LoonWatch

'65 turns 65!

2008-09-22T19:00:00.003-05:00

Kay, Wayne, and Peggy.
Kay had to work (booooo!) Bob and Peggy picked up Wayne to go to the birthday party in Los Altos at DJ and Raph's.

DJ, Barbara, Peggy and Estrellita: Some are already 65 and some are almost there!

The outrageously delicious birthday cake. We missed Sharon and Kay but didn't waste their cake!

Mills men of the Class of 1965: Bruce, Ralph, Wayne, Raleigh, and Bob. TODAY was Raleigh's actual 65th birthday!

Birthday near the river

2008-09-22T13:00:00.001-05:00

[Trying to post of picture here but not having much luck. will try again later...]

Joyce took us to Scott's on the river in Sacramento to celebrate Eldon's birthday. It was a perfect day for an outdoor lunch. A delicious lunch it was. J&E are heading for Lake Tahoe on Tuesday to celebrate on the actual day.

BTW, Joyce is also a Frates great grandchild along with Bill, Dorothy, and Alice (see previous post!)

Eldon had a great birthday cake to celebrate his entrance into the septuagenarian decade: Molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream on one side and pouring custard with raspberries on the other edge. Don't wait for a birthday to have this treat!

Frates Genealogy

2008-09-21T23:08:00.001-05:00

Molly and Jerry

Bill (Jr), Alice, Peggy, Bill, Dorothy, and Cindy.

We spent the afternoon and evening poring over books and lists and charts of Frates and Lawrence ancestors. My 2nd cousin, Cindy, came from Paradise to Bill and Dorothy's in Auburn, CA. Alice, Cindy's aunt, was there from Grass Valley. Bill (Jr) was there from Seattle.
Bill, Dorothy, and Alice are Frates great grandchildren. Cindy, Bill Jr, Jerry, and I are Frates 2nd cousins. Molly is Jerry's daughter and our 2nd cousin once removed. Genealogy can be so mysterious and so much fun. We think we pieced together the relationship of those 5 Bettencourt boys who were raised by Tom and Mary Lawrence Frates. They were really Cardoza children of Mary Lawrence Frates' sister, Nellie Lawrence, and her first husband, Mr. Cardoza. Maybe you had to be there to see how the puzzle came together. We had a lot of laughs; plenty of entertaining stories; and a delicious chicken dinner that Bill Jr made and Dorothy topped off with her lemon meringue pies. Oh, such a happy day! It was terrific to meet Cindy--after several months of exchanging email. Now that Cindy has the Nellie connection figured out she's starting on Annie Lawrence. She just doesn't quit! Perseverance is an essential virtue for a genealogist!

Polina & Ksusha at the lake

2008-06-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

Ksusha checking the wifi connection at the lake.
Polina tries her hand at chocolate chip cookies. She's got the right touch!
Heading back to the city with bicycles.

Table for the lake

2008-06-08T11:38:00.006-05:00

Last fall, our California friend, Bob W, took on the project of making a round table for our lake place. He called a few weeks ago to let us know that the table was to be shipped around the middle of May. The van driver called to say he would be at our front door around noon today. He was right on time!
Van door open to disgorge the new table
Xavier, Bob, and Xavier's son with the table transferred to the pickup truck. We headed to the lake to deliver it.
Bob and Peggy trying out the new table that our friend Bob W made for us.
Kyle showing the table in its "window" position.
Kyle with computer stuff testing the new table. We are looking forward to using it and enjoying it. Hate to cover it with a cloth as it is so pretty all by itself.

Grand View Lodge with F&B

2008-06-07T15:43:00.016-05:00

Tom, Ann, and Marcia starting the bicycle tour.

The group as it starts the trail to Nisswa and beyond.

Peggy gets as far as Nisswa.

Bob, Peggy and Deb take a break at Nisswa.

Vehicles for the younger set!

John and Linda start grandparent practice.

Jane and Judy at Gull Lake shore

Tom, Bob, Mary, and Ray

Tom and Peggy

Sue and Tom

John enjoying the sunset

Day trips, Elena, Pontoon sights

2008-06-01T16:41:00.011-05:00

Lots of activity on this Sunday. After breakfast, Kyle and John went to Stout's Lodge for a croquet match. It's an annual event and we were glad they managed a couple of days at the lake before Stout's.

Here's Kyle in her "whites" for the croquet match. As Kyle and John left for Stout's at Red Cedar Lake, Peggy went to Minneapolis for a baby shower for Libby and her new daughter, Elena. Bob enjoyed a quiet Sunday by himself.
Libby and her sweet Elena.

