The loons are back

The loon calls came from this part of the lake on Saturday.
We both heard them on Saturday afternoon. Then, in the evening, as we soaked in the hot tub, the calls came from the north end of the lake. Not many calls, but a couple.





On Sunday morning on the deck the loon calls from this part of the lake, just a little south of our place.











And, then, there they were on Sunday afternoon, moving effortlessly and leisurely to the south of us. We first spotted them just beyond where our dock would be if it were in the water. We are so glad to see them. (In this photo, they are small dots near the lower center.) Now, we are hoping that they can find a suitable spot for a nest.



This shows Bob making a call from his lake "office."
We arrived at the lake early on Friday afternoon. After we opened the doors and windows, Bob did a little business--on the deck, of course.


Saturday was a work day. Bob took a load of stuff to the "transfer site" in Almena. We used to call it the landfill or the dump. With an empty pickup truck (whose moniker is "Aubergine"), he got a load of wood for the hot tub stove from Allen West. This is one of his stacks of wood. While Bob was doing his projects, Peggy went to the Johnstown Annual Meeting with Jim and Gloria to see local government in action. That's a story in itself--for another time.


Bob cleaned and filled the hot tub, stacked the wood, put the batteries back in the summer cars; Peggy cleaned up some chairs and a couple of tables for the deck and did the inside odds and ends that signal the beginning of the season.





Here's a photo of the Breyers' house at sunset.
The reflected light of the sunset on the east shore of the lake was gorgeous. This photo doesn't come close to the warm, pastel light that bathes that side of the lake at the end of the day.





Here's Bob, the MG, and Aubergine.
Sunday's project, other than enjoying the sight and sounds of the loons, was getting the MG to start. We tried to give it a tow to get it started but it didn't work. Bob decided it was a AAA job to get the MG to Gene's for a new starter motor. Always somehting with a 58-year old car!





Bob coaxing the MG.













Bob inspected the garden with me.
It is about to sprout but it's a tad too soon to be uncovering it. Can't wait to get back up to start that. With the trees in bud but no leaves, the birds were easy to spot. I wish I knew them better.

The tarda tulips are coming up. These came from Susan's house two years ago. They multiply quickly and will be a pretty border along this walk. They are charming, short, yellow tulips when they bloom. We hope we'll be at the lake when they do. The daffodils are starting to poke through--in a couple of weeks there should be some color.

Ice is nearly gone

Bob and I arrived on Thursday afternoon. Pipe and North Pipe Lakes were covered with a thin layer of ice starting about 15-20 feet from the shoreline. The temperatures have been in the 40s and it has been gray and drizzly.
We've seen wild turkeys, deer (8 in the meadow at 220th Av and W Pipe Lake Lane), woodpeckers, black birds, and a number of birds we can't identify. We are not experienced birders. On Saturday, Bob got a load of wood from Allen West on Hwy 8. It was a cold, drippy day but he got it stacked. Colleen, Richard, Nancy, Marian, and Gene came from Bone Lake, Minneapolis, and Taylors Fall to have dinner with us on Saturday night. We talked about Colleen and Nancy's trip to Boliva with Mano a Mano. We watched pictures of Bolivia and also pictures of our Siberian adventure. There was a lot more conversation too and the food was good.
This morning, Sunday, there were a lot of birds on the lake. Nearly all the ice is gone and what is left is very thin and thawing rapidly. We saw some brightly colored ducks, sea gulls, a pair of coots (?), and several others that could have been loons, but not quite... We had a dip in the hot tub. The temps have dropped into the 30s at night so it's been hard to get the water temperature up. Yesterday it was also windy which changed the effective temperatures to below zero. The sun has tried to break through the clouds today but without much success.
As always, we hate to leave the lake.