Memorial Day

No...it's not really Walleye bait Juan Roberto even though
Bobber saw a 15 pounder.




Two weeks of straight line paddling practice and look how
good Pierre & Corrine's new family is doing.

An evening stroll.
What is it that
Bapa has spotted?

Winona Ran Out of Duct Tape

so only Bob and Rob made it up to catch the first Walleye of 2010.


Who is in a hurry to get that first Walleye?

Winona Bobber

Eager's Relocation Project

TH set a warning to the Eagers : Mr. Eager it is time
to move on.

Purple Clouds

Cooking Up The Lake

and the Walleyes.....
A heat record breaker is expected today which will surely help warm the waters for Shindig 2010. Previous Memorial Days Juan Roberto and Auntie Arnie are the first to jump in the lake then rapidly back out with a shivers and goosebumps report.

82.2 degrees yesterday - 84.6 is the record to beat for today
RECORD BREAKER at 5:30 PM 88.7 degrees hot

Ummm....?

Minnesota Refrigerator

You would think the memory of Seattle's pre-wedding heat should make 95 degrees in Minneapolis feel not so hot. Good mental trick try but does not help. Where then can you go for nature's air conditioning? Head to Duluth. Approaching the refrigerator of the north, we ran into a dense fog shrouding the highway so thickly that the hood of Jeep disappeared. Finding 52 cooling degrees, even with the risk hypothermia risk is oh so refreshing.


The clouds are on fire. Either the photographer or camera
did not adequately capture the blaze red under clouds.

Peeking Peas

Future Apples

Storms in the City

Our staff takes pity and we are allowed a bonus day at the SS.




Tina is Back.



Tina Chilling.

Caution: Smoking Is Hazardous to Your Health

This is a reminder to a few of you out there still clinging to that nasty habit. You know who you are r. The SS now officially has hard wired smoke detectors. Of course there is the familiar great out of doors for you and your fags. The cook, however, finds the new installation problematic. Her days of popping the batteries out of the smoke detector are over. Now what, earplugs for dinner guests?

Woke Up and Found 4 Bucks

Stabilization is not what it was hoped to be, but the new 2X lens works rather well. T.H. claims that when this pic is blown up the antler nubs give the illusion of 4 eared deer.

There is a cloudless sky today, a bit hazier than yesterday's. It is heating up to be another beautiful 80 degree day.

Harvey Hummingbird Returns

Harvey is here but looks like Tina must have missed the bus, I mean goose. Will get his picture posted shortly and Tina's once she is back.



Our first 80 degree day of the season and it brought the birds out. Lucy and Desi have been joined by 2 other Finches. Not sure, but looks like the Fred and Ethel Mertz along with Rob and Laura Petrie have arrived. Here is an unidentified couple who came to the party. We think it is the Pine Siskins. If you recognize them please let us know.


If Mrs. Mallard has a nest somewhere she fails at tending to it. It appears Mr. Mallard has no intention of deserting her but not encouraging her to stay on her nest I do not get. Maybe with the warm weather her eggs will hatch without her? The couple is almost attached at the wing, spending their day traveling between Seagull rock and the southwest cove.


A What Is It Bird. We need help identifying this one.

Murder Averted in Edina

A Tuesday morning murder plot was foiled when a big bad black crow chose the wrong venue for the murder of an itsy bitsy baby bunny. Juan Roberto, Auntie Arnie, T.H., Bubbie and Queen of the Porch Auntie B were all assembled in Becky's Summer Real Estate & Travel Office sipping the morning brew. Then, right before our eyes a killer crow swooped down and astonishingly carried off the tiniest cottontail. Fast acting Bubbie and Higgins charged out the porch door screaming and barking as the killer crow with the helpless bunny in his beak made a splash landing in the bird bath. The bird bath would have served as the execution platform had we not intervened. Auntie Arnie joined the rescue effort offering assistance in relocating baby bunny to a safe spot away from killer crow. Returning to the porch after our successful rescue mission we were chastised by T.H. Auntie B. and Juan Roberto for interrupting nature and robbing killer crow of a feast.

