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.

August 2, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 8:00 a.m. there was low rumbling of thunder, some light rain and overcast skies. But by 10:00 a.m., the weather had cleared and it was as nice a day as we've had in a long time. Clear blue skies, a nice breeze blowing out of the NW and a temperature of 74 degrees. It was the perfect day to enjoy a cup of coffee on the back deck. The only downside was that Kathleen wasn't here with me.

After my coffee and some work online and around the house, I took a bike ride down to the Harbor and back. Roughly a 4-mile round trip. It felt good to stretch my legs and move, even if the old bike I was riding -- Kathleen's Dad's old bike -- is much too small for me.

I was just getting ready to go next door to the cabin to cut a roll of zinc tape in half -- in order to retrofit it along the cap of the roof of the garage that is attached to the house -- when I got a call from Lainy. Yep, she had another bat in the house. So I grabbed my net, got on the ATV and drove down to the Malay's cabin.

Unlike the bats that I captured yesterday, this bat was either sick or injured because it had crawled underneath the small refrigerator that the Malay's keep in their back, screened-in porch and wedged itself between a bracket and the cooling coils.

I had to use a yardstick to push the tiny bat out from its hidden spot and then easily scooped it up in the net and deposited it outside. Just as I had rid the Malay's of another bat, Dave Levy, the local carpenter who is does work on everyone's cabin in the area, including ours, stopped by to seal up the chimney grating on the top of the house; a suspected entry point for the bats invading the Malay's house.

Once on top of the house and near the chimney, Dave called out that there were several bats nestled in and around the base of the chimney. I quickly scampered up the ladder and onto the roof to get a look myself. In addition to four or five live bats, there were maybe a dozen more than had died. Using a stick, and later the yardstick, I managed to get all of the living bats to vacate the area so Dave could set about his work.

At that point I left the Malay's and went back to the cabin where I spent an hour or so cutting up strips of zinc which I will later install on the roof of the house-garage.

As the day progressed, the temperature climbed in to the mid-80s and the wind calmed to just a slight breeze from the SSE. With the zinc cut, and with lunch taken care of, I decided to do some later afternoon fishing.

I fished in the "honey hole" between our house and cabin in 10-12 feet of water using a jig and artificial bait, but didn't catch a thing. I did have a nice "slow pull" on my line and when I set the hook I could tell there was a big fish on the line, but as I started to play the fish it gave one strong yank on the end of my line and broke free. I tied on a new jig, tipped it with an Northland artificial grub and set out fishing again, but still could not boat a fish.

By 6:15 p.m. I was back on shore. I spent the evening doing some work online, reading, listening to music and watching yet another glorious sunset over Sucker Bay. Good night from Leech Lake; more tomorrow.

Another beautiful Leech Lake sunset over Sucker Bay

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.

July 30, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the temperature was 68 degrees, the sky was sunny with virtually no clouds and it was windy. The wind was a good 12-18 mph out of the NNW which was created a series of whitecaps rolling toward the shoreline in front of the house.

After a light breakfast I took a bike ride down W. Shores Rd. It was good to get out and get moving without the intense heat and humidity of the past few days. The wind was enough to keep most of the deer flies from settling on me and also kept it cool enough to make it a pleasant 5-mile ride.

Throughout the afternoon the wind continued to blow hard, at times topping 20 mph out of the NNW. White caps rolled across Sucker Bay, and I only spotted two boats brave enough to battle the large waves.

I spent the day on shore. John Newman arrived at his cabin next door at around 4:15 p.m. and at 7:00 p.m. invited me over for some malted beverages and conversation. I showed up around 8:30 p.m. and stayed way too late.

As the night progressed the wind died down and the humidity began to climb. It should be a hot day tomorrow.

No fishing today. Good night from Leech Lake.

July 29, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

If the US Weather Service is to be believed, it's supposed to be between 90 and 95 degrees here at Leech Lake today. At 8:30 a.m., the temperature was 74 degrees, and I don't think it dipped much below 70 degrees during the night, so it might indeed be a "cooker" today.

The wind was out of the WSW at 8-15 mph, the sky was mostly sunny with some high, hazy clouds. A warm and pleasant summer Sunday morning, if not a bit muggy.

