North Shore Morning

On August 17, 1862 a group of four young Dakota men on a hunting expedition killed five settlers who lived along the Minnesota river in what is now southwest Minnesota, igniting a war that claimed hundreds of lives on both sides of the conflict.  The war lasted about 6 weeks and culminated in the largest one day mass execution in U.S. history and the expulsion of all Dakota peoples from the state. This week marks the 150th anniversary of this tragic event in Minnesota history.

WTIP North Shore Community Radio is airing a one hour documentary on the Dakota War, Saturday, August 18 at 5:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, August 19 at 1:00 p.m.  The documentary, "A Clash of Cultures: Understanding the Dakota War of 1862,"  was produced for Minnesota's AMPERS stations by documentarians Milt and Jamie Lee.  Click on the audio mp3 above to hear a recent WTIP interview with the Lees about the project.

With each passing day, signs of fall continue creeping into the north woods. Most notable since we last met on the radio was the coolness of last weekend. Fact is that last Sunday morning really gave notice of things coming down the pike when the temp dipped in to the mid-40s at Wildersmith. It was actually sweatshirt time, quite September-like, and pretty much stayed that way most of the day in spite of a bright Sol and azure skies.
 
More etchings of autumnal splendor are beginning to appear in the woods as a few moose maples are starting to curtail chlorophyll production, giving way to early stages of red/orange pigments. Meanwhile a flurry of tansy gold has exploded along area roadsides, and the black-eyed Susans are beaming like Hollywood starlets. Not to be forgotten, a couple juvenile sugar maples on the Mile O Pine have also detected the number of daylight minutes diminishing with daily regularity. They too have a tinge of scarlet haloing their leaf edges.
 
The first full week of August has seen the upper Trail dry out.  Precipitation in the meager amount of only four-tenths of an inch is all that has fallen since that end of July drenching.
 
All days are beautiful up the Trail and some are even better, but we residents sure do have an appreciation for regular rain… so it’s hoped that we don’t get caught in another one of those arid ruts that are plaguing many other parts of the country.  Thus far Mother Nature has been pretty darned good to us this summer.
 
With the usual seasonal happenings moved up about four to six weeks so far in 2012, one has to wonder if the next atmospheric segment might be coming in advance too. In addition to the early fall character mentioned both here and last week, it seems that the lake water at our dock on Gunflint is following suit.
 
Whereas the underwater mercury reading had declined to the low 70s last week, a check at keyboarding time of this scoop showed a drop to 70. This may only be temporary should we get another warm spell but, if not, this early change could be a significant hint that our Gunflint white time might come to stay in October as opposed to the usual November.
 
Tokens of prediction might also be coming from a few of the critters around here. The hummingbird activity has stepped up considerably at our sweet juice station. In the past week, the hubbub of take-offs and departures is suggesting that the mini birds might be tanking up in advance of an early departure.
 
Further, any number of the squirrels and chipmunks in the neighborhood are no longer engaging themselves in just hanging out and gorging themselves at our feeders. They are now busy in the pickup, transport and winter storage mode.
 
One of the real blessings for this time of the year is that the airborne fleets of stingers have backed off, at least in this area. For whatever reason, this reprieve from mosquito attacks is marked and welcomed.
 
I did, however, find that not all the bitin’ buzzers have tamed down. While I was doing a bit of tree removal recently, a swarm of (I guess honey) bees let me know that I was not welcome in their domain. Thank goodness I do not react adversely as some folks do, because several nips only served to make me realize that I’d better pursue another locale.
 
A few reminders of people happenings are now in order. The Pie & Ice Cream Social at Chik Wauk Museum and Nature Center is Saturday, the 11^th. Serving begins at 11 a.m. and runs ‘til 4 p.m. Come and enjoy the fruits of the forest!
 
The next weekend is the big Mid-Trail flea market, gift boutique and fundraiser auction, all at Fire Hall Number One along the Trail. Activity runs from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 18. Don’t miss this fun!
 
And, in closing, don’t forget the regular membership meeting of the Gunflint Trail Historical Society, this coming Monday, Aug. 13. The gathering will again be held at the Gunflint Lodge Conference Center beginning at 1:30 p.m. The program feature will be “Growing Up on the Gunflint” as three local gals who spent their summer childhood years along Gunflint Lake share some of their experiences. Treats will be served!
 
