| May_Day |
Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the very lap of May.......but at length, the season of summer does come. -- Thomas Carlyle (circa 1840) But will the season of Summer really come this year? Does anyone have a ritual that always works, or at least one to try? By the way, for only the third time in 22 Springs the lake has ice on it on May Day, and as a result, Jim (in Fridley) and Dick (in Cohasset) are OUT. |
| May 2nd |
As per the Old Farmer's Almanac, May will be cold and wet in this neck of the woods. Alas....... Aha! The docks are finally off the ice.......the lastest ever! Thanks to Sarge and Dave for their assistance. |
| May 3rd |
We needed some kind of ritual to force Spring to finally arrive (see the May Day entry above) and maybe Deb has come up with it. As an act of desperation yesterday she bought a few bottles of Sun Screen. That just might work Deb, good thinkin'. And by the way Deb (in Inver Grove Heights), you, along with Patti (across the lake) and Jeff (in Rochester) are OUT. |
| May 4th | Several times recently someone has told me that they see open water on the edge of the lake in "Today's Picture". It looks like that for a couple of reasons. If the sun is out the surface of the ice melts, and also some of the snow on the shore melts and runs onto the ice. That makes it look like open water until it freezes again at night, but as of now, there is no open water. Click HERE. |
| Cinco De Mayo | Cindy (in Grand Rapids), you are OUT. Dennis's idea of a combination Cinco de Mayo/Ice-out celebration (see the April 14th entry) was a good one......but a tad too optimistic! |
| May 6th | Doesn't anybody ever read these things??? Why doesn't somebody speak up when they see a misspelling??? |
| May 7th | Today is May 7th and there is still ice on the lake, which means two things. First, Dave, my neighbor to the north who chose May 6th for his date, is OUT. That leaves Randy as the only person still in the contest and hence, he is the winner. When he chose the date of May 9th I thought he was dreaming, but it turns out that he was the closest. Secondly, May 7th is the latest date (on my watch at least) that the ice on LBL has went out (that was in 1996), so as of midnight tonight we will have a new record. Today is also the 153rd day since the ice froze last December, and the record for the most days frozen is 155 which happened in the winter of 2007/2008. So there is a chance for that record to be broken as well. Click HERE. |
| May 8th |
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles in this country. -- Doug Larson (circa 1980) That quotation is in honor of the fishing opener (3 days hence), but with a lake that still looks like this: click HERE. |
| May 9th |
1) The two best times to fish is when it's rainin', and when it aint. 2) Ya caint make fish bite just by wantin' 'em too. 3) Anytime a man aint fishin', he's fritterin' away his life. 4) Smoked carp tastes jist as good as smoked salmon, when ya aint got no smoked salmon. Those are more inspiring words for the fishing opener (now two days hence), from the musings of Rancid Crabtree as told by Pat McManus (circa 1975). They also appeared in these Chronicles on this day in 2005. Added later: Can you believe it? This is a Loon. I've never seen a Loon land in so little open water before. He (or she) must have been really, really, anxious to get back to the summer home. If the wind comes in from the ESE tomorrow (as it's supposed to) it might close up that gap in the ice and if that happens I hope he can get out of there okay. Click HERE. |
| May 10th |
27 degrees this morning. If this was a normal Spring a person might consider this to be a spell of Blackberry Winter, but this year it's just "business as usual". By the way, the arrival of that first Loon yesterday was 36 days later than his arrival last year. That's a long time! Sarge just informed me that the ice on Moonshine went out this morning. That's 47 days later than last year. What a Spring!!!! |
| May 11th | Yesterday was sunny and calm with a high temp of 65 degrees. Today is the fishing opener and here is the weather at 7:00 AM: Cloudy. Snowing occasionally. Temp of 34 (with a predicted high of 46). Winds from the NW at 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Even if the lakes weren't still frozen, this weather is both terrible and typical for the fishing opener. How does this keep happening??? (But on the plus side, the raking was done yesterday while the weather was good.) Click HERE. |
