Weekend After Labor Day

Went to the lake on Friday night. Took the scenic route through Fargo. Stopped by Fleet Farm and picked up some tires for the boat trailer. Saved about $50. Just had time to check out the new Scheels store for about 15 min. before they closed. It's worth checking out. It was a relaxing weekend. Didn't get much done. Lots of rest and relaxation. Did a bit of fishing, but not much was biting. Got home late on Sunday night. I got excited when I read the Menards ad. The raingutters that I have been waiting for are now on sale for .49 cents (after rebate). This adds another fall project that I need to complete.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day

On Thursday I picked up a new canoe at Sams Club. I have wanted a canoe for some time now and have been eyeballing the one at Sams all summer. I broke down and forked out the $299 for a 14 foot 3 seater that came with 2 paddles and rooftop foam blocks.

Jo and I loaded up the truck for the long weekend with the canoe on top and the bike rack on the back. Packed three coolers and a few boxes full of provisions for the weekend. Arrived at the lake after 10:30 just as the neighbors turned out their lights for the night.

Unpacked most of the load and hit the hay.

Woke up and put on the coffee on Friday morning. Spent about 3 hours vacuuming the cabin. The first of our guests arrived in the early afternoon. Ed, Jayna, Hayden and Reese, then Jeff, Penny and Carl (aka Bubba).

I cooked up hamburgers for supper on the Weber. Hayden said that I was a good cook. After supper started a campfire.

Was woken up by Hayden in the morning.

Jo cooked up a great breakfast of French toast and bacon. After breakfast Colleen, Stacy and Tyler arrived. Stacy didn't stay; he drove down to the Cities to pick up a dirt bike. We then drove over to Itasca Park and had lunch at the Douglas Lodge. After lunch most of the group went biking on the Itasca park loop. I did not feel well, so I drove my truck and gave moral and technical support. After completing the loop we loaded up the bikes and headed back to Roy Lake.

For supper I deep fried poppers and onion rings for appetizers and a turkey and fries for the main course. After supper we lit up another campfire.

For breakfast on Sunday we made up omelets in a bag and boiled them outside using my turkey pot filled with water.


After breakfast we headed out to Park Rapids and road the Heartland trail to Dorset. We ate at Companeros (great Mexican restaurant).

The trip from Park Rapids to Dorset and back is about 12 miles. Hayden did an impressive job of making the trip. I figure that with his short legs and small bike he went twice the distance as anyone else.

After lunch we headed over to the World of Christmas and enjoyed the rides.

After we got back to the lake, Jo started on supper and I fired up the pontoon and took some of the company for a boat ride. Jo made a great meal of appetizers (wings, smokies, and other tasty tidbits).

Did some fishing off the dock. Ed caught a nice pike and Jeff caught another keeper. Finished the night with a campfire.



Who needs an alarm clock, Monday started off with another wakeup from Hayden.


Jo made waffles and Langdon Sausage (anther great breakfast). The weather was nice and we spent the morning down at the dock. Took the canoe out with Ed and traveled to the boat landing and back. The rest were busy fishing, paddle boating and swimming. Hayden was all excited with catching his first fish (a keeper pike).

For lunch we cooked up loads of hotdogs. Most of our company departed later in the afternoon. Jeff and Penny decided to stick around for the night. For supper we had steaks from the Langdon locker and afterwards went out for a boat ride. It was a nice evening.














On Tuesday Jeff and Penny took off early. I did not hear them leave.

Jo and I drove to Park Rapids to do some laundry (lots of sheets and towels). This is much faster than taking the laundry home. We did a bit of shopping and ate lunch at the West 40. After getting back to the lake, we tried our luck at fishing (with no luck).

It was a beautiful day and we didn't feel like heading back to GF, but we put everything away and covered the boat. After packing up we headed to Mahnomen and tried our luck at the Shooting Star. Got back to GF late and only unpacked the suitcases and left everything else in the truck. We were dog tired.

Fall Is Here!