What is It?

Pipe or saute pan? Hint: it did appear to be fungi.

Birth-day at the SS

What a surprise and what a site! Mother Common Merganser just paddled past with her newly hatched little fluff balls all riding comfortably on her back. Wish that we could have gotten a shot of that. Good old Mr. Common Merganser must be hanging out at a local bar somewhere. Pierre and Corrine fooled us and have been here along. They are now the proud parents of 6 brand new chartreuse colored goslings. Pierre and Corrine, set the example of good parenting, not like that deserter Mr. C. Merganser. They are always together in a united parenting effort. Pierre, the dad paddles along in the lead, then the little ones swim along behind him, and mom, Corrine, attempts to remain in the caboose position. Her job will begin with teaching the little ones how to travel on the water in a nice straight line. Starting them off young, right out of egg may be the trick for their perfect straight line positioning that we will witness in days to come. T.H. is out trying to get a good shot of the Common Merganser family since it is the first time that Common Mergansers have chosen Lake Betty for their nursery.

Riding low in the water Mother Common Merganser is a skilled diver and speed swimmer. Rather than proudly posing with her new ducklings, she made the photo session rather difficult. Displaying her diving skills, she would rapidly swim ahead of her clutch. Then repeatedly disappearing as she dove down beneath the surface, leaving her young ones, who barely even know her, motherless. Will the little ones ever learn to keep up with her? Unbelievably they do generally learn to dive at about one week old.

FYI: (muhr GAN suhr) Merganser comes from two Latin words meaning “diving goose.” In case you did know ducks belong to the order Anseriformes and the family Anatidae. There are about 50 species native to North America. So far this year we have observed 2 of these duck species. Pair bonds form in late winter or early spring. Nests are located near water, usually in a large tree cavity, but may also be in rock crevices, under tree roots. Nests are made of wood chips, moss, twigs and other debris found in the cavity. Down is added by the female. The female lays 6–17 (most often 8–12) white to yellowish eggs, and raises one brood in a season. The female incubates the eggs for about five weeks, eating very little during this period. (Mr. C.M has already ditched her) The ducklings are taken by their mother to rivers or lakes immediately after hatching, where they feed on freshwater invertebrates and small WALLEYE fry .Females usually abandon the young before they can fly, sometimes as early as the end of the first week. They will be fledging when 60–70 days old. The young are sexually mature at two years old. Length: (tip of beak to tail): ranges to about 27 inches. Weight: ranges to about 3 pounds. Wingspan: ranges to about 3.5 feet. Life Span: Ranges to about 15 years.

Whose Scat is That?

The red object is T.H.'s smallest Swiss Army knife. My hunch is the scat may be from a Higgins. What is your guess? The plants just to the right of the knife are wild strawberries. If you were to hike around the lake today you would find their tiny white flowers decorating the hillside trail.

Danger must be lurking near. Our good little guard dog Higgins barked the night away protecting us.

FYI: The strawberry plants were used as a tooth cleaner by the Cherokee among others. They are held in the mouth, or rubbed over the teeth, to remove tartar. A poultice made from the dried powdered leaves mixed with oil has been used to treat open sores. A tea made from the roots induces urination. It has been used in the treatment of diarrhea, irregular menses, gonorrhea, stomach and lung ailments. The Cherokee took it for disease of kidneys and bladder or for visceral obstructions, and used it for treatment of jaundice and scurvy. The Okanagan-Colville Indians of southern British Columbia and northern Washington used the leaf powder applied to any open sore as a disinfectant. My native American ancestors may have used the wild strawberries for medicinal purposes as well.