| May 12th | This is yesterday's ice build up on the other side of the lake (the wind was in the right direction for once). Click HERE. But the wind wasn't in the right direction for Randy at the south end of LBL. Click HERE. (Hey Gwen, thanks for the picture.) |
| May 13th | Click HERE. |
| May 14th |
7:30 AM: Click HERE. 1:00 PM: Click HERE. 4:00 PM: The ice is gone!!!!! |
| May 15th | Yesterday's ice-out beat the old record for the latest thaw date by 7 days (the old record was May 7th in 1996). It also beat the record for the longest time frozen by 5 days (the old record was 155 days in the winter of 2007/2008). Click HERE. |
| May 16th | As of yesterday a couple of docks, a couple of boats, the pontoons, and the front porch are in the water. |
| May 17th | People are arriving even as we speak. By tomorrow afternoon LBLR will have the Broers (Wayne, Patsy, David, and Parker) from Arkansas in cabin 2, Deb and her entourage (Sandie, Guy, Judy, and Sue) in cabins 4 and 5, and Tara in cabin 6. The resorting season is fast approaching. |
| May 18th |
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. -- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 (1609) Click HERE. And by the way, Sonnet 18 is lovely. If you're interested, click HERE. |
| May 19th | Yesterday at Randy's cabin at the south end of the lake, a bear knocked down a couple of bird feeders, ate a suet block, and broke through a screen on the porch to get a bag of sunflower seeds. We put the trail camera out there last night and if we get any pictures they'll be posted here. |
| May 20th | So long to Deb (and her entourage). It was a fun weekend. Thanks!!!! |
| May 21th | The Broers have been fishing a lot (as usual). The weather has been terrible but they ARE catching some fish. I think young Parker is catching the most. At least Parker and his Dad are doing the best because Grandma and Grandpa have wimped out a few times as a result of the rain and the wind and the cold. |
| May 22nd |
In springtime, love is carried on the breeze. Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head. -- Emma Racine deFleur Don't get hit by one. And by the way, does anyone know anything about Emma????? If so, please let me know. |
| May 23rd |
Grandpa, Dad, and Parker (from Arkansas). Click HERE. Added later: Hey Patsy, nice 8 pound Walleye. Click HERE. |
| May 24th | New paddle boats (or are they peddle boats?). Click HERE. |
| May 25th | As usual, Denny, Larry, and their group of six fishermen from Illinois are here for their annual week of fishing at the opening of the Bass season. There are a couple cabins full of my kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews who are here for the weekend as well. |
| May 26th |
I drink wine when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch the stuff - except when I'm thirsty. -- Madame Lilly Bollinger, with modifications (circa 1950) |
| Memorial Day |
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence review our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the nation’s gratitude. -- Excerpt from General Order #11, issued by Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic, Washington DC, May 5, 1868. |
| May 28th | The Illinois fishermen are doing well, as usual, so the normal Thursday night fishfry is on!!!!! |
| May 29th | This Birch tree was planted the same year the flag pole was put in. Thirteen years ago they didn't seem very close together, but in a few more years they may be colliding. What rocket scientist did the planning for that??? Click HERE. |
| May 30th | Jeff K breezed into LBLR yesterday. Usually he's the first customer of the year but due to the ice and other conflicts, he just now arrived and he's only staying for three days. Oh well, he'll get his whole two weeks in the fall as usual, right Jeff? |
| May 31st | The DNR guys were here to calibrate the lake level measuring device yesterday. The lake level on the day the ice went out was 1282.91 feet above sea level and it's now at about that same level. That's 3.25 inches lower than it was last year at this time. On ice-out day, this year was higher than last year (and almost 8 weeks later), but a year ago we gained over six inches during May. We've had some rain since the ice went out this year, but it was a lot less than six inches. |
