THE LAST RESORT





A Continuation of the 20+ Years of
LBLR CHRONICLES
May 2020


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May Day   It's May! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
Those dreary vows that ev'ryone takes,
Ev'ryone breaks.
Ev'ryone makes divine mistakes!
The lusty month of May!
                            -- Lerner and Lowe (1960)

Ah yes, May is here! Up North at LBLR normally three or four cabins were open and spring-cleaned by now, the raking was done, and a dock or two along with at least one boat was in the water. On the other hand, in some years the lake was still covered with ice, and work on the cabins/lawn/etc had hardly begun. Even in good years there would still be tons and tons of work to do before the resort season began. That's what was typical anyway. (And by the way, opening day of fishing is now just 9 days away.) Hey Tim & Monica, how's it going up there this spring? Are you keeping busy?

And since we're talking about "May Days Past", click HERE to see a picture from May Day, 2012. That's my neighbor Em who suprised me with this nice May Day Bouquet. She was 6 years old then; she's 14 now. At any rate, thanks again Em! And as I said at the time: "How Sweet! How Sweet!"
May 2nd   Shades of LBLR:
On June 17, 2018 there was an entry in these Chronicles about three turtles that were seen in Deb's yard one afternoon (click HERE). That was a regular occurrence every June back in the old LBLR days, but it was surprising to see them here. The assumption was that they had come up on the lawn from one of the little near-by ponds to lay their eggs (just like at LBLR). The eggs would have hatched the following May, but we didn't see any little turtles. Then in June last year we didn't notice any mother turtles in the area, but one must have been here because this morning we saw several little ones in the yard (click HERE). What gets me, is how in the world those little guys ever manage to find their way through the yards, around cement walls, through large tracts of dense weeds and leaves, and around steep drop-offs, to get back to the pond. It must take them several days to get there.......if they get there all. What were those turtle mothers thinking when they laid their eggs in that maze!?!?!?!?
May 3rd   As per the Farmer's Almanac, May will be warm but with about normal precipitation (I hope that means rain and not snow), and June will be hot with a lot of rain. Of course, if you've followed the Almanac over the years, you know that their forecasts are normally (how shall I put this).......well.......less than accurate, we'll say.
May the 4th  
(be with you)  
Today is [Intergalactic] Stars Wars Day! So what would one drink to celebrate the day, do you think? I can't find the name of a single alcoholic beverage mentioned in the Star Wars movies, whereas I can find several from the StarTrek series. For example, there was Romulan Ale (mentioned occasionally in "The Original Series" but illegal in the late 2260s), Aldeberan Whiskey (rare, but occasionally seen in "The Next Generation"), and Saurian Brandy (brewed by a race of bipedal lizards). However, I think maybe just a small shot of Bulleit Bourbon will work: it's not made by bipedal lizards, but it'll do nicely. May the Force be with you! Click HERE.......Clink.
Cinco de Mayo   Feliz Cinco de Mayo a todos mis amigas y amigos! Hoy es fácil; una Margarita con un vasito de Corona.
May 6th   The number of Minnesota fishing licenses issued has been trending downward for many years. The year 2018 was particularly bad, with a drop of almost 5% over the previous year. However, this year is suprisingly different. Sales of Minnesota fishing licenses are up 45% over this time last year, and it's the highest early season sales in at least the last 20 years. Amazing!!!! Who would have ever thought that COVID-19 would cause a thing like that?
May 7th   Referring to yesterday's entry:   How many of you regular "hard core" Minnesota fishermen from other states, still plan to fish in Minnesota this year? Gary? Dave? Denny? Frosty? Anyone?
May 8th   If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles in this country.
-- Doug Larson (circa 1980)

That quote was part of the Chronicles entry for this day in 2013; it was a joke then, but there may be some truth to it now. First of all, with an increase of 45% in fishing license sales (see the May 6th entry, above), there must be either a lot of "first time" fishermen, or fishermen who haven't fished in a long time, or both, who are buying those licenses. Right? Either way, that probably means that a lot of people are buying fishing equipment right now. And in addition, COVID-19 may be making it more difficult to get products shipped to the stores in a timely manner. From what I've heard and from what I've seen (though I've only seen a little), the shelves with fishing equipment are getting quite bare, just like a lot of other things in the stores these days. So who knows, there really might be a shortage of fishing poles in the near future.

As you know, tomorrow is the fishing opener in Minnesota. I'm not going fishing tomorrow, but back in the LBLR days I certainly would have. To see my preparations for the opener back in 2005 (a mere 15 years ago) click HERE. And as I remember it, in spite of those preparations, there was one thing that I forgot. What was it, I'm wondering.
  Fishing
  Opener  
Some Words of Wisdom down through the ages, in honor of today's fishing opener:

Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns
men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it's nearly
impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary.
                                                                -- Pat McManus (circa 1990)

I have laid aside business, and gone a'fishing.
                                          -- Izaak Walton (circa 1653)

If the wynde be in the east, fysshynge is worste. For
commonly neyther wynter nor somer the fysshe wyl
not byte than. The west and the north wynde
ben good, but the south is best.

                                                  -- Dame Juliana Berne (1496)
  Mothers'
  Day  
Life doesn't come with a manual; it comes with a Mother.