Grandma Nancy enjoys holding Elena.

Liz came to the shower too.
Libby and Aunt Ana can't contain their grins about Elena.

Peggy returned to the lake in time for a pontoon ride. As we entered North Pipe Lake, we watched Tom guide the pontoon back to its dock while Joan, Camllia, Joan and Reid were at the ready.
When we returned to our dock, we sat for while to watch the reflection of the setting sun. We were so happy to see the loons so nearby.

Then we heard a commotion behind us and saw the heron at the bow of the pontoon. Peggy's flash signaled its hasty departure. Away it flew.
Dinner on the screen porch ended this busy day.

First pontoon cruise this year

2008-05-31T10:16:00.015-05:00

When we jumped into the pontoon to take the first cruise of the season, we discovered the battery was quite dead. Bob went into town to get a new one.

Kyle soaked in the hot tub and read a book while Bob got the new battery installed.

John and Kyle enjoy the ride in beautiful weather.

We went to the other side of the lake to pick up Christian and his Poppo and Mommo. Christian helped Bob at the helm. He did a good job!

At the south end of the lake we checked out this beaver lodge. It's big.

Christian helped secure the pontoon so that Jan and Ellen could disembark. Christian is enjoying his stay at Pipe Lake and doesn't seem to miss his siblings too much.

Ellen and Kyle sharing some laughs.

Christian working the lines.

Arriving back at the dock.

Tree swallow on a house intended for blue birds

2008-05-03T11:03:00.002-05:00

Blue bird on W Pipe Lake Lane

Another blue bird on a fence stake.

Compost bins at the ready

Lake level

2008-04-28T14:47:00.006-05:00

Last November this is what the south end of the lake looked like. The Canada geese were flocking for the trip south. Ordinarily, the south end of the lake does not have a wide beach but the water was quite low after the dry spring and summer.

This afternoon, April 28, 2008, the higher water level is quite evident. There are many birds but not too many in the water. We saw eagles and pheasants on the way to town this morning. Friday night we spotted sand hill cranes in a field on Cty Rd G. There are woodpeckers, warblers, and many others chirping noisily.

For sake of comparisons, here's a photo of the culvert last November:
You can see it's pretty dry. The optical effect is looking from one side of the opening on the north side of 205th Ave to the south side opening on the other side of the road.

Today, at noon, there is a bit of water starting to flow into the culvert. Bob thinks it was being blown in rather than flowing in. Could be...it has been plenty windy.

Looner Landings

2008-04-26T19:30:00.001-05:00

We arrived at the lake in the early evening. It was still light. Watched a pair of loons landing just to the south of us. Bonnie and Charlie are here too. They had seen the loons earlier in the day. It snowed last night and off and on today. Seems late for this.

Loons lounging in the Twin Cities

2008-04-24T22:31:00.002-05:00

Check out this article in the Star Tribune: flock of loons

Pipe Lake was still mostly frozen as of last weekend. We'll be at the lake on Saturday afternoon. It's been weeks since we have been there. We thought we'd missed most of the thawing action but, in fact, maybe we've not missed much at all. Will let you know.

Pipe Lakes Newsletter & Web Site

2008-04-19T14:00:00.004-05:00

An email from Dick Hollar today announces the April Newsletter.

Dick says, "Please review the newly redesigned format and send any comments back to me.
Also take special note of the following:
A little history
Turf grass vs. native grass
Opportunity to participate
New laws regarding bass fishing and rentals."

The newsletter has a link to the Pipe Lakes Web Site. I've put the website in the side bar links too.

In the Featured News section of the Pipe Lakes Web Site are links to all the newsletters that are online.

Carol and Dick have outdone themselves with such fine work!

Thanksgiving weekend at the lake

2007-11-23T20:02:00.000-06:00

Peggy and Susie at the airport as she was leaving to return to Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday afternoon.
Susie and Bob at the airport.
We arrived at the lake around 2 in the afternoon. Bob set right out to fill the hot tub. The water is 46ºF coming out of the well. When there was sufficient water to surround the stove, he fired it up to start heating the water. When the tub was filled, Bob pulled out the water hose and put it away. B U T, it became apparent that the water level was decreasing! The plug came out accidentally when the hose was withdrawn. Bob got out of his clothes and jumped in the 46º water to replace the plug!! When the plug was firmly in place (it took two tries!) he hustled into the house for a hot shower. Here he is in his parka and hat, sipping a hot toddy before we went to dinner at the County Line Tav.

All this manuevering paid off on Saturday night when we enjoyed a soak in the hot tub with our friends, Colleen and Rich. It was a clear night with a full moon---spectacular setting even though the temperature was around 25º with a pretty swift breeze.