Keep on hangin’ on and savor an August offering on the Gunflint!

Airdate: August 10, 2012

One of the great joys of being in the tourism business is renewing the annual friendships with the faithful customers who return year after year.  I’ve been around long enough that I’m starting to become acquainted with the fourth generation in some families.
 
The Ross family from Merrillville, Indiana are well into the third generation camping at the Sawbill Lake campground.  Their three daughters are kind of unusual because they still like to go on vacation with their parents, even though they are now 21, 19 and 17 years old.  The reason is that they are self professed fishing addicts.  They are ferociously protective of their fishing spots and extremely skilled in their techniques. 
 
This year they told me that they suffer from the common affliction of sibling rivalry and often have spirited arguments.  But, they never fight when they are fishing, because it is too loud and would scare the fish.  This further reinforces my theory that fishing is the answer for world peace.
 
John Schroeder Day is fast approaching in Schroeder.  Saturday, August 18, is the big day, with a full slate of fun activities planned.  It all starts with the Fire Department’s pancake breakfast at the town hall from 8 to 10 in the morning.  At 10:30 and again at 12:30, Skip Lamb will lead his popular and interesting history walk, starting at the Cross River Heritage Center.  At 11:30 and again at 1:30, Tony and Dion Cicak will demonstrate their sawmill at their house across the river from the Heritage Center.  At noon, a movie will be screened at the Heritage Center.  It’s called “Long White Boards” and is a look a the history and current state of logging in northern Minnesota. Jim Norvell will speak about the history of Father Baraga’s Cross at 1 p.m.  Meet him at the cross.  Zoar Lutheran Church will have a brat booth going all day, along with several other food and craft vendors.  As always, be there or be square.
 
My good friend, Steve Wilbers, will be in the area on Saturday, August 11.  Steve is a prolific professional writer and a dedicated canoeist in the BWCA Wilderness.  His last two books are personal histories of the BWCA Wilderness.  The first book is organized around Steve’s experience with his father and the second around his son, Eddie.  Published by the Minnesota History Press, the books are very well written and engaging, especially for anyone with a personal history in the wilderness.  Steve will be having a book signing at Drury Lane Book Store in Grand Marais at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 11.  Yours truly, who wrote the forward for the first book, will be joining him.  Steve is one of the nicest people that I know, so stop by and meet him if you have the chance.
 
The North Shore Stewardship Association will be presenting a program called: The Storm of the Century and the Building of Split Rock Lighthouse on Saturday, August 18, at 10 a.m.  Jennifer Niemi, program manager at Split Rock Lighthouse, will present the amazing story of the construction of the light station and the lives of the light keepers and their families who have made it their home.  The program is free, open to the public and is at the Sugar Loaf Interpretive Center just off Highway 61 on the Duluth side of Schoeder.
 
Fishing has remained remarkably good in the West End for this late in the season.  The conservation officers report good catches on Lake Superior and the stream trout are still biting due to higher than normal water levels.  Small mouth bass are downright suicidal right now and even the walleyes are biting in the evening.  I saw a picture of a 29-inch walleye that was caught and returned to an area lake by a ten year old visitor this week.

Dr. Seth Moore is Director of Biology and Environment with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

The Grand Portage Reservation is located in the extreme northeast corner of Minnesota, on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Cook County. Bordered on the north by Canada, on the south and east by Lake Superior and on the west by Grand Portage State Forest, the reservation encompasses a historic fur trade site on beautiful Grand Portage Bay.

The band engages in fisheries and wildlife research projects throughout the year, working with moose, wolves, fish, deer, grouse, and environmental issues. Dr. Moore appears regularly on WTIP North Shore Community Radio, talking about the band's current and ongoing natural resource projects, as well as other environmental and health related issues of concern.

In this segment, Dr. Moore talks about attending a climate change symposium at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., with other coastal tribes from around the United States.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

A couple of weeks ago, West End seniors took at trip to Grand Portage. They enjoyed a picnic and fellowship at Elderly Nutrition Services, and then toured the new visitor’s center at Grand Portage State Park. Some of the items in the interpretive display were contributed by avid Birch Grove supporter Iola Wojtysiak. The new, critically acclaimed historical documentary about Grand Portage was screened and enjoyed by all.

