September 11-12, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Tuesday was the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington D.C. As someone who had taken those flights from Boston and New York City to San Francisco I once again thanked, whoever it is one thanks at times like these, that I wasn't on that flight on that day.

Today was warmer than yesterday and eventually hit a high of 78 degrees. The wind was light out of the south at 5-8 mph and the sky was mostly sunny. Again, the northwoods is struggling to let go of summer before Autumn takes over.

It was good weather to start painting the door on the lakeside deck and that's exactly what I did. The color of the paint looked much more like magenta to me than burgundy so after applying a heavy coat of paint I decided to let it dry a full day to see if the color is what I was hoping it would be or if I would have to go into Bemidji and get an alternate color.

And since watching paint dry is not all that interesting, Joe and I decided to go fishing.

With the breeze out of the SSW at 8 mph we used the drift sock to keep the boat moving north along the shoreline of Sucker Bay in 9-11 feet of water. The water temperature had fallen to 67. Both Joe and I were using Northland jigs tipped with 4-inch plastic screwtail grubs.

We fished for about two and half hours, during which time a caught a couple of good-sized pike, a small pike, a handful of small perch and one jumbo perch which I kept. Joe has yet to eat any Leech Lake-caught fish during his current stay and I figured that this perch would be a tasty treat for him. Unfortunately, Joe didn't hook a single fish.

Looking at our house/cabin as we drifted north on Sucker Bay

We had a simple dinner tonight of sandwiches made from the left over grilled chicken with North Alabama White BBQ sauce, but as an appetizer, we had a mess of crayfish that Joe had trapped over the past several days. Cooking them is a simple matter of boiling them in water, the way you would a lobster, then serving them with drawn butter. There's not a lot of meat in them, the tail section yielding a piece of meat a little bigger than the size of a raisin, but they are tasty.

A bowl full of Leech Lake crayfish ready for a pot of boiling water

We finished off the evening watching a DVD. Good night from Leech Lake

The wind on Wednesday was the primary feature of the day's weather. It was blowing out of the north at 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph at times. The lake was rolling with waves which were crested with white caps. The temperature hit a high of 68 degrees and the sky was mostly sunny, but with a healthy helping of clouds.

I took advantage of the blustery day to finish painting the doors; the front door and the deck door. The wind dried the latex paint quickly enabling me to apply a second coat where needed. I'm sure I'll have to do some touch up on Thursday, but 99% of the job is complete.

Joe and I have been using Joe's .22 rifle to eliminate the red squirrels that are so prevalent in around our house. Normally I would not 'hunt' squirrel, but these little pests find their way into the house and leave caches of pine nuts and other seeds underneath the cushions of our furniture. How they get into our house beats me, but I'm not about to have them ravage our house throughout the winter.

Joe and I have been keeping a tally of how many squirrels we've been able to hit, and as of today, Joe atop the leader board with 5 squirrels to my 3.

Since we couldn't go fishing due to the rough water, we took a walk today and it's becoming more obvious that Autumn is rapidly approaching. The leaves are changing color, although are probably still a week or more from 'peaking.'

As the sun sank into the western horizon, the wind began to die down a bit, but neither Joe nor I felt like it was calm enough to go out trolling, so we stayed on shore and enjoyed another beautiful Leech Lake sunset. I never get tired of watching the sunsets here at the lake.

The sun's final glow over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

We had another quiet night of reading, watching a DVD and listening to music after our spaghetti dinner. I'm really hoping we can get out on the water tomorrow since Joe only has a little more than a week left here at Leech Lake before he has to fly back to California. Heck, I'm only going to be here a few more weeks myself, and would love to catch a couple of walleye, or even some jumbo perch, before I have to go back to  the Golden State.

More reports from Leech Lake tomorrow (or the next day).

September 9-10, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Sunday September 9 was a beautiful day. The temperature climbed to 82 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SW. It was the perfect day to go muskie fishing. Joe and I made sandwiches, gathered some drinks in the cooler, loaded our muskie rods/reels, lures and net into the boat and then left just before noon for an afternoon of muskie fishing on Leech Lake.

