Signs

Some signs of the times.

This sign is empty; it used to advertise the Broasted Chicken and pop specials or Welcome Hunters or Welcome Fishermen, depending on the time of year.

The Post Office which is attached to the store is still open but only for a few hours in the mornings.  The steel door in the photo was installed after several break ins at the store.

The store was a mainstay in Osage for many years. We were sad to see it close.  You could tell it was coming, they added an aisle of dollar store “stuff”.  The shelves became emptier as time went on and when the coolers stood empty I began to wonder how long they would hang on.

The Millpond is frozen over.  Some idiot has a fish house out there…hope they caught something and survived to see another day without disappearing under the ice.

Foot Update:  Our daughter the Nurse Practitioner looked at my foot and declared it a Spider or something similar bite.  I am taking some Zyrtec as she suggested but it really makes me sleepy…I get to sleep 14 or more hours after taking it. AND dream oh my…Technicolor adventures for hours and hours.

The Derby

The Fishing Derby was held last Sunday on the Mill Pond. The Mill Pond is connected by a boating channel called “the narrows” to the Dead Sea called Straight Lake.   Originally I was going to fish, but the wind was brutal, it was way below zero with the wind chill.

It is a Pan Fishing Derby.  If you cover up your fishing hole you can see fish swimming around under the ice.

Is there anything down there?

The Fishermen/women use wax worms for bait. You can keep them in your mouth to keep them toasty warm if you like.

Caught One!

We drove around the Mill Pond twice, Far Guy rolled down Chances window and he hung his head out and watched people.

Some were so bundled up they could hardly walk.

Some were just as cute as they could be. This little gal is multi- talented she is smiling at Chance while standing in a sled all bundled up and holding a juice box. 

I bought Far Guy a gourmet lunch, he had a turkey sandwich and I had a hot dog.. and we split a candy bar for desert. We visited with a few people, but it was way too cold out there on the lake to stay too long.

The local Sportsman’s Club sponsors this Fishing Derby every year the last Sunday in February.  We try to go every year, if not to fish then to have lunch and take a few photos:) 

Perception

Far Guy and I do not see eye to eye sometimes.  It seems to be happening alot lately, perhaps it is the rain, perhaps we both have spring fever. Perhaps it is just perception.

Like the other day, I mentioned the millpond, at Osage.  I call the whole thing the millpond..the part with the new dam, pier, swimming area and the part of the lake before the narrows into the big lake.  Far Guy calls only the part with the new dam and the pier the millpond.  Jen our youngest daughter had her own opinion..but waffled back and forth between her parents opinions. Perhaps because it was Mother's Day she wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt, but she didn't want to totally squash her fathers thoughts either.

Years ago, in 1881  there was a sawmill built and the mill dammed up the whole lake and raised the water level by thirteen feet.  That is why there are so many deadheads on the edges of the lake..especially in the what I call the millpond area.  The sawmill became a flour mill and wheat was ground there before it was even ground in nearby big city Park Rapids.  The mill was owned by a cooperative of farmers.  They milled three grades ( patent, straight and export) of wheat..this in itself is impressive.  The dam collapsed in the spring of 1903 or 1904 ( I cannot come up with the exact date right now..lost local history book..put away too well) anyway when the dam was built it was built with a temporary piling of slabs and trees.  Over the years these slabs began to rot.   During the winter muskrats burrowed into the dam weakening it, during the spring run off the dam collapsed.

 This is the old photo postcard. The mill has fallen in.

This is a photo taken from almost the same view last weekend.  You can see the beach off to the right. In the old photo where all the people are standing is the present beach area.

On a side note, this area has caused arguements before.  Squire McKinley was the man who built the original sawmill and raised the water level.  Just down the road from us a half mile, was a farmer by the name of Siegford, one spring he noticed that the lake was coming up and water was flooding his barn.  He went to Osage, in search of Squire McKinley ..they disscussed the situation..and in a manly way solved the arguement.  Fisticuffs insued..the Squire won, and Siegford tore down his barn and moved it.

Now back to the our argument. I am no good at fisticuffs and we do not hit each other..ever. A Millpond is a pond formed by a milldam. OR any expanse of calm water OR a pool formed by damming up a stream to provide water to turn a millwheel.  Well both of these areas qualify, no one is right and no one is wrong..it is all in your perception.  So Far Guy is half correct and I am half correct..exactly 50%. No more, no less..50 % wrong too..I can live with that.  Now finally we can put this argument to rest:)