On Wednesday August 8, the West End Seniors are once again taking advantage of Grand Marais State Bank's generous gift of the AEOA bus for a trip to Finland Community Center for lunch and music. There is a small charge for lunch. The bus leaves around 10:45 from Birch Grove, and will probably have extra spaces, so feel free to join in for a fun day. There will be no senior lunch at Birch Grove that day.

Senior lunch will continue to be every Wednesday after that with a delicious menu prepared by Barb Merritt. Everyone is welcome, but give a call ahead if you are not a regular to make sure enough food is prepared.

Keep in mind the annual fall color tour to Trestle Inn in September. Details will be announced as the date draws nearer. As always, you can call Patty at 663-7977 for details about activities at Birch Grove. Or, stop by for a visit and a look at all the construction that is underway this summer.

The renovation of Father Baraga’s cross in Schroeder is now nearly complete. Volunteer Ginny Storlie from Lutsen quipped that it is an ecumenical project as the Lutherans did most of the work to spruce up a memorial to a Catholic priest. Stop by to see the results of all the recent labor.

I was pleased to read that the new cell phone tower in Tofte is moving ahead. Another cell tower is reportedly scheduled to go up in Schroeder this summer. It is long past time that the entire West End had reliable cell service. When I was traveling in rural Kenya in 2010, I mentioned to my hosts that my community didn’t have reliable cell service. The folks I was talking to are subsistence farmers, in their 70's, who have never had electricity or running water, and they were appalled to hear about our lack of cell service. They not only had good service on their farm, but they had a choice of three providers. Granted, they had to take their phones to a shop in the village to be charged by a small generator, but once charged, they used their phones routinely. The patriarch of the family, a lovely man named Dixon Oolu, remarked that he was under the impression that the United States was a well-developed country and he couldn’t imagine how we got along without cell service. I’m glad that we’ll soon be catching up to rural Kenya technologically.

Shelby Gonzalez, marketing manager for the Cook County Visitors Bureau, wants people to know that there is a new resource available for information about bicycling on the Bureau’s website, found at visitcookcounty.com. Along with general information about all the wonderful biking opportunities in Cook County and especially the West End, the website allows you to print out detailed maps and descriptions of bike routes that are customized to your, or your customers, personal preferences. Call Shelby at 387-2788 if you have questions or suggestions.

Last week, a friendly and outgoing fellow named Jerry Vandiver paid a visit to Sawbill. Jerry is an avid canoeist and a frequent and well-known visitor to the county, especially around Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail. When he’s not canoeing, Jerry is a professional songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He basically goes to the office every day and writes songs for country music stars. His name is on tens of millions of recordings, including some major hits for country music legend Tim McGraw, among others.

While visiting here at Sawbill, Jerry invited local songwriters Bump Blomberg and Eric Frost to a jam session around the campfire. The Sawbill crew and lucky campers were treated to hours of top quality music from three accomplished songwriters. Jerry, the consummate professional, was highly complimentary of our local songwriters skills. Jerry is planning to return next year, for another songwriter’s jam here at Sawbill. He is also working with North House Folk School to explore teaching a songwriting class there in the future.

“Neebing” has moved into August, and before the northland can even blink its eyes, the full blueberry moon has come and gone. Yep, a couple nights ago the big cheese in the heavens glistened down on the land of midnight blue waters.

If you missed this one, though, we’ll have another before Augustus will bade us farewell. I don’t know what the Ojibwe call it, but this a month of the blue moon.

A review of the week’s weather has seen a goodly amount of rain in the Wildersmith neighborhood, and some typical summer temps, not too hot and not too cold. The rain gauge readings in my yard totaled just about four and one-half inches with one effort yielding a wonderful two during one overnight drenching.

This rain has held the Gunflint Lake level summer decline in check for the time being. It had been dropping off about three-quarters of an inch per day in spite of the off and on rains that have happened in the past six weeks.

The rain has also cooled the water temperature slightly. At our dockside, a week ago, it was 78 degrees, and since, has dropped off to the low- to mid-70s in concert with some cooler night air.

Our new month has me thinking of autumn. The dogbane along area roadsides has already taken on a 24-carat hue. I see wild rose hips having emerged into their brilliant scarlet tone, and there’s a strange early color transition in the tamaracks up on the Chik-Wauk site.

It’s also harvest time in a big way all over the territory. Take your pick from blueberries, serviceberries or the reds of raspberry and thimbleberries. It looks to me like there’s going to be a lot of potential for pie makin’ and jam/jelly preserving.