We started by motoring for about 30 minutes to a location in the main part of the lake called Submarine Island. It is a spot in the lake where the bottom rises from the rest of the lake floor to a depth of no more than 8-10 feet. Surrounding Submarine Island is water as deep as 35 feet. Bait fish often hold on the sunken island which is why muskie tend to be in the area.

Joe and I spent a good 30 to 45 minutes casting lures around the large submerged hump, but didn't even have a follow. We decided to change tactics and troll around Submarine Island. At 2.25 mph ground speed, it takes about 30 minutes to complete one circuit around the Submarine Island. We made two passes with no  luck. We did pass the time by listening to the Vikings-Jaguars game, a game the Vikings won in OT by a field goal.

From Submarine Island we motored another 20 minutes or so north into Portage Bay to a spot on the eastern shoreline known as Five Mile Point. Just north of the point is a large, shallow bay with reeds and weeds; a perfect habitat for muskie. Five Mile Point is known as one of the best muskie spots on Leech Lake and has produced some very big fish, and in fairly good numbers.

Joe and I spent more than nearly two hours casting lures around the bay and point but again couldn't produce as much as a follow. I did see a big fish (a muskie?) break the surface of the water near the shoreline with a colossal splash, but repeated casts to the spot all came up empty.

With sun dropping in the sky and the wind beginning to pick up, and with a good 35 minutes needed to motor home at 40 mph, we decided it was time to stow the gear and head home. I put the Mercury Verado into gear, got the boat on plane, and at 40 mph drove the boat south on Portage Bay, around Ottertail Point and then north on Sucker Bay toward Second Duck Point.

Once the boat was securely on the lift, Joe and I got all of the muskie gear out of the boat and made our way home for dinner. Earlier in the day I had put a rack of pork spare ribs in the oven to slow-cook, and it was now time to put them on the grill for a quick searing. Along with Cole slaw and French fries we had a hearty and very tasty dinner.

Another beautiful sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Although we didn't hook a muskie, or even get a follow, it was still a wonderful day on the lake with my son. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

The weather on Monday couldn't have been more different from Sunday. The wind was blowing at 15-20 mph out of the NW, the sky was mostly cloudy and temperature was at its high at 74 degrees. It's as if the northwoods is struggling to let summer go before Autumn fully takes its grasp.

I spent a good portion of the day working on a presentation and some other work, while Joe enjoyed reading and the kind of quiet that only the lake can provide.

Once my work was complete I set about painting the trim and framework around the front door and the door on the lakeside deck. I painted it a shade of dark brownish-green called muddled basil. Who comes up with these color names anyway? Muddled basil, really? It actually looks much better than its name might suggest. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll paint the doors themselves; in burgundy if you were wondering. That's a name I understand, since the paint is the same color as burgundy wine.

As the day progressed the wind began to die down and the forecast for Tuesday was much calmer waters, so maybe we can get out for some fishing tomorrow.

Joe and I both realized that we might not get too many more chances, if any, to go swimming in the lake this year so despite cool air temperatures and even colder water temperatures we donned our swimming trunks, walked to the end of the dock and took the plunge. I've been in the lake more than a dozen times this summer, but this was the first time hitting the water took my breath away. Not because I did a belly-flop or something, but because the water was downright cold.

I didn't stay in long opting to take a hot shower to clean off. Joe, however, used our organic soap and cleaned off in the lake. He later said it took him more than an hour to finally warm up.

In addition to slow-cooking ribs yesterday while Joe and I were muskie fishing I was also brining a chicken for tonight's dinner. With the chicken brined for more than 24 hours, it was time to put in on the grill (with indirect heat) in preparation of adding the North Alabama White BBQ sauce. In addition to the chicken we had a the left over Cole slaw, biscuits and mashed potatoes. Another outstanding northwoods dinner.

But before we enjoyed that amazing dinner we enjoyed a spectacular sunset from the end the dock. Joe and I have tried to make it a habit to get out to the end of the dock every evening at sunset to take in the splendor that the lake offers at that time of day. Tonight was one of the best we've seen during Joe's current stay.

A spectacular sunset over Leech Lake

We spent the rest of the night quietly, watching some DVDs and reading. Good night from Leech Lake.

September 7-8, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

On Friday morning September 7 I woke up freezing. While the temperatures have been cooler, they haven't dropped far enough to make the house truly cold, until today. We had several of the windows open, so I went around the house closing them in preparation for turning on the furnace.