Thanksgiving in Minneapolis

2007-11-22T20:58:00.000-06:00

First thing in the morning, Bob's got the bird stuffed, stitched and ready for the oven.
Susie starts the squash soup.
Bob's dressing is going in the oven.Susie finishes up the soup and it tastes darned good.
The table is set.
Guests start arriving: Susie and Susan
Sam and Serena pose for a photo. Sam and Ethan arrived sporting mohawk hairdos.
Bob basting the bird.
Ethan, Susie, and Sam make the punch.
Ethan, Susie and Sam showing off the lime punch.
Bacha (Shirley's grandma moniker) found a new board game, "You Gotta Be Kidding," to try out. It was a lot of laughs and provided a lot of entertainment. Figuring out how to play it was pretty entertaining in itself. Susan, Peggy, Serena, and Grandpa Bill are looking it over.
Bob with the roasted turkey. He made the gravy for the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Uncle/Grandpa Bill made the traditional chicken pot pie. There was also Shirl's creamed onions, Susan's green beans in a spicy yogurt sauce, Bob's brown-sugared baked and mashed yams. Shirley brought a Parisian green salad and Susie found sour dough bread to accompany it.
Bill and Tom tackled the first bunch of dishes to make room for the dessert to follow.
For the beginning of dessert, Ray, Joe, Ethan and Sam presented Peggy's birthday cake.
Mary and Shirley start serving the pies, cakes, whipped cream, and ice cream for dessert. Bill and Serena made pumpkin and pecan pies and brought a big box of cookies with icing. The cookies looked like turkeys and cornocopias. Tom and Mary arrived with pumpkin pie, carrot cake and whipped cream. Hmmm...it's a good thing there are some sweet teeth among us!
Bingo 5 is another new game introduced today. This is the dessert session. Bob is calling in the lower right. Peggy is observing and eating delicious pecan pie. The players are Ethan, Joey, Tom, Serena, Sam, Bacha, Ray, and Bill.
Sam was down to one card three times. Here he is hoping to win. Finally, in the 7th round he did it! Everyone was happy for him.
Bingo 5 players: Ethan, Joey, Tom, Serena, Sam, Mary, Bacha, Ray, and Bill.
Bill, Susie, and Bob: Distributing leftovers, forgotten items, etc, on Friday morning.

At my mom's

2007-11-17T09:57:00.000-06:00

Eldon and Joyce picked me up at the Sacramento airport. When we arrived in Auburn, Joyce unpacked a picnic lunch which we ate with Mom in her apartment.
Bingo 10 is a Wednesday night favorite of residents and guests alike. Here are two groups of players. Mom, Bill, Dorothy and I (my chair is empty!) are in the foreground. Jean, Mary, and friends are at the other end.
Mom and Bill. Bill and Dorothy join Mom on Wednesday evenings for a little bingo fun.
Jay calls the cards while Jeanne, Carter, and friends play the game.
Jay is an expert caller. He was a regular bridge partner of Mom's and Dad's.
Jean wins a round.
Mom was another winner. In fact, six of us at the table won.
Mom and me.
Here's Mom & Hien. Hien took me to the airport and I headed home on Saturday afternoon.

Winter is beginning

2007-11-07T19:39:00.000-06:00

We took a quick, mid-week trip to the lake to do some pre-winter jobs. Bob and Jan added stuff to Aubergine's bed so that it can go to the land fill on Saturday. Quite a collection of odds and ends.

Bob cleared off the leaves from the deck and the yard. A few chores will keep us busy this weekend: putting the remaining deck chairs in the basement; covering the screened porch furniture; putting up the icycle lights on the deck railing; connecting the lights on the spruce.

All that is missing from this winter scene is snow. Looked like we might get some and then the temperatures have risen to the 40s so it will not be here as soon as we had thought it would. After a walk in the woods, it's great to return inside and read a good book.

As we headed south to Minneapolis, we saw all these Canada geese flocked at the south end of the lake. I suppose they're on their way south too.

Let's Cook Pies with Penny and Ellie

2007-10-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Penny and Ellie assembled a dozen pie-makers at Let's Cook on Hennepin Avenue. Scott Rosenbaum, a delightful Nebraskan chef, started out the evening's work with an apple galette.

Dried Fruit Pie Team 1: Penny and Lynn. Where's Ellie?

Here she is working with Lynn and Penny to make the dried fruit pie.

Cranberry Walnut Pie Team 2: Margaret, Kyle, and Janella

Apple Pie Team 3: Suzanne and Mimi. Where's Peggy? Taking pictures.

