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Valhalla Opening Memorial Day 2009

Becky and I headed north for the Memorial Day weekend. She made a stop in Evansville Illinois to watch Tom race at nationals again. He had a very respectable time but the competition was better this year. She drove the fifteen hours from there to meet me at Crane Lake. I had only minimal problems with the water this year. The biggest problem was when the pump wouldn't shut off. Eventually I decided to check the foot valve only to find it wasn't there. It came off when I threw the pipe into the lake. Needless to say, that meant that I had to go for a swim. Fortunately, I had my wetsuit as the water was cold and the foot valve was about as far out as it could possibly be (but I found it). Dad had been up since the beginning of May. He saw a few freezes so his tomato plants died. He did some low water work in the lagoon that now is under water due to high water. He did a lot of brushing including quite a bit on my side. He expects Boots next weekend but didn't look like he had been starving. He did mention a lack of desserts (Mara and Pinggy brought him brownies). I made use of my license right away the morning after arrival and only made it back as far as Clearwater Bay before I had caught dinner (and my limit of Northerns).

Mike's family was opening their side this weekend as well. They stopped over for a visit. They were surprised to find that Dad could speak anything besides dog. Dad bent their ear a bit. He has seen a lot of birds around his feeders including some wood ducks for the first time.

Mara and Mirek listened on. Mara is just finishing her junior year and is starting to think about her college options but no firm plans yet (Northwestern and St. Olaf were mentioned). Mirek has taken after his father and is reading The Fountainhead (and soon Atlas Shrugged) by Ayn Rand.

On Sunday, Ettrick and I hiked a few of the trails.

Her favorite is hiking to the point where she can always find a stick to play with.

We were spotted by John Adams and Jerry Brantner who then came over for a visit. John has a nice new boat. He didn't get his fishing boat though. Maybe that is why he was having trouble catching any fish.

After the visit, Ettrick and I hiked the Brantner trail and cut down a few logs that crossed the path. It is obvious that the bear doesn't like us posting signs in his living room.

Dad has posted a lot of signs on the trails. I won't ruin the surprise in case you make it up here, but here is a sample:

Becky and I went fishing in the evening. She caught a nice one that I didn't manage to land for her. We did see some nice wildlife including this beaver...

...and this eagle.

We had Dad over for supper. We went on an inspection tour of the Norway seedlings we had planted in recent years. Most are surviving well. Here is the brush pile he had built up from my end of the property (and Canada's).

Monday was pretty quiet on the lake. I went out trolling and caught three small northerns that I threw back.

I got pretty close to about 8 of these turkey vultures. They were hoping I would bring more fish home for them.

Andrew and Kendra's Wedding Day

Rehearsal Day