With the windows closed I went to the thermostat to turn on the heat and saw that the temperature in the house was only 60 degrees. I turned the furnace up to 68 and waited for the house to warm up.

Outside the sky was mostly cloudy, the temperature was only 52 degrees and the wind was howling at 15-25 mph out of the WNW. A very cool, blustery day at Leech Lake. And several times throughout the day the sky would darken and a light rain would fall for a few minutes. Nothing heavy, just enough to keep the ground and trees damp, thus making the day seem even cooler.

With waves pounded the shoreline and white caps on the lake, Joe and I didn't see any boats on the water until just after 6:00 p.m. when John and Karen Newman decided to brave the heavy seas for some perch fishing. John has been up at the lake for a day or two, but Karen arrived just today. John had mentioned to me that Karen really wanted to get out and do some fishing, and lucky for them the wind had calmed a bit, but it was still a little too rough for me to want to venture out onto.

Instead, Joe and I spent a quiet day at home. I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon working on a work presentation, while Joe read and played some video games.

Later in the day, just before sunset, Joe found his old HO slot car track and cars and decided to take them next door and set it up on the ping pong table in the game room. For the next several hours Joe and I raced the little slot cars around the track. We both had forgotten how much fun it can be.

Joe watching the sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

The weather on Saturday was even more harsh than on Friday. The wind was blowing at speeds between 20-30 mph out of the WNW, the temperature never got up over 60 degrees and the sky was grey and dark all day with occasional periods of light rain.

Joe and I decided it would be a good day to go into town for supplies. I needed to pick up some paint for the front door and trim, we needed to mail a package to Jayden and we needed groceries. We took our time getting ready and didn't actually hit the road until just after 1:00 p.m. On our drive into Bemidji we listened to the University of Minnesota football game, a game they eventually won by a score of 44-7 over the University of New Hampshire.

When we had completed our tasks in Bemidji we stopped in Cass Lake on the drive home to pick up a couple of pizzas. We had invited John and Karen Newman over for a simple dinner and some conversation. At 7:30 p.m. John stopped by without Karen. Apparently she had gotten up much too early in the day and was tired, so she stayed at home while John had pizza with us.

After John went home, Joe and I stayed up and watched some DVDs before going to bed.

Good night from Leech Lake.

September 4-6, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

The weather these past few days is sending us clear signals that Autumn is just around the corner. On Tuesday the temperature hit a high of near 80 under sunny skies, but on Wednesday the high didn't even reach 70 degrees and with the wind blowing at 12-20 mph out of the WSW -- creating big waves on the lake -- it felt a lot cooler than 70 degrees. And by Thursday, the temperature at 11:00 a.m. was only 60 degrees under mostly cloudy, grey skies.

The cooler weather didn't dissuade Joe and I from spending time outside. Joe really enjoys hanging out at the game room at the cabin and around the fire pit, which is where I can find him often throughout the day. We also have continued our bike riding, riding around 5 miles a day. On Tuesday, Joe finished off his bike ride with some exercises and a dip in the lake; something that by Wednesday would not have been a very comfortable venture.

I've found time to go fishing every day, although with basically no success. I fished several parts of Sucker Bay including Second Duck Point, in front of our house/cabin, in front of Malay's, drifting from Norm's to Schiebe's including The Birches, but with very limited success. My technique was drifting with a Northland Mimic Minnow Spin, a method that has produced both walleye and jumbo perch in the past, but only a handful of tiny perch these past couple of days. I'm hoping with the cooler temperatures, the fish will begin their Fall feeding pattern and that the fishing will improve considerably.

Classic MN clouds over Leech Lake

On Wednesday evening, after the high winds had died down, Joe and I went out after sunset to do some trolling for walleye. We used our favorite crankbait -- the Rapala Minnow Rap -- pulled 60 feet behind the boat at a depth of roughly 9-11 feet of 74 degree water.

The strong wind and rough water throughout the day churned up a lot of dying vegetation in the lake and we spent more time taking weeds off our lures than actually fishing. As a result, we spent only about an hour on the water before coming ashore.

Thursday the temperature was cooler still and maybe hit a high of 65 degrees. The sky was overcast and rain fell sporadically throughout the day. The wind wasn't too strong, but breezy enough to keep the lake covered in medium sized waves.

