| November 1st | It's November and Major League Baseball isn't over yet. That's not a terribly unusual occurrence these days, but I still find it amazing. The NFL played a 4 week preseason and this is week 8 of the regular season, and still we have baseball. Oh well, that gives us more options for watching sports on TV. | |||
| November 2nd | Oh no!!!!! There are Christmas displays in many stores already. Sigh....... | |||
| November 3rd | The lake froze in December only 6 of the 16 years that I have records for. It's probably too early to make a prediction, but I suspect that this year will be number 7. | |||
| November 4th | If one were to peruse some of the old Chronicles entries, one would notice that occasionally some of the small ponds in the area are covered with ice by this time. So far this year there have been only a couple of nights with the temperature below freezing, and then only for a very short time. There is no ice to be seen anywhere. | |||
| November 5th | This is from early July. Why is Deb laughing so hard? I don't see anything funny. Do you? Click HERE. | |||
| November 6th | Ron E (with his two grandsons, Tom and Frank) arrived today. This is the 24th consecutive year that he has used LBLR as his deer camp. Hopefully Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the hunt, will smile upon you and make your hunting successful. Oddly enough, Artemis never married, but she was a hunting companion of Orion, the hunter who adorns our wintertime sky. Click HERE and HERE. | |||
| November 7th | Welcome back to Tim and Monica B for the third time this year. | |||
| November 8th | Yesterday Tom (see the November 6th entry above) got a four point buck. It was his first one and he's in the 8th grade. Click HERE to see him posing with it behind cabin 1. | |||
| November 9th | It seems like there are tons and tons of Snow Buntings around this year, but not actually on the resort. A Snow Bunting is not on the LBLR Bird Species List which, if you're interested, is HERE. | |||
| November 10th |
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| Veterans Day |
It's Veterans Day, click HERE. Notice the spelling of the word "Veterans". Concerning that, here's a quote from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs web-site: Veterans Day does not include an apostrophe but does include an "s" at the end of "veterans" because it is not a day that "belongs" to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans. | |||
| November 12th | The duplex has a new roof now too!!!! | |||
| November 13th | Beaumont Tower on a lovely campus, Michigan State University. Click HERE. | |||
| November 14th | Back in Minnesota after a short trip to Michigan for the annual get-together with my old grade school buddy Charlie. To Charlie and Marianne: Thanks again for the hospitality. To Deb: Thanks for accompanying me on this one. | |||
| November 15th | A "milli-Helen" is the quantity of beauty required to launch just one ship. | |||
| November 16th | Click HERE to see what the lake looked like a year ago today. Click HERE to see what it looks like today. | |||
| November 17th | The Farmer's Almanac says that we were supposed have snow and some cold periods over the past week and a half, but it was WRONG!!!!! And by the way, the snow is supposed to continue for the rest of the month culminating in a "snow storm" on or shortly after Thanksgiving Day. | |||
| November 18th | The leaves are still on the ground, some of the lawn chairs are still out, one boat and motor is still in the water, some of the picnic tables still have to be put away, and needless to say, cabins 1 and 2 have not been shut down yet. Sigh....... | |||
| November 19th |
The temps are going to be below freezing for the next few days so maybe we'll finally start making a little ice. By the way, if you have a 25 pound turkey, today is the day to take it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. (PS: Do you suppose that's big enough to feed 14 people?) | |||
| November 20th | Our world is white.......and it should remain so for three more days. By then the high temps will be back into the mid 30s for a few days, and that might get rid of it. Sigh....... | |||
| November 21st | One year ago today the lake was totally frozen. To see what it looks like now, click HERE. | |||
| November 22nd | Dick Thompson, a friend and retired DNR fisheries person, died a few days ago at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. A few of his exploits have appeared in these Chronicles from time to time, and some of you have met him. It was Dick, back in the early 1990's, who had the idea and made the effort to re-introduce Crappies into LBL after they had disappeared long before. I don't think he ever realized how well it worked. He was a good friend and he will be missed. | |||
| November 23rd | Today was the last lake level reading of the year. It finished the season at 1,282.61 feet above sea level. To put that into perspective, it's about 2 1/2 inches higher than it was when the ice went out last spring, and a little less than 2 inches higher than it was last year at this time. It didn't move around much this year, a tad less than 6 inches from the highest point on May 26th to the lowest point on October 19th. It has varied by as much as 12 3/4 inches in a summer (2008), but 6 inches is more the norm. | |||
| November 24th | Here's a rarity that you don't see very often.......outdoor Christmas decorations at LBLR. It isn't much but at least it's something. I'm not admitting to being an old Scrooge or anything, but the last time this happened was December of 2012 and the time before that was probably 1991. Click HERE. | |||
| November 25th | Little girls love to slide down hills. Click HERE to watch Em & Mira slide and giggle (as little girls often do). | |||
| Thanksgiving Day |
As usual, all of the Angsts (except for my San Francisco daughter of course) will be here this weekend, but due to some late arrivals, today's repast will be "our traditional" Bangers and Mash (see the TGD entry for 2013 if you desire further explanation). Our traditional American TGD dinner will be tomorrow, so today is for wine, snacks, football, and relaxation.......the kind of day that bores the little kids. The average freeze date for the lake is today, but as yet there is absolutely no ice on it. This could be a new record for the latest freeze; the current latest freeze (in the Modern Era) is December 6th, which occurred in 1999. | |||
| Black Friday |
10 degrees above zero this morning, which is about average. Last year on this date it was 15 below zero. AND.......there's a little bit of ice on the lake (finally); it extends out about 10 feet from shore. Click HERE to see a neat Black Friday morning picture. (Thanks Tam!) But the boat that's in the picture is not in the water anymore. (Thanks Jim and Josh!) | |||
| November 28th | Turkey dinner leftovers. Yum! | |||
| November 29th |
Click HERE. Is it frozen yet? It'll take a trip around the lake to be sure. Added a bit later: It's NOT frozen yet. It's obvious from the top of the duplex that there's a big hole in the center. We'll see what the rest of the day, with its clear sky and bright sun, brings. | |||
| November 30th | The hole in the ice has closed a bunch but not completely. It looks like we'll still have some open water come December 1st, which will be only the 7th time we've had open water on the lake in December in the 17 years that I've recorded it (which is over a span of 25 years incidentally). |