After a hearty Sunday breakfast, I went next door to the cabin to open up the garage so Tom and his friend Skip could take one of the ice-fishing houses that are being stored there into Bemidji where it will be auctioned off as part of fundraiser to raise money to help Skip's grandson who is in need of heart surgery. As it turns out, the little boy will be having surgery at the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University in Palo Alto not more than 20 minutes drive from our house in San Jose. Small world.

I helped Skip and his son Caleb load the ice-fishing house into Skip's pickup truck and just that little bit of movement had us all covered in sweat as a result of the 85 degree heat and high humidity. I think that 90 degrees or even higher is a real possibility. The wind did pick up to 15 mph out of the WSW and that helped cool things off a bit; if you were just standing still.

After Tom, Skip and Caleb left I set about some work at the cabin. I applied water sealant to the permanent wood portion of the dock that leads out to the boat lift. Sitting in the hot, baking sun had me sweating in the hour it took to apply the sealant.

I then mended the fish-holding basket that I keep my catch in. Earlier, I had released the jumbo perch I had hooked a couple of days ago deciding to have something grilled for dinner instead. It was during the process of releasing the perch that I noticed that some of the wire meshing had torn and that there was a hole the size of plum in the bottom of the basket. It wasn't big enough for a jumbo perch to squeeze through, and certainly not big enough for a keeper walleye to escape, but I used some wire to repair it just the same.

At this point the temperature had climbed to 89 degrees and the humidity was up over 75% with a dew point in the 70-degree plus range; very muggy. I was so hot that I decided to take a ride on the ATV to cool off. On my way past Malay's on the way back to the house I spotted Tom who was taking a break from mowing his lawn. He too was covered in sweat. We decided the best thing to do was sit still and enjoy a couple of cold, malted beverages. And that's just what we did.

Once home, I sat out on the back deck and read. The wind was blowing hard enough to keep any bugs and flies at bay, and it was much cooler than being in the house. I made it through "The Merchant's Tale" in Geoffery Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I still have five more "Tales" to complete before I finish this epic work of poetic literature.

Later in the evening, after a beautiful sunset, I grilled a pork steak and had that and a variety of sides for dinner. I then settled in and listened to some music and surfed the web for a while before calling it a night. The wind never let up today keeping me off the water, but maybe tomorrow I can get out for some fishing.

Good night.

July 28, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Unlike yesterday, this morning was sunny and warm. The temperature at 10:00 a.m. was 73 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny with just a few big, white fluffy clouds and the wind was relatively light at 5-10 mph out of the WSW.

I enjoyed a several cups of coffee while sitting on the back deck. It was just a week ago that Kathleen and I drove from St. Cloud so Kathleen could catch her flight to San Francisco. Although it's only been 7 days, it seems like she's been gone for a long, long time. I sure wish we could figure out a way to live here at Leech Lake year round.

I surfed the web for a while reading about the Olympics and other news before deciding to go fishing. I made a sandwich, gathered some cold drinks and then went next door to the boat lift. With the wind blowing out of the SSW I motored out past Second Duck Point and let the wind push the boat north up Sucker Bay and out from shore toward the middle of the bay.

I fished for about 90 minutes and in that time I caught only one medium sized pike and possibly the smallest fish I've ever caught using a jig; a tiny 2 1/2-inch perch that was no bigger around than my little finger. I'll give the little guy credit, he was willing to hit a bait that was the same size as it was, a 2 1/2-inch pearl white Gulp Alive! minnow.

Once back on shore I finished eating my sandwich then set to work applying Thompson's water seal to the stairs next to the harbor. That took me about an hour, and by the time I was done, I was hot and sweaty from working outside in the hot sun and a temperature of 85 degrees. It was time for a plunge in the lake.

I took a very enjoyable and cooling camp bath that truly did cool me off. After drying off and coming inside it was time for A Prairie Home Companion on MPR. It was a compilation show with bits and pieces I've heard before, but it was still fun to listen to.

With Garrison gone for another week I made dinner and then settled in to do some reading online and listening to music. I sure wish Kathleen was here to play dominoes, cribbage or Scrabble with me. We do have fun playing games in the living room.

An uneventful, but pleasant evening on the shores of Leech Lake.