Click here to see the other months in 2006:
| The Calends of July | It seems to me (as a philosopher friend of mine used to begin a lot of his sentences) that the first half of the year zooms by in no time at all, but the second half progresses almost at a snail's pace. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 2nd | This weekend is filled with kids, grandkids, sons-in-law, and a girlfriend. This picture includes at least one of each. Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 3rd | This entry got lost. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Independence Day | Here are three flags that are appropriate for today because they all were common during the Revolutionary War. The top one is the 13 star version of Old Glory, which is sometimes known as the "Betsy Ross" flag. The middle one is the "Rattle Snake/Don't tread on me" flag, of which there were several versions in the Revolutionary War era. The bottom one (known as the Continental Flag) became the Flag of New England in 1775 and flew over the Battle of Bunker Hill that same year. Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 5th | Here's my 8 year-old Granddaughter skiing. Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 6th | Brenda (front left) and her crew of July 4th fisherpersons! Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 7th | Here's my 5 year-old Granddaughter skiing (from the boom) for the first time. Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 8th | If, while you're up here, you'd like to take short excursion into Canada, you can still do so without a passport......but that will be changing soon. Beginning the first of the year you'll need a passport to enter Canada or Mexico by air or water, and the next year (1/1/08) you'll need a passport to do it by land. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 9th | To see the results of Brian's early Sunday morning outing (and this doesn't show the three that were released), click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 10th | This space intentionally left blank. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 11th | The secchi disk reading this morning was 14 feet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 12th | As Mr. Shakespeare once said: "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines". We're entering what should be a several day streak of 90+ degree temperatures. It's a good thing that each cabin has at least 2 fans. Oh, how one longs for the chill of Autumn when the weather is hot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 13th | Brian K and family on the front porch. Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 14th | Click HERE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 15th |
Did you ever hear the term "Summer Moon-Madness"? Madness, which is supposed to be affected by the moon, is also aggravated by summer heat; so it naturally follows that the full moon at midsummer is the time when madness is at its most outrageous. Hence, "Summer Moon-Madness". Luckily, the waning gibbous moon of today is nearing its last quarter, and the temperature on the day of the July full moon (nearly a week ago) peaked out at only 73 degrees. Whew......it's a good thing the moon isn't full tonight. July 16th
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Did you ever hear the term "Cheap Beer Days"? |
A fair number of connoisseurs like their beer to be a little on the warm side so that the flavor comes through better. But when the weather is nearing 100 degrees, as it is today, beer tastes great when it is as cold as one can get it. And, since the flavor is less obvious in ice cold beer, it doesn't really matter how good the beer is......so it isn't neccessary to spend a lot of money on the good stuff. Hence, these hot days are known as "Cheap Beer Days"! July 17th
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As of today, I'd officially like to go on record as saying: "Golf is a dumb sport"!
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July 18th
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Late this evening a sweatshirt felt good. What bliss!!!!
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July 19th
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God seems to have an inordinate fondness for Deer Flies these days.
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July 20th
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You ask how the summer has been going? Oh, the same as always.......a
couple of earth quakes, a spot of the plague, visitors from outer
space.......nothing out of the ordinary.
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July 21st
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Ya know what's odd about life? Just when you start to think that things will
never get any better........they get worse.
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July 22nd
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What a perfect day......maybe the best one ever.
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July 23rd
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Nope, I take that back. Today is the most perfect day ever. It was perfect for
bike riding this morning (which Lori and I did), and perfect for sitting in the
shade this afternoon (which we also did). It doesn't get any better than this!
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July 24th
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13.5 feet for the secchi disk reading (water clarity) this morning. The lake level continues
to drop. It has been going down at the rate of about an inch per week since I
started doing measurements for the DNR six weeks ago.
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July 25th
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I went to the new Wine Bar and Bistro this evening. Opening night isn't until
next Wednesday but they're open tonight and tomorrow, by invitation only, to make
sure that they have the kinks out of the service, bar, kitchen, etc before they
go public next week. It was very good. If you have the desire for an
evening with a little class in the form of a Wine Bar and Bistro, be sure that
you go there and see what you think?
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July 26th
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Look what Matt caught this morning........click
HERE.
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July 27th
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I don't really drink as much Claret as some of these entries might lead one
to believe, but as I said on March 7th, I often have a glass or two in the early evening
to help me recover from the terrors of the day.
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July 28th
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About 1960 my Dad & Mom bought their first house. Geez, do I remember
the feeling of pride that my Dad had in that house.....you could see it in him.
He owned it. It was HIS. A few years before that I had noticed that my
Grandpa had the same feeling about his little 40 acre farm even though he had
owned it a long time by then. I could see it in
his face when he stood in the fields and just looked at it. I knew what he was
thinking. He was thinking: "Look at all this. I own it. It's mine". On
occasion I've stood on the hill in back of my house, looked at the resort and
had the same thoughts that I saw in my Dad and my Grandpa so many years ago.
In the European countries where the concept of land ownership has been around
for thousands of years, can you imagine how many people must have
stood on the same little plot of ground and had those same thoughts and those
same feelings? |
Now neither my Dad nor my Grandpa own the property they were once so proud of. They've both passed away. I don't even know who's claiming ownership of those properties now. But ya know, we don't really own this stuff. We just have exclusive use of it and, relatively speaking, for a very short period of time.......then someone else gets to use it for awhile. With that in mind, ownership sort of takes on a different meaning, doesn't it? July 29th
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Nice storm last night.......lots of trees down. No LBLR trees though. Randy
had 4 or 5 go down, but they were all dead ones. The lake level increased by
about half an inch over the night. That's not a lot, but it helps. The Secchi
disk reading this morning was 13 feet.
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July 30th
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A couple storms went through again last night, and they added another .8 inches to the
lake level. In round numbers, that means that just short of 3.4 million
gallons of water were added to the lake last night. Does anyone care to check
that figure? If so, let me know if you agree or, if it's wrong tell me what
it should be. Click HERE.
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July 31st
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Is anyone interested in buying a Bait Store? My friend Don Wendt is
selling Rapids Tackle. Don's place looks like it could
possibly be a good deal for someone who has just retired
and/or is looking for less than a full-time job. | Don has been in the bait and tackle business for 46 years, and Rapids Tackle has been in existence for 45 years. I hope someone buys it.......I'd hate to see Grand Rapids without Rapids Tackle (or the Fisherman's Bluebook) after all those years. His web-site is HERE. (Note added July 2007: It's not there anymore.) |
