| July 1st |
"What do I want to take home from my summer vacation? Time. The wonderful luxury of being at rest.
The days when you shut down the mental machinery that keeps life on track and let life simply wander.
The days when you stop planning, analyzing, thinking and just are. Summer is my period of grace." -- Ellen Goodman |
| July 2nd | Cabin 3 has a fresh coat of paint. |
| July 3rd | Last week was the Polish flag for the Kielpinskis; this week is the German flag for the Angsts. Click HERE. |
| Independence Day |
"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." -- Erma Bombeck |
| July 5th |
The Peterson Clan has taken over the resort. Geez, is the lake ever clear so far this year. Yestesday the clarity was at 20 feet which beat the previous high by 2 feet. (Sorry, but this year's data is still not on the "Information about the Lake" page.........maybe tomorrow.) As long as we're taking about things that are not on the "Information about the Lake" page yet, the temperature of the top few feet of the lake was 69 degrees yesterday, which compares to 71 degrees on this date last year and 73 degrees the year before that. The lake level, which is 1282 feet 3 inches above sea level at the moment, is roughly 1 1/2 inches lower than on this date last year, 2 inches lower than 2007, and about 1/2 inch higher than 2006. |
| July 6th |
The graphs on the "Information about the Lake" page have finally been updated, but the detail pages (Excel spread sheets) still have not been. The updated graphs are: Lake Level: Click HERE Clarity: Click HERE Temperature: Click HERE Temperature (surface): Click HERE The net is: Little Bass is a little lower, a little colder, and a little clearer than it was the last couple of years at this time. |
| July 7th |
Some little guys take to kayaking at an early age. Click HERE. The falcon chicks, now looking almost fully grown, are leaving the nest everyday, but they have been returning between 8:30 and 9:00 PM to spend the night. |
| July 8th | Click HERE. |
| July 9th | Isn't it amazing that, when we send an e-mail, we still use the term "cc" for "carbon copy", but no one has made a real carbon copy of anything for decades? The majority of the people alive today are too young to know what carbon paper is, and most of those that do know what it is probably have never actually seen it. Yet the term lives on. |
| July 10th | Click HERE. |
| July 11th | Right now the lake is 2 3/4 inches from the lowest it has been in the last 4 years. In the period between now and late August when the lake level starts to go back up, it usually loses a bit more than 3 inches. So unless the late August rain starts earlier than it did the last couple of years, Little Bass Lake could see a new 4-year low. Click HERE |
| July 12th | Occasionally the urge to fish doesn't even give one enough time to get out of one's pajamas before one has to throw a line in the water. Click HERE. |
| July 13th | LBL bird number 87: Killdeer. Click HERE. |
| July 14th | While she was out fishing this morning, Jennifer fell out of the boat. |
| July 15th |
The high temperature for today was 63, and that's the prediction for the next two days as well. Not good vacation weather, is it? This evening there was a Little Bass fishing contest between Jennifer (see July 14th) & Jack in one boat and Chris & Jerry in the other. Jennifer out-fished everyone. My friends Dotz and Bev left this morning after a short 3 night stay. And get this: During his stay here, Dotz paid off three dinner bets that he lost as a result of the MSU Spartans' successful run to the Final Four last March. Thanks Dotz!!!! (PS: But now he has a dinner coming because of the Spartans' loss to North Carolina in the finals.) |
| July 16th | Lori is here, it's cold, and there's a fire in the fireplace. Now that's a rarity you don't see very often. Who would have thought one would do that in mid-July? And by the way, tomorrow's high temperature is predicted to be 58 degrees. Sigh. |
| July 17th | Walker, Minnesota is a neat little town!!!!!!! |
| July 18th | What a gorgeous evening. That's LBLR off in the distance......click HERE. |
| July 19th | Geez, is the water ever cold these days. The top 10 feet was 64 degrees this morning. |
| July 20th | For whatever it's worth, the Grackles have arrived. |
| July 21st | Hey Mary Alice! If you read this send me an e-mail, wouldja? |
| July 22nd |
The entry from 11 days ago mentioned that the lake level might hit a new 4-year low this summer. (See the entry for July 11th, above.) Since then it has rained a couple of times so instead of losing 3/4 of an inch like it could have, the lake is now 1/2 inch higher than it was then. However, this is still the 2nd lowest that it has been on this date in the last four years, so a new low is still in the realm of possibility.
Click HERE. The surface temperature went up a bit in the last few day as well, but it's still cold for this time of the year. Click HERE, and HERE. |
| July 23rd | Returning to shore after taking temperature and clarity readings on a foggy mid-June morning. Thanks to David Kielpinski for the photograph. HERE. |
| July 24th | We've lost nearly 45 minutes of daylight since summer began and already some of the reeds in the lake are turning brown. Slowly but steadily Fall is approaching. |
| July 25th |
The lake level has went up 1.2 inches since July 11th when I predicted it would hit a 4-year low by mid August. It still could, but it's much less likely now. Who knew it would rain in July?
Bob F caught a Northern that was 1 ounce short of 5 pounds before he was halfway around the lake on his first outing this afternoon. That gives him an early lead over his wife and daughter (Sharon and Teresa) in their annual Dairy Queen bet. Their week at LBLR began with their arrival only 2 hours ago..........that's a great start, isn't it? |
| July 26th | The top few feet of the lake was 69 degrees this morning. On this date a year ago it was 75 degrees and the year before that it was 80 degrees. This has indeed been a chilly (and weird) summer so far. If history is any indication the peak should be this week and it should be down hill after that, but if it doesn't get over 74 degrees shortly the peak will have been on June 23rd. Click HERE. |
| July 27th | Look what Matt and his crew caught this morning. To give you an indication of the size of those Bass, the silver 12 inch ruler to the left is lined up with the tail of the biggest one. Click HERE. |
| July 28th | This entry is going to be either a picture of the "writer's block", or another picture of Matt's fish from yesterday.........let's opt for the fish, shall we? Click HERE. |
| July 29th | There are hummingbirds around here of course, but it seems that there are fewer than in previous years. Maybe they don't like LBLR anymore. |
| July 30th | LBL bird number 88: House Wren. And it's a new lifer as well. Two new lifers in one year........that's a rarity. Click HERE. |
| July 31st | Yesterday Jamie (cabin # 2) was riding her bike about a quarter mile up the road, when she came almost face to face with a bear. (Twenty-five feet apart, I think she said.) They both stopped and looked at each other for a bit, then the bear trotted across the road and into the woods. |
