Road Work

Our Oak Point Road reconstruction project is to resume this coming Monday. I had a chance to talk to Art Chase, Operations Manager for the Department of Public Works who's in charge of the project. The plan is to do one lane at a time, finish that part up and then do the other lane. They will be milling the existing blacktop and putting that down as a base. Then they will be putting down two new courses of bituminous. They plan on two inches of a base course, then 1.5 inches of a wearing course on top. Anderson Bros from Brainerd are the general contractors for the project. Art said that the project is scheduled to take three weeks. The whole project is over $3 million and is funded by Stimulus Monies.

Notice of Valuation

Most of us have received in the last two weeks our "Notices of Valuation" from the Cass County Assessor. You should read this notice real carefully. Most values stayed the same, or had a slight increase. Actually these values should be going down in my opinion. I would suggest that you call your local Assessor and have them come for a review. Most of the local assessors have not been inside of our homes in quite a few years. We were able to lower three of our lots at Oak Point Estates by asking for a review.

Benefit for Reggie Thiel

A benefit is planned for Reggie Thiel for Sunday, May 2, 2010 at the Walker Area Community Center. In September of 2009 Reggie underwent a heart transplant operation at the U of M Fairview Hospital. Reggie has been limited in his abilities to work as either a fishing guide or as a realtor because of his sickness. All proceeds will be used to help the family with medical expenses.

Deer on the Road

The deer are coming out to the road in the late evening now to eat some of the tender first blades of grass. My wife even saw a fawn already. Drive carefully. Pictured is a Bald Eagle that can be seened most evenings down by the "Narrows".

Ice Out

The official Date of "Ice Out" on Leech Lake was April 6 a new record.

Wild Turkeys

I and several other people have seen a wild hen turkey along the Oak Point Road in the vicinity of "Dead Mans Curve" several times in the last couple of weeks. At first I thought I was seeing things, but that wasn't the case. I did call the local Wildlife Specialist from the DNR who assured me that they didn't release any turkeys in that area, but he speculated that some private citizen could have released one or more turkeys in the area. More then likely it, or they, have migrated to the area over the winter and spring. I and others were aware of some wild turkeys in the Tower Hill area along TH # 371.

Ice Out

Although the ice has been out in the "big lake" for a week now I can still see some ice piled up on "Big Hardwood" one week later. The power of wind and ice is something to behold. All along some shorelines either rock or sand beaches were rearranged by the power of the wind and the weight of the ice. I am including a photo of an ice pile on one of the Hardwood Points. I am not sure what date the Walker Pilot Independent declared the lake to be free of ice. I am sure that next week's paper will have something. A number of our neighbors have been busy already getting their docks and boat lifts in the water this weekend. I am in no rush and will wait a week or so. The water is still very cold.

Stan Peterson

The Walker Pilot Independent has an interesting article on its website http://www.walkermn.com/ in the Outdoors Section about Stan Peterson of Walker, entitled "Reflects on the Early Days of Leech Lake Tourism". Those of us who have property along Chippewa Beach Road know that Stan Peterson was the developer of our subdivision so many, many years ago. The Plat of Chippewa Beach was filed in November of 1956. So much history has passed since the plat was recorded. We, Jim and Marlys Nitchals purchased Lot # 10 in August of 1984 and are the only third owners of this lot. Of the 28 lots only 4 property owners have owned their lots longer then we have. Guess that makes us "old timers". Since we have purchased here most of the old "cabins" have been removed and new homes built. Some times you need to look back to see change.

Fire Restrictions

Its still very dry out here. We have just had some sprinkles. The state is imposing some very restricted fire regulations effective Monday April 12th. Even our local fire warden will not be able to issue burning permits.

Fishing Licenses

Your 2009 Minnesota Fishing License is good until April 30, 2010. After that you need a 2010 license. Hope that I remember mine.

Ice Free

The "big lake" is free of ice as far as I can see. We had a strong south wind yesterday afternoon that pushed the ice to the north and northwest. Many of the "Hardwood Points" to the north of us have ice piled up on shore this morning. The ice piles on "Big Hardwood" appears to be 8 to 10 ft high. I will need to check around and see if any ice damage occurred. Ice has been out of Steamboat Bay and the Narrows for a couple of days already. The strong winds ended up taking one old tree out at Oak Point Estates and many branches were blown down. The winds could have brought us some much needed rains, but they didn't.

I don't know if the ice is out of Walker Bay yet. Walker bay is deep and the water does not warm as fast as the rest of Leech Lake. Usually "official ice out" date is not until Walker Bay open up. Even if the official ice out date is not for a couple of days we are talking about a new modern era record for early ice out. The current record is April 9, the average ice out date is April 27.

Lot of waterfowl in the area. They seem to follow the ice out up north. Mallards are setting up nesting areas in the wooded potholes. Canadian Geese are in the grassy areas down at Oak Point Estates. Wood Ducks, Golden Eyes and great variety of waterfowl.

