| The Nones of October | It's always difficult to say, but a short trip to Calumet yesterday seemed to indicate that the leaves are about at peak right now. Last year on September 18th (2 weeks ago) this is what my neighbor Larry's yard looked like from the lake: Click HERE. That could mean that we're a tad behind last year, right? |
| October 2nd | Thanks to Brian and Ann (and to Larry for the use of the trailer) we took 5 pontoons and 2 boats out of the water yesterday. Having all that equipment sitting on the shore rather than in the water gives the resort a distinctive "winter" look. Well.......a distintive "out of season" look anyway. |
| October 3rd |
29 degrees this morning. Finally............a decent frost! Last year's first one was on September 15th. There are quite a few beautiful days like this in the Autumn........cool and calm. Click HERE. And as you look at the picture, notice that the Norway Pine which was laying in the water all summer has finally been removed. If you don't remember it, click HERE. |
| October 4th | There's another new entry on the "Northland Stories, Poems, and Anecdotes" link on the main page. It's called "Heating With Wood" and it was written by my friend Woody Lobnitz. You can get to it from the LBLR home page, or you can take a short cut to it by clicking HERE. Thanks Woody! |
| October 5th | There's yet another new entry on the "Northland Stories, Poems, and Anecdotes" link on the main page. It's called "Outboard Motor-Boating for Dummies!" and it was written by my friend Sara Richter. It's very humorous and I think you'll enjoy it. You can get to it from the LBLR home page, or you can take a short cut to it by clicking HERE. Thanks Sara! |
| October 6th | A piece of long-time LBLR history began a new stage in its existence today. For many, many, years an outhouse (the first of two that were on the resort at one time) stood between cabins 2 & 3. It is no longer here; it now belongs to Bob & Bing Norman. They moved it to their lot on Roosevelt Lake near Emily, Minnesota, where it will have a bright (and again, useful) future. Unfortunately their trailer broke down along the way, so the outhouse had to wait on the side of the road while they got it fixed. Click HERE to see the story in pictures. |
| October 7th | The entry for October 1st requires a retraction. The Northland is ablaze with color today, even more so than it was a week ago.........but it sure wont last long. However, there still seem to be a lot of Tamaracks whose needles have not yet attained their brilliant autumnal orange. |
| October 8th | Juncos are arriving by the truckloads. They've taken over the bird feeder. Are any of you guys down state seeing them in large numbers yet? How about you Iowans? Terry? Angie? |
| October 9th |
Hey Dotz and Bev (as well as Ron and Becky even though they're locals): Thanks for coming.........it was a great couple of days. Doesn't it appear that the old days seem better when we talk about them incessantly over a few beers, than when we were actually experiencing them? I sure hope we didn't bore Bev and Becky too much. Note added two days later: I just received an e-mail from Dotz. He said, and I quote "The women never get sick of listening to our tall tales. They are totally infatuated with us!" (Ya know Dotz, I always kinda thought that too.) |
| October_10th |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS TWACIE!!!!! (She's my oldest daughter, by the way.) Welcome (again) to Jim, Tim, and Mike, LBLR's regular early October grouse hunters. It's gonna be cold and rainy for the next couple of days, but they could have a couple of nice days after that. Good luck you guys. |
| October 11th | Last winter we had no Blue Jays; at the moment there are a few of them here. Do you suppose some of them will stay for the winter, or will they continue their Southward Trek and leave us Jayless again this winter? |
| Columbus Day (actual) | Three cabins this weekend, five cabins next weekend, two (maybe three) cabins the following weekend. This resorting season may never end! Don't they know this is October? |
| Columbus Day (legal) | The bulk of resort "shut-down" activity should occur in the 2 fortnights between the Calends of October and All Hallows' Eve, but as yet they have hardly begun. Sigh! |
| October 14th | After several days of rain we finally have a crisp, clear, autumn morning. The last three mornings the grouse hunters in cabin 1 (see October 10th, above) left here to go hunting "in the rain" at about sun-up. Today is the first nice morning since they've been here, the sun is up, and they're all still in bed. Weird, eh? Click HERE. |
