Lake Ida - southwest wind

We were were out with the kayaks today, but we stayed along the southwest shore. It's a wild, warm (82 F), windy day out there. This side of the lake looks calm and peaceful, but you can bet the waves are wild on the opposite shore.

Last day of May!

I've been putting out pots and planting my window boxes. When I was young, I remember my mother saved seeds from the year before, and in the back of the fridge we had baby food jars with flower seeds in them, and in the basement, bulbs or roots from her 4 o'clocks, tuberous begonias, etc. My plants are from a trip to the local greenhouse and Elden's grocery store. $10 for a fully planted pot at Eldens. Can't beat that!

Spraying for tent caterpillars - ugh!

It's normally so quiet here in the morning, maybe a fisherman heading out. This morning I thought it was Snoopy vs. the Red Baron out there, or maybe someone in a float plane practicing takeoffs and landings. I went outside on the dock to see what it was, and DUH! It was a cropduster, spraying worm spray. Here's my video - unedited. I can now say with confidence that I don't have worms.

A poem to drive Andrea crazy . . . although I've slightly misquoted it all these years, thanks to Google, I can get it right. They were at the end of the dock when we got to Lake Ida this evening. They work together to "herd" fish, and then scoop them up. When I was a kid here in Alex, I had NEVER seen one. Maybe DDT did the same to their eggs as to the bald eagle's eggs? Made the shell brittle? Now they are very common, and the fisherman aren't too happy about them.

A wonderful bird is a pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

"The Pelican" (1910) by Dixon Lanire Merrith

Sorry Andrea, couldn't resist.

The Creek from Lake Ida to Lake Charley

The creek as it leaves Lake Ida is high this year, we had a lot of snow melt from the late winter snow. Last summer it was so dry, it didn't even flow over the dam.
The spring seems at least two weeks behind Minneapolis here in Alexandria.

Springtime nesting season at Lake Ida

The pond behind Bedman's is always a good place for Canada geese. Turn up the volume. In this video a pair of geese land in the pond, only to be chased by another pair. They are staking out their nesting sites. You can also hear the red-wing blackbirds in the cattails. "Pick me! Pick me!" It's my favorite sound of spring. The dock is in, we're gearing up for summer! We'll let the lake warm up before we get the kayaks wet for the first time.

Haylie gungar. (Haylie swings.)

Haylie was out swinging on her new swing last weekend at their building lot. Grandpa wishes he was there giving her an underdog push. Andrea tells us the shed in the background will be Grandma and Grandpa's future "in-laws" cabin, with bunk beds in it - bunkbeds being a long running joke from a trip we took with them through southern Sweden, to Berlin, Germany for a wedding. Chuck and I ended up sleeping in bunkbeds at a couple different places on our trip.

Parkinson's Walk

Mike, Cyndi and Bert Blyleven at Wolfe Park.

Jim, Arielle, Chuck and Holly in front, Cyndi, Darla, Mike behind the sign . . . me behind the camera.

Today we were at Wolfe Park in St. Louis Park, at the Parkinson's walk. Bert Blyleven is involved because his dad had Parkinson's. We had good weather, and 12 of us were Team Cynergi, a combination of Cyndi, and synergy: working together. In this photo Bert, Mike and Cyndi have a conversation. There was a poster contest, Team Cynergi t-shirts, we had our group photo taken, raised a nice amount of money for Parkinson's research, and supported Cyndi! Our group's oldest walker was Cyndi's friend Norma, age 84, the youngest in our group was Aaron's daughter age 2. Others who walked: Jim, Darla, Holly, Mike, Cyndi, Arielle, Dave, Taryn, and Chuck.