With the dry March we have had, I continue to have concerns about water levels in the area lakes. Officially we are only a few inches lower then last years lake level at this time. However last year the melt was still on and their was more water in the water shed then we have now. We need rain.

Lake Ice

The ice on the lake started to move today. We had a rather stiff wind today from the south and it started to pile some ice up on the rocks. Like the old song, "It won't be long now" once lake ice starts to move around with wind "ice out" is not far behind.

The earliest "ice out" date is April 9, 1945. The rate we are going we could be in for a new record. We will just have to wait and see what "mother nature" has in store for us. The latest date for "ice out" was May 23, 1950. Two years ago we had a rather late May 13 lake opener. The Walker Pilot keeps these records.

I am going to upload a picture of our black squirrel that we call "Blackie". Blackie survived our winter in fine form. I wrote about our black squirrel last fall in one of my posts. The Bald Eagles are back in their nests. We have two eagle nests in the area. One is located on Oak Point Estates and the other is located close to the Oak Point Road down at the "Narrows". Raccoon's and skunks are out.

I am starting to have some concern about lake water levels. We have not had any snow and just some light rain so far this March. We will need some April showers to keep lake level at spring levels.

Sugar Bush

Sugar bush is a place in the woods where Sugar Maple trees grow and people go year after year to make maple sugar. Sugar Maples, acer saccarum, are also known as hard maples. They produce the sap that is boiled down into Maple Syrup and that can be further refined down to Maple Sugar. The sap is clear liquid about 98% water.

I had the opportunity to visit an ancient sugar bush site this week with my neighbor Dennis Yepma. We took 4-wheelers across lake ice about a 1/4 mile north of his home at Little Hardwood, to an area just south of the "Meadows" where we walked ashore. This is in an area in Sec. 7, T.143N,-R.30W just west of Leech Lake. Immediately we knew we were in an maple syrup area. The majority of the trees were mature maples. It didn't take us long before we found physical evidence of old maple sugar making. We found old cans, bottles, tubs, barrows and other physical evidence. We were careful not to disturb the area.

Some of the native elders that know the area told me that the last time there was much sugar making in the area was around the WW II which would make that about 65 years ago. Each native family use to move to the bush where they stayed for the whole season which could last two to four weeks. One elder told me as a youngster his job was to gather wood for the fires. All the wood had to be cut by hand. Other jobs were to tap the trees, collect the gallons of the sap and tend the fire and boiling pots. This was also a sort of reunion time with all the families together they had a chance to reminisce and tell stories.

Maple syrup/sugar was an important food commodity for the native families. For ages it was used as a food source and as seasoning agent for meats and fish. It was also used for trading for other goods. Maple sugar was carefully stored for use during the year. It was stored in birch bark basket that were made by hand.

I had this feeling when I was in these woods that I was in the presence of many hundreds of years of history all around me. I felt privileged for this opportunity. We did find an ancient overgrown wagon trail in the woods with ruts filled with leaves. This trail will be the source of future adventures.

Mike & Zeus

Mike and Zeus have a new twist on the old habit of taking your dog for a walk. Every afternoon Mike Schrank takes his Black Lab Zeus for a ride in his car. Rain for shine, hot or cold you can see them on their route seven days a week. At about 3:00 PM Mike get the signal from Zeus that its time for his ride. Their route takes them through the neighborhood including a trip through Oak Point Estates and down Camper Landing Road then all the way to Welsh Lake and back home. About a 20 mile round trip. Zeus has the back seat all to himself. He usually sticks his head out the window and barks at what ever catches his fancy. Mike steers his grey sedan, a Hyundai Sonata, through the course at about 20 mph. The whole trip last about one hour. On many days you can see Mike park his car down by the narrows where he gets excellent cell phone signals straight to the towers at Walker.

Actually Zeus is a recent substitute for Roc-e his predecessor in the back seat. Roc-e was also a Black Lab that lasted 13 years and many miles.

Mike, his wife Diane and son Joe have lived on the Steamboat side on Mounds Point Drive sine 1992 when Mike retired from the cities. Mike and Diane have two other children, Mike Jr. from Minneapolis and daughter Susan who lives in Delaware. This time of the year Mike harvests Maple Syrup. He taps 22 trees on his property to make his 30 plus pints of syrup. Mike uses his old turkey fryer cooker to boil down the sap. He says that his years process is about two weeks ahead of the usual harvest dates.

Mike is a very active man who enjoys his retirement up north. He enjoys a large garden full of usual vegetables beans, tomatoes, potatoes, squash etc etc. Mike and Diane like to can as much as possible. Mike likes to can because he says he knows what is inside. Good point. Mike likes to hunt deer and grouse. He hunts deep down by Jimmy Whipple's area. Mike and his son have a large pile of Oak that they have piled up ready for splitting for their fireplace. Mike is early to bed 8:00 pm and early to rise 5:00 am. Mike recently put his riding lawn mower aside and bought two new walk behind mowers so he and Joe can get their exercise.


The next time you see Mike driving his grey sedan in the afternoon on Oak Point Road with Zeus in the back seat, smile, wave and pass them by.