Sunfish

Renee and I went fishing today. Without any high tech stuff we caught 15 nice sunnies down by Bedman's.

Fledglings in the grass

I was out mowing today. I trudge slowly when it's this hot and humid, and frogs have a chance to hop out of the way. But twice, once on each side of the yard, I miraculously spotted baby birds hunkered down in the grass, sitting very still, within inches of the mower. I'm glad I saw them. After moving the first one to safety, I did see later that it was chirping away and the mother bird was feeding it bugs. Later, on the other side of the yard, the same scene repeated itself. I love the beak. It makes this little guy look cranky.

Wine, Women and Capri Pants

This weekend was the Carlos Creek Winery Grape Stomp. The photo shows the winery in the middle of the picture, surrounded by the white fence, and in the background is Lake Ida, so it's just a hop, skip and a jump away from our place. But not within crawling distance. Thousands (no kidding!) of middle aged women in capri pants descend on the place for live music, shopping craft booths, eating and drinking wine. Lots of them are yelling "Whoo Hoo" at random times during the day. I'm not sure why, besides the effects of the wine. We ended the evening next door, with a potluck and some more fun with the neighbors and friends. I haven't posted much lately because: A. My camera is on the fritz, and B. School started.

A Mellow Day

Chuck's been grilling and putting Caribbean Jerk sauce on everything lately. Here he's grilling chicken and some banana peppers I'm growing this year. The cat actually doesn't mind a little jerk sauce on her share, although we try to avoid giving any to her - I read somewhere that cats don't feel spicy food because they are carnivores, and peppers developed their heat to keep away the herbivores. We had a Lake Ida day today - took a long walk, deflated all the floaties, organized the garage, enjoyed a long boat ride around the lake, kayaked, put the paddle boat away. It seems we spent half the summer getting ready to play on the lake, and those hot days never came. No, there were 2 of them. Now we're putting the lake toys away. Here's some video taken on the north side of Pilgrim's Point. We'd just gone around the sandbar into the bigger part of the lake. It was a relaxing day.

Late Summer

We went for a walk down Sahara Lane this morning, and it was a cold clean Canadian wind coming off of the lake. Goldenrod is blooming everywhere, so allergy sufferers are in misery.

But not the bees.

Grodor/Froggies

It's fun to walk through the yard now, with all this rain, the frogs are hopping everywhere. There was a big Northern Leopard Frog that I tried to chase down, just to take its photo for Haylie - she loves frogs. But as I chased it through the yard, and down the hill, it beat me to the lake, and disappeared into the rocks. The neighbor asked what I was doing. All of this year's tadpoles are over by the little settling pond on the other side of the road, now little frogs. I'll have to try to photograph them tomorrow maybe.

But here's a photo of a leopard frog from the internet. (When my niece Jessie was little, she thought we were calling them Leprechauns. It was so cute.)

Lake Ida August Sunset

I went out in my Hobie kayak at sunset. After two days of very windy weather, it was so quiet on the the lake. Just a few fisherman, including my neighbor Duane and his kids.

Bass Fishing and Boat Safety

We've always been more inclined to feed fish from the end of the dock than to catch them. All those odd hot dog buns and bread crusts work fine for that. Leftover leeches (that white styrofoam container in the fridge after a fishing weekend) worked great when the bass came around to see why the sunnies were so excited. So we get a little irritated when the bass boats come quietly cruising by with their electric motors, getting their lines and lures tangled in the boat lift, trying to catch our fish friends.

When we were kids, the strict rule was, SIT DOWN IN THE BOAT. The Minnesota state quarter design was criticized when it was selected because it broke two rules of safe boating. Sit down and wear a life jacket. I agree. Here's a boat going by today. One of them did catch a nice bass underneath Duane and Betty's willow tree that overhangs the water. But they released it.

August Sunrise

This is one of those days that Andrea and I used to get up and just put on our swimsuits. No point in picking out any other outfit, until we were waterlogged and sun-soaked. It's coffee time on the dock.

Cormorant

The great thing about being at Lake Ida is that there are always new nature things to see. My Wildlife of North America book really gets a workout. I woke up to this bird yesterday morning. I had never seen this type of bird up close before, and thought it was so strange - it sat there with its wings open to the morning sun. Later I went down on the dock, and my kayak and the platform were covered in bird ock (as my mother used to call it). Then I find these two quotes online:
"The cormorant's feathers lack oil for waterproofing, which enables it to swim underwater, propelled by its webbed feet. Because its feathers get wet, cormorants are frequently seen sunning on rocks with their wings outspread."
But this one was the clincher for identifying it:
"Just look for the white crap covering everything and killing the trees and you will likely find cormorants."
I had just washed my kayaks the day before. Yuck.

