Dragonfly Buddies

Minnesotans love Dragonflies.  Why?  Because they eat mosquitoes. They can eat their weight in mosquitoes in 30 minutes.  Impressive hunters..welcome to Minnesota!

They landed in some peoples hair looking like hair jewelry.

They even like bald landing strips.

My what big eyes they have ..with thousands of lenses which allow them to see almost all the way around. All the better to hunt down mosquitoes! We love dragonflies!

Sometimes a little boy makes a new friend, or becomes less afraid of flying bugs.

Most of the dragonflies we saw out on the lake were huge compared to other years.  That must be because they have a big job to do. They were also very friendly!  The mosquitoes are horrid…with all the rain we have had they are just awful. No one in their right mind can stand being out after dark unless they are covered in bug repellant:(

Chance: Watery Day

We all had a water filled day yesterday.  It was hot.  It was 94 degrees.  ( 34 degrees C)

We stopped to feed some ducks.

Adam and Noah threw bread into the water.

They named this one Einstein.

Miney and I played water games.

It was a good day at the lake.  There were lots of dogs at the lake.  I was well behaved and listened…and I was friendly to everyone. One time a huge intact (whatever that means) Golden Lab ran right up to me…Far Side hollered “Everyone behave..or else.”   The “or else” most likely meant getting back on the pontoon or getting the leash on…both of which limit your watery activity. 

At the end of the day I was a happy wet tired dog.  I slept all the way home:)

Chance: Swimming

Hiya!  It is me Chance the Border Collie with a swimming report!

We were at the lake, they took my fancy smancy orange life jacket along.   “It was time to sink or swim.”

Far Guy took me out, that stupid jacket has a handle..ya know there is no escape.

Far Guy took me out in the deeper water.  He held my chin out of the water.  I was scared.  He encouraged me to swim “Good boy, good boy!”

We practiced over and over..I can swim.  I am not so sure I like to swim..I like the water but I like to have all four of my feet on the lake bottom.   Anyways, now we can go out kayaking together and Far Side doesn’t have to worry about both of us drowning because I can swim!

Little Elvis went swimming too!

Noah and Little Elvis.  Noah always carries Little Elvis out and then gently lets him go in the water.

Miney borrowed my life jacket.

Miney does a real vigorous dog paddle splashing water all over. 

The next time we “Go Swimming” they hope that I take off from shore all by myself.  I am taking that concept under consideration:)

Day at the Lake

We spent Saturday at the lake with Andy, Jen, the grand boys Noah and Adam and Noah’s friend Conner.

We left early to hit a garage sale that had some trains..they had nothing that Far Guy wanted. I found a couple of treasures…a rabbit skin for the museum and a depression glass butter tray for me!

This is Kitchi Lake where it narrows and goes into Cass Lake..I think this place is called Pikes’ Hole.  Must be a good place to fish for pike:)

We went into Cass Lake and headed for Cedar Island where there is a sandbar. It was cloudy and really nice..about 75 degrees.  Almost chilly on the water.

Adam making a sand castle on the sand bar.

Grandma interrupting the very serious construction for a smile!

Miney, Little Elvis and Chance.

Happy tired wet dogs after a couple of swims.  Chance can report on his swimming lesson himself.

We had lunch on the Island..sandwiches and fruit..the sun came out and it got real warm!  The Deer Flies started to bite so we headed back..searching for long leaches in the water. ( Typical boy pastime.)

We dognapped the two dogs for a few days..Chance always enjoys the company and Jen and Andy are having lots of company this week.

It was a nice day on the lake.  With the coming of July one third of our summer is over:)

Chance : Making friends at the lake

Hey it is me!!  Chance!!  The most handsome blogging Border Collie ever!

I got to go to the lake, with all my sisters kids.  While I was there I met lots of other dogs.

This was the first dog I met, an older Golden Retriever.  He was pretty cool, but he was fish obsessed.  He kept dunking his head under the water looking for fish.

Then there is Riley who lives on Star Island.  I have met him before.

Riley is stick obsessed.  He fetches them just fine and then takes off with them and chews them up.

Look at how far that dog will go after a stick.  Far Side actually got the stick in the air..how cool is that?

My sisters husband is just about ready to get that ball for me as I am belly deep already.  The blip in the distance is Far Guy out on the kayak.

This is at Lake Windigo..this is a spring fed lake on Star Island.  Star Island is totally surrounded by Cass Lake which is a river feed lake.  This is the only lake within a lake in the Northern Hemisphere.  The water was very calm on Lake Windigo.

I was the coolest dog on the lake that day.  When I got home I needed a really long nap:)

The last days of summer

September 11, 2011 was perhaps the last warm sunny Sunday of summer.

One of those days where no matter how much laundry you have to do or how much you would just like to nap all day..you head out on the lake. How can you pass up one last day on the lake?  

The water is still reasonably warm, there is hardly a cloud in the sky.  You bask in the sunshine and feel the coolness of the water spray on your face.  This is a day we can only dream about in the winter.

Days spent with all five grand's out on the lake are special..the laughter, the camaraderie..leeches discovered and watched..ohhed and ahhed over.  Some were leery..where has that leech gone..but the call of the water was too strong.

Cousins..competing

Playing a “king of the tube” game..I watched the unique cooperation between these three.. to first get Adam on the tube..then Noah and then..

to push each other off into the water..giggling.

It was a good day on Cass Lake in Northern Minnesota, the last out on the pontoon in the water day of 2011.  It was just perfect.

There were only a few small reminders that summer is coming to an end and fall is breathing down our necks:(

Lake Windego

Yesterday we took Adam to meet up with his parents and his brother.  We kidnapped the grand-girls on the way and took off to Cass Lake.   Cass Lake has a number of islands.   One of them is called Star Island.  Inside the confines of Star Island is a spring fed lake called Lake Windigo.  Windigo is an Objbwe mythical creature with burning feet that could posses people and inspire cannibalism, Far Guy used to tell the girls this story around the campfire late at night when we were camping..it used to be accompanied with much squealing and them moving closer to me for safety.  Anyway Lake Windego is the ONLY lake in the Northern Hemisphere that is a spring fed lake enclosed by an island that is totally surrounded by a river fed lake.  Kinda cool. Should it ever be one of those trivia questions for a million dollars..remember where you heard it!

 Chance is pointing the way to Star Island.

We went ashore and had sandwiches for lunch and walked down to a pathway that went over to Lake Windego. 

 Lake Windego, Noah and Paige are teeny tiny specks in the distance. 

The kids and the dogs played there for quite some time, it is a very shallow lake..you can walk all the way across some parts of it.  Noah and Paige gave it a good try.  They were way too far away for my liking..finally Andy went out with them.  When they finally returned I was greatly relieved.  Jen kept saying "Mother they are fine, for goodness sakes they can stand up."  Well I guess they could ..but it didn't seem like it could be possible to me.  The shoreline is very abrupt on this lake, it goes from lake to a poision ivy filled shoreline  just like that..people were stacked up on chairs in the walkway.  Some people had their chairs sitting in the lake.

On the way back I stopped to take some photos in the walkway between the two lakes.

 Looking toward Lake Windego.

 Looking toward Cass Lake.

The kids went fishing..and Little Elvis had a nap.  It was a beautiful day to spend on the lake, it could have been less windy for Far Guy.  His short sleeved hooded sweatshirt was a blessing. It helped to keep the wind off of his face.   I took tons of photos.. the kids had a blast:)