I spent a good portion of the day doing some work work, before Joe and I decided to take an ATV ride down the peninsula. Joe said he found a small beach that he was previous unaware of and wanted to show it to me. On our way down Ottertail Point Road the rain started to pick up and rather than get soaking wet, we turned and headed home.

A look at our dock at the house from the cabin dock

We spent the rest of the day quickly at home reading, watching a movie on DVD and just hanging out. I hope that tomorrow we'll get a chance to get out on the water.

Labor Day Weekend, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

The weekend was warm, mostly sunny and the wind varied between dead calm and quite breezy. High temperatures hit close to 90 degrees, but luckily it wasn't too humid. We did have some very strong winds on Monday, including a light sprinkling of rain. But for the most part, it was a beautiful late-summer weekend in the northwoods.

Joe and I did get out to do some bass fishing, but with no luck. We tried a variety of tactics -- spinnerbaits pulled quickly and rolled, Texas-rigged weightless Senko's and jigs -- but none produced fish. I also spent time on the water on Saturday, Sunday and Monday doing some drifting for perch (or maybe the stray walleye) but caught only a handful of small- to medium-sized perch. Actually, I did catch one jumbo perch, a very nice 11-inch fish, but after putting it in the live well for a brief period I eventually released it since it was the only one I caught and one perch isn't enough for a meal for two people, even if it is a jumbo.

Joe and I found time to do some bike riding and swimming. We also had a fire, played some dominoes and watched some shows on DVD. We BBQed for dinner, including a very tasty brined, grilled chicken with North Alabama White BBQ sauce.
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It's hard to believe we've already hit the "unofficial" end of summer; complete with the end of the Minnesota State Fair on Monday. It seems like just yesterday I arrived in Minnesota and was preparing to get the boat in the water, get the canopy on the boat lift, and, oh well, enough reminiscing and whining. It's September and we all have to brace ourselves for the onslaught of Fall and Winter and all that comes with it.

I'm just happy for the time I have to spend with my son at Leech Lake. And it does a man's heart good to know that his son is as fond as he is of the northwoods, campfires, fishing, shooting guns and not seeing other people for days at a time.

Until tomorrow, or maybe next week...

Lake Water Levels -- Labor Day, 2012

Today is Monday, September 3, 2012 -- Labor Day. This is one of the days throughout the year that I record an unofficial measure of the water levels on Leech Lake. Using the cement pilings at the cabin boat ramp as a constant against which to water level of the lake, I can look back and see how this year's water level stack up against previous years.

At 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, five (5) of the cement pilings were under water, with the ripples and light waves lapping up onto piling six. By comparison, last year on August 26 the water covered only three (3) pilings. While the water level isn't as high currently as earlier in the season, it remains relatively high for this time of year.

I am guessing that the Army Corps of Engineers will start drawing down the water level in the lake in the next several weeks in preparation for the winter season. I may take another reading around Halloween, if I'm still at Leech Lake.

August 27-31, 2012, In, On, and At Leech Lake

Week in Review

This was a busy week, one that kept me from making daily posts to this blog. Therefore, I thought I'd do a quick week in review. As the title of this post suggests, Joe and I spent it at Leech Lake working, we spent some time in Leech Lake swimming and to cool off, and we spent time on Leech Lake fishing. But mostly, this week was defined by our work staining the roadside and lakeside decks.

On Monday, which was a warm day in the high 70s, Joe and I started in on staining the roadside deck. We worked for nearly 6 hours straight and were able to complete the entire job. After cleaning up and putting the stain away, I set up a small barricade in front of the front stairs to keep people from walking on the freshly stained deck. Of course what I could not have predicted is a visit during the night from "Buck," the abandoned dog that makes periodic appearances at our house. Sometime during the night, the dog walked around the barricade and up onto the porch. It then walked the entire length of the porch leaving paw prints in the still sticky stain. Joe and I were not about to redo entire deck, which is what it would have taken eliminate the paw prints, so we decided to live with a few dog prints.