6 Ante Meridiem
39.7 degrees

1:40 Post Meridiem
Pierre and Corrine just arrived. Earlier this morning T.H. launched the 4 Lucky Duckies welcoming committee for visiting Hooded Mergansers or other traveling ducks. Previous years many duck species have spent short layovers here on the water by the SS. What luck and good timing, we decided today to install the Hummingbird nectar feeder just in case. And you all know by now, the Canadian Geese = Hummingbird arrival.

Rainy Days and Thursdays...always get me down.

Or was that Mondays? Anyhow. Talkin' to myself and feelin' old.
Auntie Arnie's seeds needed this rain. The inspector's A+ brought new confidence to T.H. so we decided to upgrade the electrical service to 200 Amp. Before commencing with that small project T.H. opted to spend a rainy day in May underground wiring in the tamper proof fancy round brass floor outlets in front of each window. Safety first at the SS for our Kyle, Jackson and Oliver. Bring on the little toys, baby boys. Does anyone recognize Becky's shower?
T.H. fake out, he remained above ground in the closet and now there is a new T.H style LARGER metal electrical box with .......guess how many new circuits? Where you about to guess 12?

5 Post Meridiem
Ten degrees above freezing and already 1 inch of rain.
Daily rain total 1.15 inches.

FYI: Fifteen inches of dry powder snow equals one inch of rain. This is also equivalent to only five inches of very wet snow. The accepted average is ten inches of snow equals one inch of rain.

The State Electrical Instpector Cometh.

And we passeth. Twelve Hammers gets an A+. We were given the green light to button up, sheetrock, wood panel or finish however we so desire. There's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks. And ev'rybody calls it the sugar shack. Sugar Shack baaabee.

What's in Ned's head?

A Walk in the Woods...on the wounded wolf trail.

Per usual Little Red Annie Hood gets her wish, but not until Granny enlists the protection of T.H. for the life threatening walk through the woods on the wolf trail. Whew, we encountered no wolves. That is Granny disguised as Big Red Riding Hood.
After Higgins incessantly barking most of the night and early morning, Annie commented "Higgins must see something that we can not." Now we know.

Dances With Wolves

"Wolf, wolf!" I cried and it was NO "cry wolf". Big Bad and Mrs. Wolf waltzed past on the south side of the lake as they headed toward the meadow. Moments before I spotted the wolves, Little Red Annie Hood had just asked to go out in the woods for a walk today. Silly girl, does she not know this "is" Grandmother's house? How dangerous are the wolves? Especially when Mr.Big Bad appeared to be limping on a wounded right front leg.... a walk in the woods does not sound good to Granny.

FYI: Minnesota is home to about 2,922 Gray Wolves aka Timber Wolves and 2 of them visited us today. Currently it is our state's most controversial animal. To some folks it is a symbol of the wilderness while to others it kills livestock (livelihood), pets, moose, beavers and deer. Our visiting pair do not know what they missed. They could have walked a little beyond the meadow and had a tasty lunch. There was even a BIG RED X welcoming them to the diner. Plus, the Tuesday Blue Plate Special was a FREE Beaver Burgers. Darn. Maybe that sign needs a fresh coat of paint? Gray wolves are about 40 to 52 inches, with a 13 to 19 inch tail. Weighing Between 60 to 120 pounds compared to coyotes that weigh between 25 and 35 pounds, some folks liken them to a tall German Shepherd. Most Timber Wolves are gray, but some are black, brown, or reddish. Gray wolves run in familial packs of six to 12 animals, which makes it much easier to kill deer or moose. The pack leaders are a male and a female, usually the father and mother of the other pack members. They are likely to be the oldest, largest, strongest and most intelligent wolves in the pack. They are known as the alpha wolves and are usually the only members of the pack to produce pups. Gray wolves mate in January and February then 4 to 6 pups are born about two months later. The pups are nursed in dens for 6 to 8 weeks. Pups begin their hunting career when they reach 6 months of age. They are considered full grown at the age of 1 year. The gray wolf has a sense of smell 100 times stronger than humans. No half marathon for them, they can run up to 40 miles without resting.

