Nosey Rosey April 29

Aaaaah- Rooo!! This is Nosey Rosey for WTIP comyooonitee radio. Mud season! Snow Season! Mud season! Snow Season! Come on! Make up your mind Mother Nature. I love snow but enough already, and I love mud but let’s just get it over with. OK?

Didya know that Poplar Lake got the highest “Nasty Winter” index in the state? Enough! Bark Bark Bark! So let’s just toss a few more inches on top just to celebrate being the best… or worst.. or whatever!

The Gunflint Trail is white – again! Grrrrrrr! Three more inches of white fluffy stuff fell midweek and sun is a rare thing in the forecast. One relatively new Trail resident asked if this is the kind of weather that makes all the old timers cranky.

Did he mean?..... That I?.... Yeah, it can put a damper on your day but you have to look at the bright side. More snow means you get a few more days before you have to clean up the yard.

And if you put on some Christmas music it kinda feels a bit like late October! Sleigh bells riingggg…
Oh… Sorry….

One late snow bonus is that the gold finches and warblers and juncos flock to the feeders giving all you humans something pretty to look at while you stare out the window at all that whiteness.

Other birds aren’t so pretty or nice. My friend Denali up on Round Lake has ravens building a nest near her house. They tease her! Then they mock her and say mean things and make her SO MAD! RRRuufff! One of these days they’re gonna go too far and she’s gonna get ‘em! Ruff ruff Ruff!

Speaking of changing from white to brown… It IS wabbit season! The upper Gunflint Trail has lot’s ‘o wabbits hopping around. And where there are wabbits there are sure to be lynx! I predict there be lots of lynx sightings this summer.

Lynx are kinda strange. There’s the long legs in back with huge feet and those little tuft-y ears. And they have that, “Hey, I’m too cool,” cat look which really means, “I have no prefrontal cortex at all, am incapable of forward thinking and really just look like this because there is nothing going on up there. But if you are tiny, furry, brown and run away, I’ll chase you and catch you. Fast!”

Somebody needs to eat all those wabbits.

There will be a lot’s of people running like rabbits this Sunday May 1 in the Ham Run Half Marathon and 5K. One lane of the Gunflint Trail will be closed during the race but should be open again by about 1:30 PM. I see lots of folks around town training and putting in the miles. Hopefully the weather will be OK. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about it being too warm.

Of course what everybody wants to know is when the ice will go out from the lakes up the Trail. Last year we were already paddling by now. It was the earliest ice out on record. Let’s just say that it’ll be a while yet for most lakes but I have no doubt that things should be fully liquid by fishing opener.

There is open water in the Cross River and the ponds leading up to Ham Lake. Just to see flowing water and hear the rush feels so good. I can’t wait for the first bone chilling swim. Brrrrr… Well maybe I can wait but it’ll be exciting just the same.

Ok, I gotta run ‘cuz it is spring and everybody around here is doing things to get ready for summer and they’re give me the look like maybe I should be doing something besides yackin’.

So long for now! This is Nosey Rosey for WTIP comyoonity radio. Bark, Bark!

Airdate: April 29, 2011

Photo courtesy of Tom Kelly via Flickr.