SPRING?

It has been a long, cold winter here on Oak Point of Leech Lake, but with spring officially only a week away we are starting to see a few signs of the end of winter. Today we have temperatures in the 40's, sunshine and the sound of melting water. I had set the day aside for tax preparation but am taking a break to start this blog. From time to time I will post observations and news of our neighborhood here, fishing reports, weather reviews and perhaps some recipes.
My wife, Marlys, and I moved here permanently in the year 2000. Before that we had been eager weekend residents. We soon became addicted to the solitude and beauty of the area. Our neighborhood is deep in the Chippewa National Forest but has the wonderful advantage of a nice, small neighborhood of people to exchange stories of animal sightings with and play an occasional game of cribbage. We are about 7 miles from Walker as the crow flies. After our big snow this week, my neighbor who works at the Walker Public Library, went to and from work by snowmobile! Oak Point Road is always open and well plowed and sanded but this saved her some time.
Animal sightings recently have mostly been bald eagles, pileated woodpeckers and deer. An adventurous racoon has been seen nightly and of course the first sign of spring is the scent of an occasional skunk. There have also been reports of foxes and perhaps a wolf or two.
As I look out of our windows I am looking at the 'big lake" facing Goose Island and Ottertail Point. There are plenty of vehicles out there today so the panfishing must be good. An old time neighbor, Jan, who has been out here since the 50's mentioned that her grandson had caught some 1 and 1/2 pound perch on Leech lake this week.
The past couple years I have spent some of my time developing some lots near here. They are some of the last traditional lots on Leech Lake where the lot owns it's own private lakeshore. I've enjoyed working with this greatly, several lots have been sold and we will probably see the first home built this summer. For more information you can go to http://www.oakpointstatesmn.com/ . There is some interesting reading there about the history of our neighborhood.