Auntie Arnie Day at The SS

All in an Eager's Day's Work or Here Today Gone Tomorrow.



The Eager's Most Unusual Woodland Sculpture.





We peered through the trees at Mr. Eager.







After all the early crops were in we set off on a windy walk around the lake.





Even though it was close to freezing, Auntie Arnie got the early spring crops planted. She pretended that she was in Northern Russia planting potatoes. A.A. kept asking for Vodka to ward off the chill, but never did get any. It was just our pretending to keep the planting going on a bitterly cold day in May. Peas, carrots, parsnips, onions, beets and beans will be enjoyed this summer...I hope.



Lucy and Desi are the first of the Canaries to return.

Happy Mother's Day

What does an old mother do on Mother's Day? Well work of course.



This is the Creeping Phlox on the shore, always the earliest of flowers to appear.

Breaking tradition of our Mother's Day annual tree planting in lieu of minding the store, oh well maybe tomorrow we will be able to plant a few new trees. At least we were able to hike around the lake and visit all of the 90 some trees planted on previous Mother's Days. Many of them still have their name tags from Abby to Zelda. Remember that project KT?

The proof is in the pudding

Alright, so we did not get snowed in. There was a good amount of snow for a great day in May. Here are some of TH's morning photos. It's official: May 2010 is the 3rd snowiest May on record. This snowfall total was 4.5 inches which you would have seen in the woods, not on the deck.

Annie's going to kill me....again.

8 pm

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The only thing missing is my family to share the good cheer. Bapa, you know would want to shoot a deer. Dave just popped open a beer. And me, have not had a drink all year.

Missing all of you, I shed a great big tear. It would be better if you all lived near.

After blowing and snowing all day long we now have over an inch of heavy white snow on the deck, with much more to come. The ground and trees are completely coated, much like a picture perfect Christmas card. It is going to snow all through the night and undoubtedly we will be snowed in by tomorrow morning. Yup, Annie will definitely kill me if I do not show up for work. There have been weather alerts throughout the day warning of possible power failures due to tree limbs snapping and knocking out power lines. Exercising good caution, we dared not leave the SS. The roads were far too slippery for risking a ride back to the big city this afternoon.

She told me so.

Where are the deer that TH shot?

As we await the May snowfall here at the Sugar Shack, Twelve Hammers is having his ups and downs. The 4 temporary stair treads that Mr. Kyle installed several years ago to ensure
Betsy's safety are finally being replaced.

Earlier today Twelve Hammers shot 4 deer. The pictures will follow.

Wherever are our geese? Have they forgotten that it is May already? Some years, as early as April they would arrive and stand post on the frozen lake. Possibly this new generation listened and gained knowledge from their elders. Wait until the 4th of July, some years it is warmer.

As we all know, the Hummingbirds will arrive on the backs of the geese. We therefore have not filled the red glass globe with nectar for our teeniest of summer friends until we spot the geese. It would most likely freeze tonight anyway had we filled it.

The column of this year's fresh thistle remains untouched as no tweety birds have arrived as of yet.

Now picture this, Bald Eagles locking talons as they free fall from the sky almost crashing into the black roof of the Sugar Shack. What I did not want to picture was T.H. on top of the roof cleaning off the blood and feathers had the raptors not ended their rapture just in time. T.H. was not quick enough to capture the Bald Eagle's mating ritual today, but he did try, and will try again I am sure. Oh, but which of his 12 cameras will he grab?

Mallards are swimming about in the southwest corner of the lake, far away from their new neighbors the Eager Beaver family. What a dream it must have been for the Eagers finding an uninhabited new home in perfect move in condition just waiting for them. Last year's occupants were evicted as quite possibly will be the Eagers. Time will tell.

Off for the evening trip around the lake before it is too dark.

Early Arrivals

Larry and Linda or is it Linda and Larry?