It was another peaceful weekend at the lake. Worked on the old speedboat motor and lost a small screw.

Drove to Bemidji in search of a replacement. Didn't find one, but picked up some bookcases at Home Depot. My current shelves in the cabin were falling apart and at 9 bucks apiece I couldn't pass them up.

The leaves are starting to turn and fall off of the trees. The maple in back is starting to turn red.




Here's my new shed that I put together a
couple of weeks ago. This will help clean my closets out.















This is my pet bird. He's a plastic owl. Hopefully this will keep the birds from pooping on my boat cover.

Running out of projects? No way says Jo!

I was reminded by Jo, that I didn't run out of projects at the lake. I have loads of projects left to complete in various stages. I picked up rain gutter fittings at menards during the bag sale and am waiting for the gutters to go on sale.

The drainage project in the back yard is also not fully completed.

I need to do some raking of lake weeds. The raking of lake weeds is a summer long event.

I bought some hedge balls to see if they will drive the spiders away. I sprayed a few times this summer, but they always come back. I think that next year I'll get Ecolab to come out and spray. The neighbors have them come out and do their places.

No rest for me!

The cabin down the road had the front of their hill burned, must have been kids playing with fire. Not a smart thing to do when it's dry out.

The lake water is getting colder. It was like a bathtub in June and July. I should start recording the water temp. I kind of track the weekly air temp. The hottest day of the summer was 104.9. Too hot to sleep.

Roy Lake Sunset

Another nice sunset at Roy Lake.






Here is a photo of the reroofed outhouse.

Spent last weekend at the lake. Went fishing and didn't catch anything but weeds. The lake level is about 12 inches down. Not as bad as 1977, but getting close.

Getting Ready for Lake Day

Thursday already!

Man has this week flown by. Friday in the summer is always Lake Day. Rush home after work, pack and hit the road. It’s nice to leave by 6:00 pm, but quite often something comes up and delays departure until 9:00 or later. It can make for long drive. Although 100 miles isn’t that far. If we get a late start, we may stop by the Shooting Star for a coffee/pop break. Maybe conduct a bit of gambling.

Gas last weekend was $3.09 in Grand Forks, $2.87 in McIntosh and $3.06 in Mahnomen. This was the first time that gas was cheaper in Mahnomen than Grand Forks. I usually fill up at Mentor or Win-E-Mac.

Outhouse

Summer vacation project

I hate red squirrels! Here's what they did to the neighbor's outhouse this past winter. Aaron and Eric must have got a bit of a jolt when they went to use the outhouse during their annual winter lake trip and disturbed the nest with their activities. I ran out of things to do on my summer 2 week vacation and tore into the outhouse roof. It was gross. I ripped the whole roof apart and filled up 2 garbage bags of nasty stuff. I ended up putting whole new roof on it.

Here's the topless outhouse below.

The neighbors were at the lake last weekend and saw that the outhouse fairy had paid a visit. They got into the spirit of things and tipped it over and put in a new floor. At least I won't have to worry about falling into the hole anymore. It was getting a bit soft.

It's too bad that Aaron wasn't inside when we tipped it.

The Great Plains Chautauqua was set up at Lincoln Park in Grand Forks, ND for the last week. Went to see John Jacob Astor (D.J. Tweton) on Monday (Aug 7). It was a pleasent evening and there was a nice crowd.

On Tuesday (Aug 8) I went to see York (presented by Charles Everett Pace). Another good performance. Here is Mondays Performer D. J. Tweton as John Jacob Astor.

On a sad note, the blue and white Chautauqua tent has been sold after a useful 25 years of service. I stayed after the performance and helped take the tent down for the last time.

WeFest 2006

Spent the last weekend at the Soo Pass Ranch for WeFest 2006. Loads of fun. Had free box seats. Drove to the lake every night to sleep, so it made for some late wakeups. Keith Urban put on a great show, as did most of the others. Martina McBride is another favorite. She can really belt out the tunes.

Fall of 05 at The Lake!