It's Almost Spring!

Before I write anything else, I need to assure everyone from Harlingen, Texas, to Cloquet, Minnesota, and parts in between that Bruce and Sue are fine. It has just been really busy around here. Thankfully, the lodge has been overflowing with guests and meals. Then it is tax time – one of my favorite projects of each year. But the real change has been the Chik-Wauk Museum. As many of you know, Bruce and I have been working with a huge group of people to get this museum open. Everything is coming together but there are lots of last minute details. One big one is making sure that all the names of people are spelled correctly. Another project is the little pieces of text that have to be added here and there. That means I have to write many of them. So be patient with me and eventually I will get blogs out.

The news around here has been the weather. It is unseasonably warm. In fact our snow and ice conditions are where they normally are in the middle of April. None of the ski or snowmobile trails have good snow on them. We have had rain in addition to the warm temperatures and those two have reduced the snow to almost nothing. Here is a picture of my garden. There is just no snow.

On the lake the ice depth has been reduced from about three feet to two feet. Last weekend fishermen were still driving vehicle on the ice but I don’t expect that to happen this coming weekend. Spring ice is very unstable and unreliable. You can be standing on solid ice but a foot to one side is rotten ice and you will go right through. This is because the ice melts by honeycombing with vertical shafts of air. How much honeycombing is in a particular area depends on the currents in the water. All in all, this is a good time to stop going on the lakes.

In spite of the lack of snow, we still have lots of guests coming in. In fact we are practically full this week. On Monday and Thursday we don’t have a cabin open. The dining room has been particularly busy with guests and people just visiting the area.

Last weekend the Mush For The Cure, a fund raiser for breast cancer research, was schedule. The snow and ice were such that no race could be help. Instead the organizers set up an obstacle course. Everyone had a great time. The group raised $28,000 for research which is a huge accomplishment. We were very proud of the fact that Adam Treeful, our fishing guide/cook, was number four on the list of top money raisers. Our dog musher, Don Decker, had his own method of providing dog sled rides. See the picture up above.

Finally I have a picture Sheryl took the other morning. The fog makes it look like we are on the edge of the world. You can just barely see the ice house further out.