More Anders

We had a really fun time having Anders stay with us. Here are a few more photographs.

We stopped at Treeland's Resort for ice cream one day, and, of course, Anders spotted their model of the world record musky. He was fascinated by it, but I'm not sure he thought it would be fun to catch one. This particular musky and lots of those still being caught weigh more than he does.

On one of our fishing outings, we stopped for a picnic on an island. Anders wanted to do some swimming, digging in the sand, and rock skipping.

He thought my raisin bread ham sandwich was just weird, even though he had helped me make the bread. He opted for peanut butter and strawberry jelly on whole wheat bread.

Later, we found some hungry bluegill, and he got to catch a few more fish.

I'm enclosing a bonus shot of a tree that was nearby. I've seen it many times and have marveled at it. The tree, a white pine, extends out from the shore by its roots and then turns 90º skyward. Amazing how it clings to life that way. I don't know why a storm hasn't felled it yet, but so far so good. I imagine the shore has eroded away from below its once more secure footing.

Grandkid Time

Just have to share some pictures I took recently of some of my wonderful grandkids. I was home around the end of July and went one morning to the farmer's market downtown. Rob and his family were there, and we all had a fun breakfast together. Then there was music to hear. While that was going on, Penny and Eleanor were enjoying the small park and climbing in some of the trees there. I couldn't resist these opportunities for pictures.

Penny's third birthday was one reason for me to be home. I had gotten her some skates as well as knee pads, elbow pads, and gloves. Carrie shared this picture, which I love. It is as if Penny is thinking about venturing out for her first skate. I imagine her thinking, "Be the skates. Be the skates."

Right now, Anders is here with us for a few days. His folks will pick him up on Friday on their way to their place up near Grand Marais. Fishing was a first order of business when Anders and I got here. On his first cast (truly!), Anders hauled in this very nice, almost 11-inch, crappie.

He caught some other fish too, including this decent walleye.

Investment Club at the Lake

Kathie belongs to an investment club. Each year, usually in August, the club skips it usual monthly meeting and has some kind of fun outing instead. This year, they all, or nearly all, came to the lake to have fun here, and this time, a few of the husbands came along too.

We had loads of fun, including fishing outings, game playing, lounging, and fun food outings and events. One night, we all went to Treelands Resort for their "tacos and trivia" night. The group of us broke up into two teams, and one of the teams actually won the first of two games played that night.

A couple of evenings were spent around the fire ring, and s'mores may have been involved. I think most everyone is represented in the miscellaneous pictures below.

On the last night, Dick took some slightly more formal shots of the club members. Here is one of the several nice ones he shot.

Critters

Our good friend Dick has recently become fascinated with monarch butterflies and their plight. Modern farming methods and the insistence of local governments for keeping ditches mowed have significantly reduced the growth of milkweed plants, which are a necessary food source for the monarch caterpillars. Monarchs are now around in only small numbers as compared to years gone by. Dick joined an organization that is making efforts to provide education about monarchs, increase milkweed growth, and nurture the growth of monarchs.

When he and Rina came to visit us this past week, Dick brought along some caterpillars that needed attention. So it was fascinating for all of us who were here to learn more and to see some of the stages of monarch growth. Here is one of the caterpillars chomping away on some milkweed. (Yep, that's caterpillar poop at the bottom of the photo. These guys turn milkweed into poop.)

All but one of the caterpillars he brought along eventually crawled up to the top of their boxes and formed into a chrysalis like the one you see here. They did this amazingly rapidly (a few hours), and then they hung quietly as the magic inside occurred. You can see here a time lapse of the conversion from caterpillar to chrysalis.

Being the photographer and scientist that he is, Dick was taking lots of pictures to record the progress of his own caterpillars. Alas, we didn't get to see one emerge as a monarch butterfly before they had to go home. We all were hoping to see a butterfly release, but that will have to happen another time. Until then, here is a time lapse of an emerging monarch that I found on YouTube.

The other critter event was finding two of these little tree frogs under the lid of our hot tub. They evidently decided that the humidity there was just right. Alas, one had fallen into the hot water and was struggling to get back out. I assisted him and relocated both of them to the woods, neither one seeming to have been harmed.

A Man...

A man...

A man and his jitterbug...

A man and his jitterbug and his 17" smallmouth bass...

A man and his jitterbug and his 17" smallmouth bass and a satisfied look on his face.

"This is my lucky fishing shirt and I'm not washing it or wearing anything else while fishing this week!"

Fishing and Exploring

Our good friends, Dick and Rina, are visiting us this week at the lake. Needless to say, fishing has been involved. We spent one afternoon driving to Park Falls to visit the St. Croix Fishing Rod Company store so that Dick could pick up a nice new musky rod and reel. Some of our outings have involved lots of casting of big lures hoping to raise one of these big fish (they are typically 36" and bigger). Dick did have a "boil up" behind one of his lures a couple days ago, but the fish missed the lure. We have been catching other fish though, including quite a few nice walleye, crappie, and the occasional perch, bass or bluegill.

Yesterday, we went exploring as a part of our fishing trip. For quite some time we have been aware of the history of this lake, which is a flowage or reservoir behind a power generation dam. The dam was finished in 1923 (think that is right) and the proposed level of the lake at that time meant that a Native American village would be flooded. This included at least one church and its associated cemetery. Of course, our American history is littered with stories of mistreatment of indians, and this story is no different. The power company, which had agreed to relocate the community and to provide for a new church and relocated graves, eventually abandoned its promises. The result was that many graves were flooded, though some remained and others were indeed relocated. If you are interested in learning more, there are three websites I have found that have some information. These can be found here, here, and here.

Kathie and I have long known that there was an island somewhere on the lake where the foundation of one of the churches, relocated graves, and some remaining grave markers could be found. The island was formed as a hilltop, which was the site of the church, became surrounded by water. However, we had not previously gotten reliable information about its location. After some further digging around, we obtained a good lead and so decided to go exploring and to pay our respects. We did indeed find the spot, known as Graveyard Point, and spent a little time walking around a portion of the island.

One of the two grave markers was easily seen from the water, once we knew roughly where to look. We beached the boat and got out to look around. The graves are evidently visited fairly often, and many leave tokens of respect behind. Some are traditional, like flowers. Others include coins, fishing lures, beaded items, and others.

There were lots of spots nearby that were, essentially, cavities where graves must once have been. Presumably, these were the locations of graves that were relocated prior to the flooding. We have read that many other graves and markers still lie at the bottom of the lake offshore from this island location.

This is the site of the church that was once there. The stone outline of the church's foundation can still be seen along with bricks from what must once have been a chimney.

After exploring, we moved on to more fishing. Kathie caught a small walleye at one point, but it was damaged by the hook and floundered on the surface of the lake. She felt terrible about this, but we all said something would find it and benefit from a meal. Shortly after that, Dick spotted a speck in the sky to the west. As it came closer and closer and descended lower and lower, we could make out that it was a gorgeous, mature bald eagle. Nearing the water, it flared its wings and stretched out its talon before it. Snatching that small walleye from the lake, the eagle then flew to a tree nearby for a tasty lunch. What a beautiful site, and one which made Kathie feel better about the fish not going to waste.

Soon, Kathie caught a nice bass, not many of which we have seen this season. Others are also reporting limited success in fishing for bass.

Here is the rest of the fishing crew. I think we pulled in about 20 fish in total yesterday, several of them quite a nice size, including several walleye.