On Tuesday, the weather was hotter. The temperature hit a high of 85 degrees and the humidity made it very muggy. Joe and I spent 5 hours working on section 1 of the lakeside deck; which included the railing on the south end of the deck, and the fascia and other woodworking along the bottom of the deck. Afterward, we treated ourselves to a cool swim in the lake. It felt great to cool off and to get clean using our organic soap to take a camp bath.

Wednesday was hotter even still. The temperature climbed to 92 degrees and it remained humid making our staining of section 2 of the deck slow and not very comfortable. Joe and I finished the railing on the north end of the deck, including all of the fascia and other wood and then once again took a dip in the lake to cool off. Tomorrow we're taking the day off from staining to go into Bemidji. I've got to get the truck serviced -- and to finally fix the broken passenger-side power-window motor -- get groceries and run other errands.

Thursday proved to be a breezy day, with heavy cloud cover. It looked like it might rain, which wouldn't be ideal for the drying of the deck railing, but it turned out to only sprinkle around mid-afternoon. The temperature went up to 84 degrees, it felt fairly humid, and in Bemidji we saw several big flashes of lightning followed by loud claps of thunder. But, as I said, we didn't see any rain of consequence. By the time we got home, and put away all of the groceries, it was after 5:30 p.m. and I wanted to do some fishing. Joe joined me, and we fished for about 90 minutes and caught nothing but a few small perch. We were, however, treated to the sight of the full moon, a blue moon, rising in the east over the Malay's cabin.

Full moon rising over Leech Lake

NOTE: On the nature front, when Joe and I pulled into the driveway this afternoon, we spotted 9 ruffed grouse eating the fruit from our small crab apple tree. It's good to know that we have so many grouse in the area. Some day, I'd like to hunt for, and eat, some local ruffed grouse.

On Friday, Joe and I set about staining the final portion of the lakeside deck, the walking surface itself. We spent more than 6 hours on the task and by 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening we were done with our staining project. Just as we were cleaning up, our peninsula neighbor Ken Lichttenegger stopped by to give us a smoked whitefish. He has a license to net them in Leech Lake and every year he catches and smokes a number of fish. The past few years he's been kind enough to share one with me, and as in the past, it was delicious.

After we had cleaned up all the stain and the various equipment we'd used during our project, Joe and I went for a long bike ride followed by a swim in the lake. The lake water is still hovering around 74 degrees, which is plenty warm enough to go for a dip after work. It was then time to relax and have a pizza on Friday night.

It feels good to have the project complete, and now we can focus on doing some fishing. Joe wants to fish not only for walleye and perch, but largemouth bass and muskie. I'm sure we'll get in plenty of fishing during the next couple of weeks.

August 26, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning we awoke to a very strong west wind blowing at 15-25 mph which created a series of high waves and white caps that crashed into the shore in front of our house and cabin. It looked unlikely that we'd get out onto the lake to do any fishing.

As for the rest of the weather, it was a beautiful day. The temperature made it up to 78 degrees, the sky was sunny and blue.

After breakfast I went to the ATV-garage to get the blacktop sealer expecting to seal up some cracks in the driveway, but apparently the sealant went bad over the winter. No matter how much I shook the bottle or stirred the contents, it sealant wouldn't mix properly keeping me from completing that chore. I'll have to pick up another bottle of sealant when Joe and I go into town this coming week.

But there's no shortage of things to do here at the lake so I moved onto my next chore. A few weeks ago I had put zinc stripping along the apex of the roof which is supposed to suppress mold and moss from growing on the shingles. The strong winds we've had during the summer pulled the zinc stripping from underneath the shingles, and left the stripping just laying on top of the roof. The stripping needed to be put back in place and then tacked down so it wouldn't be displaced by the wind.

Using little dabs of some of the black roofing tar I had left over from when Rick and I put a new roof on the cabin, I was able to put in place the zinc stripping on the roof of the house. And then just to make sure the stripping didn't get blown out of place at the cabin, I used the tar to tack it down as well.

My next project was to set up a "stairway to heaven" mouse trap in the garages of both the house and cabin. You can click on the link if you're interested to see how such a trap is built. First, I cleaned out nine dead mice from the trap in the house garage before refilling it with fresh antifreeze and rebaiting the can (I prefer to use peanut butter). I set up a similar trap in the garage at the cabin. By nightfall the trap in the house garage had already claimed its first victim.