Another moment of time in the forest has shown me a number of those wooly caterpillars. All observed to date are nearly coal black with little to no brown.

I don’t know if there is any significance to this coloring issue. I remember someone once mentioning that the darker the woolies, the harsher will be the coming winter. So much for that old wives tale, but if there is really something to it, bring it on and let’s see!

Several critter reports have come my way during the past week. A gal down the road tells of having a quartet of pileated woodpeckers land in her yard. They came in single file formation and touched down in the same manner. They hung out for a while, then departed one right after the other. I have never seen four in one group at the same time. Perhaps it was parents and kids on an educational outing.

Same lady also tells of having a loon pair cruise into and around her little bay on Gunflint recently. This is not too unusual, but the fact that momma loon had three chicks crawl onto her back via an extended wing seems rare to me. I have never seen a loon pair with more than twins.

Up the animal ladder another rung or two, I have two reports of a large Canada lynx sighting. The bigger-than-usual cat was first observed in the middle of South Gunflint Lake road by a bicyclist. More recently, it came into and hung out in a resident’s yard along the Mile O Pine, providing a number of photo ops.

If this fat cat is as large as reported, it’s no wonder that I’ve been noticing a scarcity of snowshoe hares lately. From a nutrition standpoint, this wild feline probably thinks it’s died and gone to heaven, because we’ve been seeing an increasing number of the long ears for the past couple years.

Getting back to thinking of pies, residents and visitors alike should mark their calendars for the third annual pie and ice cream feast sponsored by the Gunflint Trail Historical Society. The sweet treat event will be held Saturday, Aug. 11 on the grounds at the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donations from the fundraising effort will go to the Museum to assist with continuing program development.

A trip up the Trail will be well worth the time to get a sampling of the great pastry skills of resident bakers. Think of that, pies from the fruits of the forest served out in the forest, it can’t get any better!

Keep on hangin’ on, and savor the sweetness of the woods!

Airdate: August 3, 2012

Photo courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.

The Banadad Trail Association is undertaking a fundraising campaign to construct a new section of the trail and enlarge the parking area on the trail’s west end.

The project will reconstruct the west end of the Banadad Trail, which crosses private property, secure a permanent easement, and ensure continued access for skiers from the west end.

A change in property ownership will allow the group to improve the west end of the trail, which is popular with both day skiers as well as the through skiers, who ski the entire 29 kilometers in one day.

The project cost is $11,340. The BTA has been awarded a Trail Connections Grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)that will cover $7,800 and the Association must raise the balance.

In this interview, WTIP volunteer Mark Abrahamson talks with Banadad Trail Association president Linda Bosma.

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What is known today as the BWCAW'S longest groomed ski trail, the Banadad, was developed many years ago as a network of old trails and logging roads.

In the late l920's Charlie and Petra Boostrom established their homestead just southwest of Meeds Lake on Moon Lake. With the Boostrom's help a logging camp was built near the lake and a logging road constructed between Moon and Poplar Lake.

Most of the timber from the Moon Lake area was transported along this road across Poplar and then down the Gunflint Trail to Grand Marais. Some of the logs were sawed at Sam Sepalla's saw mill located where Poplar Lake Lodge now stands.

Construction of the Finn Lake logging road began in the late l950s. This road was to become the eastern end of the Banadad. The road began at the General Logging Company's abandoned railroad grade just east of Poplar Lake (now the Lima Mountain Grade) and proceeded due west about ten miles to Finn Lake passing just north of Moon Lake enroute. Portions of the old Moon to Poplar logging road were incorporated into this new road.

The construction of the road and the subsequent logging was controlled by the Kimberly- Clark Company. While several small logging camps sprung up along the road, the company's largest camp was built just north of the old Moon Lake logging camp.

According to Hank Larson who was logging in the area during this period, "in l962 there were some eighteen to twenty-four men logging in the Finn Lake area. About twelve of them were "shackers." Shackers is the term used to describe the men living in the camps.

During the early l960s another road was constructed from the Finn Lake Road north between Banadad and Rush Lakes across the Banadad Creek, continuing north for another quarter mile where it intersected with the Dawkin's and Birch Cliff Logging Roads. The Dawkins Road came in from the west and the Birch Cliff Road from the east. The Dawkin's road, also know as the Rib Lake road, began at the Gunflint Trail near the Loon Lake Public Landing. The Birch Cliff road connected with what was then the Winchell Lake fire trail beginning on the Gunflint Trail just east of Poplar Lake (now the access road to the Poplar Lake Public Landing).

