New Year's Day   |
Now it's here -- Now it's here! A fine new start For a whole new year.                               -- anonymous | |||
January 2nd   | Again on New Year's Eve Deb and I put together a 3-D Puzzle (which seems to have become a tradition). This one was named Big Ben but a better name for it could have been Elizabeth Tower (which contains Big Ben). The building attached to it is a portion of the north end of The Houses of Parliment. To see pictures of the results from this and the past last three years, click HERE. | |||
January 3rd   | The service could have been better and the steaks weren't the best.......but there are times when a fine bottle of Merlot and pleasant company can sufficiently cheer a mediocre meal enough to make it very enjoyable. Tonight was one of those times. Thank you Deb! | |||
January 4th   | There are still very few Ski and Snowmobile reports for the trails in this area, but with the recent snowfall and cold weather, some of the trails HAVE to be decent. I know for a fact that at least some of them have been groomed. I'll keep an eye on the websites that provide the details and see if I can get some better information shortly. Keep watching for it. | |||
January 5th   | There are five ice fishing houses on the lake now, and the location of one of them indicates that they might be after Crappies. The rest appear to be spearing Northerns. By the way, it's 28 below zero as we speak. | |||
The Epiphany   | Oh geez, click HERE. But at least it's not as bad as this one from 2006, Click HERE. | |||
Distaff Day   | I've made no ice measurements yet this year but if the past is any indication, it's in the range of 12 to 15 inches at the present time. | |||
January 8th   | It's a little warmer this morning but we're still in the deep freeze; it was 20 below zero at 7:00 AM. Now get this, for January 4th-8th the Farmer's Almanac said Snow showers, turning bitter cold.......and that's basically what happened. WOW! It was off by only a day or two. Put that in your diary; it's a rarity indeed. | |||
Plow Monday   | I've heard that the snowmobiling was very good this past weekend. No doubt, that means the skiing was good too. | |||
January 10th   | Okay you guys, I asked you about this in December about two weeks after the lake froze over, but I want to take one more shot at it. Give me some opinions and/or guesses, would you please? What in the world made these marks on the lake? Click HERE. It "appeared" that they came down the driveway from the road to the boat landing, then out onto the lake. I don't see how they could have been made by skis because of the way the long strides curve but don't slide sideways (the snow was only an inch or two deep and very powdery at the time). Could it possibly have been someone on skates going out onto the lake, then returning and going over the same spot a second time, thus forming the Xs on the second pass? On the left there appears to be two trails that don't overlap and therefore didn't form the Xs. The ones on the far left could have been going out and the next ones to the right coming back. If those had overlapped they could have formed Xs like the main set. And those look like smaller strides; possibly an adult and a child. That's the best idea I've been able to come up with. What do you think, is that a possible explanation? Maybe it had nothing to do with skis, or skates, or people walking for that matter. Let's hear some other ideas. | |||
January 11th   | Boredom has a lot of good points. In fact, I kind of like boredom. | |||
January 12th   |
These words (except for the scores) were used in the February 6, 2013 Chronicles entry when a similar thing happened, and today they need to be repeated: The Spartans were victorious over the Gophers last evening by a score of 65 to 47. Being an MSU alumnus living in Minnesota, I have lots of friends who are Gopher fans.......in fact, I am one myself when they're not playing the Spartans. So let us raise an untroubled glass to the fans of both schools, knowing that nothing has changed in their respective relationships due to tonight's game, except perhaps that they have become closer as a result of the friendly competition. Here's to the Spartans, the Gophers, and their respective fans.......clink!!!! PS:   It has been pointed out that the above words are easy to say when one is on the side of the winning team. Yes, that is probably true, but the sentiment is genuine nonetheless. |
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January 13th   | It's 30 below zero this morning but this is supposed to be the last cold morning for quite sometime, perhaps the last one this winter.......or is that just a dream? | |||
January 14th   | Today was the Angst clan's Christmas get-together at Twacie and Jeff's house in Rochester. It included the usual grazing at the snack table all day long, games, exchanging presents, and the annual ping-pong tourament. It ended, also as usual, with a "take-out" supper from John Hardy's BBQ. Everyone was there except for my San Francisco Daughter and Son-in-Law (Teri and Steff) and my oldest Grandson (Josh) who had to work. Click HERE. Christmas is finally OVER! | |||
January 15th   | If anyone in Iowa sees this, would you send me an e-mail please? | |||
January 16th   | First time this year:   Click HERE. | |||
January 17th   | Oops! Another one. Sorry about that. Click HERE. | |||
January 18th   |
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January 19th   | Don't forget that Burns Nicht is next Wednesday already (only 6 days hence), so you best be gathering the ingredients for your cock-a-leekie, your neeps and tatties, and especially your haggis. (It seems like we just celebrated this. Where has the past year gone???????) | |||
January 20th   | Today at noon we'll have a new president. As Hillary Clinton said on the morning after the election:   Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. | |||
January 21st   | Click HERE. Sorry! | |||
January 22nd   | The ice is thick and solid, but geez.......look at this slushy mess. Click HERE. And it's worse than it looks in the picture. | |||
January 23rd   | Kaylee, my Dear Granddaughter, requested that I "Do a shout out to Imani's gotcha day". Imani is their dog and they got her four years ago today! [Aside -- Is that sufficient Kay?] | |||
January 24th   | As usual on this day, Happy Birthday to my Dear Sister Beth! To Beth: You're getting older but you'll never catch up to me. | |||
January 25th   | I don't know who these people are, but they're fishing right outside my living room window.......in my back yard, so to speak. Click HERE. | |||
January 26th   | The ice is about 14 inches thick at the moment, which is 3 inches less than it was at this time last year, and 4.5 inches less than it was the year before that. Click HERE. | |||
January 27th   | This was yesterday's "Today's Picture", but it's a nice picture of LBLR so it's here again so that it wont go away. Click HERE. | |||
January 28th   | To David W in Hibbing: If you see this send me an e-mail, would you? Thanks David.   PS: Sorry I missed your attempted visit. | |||
January 29th   | Jim (my son-in-law) and the boys had a nice weekend of ice fishing.......lots of nice Bluegills and Crappies, some up to 14 inches. Click HERE and HERE. Some of those were caught on Bass Lake and some on Little Bass Lake. Good job guys! Next year again, right? | |||
January 30th   | When Winter is at its worst, LBLR is at its best. That's something that most of you don't know. Come on up and see for yourself. | |||
January 31st   | If you're looking for a nice Winter thing to do (and don't want to do it at LBLR), consider spending a few days in the Grand Marais area. Deb and I spent last weekend there and had a great time, even though the conditions for skiing and snowshoeing weren't the best. There are nice places to stay, lots of places to snowshoe and ski (both downhill and cross-country), lots of "different" places eat and drink, and it's not nearly as crowded as it is in the summertime. And by the way, the same is true of the Ely area (which we did last year), so take your pick. |