| The Calends of September |
Try to remember the kind of September When life was slow and oh, so mellow. Try to remember the kind of September When grass was green and grain was yellow. -- Harvey Schmidt & Tom Jones (1960) I know that I posted these exact words last year, but they seem like words worth repeating from time to time. As the last of Summer gently wears away and Autumn approaches, consider this: A vacation spot out of season always seems to have a very special magic. And remember, I have cabins available in the Fall, so if you're interested in experiencing that "very special magic" call me (or click on the mailbox below and send me an e-mail). |
| September 2nd | Before you read this, refresh your memory by rereading the entry for August 28th. Now click HERE to see some pictures from this weekend. Thanks a lot you guys, and I hope that your plan to make it bigger and better next Labor Day works out. By the way, we have determined that their first year was 1994 (in spite of what Jeff's shirt says) and that they continued into the early 2000s. |
| September 3rd | What do you suppose made this guy decide to climb up on the outside of a window? Click HERE. |
| September 4th | Jeff K arrived a few days ago for his regular early September fishing trip. He and Lukas (from across the lake) got one and a half limits of Crappies between them the first time they went out. Jeff's share is gone already, so he'll have to catch some more before his wife arrives so that she has some to eat when she gets here. |
| September 5th | Nothing of interest happened today but I'd like to post this again, because if there's a Little Leaguer out there who is missing it, it would be nice to get it back to him: This dog tag from a memorial Little League tournament was found on the north end of the resort near cabin 3. Does anyone know who it could belong to? Via the internet I found out that the Tournament was held in Bovey in early June, which might help a little bit. Let me know if you have any ideas. Click HERE. |
| September 6th | Apparently here, as in football, the truth is largely a matter of opinion. |
| September 7th | Wandering around the Range Cities north of Grand Rapids on Highway 169 can be an interesting day. Consider that when you're up here next time. |
| September 8th | Sarge and Ann, (from Moonshine Lake), and Sarge's two brothers (David and Larry) are spending this week at a resort on the other side of Park Rapids, which was built by Bob and Dolly Schumacher (Sarge's aunt and uncle, sort of). Also visiting that resort this week is Shirley Dee Schumacher, the granddaughter of Bob and Dolly. Shirley has recently published two books. One is titled "Dolly's Diaries" which describes life on the resort for the years from 1954 to 1975 in Dolly's own words. It consists of two volumes with a total of 1210 pages. The other one is a small book titled "Ancient Waters (and other very short stories)". These stories, which were written by Shirley, are taken from her experiences on or near the resort, and are described by her as "some stories to ponder for awhile, and two tall tales just for fun". Deb and I spent the day visiting them at the resort and we got to meet and talk with Dolly. She is a lovely person and someone who is fun and easy to talk with. To read the bios on the back of her two books, click HERE. To see a decription of her books on amazon.com, click HERE. |
| September 9th |
As per The Old Farmer's Almanac, here's what the winter will be like in our neck of the woods: Winter temperatures will be above normal in the east and below normal in the western parts of the region [Grand Rapids is right in the middle of the region, by the way], with above-normal precipitation and snowfall. |
| September_10th | Drinking a small glass of dry Sherry after a fine meal has a certain indescribable feeling to it, a certain joy.......a certain "je ne sais quoi" perhaps. I can't really explain it, but whatever it is, it's darned good.......and I am unanimous in that. |
| September 11th |
This car is worth.......like.......one hundred of your lives. -- Amanda Casterton, as spoken to her brother during an argument in the LBLR parking lot. (Summer, 2002) |
| September 12th | This should have been said earlier, but this week Denny, Larry, and Dewey are here from Illinios for their annual fall fishing trip. Here's a picture from September of 2011, but they're doing at least as well this year too. Click HERE. Note: They are all older than I am.......a rarity among LBLR guests. |
| Friday the 13th | It's a beautiful, beautiful, calm morning (as Scott Hall said on KAXE just now). There was a frost warning last night, but it would appear that it was a false alarm because the low temps on the whole Iron Range seem to have been in the lower 40s. Oh well, maybe tonight.......but I doubt it. Well, it has to be soon because the Southward Equinox is only 9 days away. |
| September 14th |
Congrats to Cindy and Dave on their Wedding Day. They were married this afternoon here at LBLR on the point by the duplex. Click HERE. PS: They are the fourth couple to be married at LBLR since I've been here. Anyone want to be the 5th? |
| September 15th |
The waitress came to the table and said "Are you ready to order sir, or would you like a few more minutes"? Can you picture the restaurant? What does the waitress look like? What does the table look like? What does the room look like?