In l964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act most of this area was place within the newly created Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCAW). The act prohibited logging in most of the area. Road construction and logging ceased, the men moved out and over the next twenty years the forest began to reclaim the logging roads.

Meanwhile the resorts on the Gunflint Trail began developing cross country ski trails.In l972 the first ski trails of what was to become the Upper Gunflint Trail system were constructed by Borderland Lodge.

About the same time the owner of a now defunct resort on Hungry Jack Lake and Bearskin Lodge began developing ski trails. These trails were to develop into Bearskin and Golden Eagle Lodges' Central Gunflint Ski Trail System.Following a bitter struggle pitting mostly city "preservationist" against "local" people from the area surrounding the BWCAW the l978 "BWCAW Act" was passed by Congress. While local residents were not happy with the legislation, they had managed to incorporate into the bill a provision that allowed for the grooming of ski trail within the BWCAW by snowmobiles.

By the early l980s Borderland, Gunflint and Heston's Lodges in the Upper Gunflint area and Bearskin and Golden Eagle Lodges in the Central Gunflint had develop extensive ski trail systems. They were now interested in connect the two systems.

Thus in l982 at the urging of the lodges, the U.S. Forest Service authorized the construction within the BWCAW of a ski trail between the Upper and Central Gunflint ski systems. The old Dawkins road, Birch Cliff and Finn Lake system was selected as the proposed route for this trail. During the summers of 1982 the accumulated forest growth was cut and cleared by crews from the Forest Service from the Dawkins, Birch Cliff and the eastern end of the Finn Lake Roads. Grooming by snowmobile of the this trail was authorized and the trail was opened for skiing that winter.

The Subsequent year the Finn Lake Road and Banadad links were cleared and this route replaced the Birch Cliff section as the Banadad's eastern end. The Upper and Central Ski system were now connected by a twenty- seven kilometer groomed ski trail through the wilderness. First called the Ski Thru Trail, Artery Trail or Tucker Lake Trail, depending upon whom you spoke to, the trail was officially named, by the Gunflint ski resorts, the Banadad in 1984.

More information at www.banadad.org. 

Deane Morrison is a science writer at the University of Minnesota, where she authors the Minnesota Starwatch column. In this edition of Northern Sky, Deane explains what's going on in the first weeks of August. There are two full moons, plus a rare grouping of two planets and a star. Learn more in this edition of Northern Sky.

Read this month's Starwatch column.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Rokos via Flickr.

Welcome back to Magnetic North where the air is filled with winged things, and not the kind with feathers!

No, I speak not of the dread mosquito, or black fly or no-seeum, but of butterflies. For some reason, the population of Monarch and Swallowtails is way, way up this season. With the first blossoming of dandelions on our backyard lawn, the burnt orange Monarchs literally swarmed above the ocean of yellow fuzz balls.

My granddaughter, Jane, stood in the cloud of Monarchs with her arms literally cutting through the waves of the jeweled insects above and around her. A photo op if ever there was one!

A few days later, the Swallowtails appeared. These are the mustardy gold butterflies with black tipping on their wings. As if being beautiful weren’t enough, the Swallowtails show off by grouping on a patch of ground, usually a sunny patch of gravel. Once a critical mass forms, the little darlings appear to vibrate in unison. Makes me wonder what’s going on.

Probably innocent enough. But even bugs have their kinky side, I suppose.

On the darker side, literally, we have the creatures of the night; the stunning moths gyrating around every porch light. For sheer over-the-topness, I choose the Cecropia moth--one of the biggies, only with more than size setting it apart from the pack.

This season, I inadvertently trapped a female Cecropia inside a screen window one night. Come morning, the outside of the screen was plastered top to bottom with males, half her size but all aflutter with hormones.

Only the Luna moth outdoes the Cecropia for loveliness. Every year at least one clings to our siding for the night, pausing until the noon sun hits her sea-green wings, allowing admirers to Ohhhh and Ahhhh over her long, droopy teardrop-shape wings.

Green, yellow, orange - it’s like fireworks without the hiss and bang. Tender awe.