| October 15th |
There's another new entry on the "Northland Stories, Poems, and Anecdotes" link on the main page. It's called "The Mick Fix" and it was written by Randy Peterson. You can get to it from the LBLR home page, or you can take a short cut to it by clicking HERE. Thanks Randy! (Note: Mick is also featured in "A Very Cold Day" which is on the same link. The grouse hunters left this morning. They ended up with five grouse this year, which seems to be about their average. A real plus to their outing, though, is that they flushed more birds this year than they have in a long time.......I guess their shooting wasn't quite as good as it was in past years. |
| October 16th | The Carlsons have begun to arrive for their annual MEA weekend sabbatical, and as usual Erin and Amy will be missing. Sigh! |
| October 17th | I have nothing to say today. |
| October 18th | This is Lori, flanked by her sisters Dianne and Bonita, during a visit to LBLR this weekend. Click HERE. |
| October 19th | Five cabins were occupied this weekend and they're all empty now. The "firebug" Carlsons were here, as mentioned above, and here's what they did to the firepit wood pile in 3 nights. Good job guys; it's a good thing that I have a lot more. Click HERE. |
| October 20th | The sun rose today at twenty minutes to eight and winter is only 62 days away...........but if you read the Farmer's Almanac on a regular basis you already knew that. |
| October 21st |
Geez, I love these frosty fall mornings.
Click HERE. Hey Carlsons, thanks again for all the gift certificates; as I've said before, they were unnecessary but much appreciated. As I've also said before, "you guys are too good to me". |
| October 22nd | It's getting a lot colder these days, but it's still not too cold for my neighbor's grandkids to use the LBLR kayaks. Thanks for the picture Susy. Click HERE. |
| October 23th | Geez, I have a lot of fall chores to do yet, but at least I got the tractor over to its winter home north of Prairie Lake. That sure wasn't much for a whole day though, was it? |
| October 24th | The swimming raft is still out in the lake! Do you suppose anyone will want to use it now? Maybe I should get it up on shore one of these next few days. |
| October 25th | Lori and I spent a good chunk of today day splitting and stacking the last cord of wood that was left to do. Right now we have just enough fireplace wood split and stacked for the next three winters. She's a very good wood splitter and stacker. |
| October 26th | There are lots of Snow Buntings around (not on the resort though). Although they're around, I don't see them often enough to know if this is an early, normal, or late arrival. |
| October 27th | Darned skunks!!!!!! Apparently the trap needs to go out again. Sigh! |
| October 28th | Clouds, smoke, and sunrises produce some odd effects sometimes. At least, I think that's smoke, but I don't really know. Click HERE. |
| October 29th |
3:15 AM: I awoke a short while ago to the sound of a near-by Barred Owl. It was so near and so persistent that I couldn't resist going outside to look. I found him near the path through the woods to Larry's house (my neighbor to the south). It was the first Barred Owl I've ever seen, but since I've heard one on the resort many times before, it was already on the LBL Bird List (it's number 71). Now it's on my Lifer List as well. I took a very bright light with me and he didn't seem to mind when it shined on him. I expected him to fly away the instant the light hit him, but he did nothing of the sort. He just sat there and "hooted" in the fashion of a Barred Owl. To see the LBL Bird List click HERE. To hear what a Barred Owl sounds like click HERE, but be patient and give it time to load. [Now I'm going back to bed. Good night.]
At 8:19 this morning my oldest grandchild turned 16. Congrats Josh!!!!!! When do you get a REAL driver's license so you can solo? (PS: Is there any chance in the world that you can get up here yet this fall to help me shut down some cabins?) |
| October 30th | A short time ago there seemed to be a lot of apathy around here.........but now I think people just don't care anymore. |
| All Hallow's Eve |
In honor of this evening's traditions:
Round about the Caldron go: In the poison'd entrails throw. Eye of Newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. From MacBeth, by William Shakespeare (1606) |