Thoroughbred Pie (aka Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie) Team 4: Gracy, Ruth Ann, and Jane

Pie makers hard at work in the Let's Cook kitchen.

Scott demonstrates the leak-proof crimp and then makes it pretty too.

Ramon checks the pies.

Team 1's Dried Fruit Pie
The "V" shaped vent celebrates victory over the vegetable shortening crust!

A slice of Dried Fruit Pie

Team 2's Cranberry Walnut Pie
This just says "holiday" all over it. It is the taste of the holidays too.

A slice of Cranberry Walnut Pie.

Team 3's Apple Pie
The butter crust was so tasty.

A slice of Apple Pie
Bob and I added Sebastian Joe's vanilla ice cream to this--it was divine.

Team 4's Thoroughbred Pie or Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Isn't this gorgeous?

A slice of Thoroughbred Pie
Can you imagine how we waddled out of the kitchen after sampling each of these pies AND Scott's galette starter?

The Let's Cook pie makers: Ramon, Scott, Christa, and Karen. They are great cheerleaders.

Peggy, Susan, and Penny
You'll find more photos at Peggy's Flickr site.

An Oskaloosa visit

2007-10-26T23:04:00.000-05:00

Liz and Barbara drove from St Cloud to meet Peggy in Minnetonka.

Before Barb returned to St. Cloud, she snapped this photo of Liz and Peggy as they were getting ready to drive to Oskaloosa to see the Siebens family and their great aunt, Theresa.

Before dinner, Theresa and Liz look over some old photo albums.

After dinner, Theresa watches Linda and Liz hang a string of Halloween lanterns.

John, Alan, Josiah, Linda, Luke and Anthony surround Theresa for a family photo.

Great great nephew Josiah doesn't like to miss a photo op! Here he is with Liz, Peggy and Theresa.

Linda says to mark Saturday, July 19, 2008, on your calendar to have supper in Oskaloosa to celebrate Theresa's 98th and a half birthday. Plans are in the making. Now is the time to make suggestions if you'd like. We welcome all ideas. Peggy will email you within the next few weeks with the initial thoughts.

Liz' friend, Shadow, was very happy to see her when we returned to St. Cloud on Friday afternoon. It was a quick visit to Iowa but we had a good time and talked and talked and talked while we were driving down and back. We are looking forward to doing it again!

The loons are back

2007-04-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

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.

Winter weekend with friends

2007-02-04T13:24:00.000-06:00

Geoff, Ellie, Penny, and Pat arrived on Friday afternoon. After a dinner of hors d'oeuvres, Penny and Ellie worked on Saturday morning's brunch.

Penny and Ellie bundled up on Saturday afternoon and walked for an hour in -10ºF temperatures. They returned with pink cheeks and cheery dispositions.

Bob filled the hot tub on Thursday night and started stoking the fire. By Saturday afternoon it was HOT. Ellie, Pat and Penny tried to get it but at 110º it was not to be. Later, Ellie and Peggy managed to get in when it had cooled down to 104! Divine with an outside temp of -10ºF.

We pulled out our laptops on Saturday and worked on organizing our various photo collections. For dinner, Bob roasted a pork roast on the grill. After dinner we watched The Last Waltz, a documentary about The Band. Oh, those folks looked so young in 1976. Did we look like that too?

At breakfast, after a techy weekend, we decided to do a video for UTube with which to impress our children. However, we encountered obstacles. We'll keep trying...

Geoff, claiming luddite status, worked on Sunday's Sudoku puzzle. He also tried to teach Peggy how to pronounce sudoku correctly!

The C O L D temperatures this weekend caused a couple of problems. Colin, Geoff, and Bob responded to a furnace problem at the Breyers. When Geoff and Bob tried to go into town this morning, our car refused to start. Oh, drat. We are waiting for AAA to come to the rescue. We insisted that the others return to Mpls. AAA service is on its way from Siren to help us out.

End of 2006 and beginning of 2007

2007-01-01T00:49:00.000-06:00

Peggy and Bob on Pipe Lake

Snow family on Pipe Lake

Susie making a snow angel on Pipe Lake

Jensons' ice rink on Pipe Lake

Snow family on Jensons' ice rink isle

Susie pointing out the Tibetan prayer flags that Rob put in the trees last summer

Rob's self-portrait after a jog on the last afternoon of 2006

Sun rise on Pipe Lake on New Year's Day, 2007

After the snow fall on New Year's Eve, a beautiful scene for the first day of 2007

Christmas Eve at the lake

2006-12-24T23:16:00.000-06:00

Nephew Bill shucked the oysters and the rest enjoyed his work: Susie, Bill, Bob, Anne and Rob.