Memorable. Even now, weeks later, I can look out on the back lawn, where dandelions are gone to seed and nothing fills the air but raindrops and a clear picture appears: my darling towheaded Janey, pirouetting midst the monarchs.

And while I would like to see only such pleasant scenes out my window, I am sad to report that my groundhogs are still with me. Not only are they tougher to trap than I’ve been told, but they too have been inspired by our early spring. Where there were two, there are now FIVE! And the little ones are even cuter than the parents.

Time to call my neighborhood trapper. Perhaps he can catch and release them where I so pitifully failed.

Other than that, I am in baby bird heaven right now. The turkey poults are a month old and my two are so tame already that they jump out of the brooder to be cuddled.

Add to that joy, I now have two just-hatched Buff goslings that miraculously arrived on the mail truck from Duluth on Wednesday. I give the Post Office mega-high fives for navigating the flooded roads and getting the birds here in time to get the food and water they so desperately need in those first few days. Of course, being geese, they stuck their scrawny little necks out and assumed a don’t-mess-with-me attitude right out of the carton. But after a few nights of watching TV in my lap, I’ll socialize them. With geese, that is even more important than making a dog people-friendly. Geese live 20-plus years.

How’s that for optimism on my part, huh?

Now if only I can train the little buggers to trim around flower beds and fence lines, I’ll be set for the next two decades!

Airdate: July 23, 2012

One can hardly believe that by the next time we meet on the radio, July will have been chalked up to the record books. 2012 is flying by out of control everywhere, including here along the Gunflint Trail.

The brunt of the vacation season is upon us up and down the Trail. While the warmth of the summer has a few of us somewhat grouchy, our weather has been a welcome relief for everyone coming into the territory from all places south.

Mother Nature has been yo-yoing around in the past seven days. A couple segments have been downright outstanding for July, but the rest have been a no-fun example of heat and humidity.

Further, she gave us another dose of that “not much rain for now” (about a half inch total for the past week here at Wildersmith). This precipitation neglect has made stepping through the woods on the crispy side.

To make things worse, due to a few spotty summer storms that have cropped up, lightning has set off several fire episodes, creating some smoky conditions here in the upper Trail reaches.

Last Saturday morning folks along Gunflint Lake awoke to smoky smells and skies. We were finally brought up to speed that there was fire in Manitoba as well as a few lightning-ignited spots around Ely and near the Pagami Creek inferno of last summer.

Winds eventually swept the unwelcome memories of fire away, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Yet we know all too well that we’re never completely out of danger as long as there are people, lightning and tinder dry elements that can combine to change things in a hurry. Thanks again to the firefighting folks who jumped on these hot spots before they could become a major problem!

We all must be extremely careful since there seems to be an unwillingness to invoke burning bans. So much for all the science on the issue of fire danger; it’s d-r-y, dry out here.

The annual Gunflint Trail canoe races are history for 2012. Huge thanks go out to the Jamiesons (Margit & Jim) and nearly 100 or so volunteers that worked to make it happen. A final tally of the resources raised for the Trail Fire and Rescue Departments showed that their coffers were increased by approximately $14,500.

In so doing the Gunflint community had a swell evening of fun on an absolutely splendid northwoods evening. The grand prize drawing found Karen Reilly of Rochester, Minn., taking home the Spirit II Wenonah Canoe.

I recently heard of a security breach at a residence up near the end of the trail. It turns out that there was some peculiar breaking and entering. The residents came home to find screens damaged on their porch and that someone had done some rummaging around in the enclosure, but nothing seemed to be missing.

Screens were patched, but no sooner was this done than a second illegal entry happened, and this time the culprits were caught. A surveillance set-up eventually found the intruders to be hungry flying squirrels that gnawed their way inside.

The curious nocturnal beings were easily deterred after determining who they were by simply closing the windows, although I’m sure that with this steamy weather, it has not been the most comfortable solution.

Meanwhile, I had a similar experience when a chipmunk came into my wood shop through an open door and apparently did not get out before the opening closed. I came in a day or so later to find that the panicked mini-rodent had scampered in a hundred different directions knocking items off windowsills and walls, generally kind of ransacking the place, while seeking an escape route.

I never did find it in the facility and never observed the critter departing as I made my first re-entry. After a few days, though, the old whiff, whiff method led me to its final demise. I’m surely the one to blame on this one!

Keep on hangin’ on and savor a cool cruise on a lake in Gunflint territory!

Airdate: July 27, 2012