Sunday, July 18, 2010

Summer Time


It's the middle of July! The garden is doing just great. We have ample and timely rains with approximately 2 inches falling this past week in four different occasions. We now enjoy green beans, new potatoes, green and yellow zucchini, cucumbers as well as the leaf lettuce and green onions. All the rain also means more weeds and bugs. The lawns are lush and green so that means more mowing and trimming.

We made raspberry jam today. Not the wild raspberry, but the pick-your-own variety that are at their prime right now. That jam will go great with toast in the mornings. We are freezing some raspberries to enjoy later. Lots of great fruit to enjoy this time of the year.

Seeing more deer along the road in the mornings with one good reason, "deer flies" are out, and they have a nasty bite. For my morning walks I have been going to buy one of those fish net face masks when I go to town, but I keep forgetting.


Arty Youngren


People enjoyed last week personal profile of Arty Youngren. I always enjoy writing them because I always gain some new insight on Oak Point. Suggest some people or ideas that I should write about. Either email or talk to me this coming Saturday at the Oak Point Picnic.


Two Things to Remember


Remember to go to the Oak Point Picnic and Golf Outing next Saturday, they are always fun. Second, the time to comment about the Leech Lake Draft Management Plan is now. You can comment until the end of July. Go to my July 4th Blog to gain access to the Draft Management Plan so that you can comment.


Thanks


Our thanks to Jim and Karen for their purchase of lot # 3 at Oak Point Estates that closed last week. That makes our 5th lot sold. We have 8 lots left to sell. Stop over and see the progress on the new home being built on lot # 11.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Ardy Youngren


Ardy Youngren is pictured here with her oldest son Larry. They are spending some time up at the family cabin this summer.

Ardy Youngren and her late husband Bill are long time property owners here on Oak Point. They bought their cabin at 10500 Chippewa Beach Road back in 1969. Just prior to buying their cabin they were fishing with another couple at Red Rock Reef just east of Pelican Island and they were catching big Walleyes one after another. So they were sold on Leech Lake. Next they ran into Lon Ivan who took them out to Squaw Point to show them some cabins. They ended up buying the place which was the first one that they saw on a contract for deed which was 41 years ago and went back to Joliet, IL which was their home. Bill owned and operated Ace Root Beer Stand which was a car hop drive in that also sold food. The Youngrens had three children, six grandchildren and now 16 great grand children.

The next time they came back was at Easter Vacation in 1970 and they couldn't find their cabin and had to call Lon Ivan for directions to get there. This was before the present modern road system with the looping road by the Narrows. Pastor Schmidt from the Chippewa Bible Church had a tractor that he used to pull cars through the wet areas by Welch Lake.

Some of their neighbors at the time were the Savolas, Browns, Howlands, Reidel, Ray, Schuppe, Obergs, Darko, Loves and Nobles. Harold Kleen was the area handyman while he ran the Oakdale Resort. The telephone was a party line that ran trough the woods attached to trees to get here. The Youngrens' took their laundry to Walker by boat and would bring groceries and supplies back with them.

Some of their memories included the big storm of 1979 that destroyed their boat and store station. They have a plaque made out of one of the remaining boards from the boat that is attached just outside of their back door. They remember all the great fishing trips primarily after Walleyes. They remember one summer they put a new roof on the cottage and the garage. They remember Albert (aka) Oh-Gee-Che-Dah and his sister Susan Starr who lived entire life out on Oak Point. They remember some of the relatives losing a prop out on the lake. The forest fire in the Little Hardwood area in the 1970's that they called in to the forest service. They remember when son Dan swam to Goose Island and back. Ardy gave me a file titled Squaw Point Road, which contained all the correspondence, petitions and news articles about the efforts to get the modern looping road built in the early 1980's. The total effort took many years to get done with a total cost of less then $1.5 million that was completed in 1984. Contract that to the 2010 road improvement costs of approximately $3.3 million and took quite a bit of time to get done as well. Some of Ardy's best memories are about the family gatherings and the great food they ate.

Ardy said her husband Bill closed up his business in Joliet earlier and earlier every year fall so that they could travel north to their cabin. They use to stay until November when they headed back home. After they sold the business they spent the entire summer up here fishing, riding bicycle and doing what they enjoyed doing.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

4th of July

The fireworks started early today for the Nitchals household, we had a thunderstorm that came through our neighborhood and left 3 1/4 inches of rain last night and early this morning. A large branch from an Oak tree came crashing down on one of my garages putting 5 holes in the roof. Always something new to deal with. I have the mess cleaned up already and got a temporary patch over the holes. Will have to deal with the insurance company tomorrow or Tuesday morning.

The 4th of July is a busy midsummer holiday at the lakes. All up and down the neighborhood the lake places are filled with family and guests. My brother and sister-in-law were here staying with us, my sister and her husband were at their place along with two daughters and their families. The weather was warm, humid and windy which brought on the thunderstorm this morning. We had highs approaching 90's for three days. Had a chance to speak to a number of neighbors all wanting to talk about the heat.


Flora

With the rains the flora is thick and green here on Oak Point. Pictured here are some flowers call Crown Vetch which is a perennial legume that grows 2 to 3 ft. high and has white or pink flowers atop. They can be used as erosion control or cover crops. We see them growing down at Oak Point Estates. Another wild flower out is the yellow toad flax which are in the ditches and open areas where we find the white daisies. Wild raspberries are starting to ripen already but not enough to pick for some ice cream yet. Hope to pick them before the birds get them all.

Our garden is doing nicely, thank you. Young green beans are about an inch long. Plenty of leaf lettuce for salads. New potatoes and pea pods from my brother garden. With the rains last night, I will not have to run the sprinkler for awhile.

Fauna

Saw plenty of wildlife this week. One morning while walking we saw four adult deer and one fawn. One neighbor saw two bear cross the road. Lots of young ducks, geese and other waterbirds. Fishing reports are not good right now.

Draft Leech Lake Plan

Go to the Minnesota DNR Website at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ and on the main page they direct you to the draft Leech Lake Management Plan under news. You can try www.mndnr.gov/leechlake . The DNR is inviting public input.