Frosty morning

We woke this morning to beautiful blue sky, lots of sunshine - and a frozen lake! The new ice is like a mirror, almost as clear as still water, but I guess this means the end of fishing until it gets thick enough to walk on. We got a dusting of snow over the weekend and there's still a little in shady spots - winter is definitely headed our way!

We have been helping a neighbor to net, pickle and smoke whitefish this past week. The smoked fish taste pretty darn good but we have to wait awhile to try the pickled fish. Tonight we're going to learn to make fish cakes. Other than that we're pretty well settled in for the winter, waiting for thicker ice and snow for winter activities!

Virginia!

Well, we took advantage of fair weather last week and hauled a load of canoes over to Spring Creek and sold them. Lin got her annual shopping trip to Virginia - several of her favorite stores have branches there - and Mike got his annual trip to L and M Fleet. So we're pretty well stocked for the winter with new jeans, flannel shirts and odds and ends. Also - we got ourselves out of Cook County for the first time since the food show in Duluth back in April. Cook County is a beautiful place and we love living here, but it was nice to see some different scenery for a change.

We met a man at the day-old bread store who was stocking up with four loaves of bread and explaining that he had to plan his shopping because he lives so far out in the woods. He looked at our cart full of bread and said "You must have a deep freeze? That's really stocking up!" We weren't sure he believed us when we told him we really live "in the woods" - thirty miles from town!

Mike celebrated the last day of trout season by taking his pole and his one left over crawler and walking in to Birch Lake. He came home with a limit of trout. There aren't many places where you can take one nightcrawler on a fishing trip and come home with a limit of trout!

The weather the last several days has been great. Mike's gotten some painting done and Lin's been collecting pine needles for her baskets. The cool, damp summer apparently meant that the pine needles got more water and they're unusually long this year - say six or seven inches instead of five or six. The longer needles make basket weaving easier, so there's at least one upside (besides having no campfire restrictions) for a damp summer!

Halloween Day

Well, we're almost buttoned down for the winter. The water lines are drained, the canoes are stored, and the new septic system for Cabins 4 through 7 is just about in! The electrician was here yesterday, just before last night's snowfall, so the new pump is all hooked up.

We got a new camera yesterday, so I can share a photo of our new mound - Mitch and Mike really did a great job - we'll plant a few more trees and we won't even know it's there!

Putting in the new system was quite a job - the weather hasn't exactly cooperated. Lots of rain and not what you'd call warm weather didn't help. Mike did a lot of the "grunt" work so he's pretty worn out... digging trenches, filling in trenches, crawling under cabins to unhook and hook up plumbing etc. wasn't a lot of fun. He's also been working on some cabin foundations - as long as he's under there anyway, why not?

We're hoping to make our annual trip to Mountain Iron with used canoes next week, it's always a great visit with friends and Lin really likes shopping in Virginia. We'll have a whole stack of new Kevlar canoes next spring! In the meantime, isn't the little creek between Cabins 3 and 4 beautiful?

October's Here - and so is the snow!

Well, the cabins are closed for the winter, the water lines are blown and dry... and it's a good thing! We awoke yesterday morning to a light dusting of snow - no big deal, about 1/2 an inch, and it was gone by midmorning, so Jeremy and his group decided to go on out into the BWCA to fish and maybe camp. After all, our moose hunters are still out there ... have been for a week... so why not?

They - and we - woke this morning to about two inches of new snow at their campsite- and it's still snowing! They shared these photos - the first of Rockwood when they arrived back - the second of a portage on the way out this morning. At least the lake was nice and calm! And... they had a great time... lots of good memories to share for years to come!

Incredible Weather

It's been a totally WONDERFUL September. It's so nice... the ducks haven't left yet, they're still lining up every morning at each dock quacking "isn't it breakfast yet?" I fed three when I came down at 7 this morning, and another six at 7:30... good thing there's plenty of leftover "duck bread" that's come in uneaten from canoe trips!

The daytime highs have been in the 70's and the nightime lows - well, it dipped all the way to 47 one night this week. Considering that we occasionally have snow by the 23rd of September... this is awesome! Only fly in my ointment is that my camera died, so I can't share photos of how beautiful it is... the trees around here aren't turning yet, it's so warm!

Still fantastic for canoeing or cabining around here - and the moose are coming out of hiding. There was a big bull wandering along the side of the Gunflint Trail very near us yesterday morning!