One day almost 40 years ago, I wrote an article for my home town newspaper, which I think might be an appropiate Mothers' Day entry. To see it, click HERE, but remember.........I wrote it in 1981.
May 11th   Only one of my Up North buddies went fishing this past weekend, and the one that did only fished for an hour and a half. Things sure have changed.
May 12th   Nada.
May 13th   At one time there were three of them on there at once, fighting for position. Click HERE.
May 14th   If the time ever comes when the world turns its back on something just because it's old and useless.......well, that'll be a sad day for me and most of my friends. (That's basically from Red Green, by the way.)
May 15th   Nada (again)!
May 16th   What is this guy (click HERE)? He has to be some kind of a tree frog, but I've seen tree frogs before, and they didn't look like this. And another question is, how did he get there? He's in a very thick arborvitae tree about five feet off the ground. Even if he's a good tree climber, how can he climb a thick bush like that? I'd appreciate any words of wisdom anyone can give me.
May 17th   Technology is changing too fast. Your common old-man, of which I happen to be, can't keep up with it anymore. Every time the kids set up a video conference for us (ie. a separately-together happy hour ), they use a different method, and us old people have to learn something new.......again.
May 18th   3 1/2 inches of rain in 24 hours......WOW!!! If this had been at LBLR, it would have been a nice increase in the lake level. I wonder if the DNR has been there to calibrate the lake level measuring device yet this spring.
May 19th   Back in the old LBLR days I used to get a load of new sand for the beach area every 3 or 4 years, and sometimes more often (click HERE for an example). Then I would get a shovel and spread the sand around, which was a lot of work for an old man, and occasionally I even hired a teenager to do it. One year I was busy with other "resort opening" activities, and when Memorial Weekend arrived I still hadn't gotten at the chore of spreading it. As usual for that weekend, the resort was full of guests, including a lot of little kids. When the kids saw the big pile of new sand on the beach they were delighted, and played in it constantly. By the end of the week, the sand-spreading chore was complete and I never lifted a shovel. From that time on, whenever I brought in new sand I just left the pile there and let the kids do the job for me.
Note to Sean H:   Remember that little trick when you buy a resort.......or have you already bought one?
May 20th   Ya know, it's really possible that the idea of letting the resort kids spread the new beach sand for me (see yesterday's entry), actually came from a story named "The Lake" by Laurie Gagner. It's a nice story and it's HERE. Laurie, if your story really gave me that idea, Thank You!

Today is the last of the three Minor Rogation Days for 2020, in case you're interested.
May 21st   THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

Entry for May 20, 2005, (15 years ago yesterday):
Cindy and her group arrived today for their annual "Girls' Weekend", which means that husbands, boy-friends, and kids are NOT allowed. I hope the weather stays nice for them.

Update --   Many of you knew Cindy. She was my main cleaning lady and the head of my cleaning crew for most of my 26 years at the resort. In the Spring of many of those years she hosted an all-girls weekend at LBLR, usually the weekend before the Memorial weekend. The best I can figure out from past Chronicles entries, is that the first of her "pre-Memorial" girls weekends occurred in May of 2001 (do you have any better history than that Cindy?). They continued uninterrupted for several years, with a second one being added in the fall for a few of those years. After several years they became less regular and a few of them were canceled, but over the whole time I'd guess that she had about a dozen of them. The last one was in May of 2017. Click HERE to see the few pictures that I could find of the group over the years.
May 22nd   I just received a check from the U.S. Treasury.......and no, it's not my COVID-19 Stimulus Check. It's for $3.06, and it appears to be a refund from my 2005 income taxes. Amazing! Was this "over-payment" something they just found, and if so, I wonder how much time and money was spent scrutinizing a 15 year-old tax return. And if they found it years ago, why did they wait 15 years to send it to me? Do you think that's the total amount of the overage, or do you think it includes 15 years worth of interest?
May 23rd   The Dinnertime Triangle:   Early this evening Mercury and Venus will be in close conjunction, but only 10 degrees high as the sun sets, so if your western view is obstructed by close buildings or trees you probably won't see them. The thin cresent moon will also be nearby, the three of them forming a triangle (the Dinnertime Triangle, as the Farmer's Almanac calls it). You'll have to look early though, because all three of them will fall below the horizon a short time after sunset.
May 24th   This barge is definitely not on Little Bass Lake. Click HERE.
May 25th   To see Sandie and Guy's tomato plant box before and after the bottom fell out of it, click HERE.
May 26th   To see Dave B fishing on Little Bass Lake, click HERE. His son Parker is there with him now, and the fishing seems to be okay.
May 27th   Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Deb and I have done a few puzzles in the last two months.......more than we usually do. I'm beginning to think that there's some truth in this: click HERE.
May 28th   We have just been informed by way of a text message, that our refrigerator is now eligible for a software update. What does refrigerator software do? The lady on the support line told me that it stabilizes the internal components. What does that mean, how are they stabilized, why is it being updated??? All she knew was that it stabilizes them, nothing more than that. When I asked why I should have it updated, she said that it's optional so I don't have to do it. Hmmmm....... Shortly after we got the refrigerator I noticed that it was putting out a WiFi signal, which my iPhone would occasionally connect to instead of to our normal internet service. Ever since then I've been wondering why this particular refrigerator, which can't be controlled remotely and which has no cameras, would have WiFi capability. Now I think I know; it could be so that the software (whatever it's for) can be updated remotely. Interesting, eh?
May 29th   I know. I know. There have been a lot of fish pictures of the same people this week, but this will be the last one. It's Parker's 10 1/2 pound Northern caught in Landing Bay in Little Bass Lake this afternoon. It's HERE.
May 30th   Denny and Sandy Terry (and group) left LBLR this morning and headed back to Illinois after a week of Bass Fishing. I understand that the fishing was good, but I have no pictures.......so HERE is one from 2011. Since they catch Bass like that every time they go up there, this picture is as good as any.
May 31st   What a dumb way to end a month, click HERE.

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E-Mail: jerry@littlebass.com