Seasons Greetings

'tis the Holiday Season here on Oak Point at Leech Lake. Our neighborhood comes alive between Christmas and New Years. Many families, relatives and friends will spend a few days up at the cabin to enjoy Christmas Vacation time. Cross country skiing, snow shoeing, ice fishing and an assortment of other winter outdoor activities will be popular. Fires in the fireplace and good hearty meals, games and reading will be a part of indoor family activities. So far it appears that the winter weather is going to cooperate.

I am attaching a picture of an enormous living Red Oak Tree that is located on Oak Point Estates. I measured the circumference at 10 ft. 8 in. about three feet up from the base. I estimate the height of this tree in the 80 to 90 ft. range. It was difficult to get a clear picture of this tree because of it's size. I had a fairly clear view from quite a few feet back. On my August 30th Blog I wrote about a dead red Oak Tree that we estimated at 135 to 140 years old that was smaller then this tree. Based on that I would estimate this tree in the 200 year old age range. Wow.

I am also including a picture of a Bald Eagle's nest on a branch of a large White Pine tree, also located on Oak Point Estates. Two young eagles were hatched in this nest this past year. I have heard that some of these nests can weigh up to a ton or greater in size. There was another active Eagle nest about a quarter nile down the road towards the "Narrows". That nest had two young eagles as well this last summer.

Tomorrow , Monday December 21, 2009 will be the shortest day of the year called the winter solstice. The winter solstice is an astronomical event which happens each year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is the farthest away from the Sun in the northern hemisphere. The North Pole points directly away from the Sun. Our Sunrise tomorrow will be at 8:05 am with Sunset at 4:29 pm.

The "Outdoor News" dated December 18, 2009 had an interesting article entitled, "State Officials Mull Next Five Years for Leech Lake". The article talked about the last five years with the problems with the lake's fisheries and the dramatic turnaround after three major actions were undertaken. They were first, the protective slots and new limits on Walleyes, second, the eliminaqtion of 12,000 Cormorants and third, the intense stocking of Walleyes. The Minnesota DNR estimates the 2009 harvest was 87,000 pounds of Walleyes.