Nice Weekend

Leech Lake was busy yesterday and today. Lots of boats on the lake, people at their cabins, traffic on the roads. I think people wanted to get one more good weekend before Labor Day Weekend which is coming up in two weeks. We had warm temperatures but a good stiff wind off the lake kept us cool. We had 2 inches of rain in two storms during the week so that keeps the garden and the grass green.

Fauna

Bear hunters were in the woods setting out bait and putting their stands out for the up coming season. Continue to see deer on the Oak Point Road which should mean a successful deer season for the local hunters. Some of the young ducks and geese are starting to take flight. Have not heard any successful fishing reports on the lake. Been seeing more boats in the evening trolling in the Goose Islands flats.

Flora

Garden continues to produce produce for us. Right now tomatos are the prime crop. I have been picking them early and put them out on our picnic table to finish ripping. Green beans are pretty much finishing their season. Cucumbers are still producing as well as summer squash. We have a good crop of winter squash and pumpkins on the vine. Lots of potatoes for the fall and winter harvest.

This Blog

Taking a motor trip to Michigan this coming week to visit a sister and her family near Detroit. So the net result will be no blog next weekend.

Mid-August

We awoke this morning to much cooler temperatures than we have been having in August so far. We had cool mid 50's this morning. The high for the day was 65. Now when you are used to 90's, its quite a change. We had over 2.5 inches of rain this past week. The lake water temps are still high with temps in the mid to high 70's which are quite high for such a large body of water like Leech.

Our grandchildren spent a few days with us this week and all of us had a good time. They swam, sewed, fished, boated and ate us out of food. But a good time was had by all. The 7 year old second grater caught the largest fish probably a 2 lb. rock bass off the dock. It always takes us a few days to get things back to normal after their visits.

The water level in the lake are still quite high, usually by this time of the year I am having problems getting my boat off the lift, but not this year. Getting some reports of Walleyes being caught in the Goose Island flats trolling Shad Raps. My grandson and I tried it twice with no success.

Fauna

Bear hunting begins in two weeks time. This weekend was the first time hunters could bait for bear. The MN DNR says that there are ample berries and wild nuts this year with all the rain we have been having. So baiting might not be as productive. In our area there are plenty of acorns from the oak trees this year. So far we continue to see plenty of your deer sightings in the woods, especially when we take walks in the morning along the Oak Point Road.

Flora

Garden continues to grow. Enjoying cucumbers, green beans, summer squash, tomatoes and new potatoes. Still mowing the yard at least once a week. Usually we see the end of the weekly mowing by this time of the year, but with all the rains we have been having I had to mow my lawn again today.

Pictured is some Jewelweed which is natures antidote for poison ivy.

Dog Days of August

What I call the "Dog Days of August" came upon us this past week. Hot days cooling at nights, garden growing with new produce every day. It gets dark a little after 9:15 pm so I can get to bed early again.

Flora

Mid-summer flora is starting to appear. I am including some photo of some Jerusalem Artichoke, they have nothing to do with Jerusalem and are not Artichokes. The flowers are like the Black Eyed Susan with a more yellow center, but grow taller, sometimes to a height of nine feet. They have an edible tuber that resemble ginger roots. They are high in carbohydrates with a consistency like a potato when eaten raw, when they are boiled they are soft and mushy.


I am also including a picture of some Asters that is a wild flower that I have found over at Oak Point Estates. They flower in late summer or early fall and are purple or blue in coloration.

This past week I have harvested some smaller tomatoes, green peppers and some sweet banana peppers. I made a dish of stuffed peppers using hamburger and cooked wild rice, and a topping them off with a cheese and Ro-Tel dressing. They were real good. Also for my wife's birthday I made her my blueberry pie recipe.

Fauna

Some of my neighbors are reporting some Walleye catches in the area. Some are using bobber-stopper rigs with leeches around the outer edges of week beds and some are trolling Shad Raps in 10 to 12 ft. of water. My grandson is coming to visit this coming week so I will have to take him fishing.

Pictured here is some young mallard ducks starting to get some color. They have to get some flying lessons in before duck hunting season starts early on Saturday October 2nd.

August 1st

It doesn't seem possible that we are in August already. Weather wise we have been getting plenty of rain still, gardens and lawns are green maybe two much rain for the tomatoes they are getting yellow leaves by the soil. Enjoying green beans, new potatoes, onions, cucumbers, summer squash, green peppers and lettuce. We have been busy the last 10 days. We had the damaged roof on the garage repaired, so we decided to have the house roof shingled as well. We had our hardwood floors refinished so that met that all the furniture had to be moved out. And you all know that one thing leads to another, so we have been busy.

I am adding some pictures that are interesting. Our neighbor Dennis Yepma has a new sailboat that he is learning to use. Also I was driving through the narrows the other day when I saw an unusual sight, I saw 14 Turkey vultures in one tree. Unfortunately someone had dumped some fish guts on the road and they were cleaning up the mess. I would hope that whoever is doing that would stop.

President Mike Rief

Mike is on his 4th term as President of our Oak Point Property Owners Association. He is already looking for someone to take his place for next year. Mike says that the thing he enjoys most about the presidency is meeting and working with all the good people up here. He enjoys lining up the speakers for the annual meeting and working with the local media.




Mike and his wife Joyce have their permanent home in Buffalo just west of the twin cities. They live on the NW corner of Buffalo Lake. Mike is fully retired from his job as the controller for General Dynamics, Government Systems Division. They were the Department of Defense Contract Unit where 95% of their business was with the US Navy. They built computers for the F-18 fighter jets among other things. Joyce is also retired from the education field where she was in physical education, school counselor, and finished as a principal at Minnetonka High School.



Mike is an old Navy man himself. Going to Navy OCS after college at St Cloud State. He spent a number of years on navy ships based out of Brooklyn Navy Yards. He then spent 14 years in the Naval Reserves where he retired as a Lt. Commander.



Mike and Joyce have three adult children. Two boys and one girl. Their daughter has triplet boys who are 9 years old and live in Zimmerman. They bought their place on Mounds Point from Les Spitzack in 1999. Their cabin use to be owned by Glen and Verna Sickle who have plenty of stories about their time up here.



Mike claims the main reason he bought property up here on Leech Lake was for snowmobiling. Last year both he and Joyce put 1,100 miles on Leech Lake and 1,100 miles other places on their sleds. One of Mikes stories up here was the time they went to Walker Legion Meat Raffle on sleds. When they left to go home from where the Chase Hotel is they left across the ice when it got foggy, real foggy. So they decided to go back to town and followed their tracks back. They found the Heartland Trail by Marine Max and followed it back to Erickson's Landing. They took off across the ice once again keeping Sandpoint to their left and followed paths heading east. They new they were safe when they could see Christmas Lights on Mounds Point.



Mike's other major story about snowmobiling was when he was marking ice chunks at ice spearing fisherman had cutout for their spearing holes. Mike would mark these chunks so that other snowmobiler's would not hit them. Well wen mike stepped back and you guessed it, he fell into the hole catching himself by his left arm and was able to putt himself out, wet and all alone. It was about 30 degrees out so he was able to start his sled and hurry home before he froze up.



Mike and Joyce also enjoy playing golf at both Longbow and Sand Trap course's. They enjoy cruising Leech Lake in their pontoon boat looking for sand beaches and other places of interest. Fishing for Mike is the early season Walleyes and Sunfish.



If you want to get involved with the Oak Point Association, give Mike a call and volunteer.

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.

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.