Flowers

The cool summer (which continues this week) has been good for the flowers. Here are some astilbe from my yard, petunias, and Canada thistle, not from my yard!

Alexandria Lake Cottages Tour

Yesterday was a field trip day. Pam, Betty and I, neighbors here at Lake Ida, went to the Lake Cottages tour, a fundraiser for Elder Network. We saw so many cute ideas and interesting things, that it's hard to remember all of them. Here was one garden idea - you'd have to have a very tolerant neighbor if this was your idea of a fence. Betty and I looked at each other and laughed. It won't be happening between our yards.

Fun at Lake Ida

We had an action-packed two weeks when the kids were here at Lake Ida!

A Rescue Mission

When Haylie was here we found a hummingbird in the grass below our little pine tree. We all looked and looked for a nest, but couldn't see any in the boughs. It must have fallen out of the nest/tree? When we found it, the poor thing could barely move. I tipped some nectar out of my neighbor's hummingbird feeder into a cup, got a straw, put some nectar in it, with my finger over the other end of the straw to keep it there. The hummingbird ate and ate, it was so interesting to see its little tongue and beak at work, just like in a flower. It perked right up, and seemed revived. We put it back in the pine tree, hoping the mother could take over, or Mother Nature. I hope Mother Nature was at her gentle best that day.

I'm running a chipmunk sanctuary . . .

My neighbors on each side of me have an unnatural fear of the little rodents and kill them at every opportunity, but I like chipmunks. It's really hard to keep my lip zipped.

Today I was sweeping my front step, and when I moved the decorative birdhouse Tracy gave me, I noticed that it was gnawed around the hole, leaves rustled inside, and a little chirp came from inside the hole. I peeked in and there was a little chipmunk living in there. I'll have to move it into the shade a bit more.

Waterskiing - I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once . . .

I waterskied last week and left my skis down by the basement door. I've had them since 1972 or so, and we're in about the same condition! Both worn out and needing a coat of paint! But they were apparently the perfect thing for the dragonfly nymphs to cling to as they emerged from their old exoskeletons. It's creepy that they must crawl out of the lake and across the grass to the patio.

A great day to be on the water!

Here is a Friday in June, not another boat in sight. Just me in the Hobie kayak, with the sail up. Perfect wind today.

Painted Turtle Baby - A Tittel Tale with a Turtle Tail

Back in the olden days . . .

When we didn't know some fact, we went to the Encyclopædia Brittanica set which Lloyd had purchased, or we just argued about it, and finally said, "Forget it! I don't need to know." (after arguing for a while)

But now, to find out what a baby turtle is called, the internet is the place to look. Maybe! So far I've found that a baby turtle is a Tittel, a Hatchling, or a Guppy. Forget it, I don't need to know.

What is a herd of turtles called? A bale. Here's the website for any animal you would like:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml

Here's a tittel I found yesterday, walking across the road as I was walking down the road by the lake. Maybe it's from last year's hatch?

Mayflies and Hungry Fish

Really, Andrea, it's the sign of a healthy lake. They don't bite, eat, sting, nothing. Just hang out. Like teenagers around Legion Park on summer nights.

While only one fish was eating bread, the others were already on the appetizers - mayflies. The mayflies that don't make it up to the house to stick there and annoy us, actually flutter around on the top of the lake, and the fish are having a feast. Here is a video showing the underwater progress of a hungry fish eating mayflies.

Sunfish Training Has Begun

Every year we feed bread or buns to the sunfish at the end of the dock. Way more fun than catching them. Or cleaning them. It's why there are extra hot dog buns that don't quite match up to the number of hot dogs in a package. (Hot dogs come in packages of 10, and buns come 8 to a bag. Why is that? So we buy extra buns.)
Tonight I only had one customer, and lots of skeptics waiting nearby, plus several bass, who never eat the bread, but always come to see what the excitement is about. As you can see, there is some raking to do in the swimming area - maybe tomorrow when it's supposed to be 90 F and humid. It would be good to stand in the lake in the afternoon.