway turnaround, and the entire driveway itself. The only place at the house that I didn't get to was the yard between the wood pile and the gas tank.

The entire time I was outside there was a heavy mist in the air. It wasn't actually raining, but everything was dripping wet. I finally put the leaf blower away when the light was nearly gone because I wanted to have one last walk down our dirt road before it got dark. So I took my final 2-mile walk to Paulsen's and back for 2009.

I'm now inside having some salad and squash hotdish for dinner, before I start in on the rest of my in-the-house chores.

I've now cleaned out the fireplace, vacuumed the house, mopped the kitchen floor, chopped up and froze onions, carrots and celery, did a couple loads of wash, made the bed and did the dishes. My hot shower felt great.

It's now 11:30 p.m. and in just 10 hours I'll be leaving the house and driving with the Malays to the airport in Bemidji. It's been a great year here at Leech Lake. I had a 10-week visit from the end of May to the end of July, and a second six-week visit from mid-September through tomorrow. I hope I have a chance to get back here sometime this winter to do some ice fishing and to enjoy the winter.

Once I'm back in California I'll be posting only occasionally to this blog. I'll recap some of the fishing stats from this year -- how many walleyes boated, size of fish, time caught, etc. -- as well as post various pictures I've taken during my two visits this year. I'll also post any relevant news regarding the water levels on Leech Lake or any other MN DNR and lake news.

Now it's time for bed. Looking back on these visits, I have to admit, I really love fishing Leech Lake.

October 27, 2009 -- At Leech Lake, 2 Days and Counting

The dock coming out of the water signals the end of another season on Leech Lake

At 10:00 a.m. this morning the temperature is 39 degrees, the sky is partly cloudy with some sun and blue sky visible and the wind is 12-15 mph out of the WSW creating a few white caps here and there on Leech Lake.

The wind is blowing strong enough to knock most the remaining leaves out of the trees and onto the ground. It is raining yellow leaves this morning. Kathleen loves seeing the leaves fall, but unfortunately she missed seeing it by a day; she left for California yesterday.

I'll be joining Kathleen in San Jose on Thursday, leaving behind our haven on Leech Lake until some time in the future. I'm hoping to get back here during the winter for some ice fishing, but I had the same plan last year and it never materialized.

At 2:00 p.m. the temperature has warmed to the mid 40s, the wind is steady at 12-15 mph out of the WSW, the sky is mostly cloudy, but there is some blue sky visible.

Mark and his crew from Shore Brothers are here removing the boat lift and dock at the cabin, and the dock at the house. It's going pretty quick too. The guys got the dock and lift out at the cabin in about 35-40 minutes, and the dock at the house may go a little quicker because there's no boat lift to remove. My lift in the harbor stays in the water all winter because it's sheltered enough that it doesn't suffer any ice damage during the spring thaw.

After the Shore Brothers crew left I decided to split the several stumps and rounds that both John Newman and Duane Paulsen had left near my wood pile. There were two different trees that came down back in the woods that Duane has been cutting them into stumps and rounds for the past couple of weeks. Since one of the trees was on my property I asked that Duane leave me some of it.

In all there were probably 10 or 11 stumps and rounds that I split into small fireplace sized pieces. It took me the better part of an hour to split all of the wood, and then another half hour or so to stack it. And since I had the splitter out, I split a small pile of kindling wood too. We now have plenty of kindling and firewood in the garage for several fires should we make a wintertime visit to Leech Lake.

After dinner I had a fire in the fireplace, listened to music and thought about all of the fun times I've had at Leech Lake. We're very fortunate indeed.

October 26, 2009 -- Kathleen Leaves for California

As Kathleen did earlier in the day, the sun leaves Leech Lake in the western sky

At 10:00 a.m. this morning the temperature is 36 degrees, the sky is overcast and gray and the wind is out of the WNW at 8-10 mph.

Kathleen and I left the house at 10:35 a.m. to take her to the airport. I had the boat in-tow behind the truck. The truck thermometer read 39 degrees. We had a nice drive into Bemidji, but it was hard dropping off Kathleen at the airport and saying goodbye. I will, however, see her in three days in California. But we would both have preferred to stay here at Leech Lake for several weeks, or months, longer.

After saying goodbye to Kathleen, I drove from the Bemidji airport to Corner Sports to drop off my boat for winter storage. My goodness, how many goodbyes can a guy do in one day? Mike at Corner Sports told me that they would repaired the cracked dash area -- apparently the 2005-06 Lunds had problems with them cracking -- as well as winterize the boat, fix the gas vent cover and do a computer check on the Mercury Verado motor.

I left my wife and boat behind in Bemidji and drove back out to the lake. I got home at 2:15 p.m. under mostly cloudy, gray skies, a SSW wind at 8-10 mph and a temperature of 40 degrees.

At 5:00 p.m. I walked over to the cabin to make the beds and clean out the refrigerator. With those chores complete I took my daily 2-mile walk down to Paulsen's and back.

On my way back I again stopped at the cabin this time to remove the power cord that runs from the electrical outlet on shore out to the end of the dock to power the electric motor for the boat lift. I got that stowed in the garage then gathered up some firewood so I could have a fire in the fireplace tonight.

At 6:10 p.m., under partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 37 degrees, I walked out onto the end of the dock to enjoy the sunset. While I was out there I lowered the US flag for the season. It's in pretty bad shape after two years of Northwoods weather, so next year I'll get a new one and burn this old one in one of our camp fires at the cabin.

I had some salad for dinner, had a fire in the fireplace, listened to music and read the paper before going to bed. I'm trying to enjoy every last minute I have here at Leech Lake.