Joe and I ate a late lunch and then I got out the power washer and did a quick reclean of the roadside deck, which are planning to start staining on Monday. Since I had washed the deck a few weeks ago when I power washed the entire house, it wasn't too dirty and I was able to finish the job in a little more than a half an hour. As I was putting away the hoses and the power washer, I noticed that the wind, which had been blowing hard all day, was at last dying down a bit. That got me thinking about getting out onto the water.

Joe didn't feel like going fishing so he remained on shore, but I took the boat out for some evening fishing. I got on the water at 7:30 p.m. and planned to fish until a little after sunset, so about an hour. Although the wind had calmed a bit, it was still blowing at 10-12 mph out of the west, so once on the lake I used the drift sock to slow my drift.

I set up in front of Newman's house in 13 feet of 74-degree water and let the wind push the boat toward shore and toward the boat lift.

I was using a 1/4-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS walleye jig tipped with a Northland grub. I caught a couple of small perch, a northern pike and the smallest walleye I've ever brought into the boat; a little eyeball measuring no more than 4-inches. All of the fish were released back into the lake.

We had a simple spaghetti dinner, and then Joe and I watched a movie on DVD to close out the night. A productive day and I was even able to get in a little fishing. Good night from Leech Lake.

August 25, 2012 -- On Leech Leech

Today was another hot and humid day, although neither as hot nor as humid as the past few days. Still, it was  78 degrees by 10:30 a.m. and the humidity was pegged at 82%. The sky was full of clouds in every direction expect directly overhead which created a bright, sunny day despite heavy cloud cover. The wind was out of the south at 8-15 mph, but by early afternoon had shifted to the north and was variably from 5-18 mph.

Joe and I eased into our Saturday with a pot of coffee and a hearty breakfast. Then I went up onto the roof of the house to spray a diluted bleach solution onto the mold and moss growing in certain spots on the shingles. The light mist of chlorine should kill the unwanted invaders.

After cleaning up from the roofing project, Joe and I went muskie fishing. We had heard about a dock hand from Birch Ridge Resort who caught a 48-inch muskie while trolling in spot directly across Sucker Bay from the Resort, so that's where Joe and I began our assault. 

We lowered our lures into the 74 degree water, let out line to get them 50-60 feet behind the boat thus about 12 deep, and then I set the Mercury SmartCraft controls to keep the boat moving at approximately 2.25 mph ground speed. 

We trolled from the north end of Sucker Bay south along the Bay's western shore until just about Big Hardwood Point, but the only thing our lures hooked were many of the weeds floating in the water. So we decided it was time to change locations, if not tactics. 

I kicked the Mercury Verado into gear and motored the boat at 35 mph over to Ottertail Point. Once there Joe and I dropped our lures in the water and trolled all around the point. We made four passes around the point before turning north and trolling up to Duck Point. When we arrived at Duck Point we still hadn't hooked a muskie or even had a follow, so we reeled in our lures and sped north toward home. 

We made it back on shore at 5:45 p.m. and had a "fend-for-yourself" dinner where Joe and I ate whatever leftovers we could find, then it was time to get outside again. Joe went over the cabin and got a fire going while I decided to get out onto the water again.

I lowered the boat into essentially calm water. There was just a hint of a SSW breeze blowing and the temperature was steady at 80 degrees. There was a huge bank of clouds over the peninsula, but virtually none over the lake. I didn't plan on staying out until dark, so I motored to a spot directly in front of the house and cabin and started jigging there in 8-10 feet of water.

Looking back at our shoreline from Sucker Bay as the sun set

The shoreline was alight with the glow of the setting sun as I caught a decent sized northern pike; probably 24 inches long. I played it for a short time to ensure it didn't snap my line and once it was close enough to the boat I reached over, quickly removed the jig and released the fish back into the lake. 

Duck Point in the distance looking south on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

I fished for about 30 minutes longer during which time I caught another, although smaller, northern. With the sun definitely below the horizon I packed up and moved the boat slowly back toward the lift. As I approached shore I could see Joe had a good fire going. 

Back on shore I played a little ping pong with Joe before we both settled in around the fire. With the sky nearly completely dark I went back to the house followed a little while later by Joe. We watched a movie on DVD and stayed up way too late. But it was a nice Saturday at Leech Lake.