Had planned on some dock building in mid-May up at the LOTW, but just got this yesterday....



Not sure how excited I am about a dock job in the snow. Is winter hanging-late anywhere else this year? We've had the driest April here on record so-far, and no end in sight. I'm headed out shortly to fire-up my sprinklers to keep my trees and grass from expiring. Weird weather here anymore, and elsewhere too obviously.

This is what I was hoping to be seeing....

Most of the lakes are still frozen, north of the cities, Lloyd. Couple farmers I know made the decision not to fertilize this year, ground temps locally aren’t even 50 degrees, they will be planting late, compounding their woes.


The good news is the green weenies have shut the hell up for a spell. You can point out that the usual suspects have been wrong on every single prediction they made since the first earth day, in 1970, but, it doesn’t really make the impact that a good, old fashioned cool wet spring does. It was too cold this year to have our earth day celebration of lighting all the two strokes up at once, and the ceremonial burning of a tire.

Hold the dock building off until school is out. You’ll get more help.

Best,
Ted

I meant to tell you, you might want to look into one of these:

https://www.floeintl.com/aluminum-docks-and-lifts/roll-in-stationary-dock/

A buddy bought one. We walk it into the lake in the spring, and pull it out with a pickup in the fall. Best cabin investment he has made, according to him.

Something to consider.

Do you think we would get in trouble if we put a clay pigeon machine on the end of the dock, and shot over the river? Might be another good earth day tradition. Don’t figure the hogs could get into the broken pigeons that way.

Best,
Ted

Ted:

I had been looking for such a thing at the big box stores, and while they used to have them, they don't seem to anymore. Thankyou for this suggestion as it is very timely. Sadly, there are boats and neighbors across the way from where the dock goes, otherwise the thrower would be a nice addition to things there. Civilization is finally creeping into even that world as well. More's the pity.

Lloyd, we don't have anything like the snow in your photo. However, looking out my window, the lawn is now mostly white and big flakes floating down. However, it's scheduled to be in the 40's tomorrow.

Strange weather. We'll have a couple nice, early spring days, then a couple more days of winter. But we'd love to send you some of our moisture. We had a lot more snow this year than last. And quite a bit of rain on warmer days. We're WAY ahead when it comes to moisture.

And Ted, farmers should be happy if they're growing corn. They may need to plant later using seed that matures quicker. But the market should be good to them. Ukraine is a major corn producer, and that won't be happening. Plus if E-15 is approved on an emergency basis for summer sale, the ethanol plants will be buying more corn. All of that, of course, at least partially offset due to higher fuel prices. But I'd think they should come out ahead. However, farmers always seem to lean in the pessimistic direction. And in view of the fact that they're at the mercy of Mother Nature in addition to global commodity markets, that's not hard to understand.

Appears to be a shortage of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere. I'm thinking of setting fire to my compost heap.

Not if you buy "bio(s)". They decompose very quickly.

It was in jest, Stan. Lloyd’s cabin sits in a pretty spot in the universe. Any practice shooting I need to get done would be done before I got there. I’m either hunting grouse or fishing, when in that part of the world, or, an activity related to either, say, grilling, eating, drinking beer, or some other foolishness.

The WMA at Red Lake is fairly unique by Minnesota standards, in that camping is permitted, and there is an unimproved shooting range on site. Both are typically forbidden on WMAs in Minnesota.

Best,
Ted

Very long winter here. Still many without power in NW ND after the second major snow/ice storm snapped 000's of poles and tipped transmission towers. Much of state in severe drought last fall, but now we have flooding, with roads underwater or washed out. Gov. just declared whole state a disaster area. Many ranchers had to sell off most of their herds for lack of hay, and now many calves died from the spring storms. Dairyman had 0000's of gallons of milk spoil due to blocked roads. Good for the ducks though, and for the snow goose hunters. The birds had to migrate back south and have been here for weeks, just starting to head back north now. Lots of both wild and domestic birds perished from the bird flu, but I don't know if that is weather related. Now waiting for more heavy rain this week, so the farmers are getting antsy about getting their crops in on time.

Yup-- whether by Mother Nature, or the corporate greed extant that drives the commodity markets as well as Wall Street "crap game", the hard working farmers of America are the ones taking the brunt--look at the outrageous gas and diesel fuel prices- well, farmers have to fuel their equipment, plus fertilizers and seed. On another note, next October's pheasant hunting may well slump as well-Guess Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood and Wall Drug, and Biker Week in Sturgis are about all SD has to hope for--damn shame too. RWTF

Well, I've made other plans as well. In the interim, I'm going flyfishing down in New Mexico (not much snow down there, ever). There is a workaround, it seems, for just about everything. Sorry to hear about all the challenges in North Dakota (& elsewhere). Farming always seems to be feast or famine, but you never hear about the feasts.

Lloyd,
A friend has a cabin in he Detroit Lakes area, 20” of ice left on the lake, as of today.

Spring is late. Last year, the lake was ice free the first week of April.

Don’t be in a hurry to get back.

Best,
Ted

Ted:

I've just notified all the denizens of "The Popple Palace" of my change in plans. Looking like late May now, or even early June. Surely the weather gods will allow for all the fun outdoorsy stuff by then? I also just picked up a little part-time job at a local gun club Friday. so that is yet another complication to my schedule for the Summer. All good though....making a little "pin" money to allow for additional silliness to be contemplated. Who cares what gas or shells cost now, eh?

Chris is working the gun club. At age 15, they begged him to work, and will allow for his school sports. He comes home with cash tips almost every day, a typical weekend nets $100, before wages, or so, thus far. Good that you guys have something in common, besides me, anyway.

Late May should be good. You might not be doing any swimming.

Best,
Ted

Working at a gun club sounds a lot better than being a caddy at the Elks for fifty cents to two bucks a round. Then again the Elks did have a pool with girls around it in yellow polka dot bikinis, you know those ittsy bitty, tinny weenie yellow……..

I was a lifeguard at a little lake and resort in Western Pennsylvania all through highschool and collage. The pay was miniscule but the scenery (& other distractions) was worth every penny that I wasn't making. It's funny how your priorities change with time, isn't it? The extracurricular stuff doesn't seem to mean much these days....