The waitress came to the table and said "What's it gonna be, Honey"? Can you picture the restaurant? What does the waitress look like? What does the table look like? What does the room look like? It's interesting how descriptive one short line of dialog can be, isn't it? |
| September 16th |
The Itasca County Historical Society has moved to its new location two blocks south of the Old Central School on 169. If you're up here and looking for something to do, go there and wander around for a bit; you'll enjoy it. Click HERE. PS: That building hasn't been lucky. There was a bridal store in there for a little while, something before that for a little while but I can't remember what it was, and an auto parts store before that. All of them went out of business. |
| September 17th | Does anyone know of a possible buyer for my tractor? It's a 1947 Farmall "B". It hasn't actually been restored but it has been fixed up to look nice and it runs great. I'd like $1500 for it and I'm going to stay firm on that. Click HERE to see a picture of it, and HERE to see the specs. |
| September 18th | The resort is totally empty for a few days. It's not very profitable this way, but it's nice and quiet. Us Hungarians like nice and quiet. |
| September 19th | Tonight is the full harvest moon. Our average first frost date has come and gone but no frost yet. Sigh....... |
| September 20th |
Note to Fran (in Illinois): This picture is from 4 years ago this week and you haven't been back since then. Why is that, I'm wondering. Click HERE. Note to Jennifer (also in Illinois): You've been here several times since then. When are you going to bring Fran back with you? She did well, but I don't think she outfished you, did she? |
| September 21st | The Lake is 1282.21 feet above sea level at the moment, which is its lowest point this summer.......but not all that unusual for mid September. |
| Autumnal (Southward) Equinox | Autumn will arrive at 3:44 this afternoon. With that in mind, some people think that we will have a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night.......after all, the word "equinox" comes from the Latin words "Aequus" and "Nox" meaning "Equal Night". But that's not exactly true. Today there will be 12 hours and 8 minutes between sunrise and sunset which is roughly the same as on the Vernal (Northward) Equinox as well. The day and night (as defined by the sunrise/sunset times) wont be equal for another few days yet. The reason isn't complicated, but it's interesting nonetheless. |
| September 23rd | LBLR was graced this past weekend by the presence of Deb, Sue, and Judy who stayed in Cabin # 1. It's always a fun weekend when they're here, but they always keep me up too late. Thanks for coming you guys!!!! And by the way, I heard you discussing plans for your next trip.......let me know when you have the details worked out. |
| September 24th | Look at the top of this White Pine. The top branches stick out farther than the branches below it, and the top branches are "filled" with cones. Click HERE. Is that typical for a White Pine or does it have something to do with the fact that the top has been broken off. I don't recall seeing this phenomenum on other White Pines, but I'll look around. |
| September 25th |
Dave B from Arkansas is here this week as usual, but unlike past years, he's alone. The rest of his family didn't come due to a medical problem, but we hope that they'll all be here again in the Spring. There was (were?) tons and tons of shooting going on around here this morning (some even before sunrise), and some of it sounded close enough to be on Little Bass. |
| September 26th | Today is the last day for Mark and Jeri H from Texas (somewhere near Austin, I believe) who are in Minnesota for the first time. They used LBLR as a base to explore the northern part of our fair state, and they seemed to have had a good time. And besides that, I've really enjoyed having them here. Thanks for coming you guys, and keep in touch if you don't mind. |
| September 27th | Do you remember this short commercial from the 1970s? Click here: HERE. If you have ever tasted raw Highbush Cranberries (and there are tons of them on the LBLR shoreline), you know that, in spite of what he said, even Euell Gibbons didn't put them on his cereal. |
| September 28th | Lots more shooting this morning; ducks must be rather plentiful this year. |
| September 29th | A huge thanks to Tim, Jamie, and Dave from Charles City, Iowa. They spent a whole day here installing new carpet in cabins 1 & 2, and did they ever work hard. Geez, I can't thank you guys enough! Then they spent the next whole day fishing, but that was only fair, right? |
| September 30th | First, look at the entry for September 24th (above). Now, if you look at the tops of other large White Pines you will notice that, just like the one in the picture, they all seem to have a lot of pine cones bunched together in the uppermost branches; therefore one could presume that to be the norm. But unlike the one in the picture, the branches on other large White Pines get smaller as they get higher, so one could assume that the phenomenum shown in the picture (ie, the top branches being larger than the ones directly below them) is due to the fact that the top has been broken off. Sound reasonable? |