We gathered for dinner at the lake. It was cozy and fun: four tables, 13 oldsters, 7 young ones, lots of hors d'œuvres, Bill's oyster stew, Susan's Christmas cookies, and Bob's chocolate ice cream to finish the meal. What a day!

A quick visit

2006-11-15T16:08:00.000-06:00

These are woods near Pipe Lake. It reminds us so much of being in Akademgorodok in Siberia. We are missing our friends there.

Bob cleared the deck and stairs of fallen leaves--one more preparation for the upcoming snow.

The woods are bare and just waiting for some snow.

Rob hung these Tibetan prayer flags this summer. We like their gentleness among the tree branches.

The lake is very low. Ordinarily, the water comes right up to the rock that you can see near the lower center of the photo.

Pictures for Paulina

2006-09-30T02:29:00.000-05:00

We are in Akademgorodok, Siberia. You can check out our Whit Web Whereabouts blog to see what we're doing there. One of our most enjoyable activities has been to spend time with a few students.
They say this helps them to practice their English. In fact, we think we get much more out of our time together--they interpret for us; they explain things to us; and, they take us places. We were discussing loons which are not known here. Paulina wanted to see big photos of these wonderful birds. She found only my puny photos on this blog. Here are some bigger ones that I found for her at the Loon photos link.

Last summer weekend

2006-09-04T02:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was our last one at the lake for the summer. We heard the loons but didn't see them. Friday night we took a pontoon cruise and neither saw nor heard them. Colin and Julia reported that they had seen one off the Breyer dock the weekend before. Susie and her friends also saw two of them--up close--on their pontoon cruise the weekend before that. Without chicks this year, we just have not seen so much of them.

Bob and I will be away from the lake until mid-November. We are spending September and October in Russia. Our blog, Whit Web Whereabouts, will be our attempt to keep track of that adventure.

We'll return to the loons next spring. Let's hope we'll see a successful hatch then.

Bibliography

2006-06-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

Fabulous photos by Bill Silliker, Jr and straightforward text by Alan Hutchinson make Just Loons A Wildlife Watchers Guide an excellent first reference.

In the Northeastern Naturalist, 1998:
Loons: Song of the Wild, edited by Michael Dregni, Ed. 1995. Voyageur Press, Stillwater, MI. 108 pp. Exceptional photographs and reasonable account of the natural history and folklore about loons; covers species worldwide; includes distributional maps; beautifully conveys why people have always been enthralled by loons and their mesmerizing calls.

Thinking about being at the lake

2006-06-06T22:39:00.000-05:00

I'm in Mpls for the moment but will go to the lake on Thursday--hopefully in the afternoon but it may be in the evening. I LOVE it there: loons; garden; vegging out; eagles, herons, woodpeckers, phoebes, owls, wild turkeys; deer who eat my hosta; shopping at Louie's and Nelson's; eating good food; taking pontoon rides; sleeping; watching Boots; sitting on the dock just watching what's going on; hot tubbing; hanging out with Bob and our friends.

One loon

2006-06-04T22:46:00.000-05:00

Last evening, I went on a boat ride with Ellen and Jan, and Colleen and Richard. A single loon was floating in the middle of the lake. It seemed quite unperturbed by the boat traffic around it. We weren't close enough to get a good photo. I didn't see any loons this afternoon before we headed back to the city.
This evening on the internet I came across this long article by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It includes references to loon monitoring in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This piece should help answer a lot of questions I have about these wonderful birds.

Heard but not seen

2006-06-02T17:12:00.000-05:00

Photos from top:
1) Another loon watcher: Nicola in July, 2005 on Pipe Lake
2) Nicola and Chris watching loons from the dock in July, 2005
3) Last year's loon family at the beginning of June, 2005

I was heartened to hear the loons by the time I left the lake on Sunday, May 21. Still, I haven't SEEN them. I was in California with my Dad and Mom from the 22nd to the 31st. Bob and I came up to the lake yesterday afternoon. Around midnight, we heard the wails. Then, this morning, there was vocalizing but I didn't get to the dock in time to find them. Maybe this evening...

The garden is growing. Weeds, er, native plants, are everywhere. There are signs that a gardener, albeit an inexperienced one, is trying to impose some form. Last July, Chris planted eleven hosta from Susan's garden in St Paul. They look wonderful and some critter thinks a few of them are tasty too. Chris also helped to divide and plant a half dozen lady's mantle. They are thriving! The double pink columbines, bluets, meadow rue, pink and white crane's bill geraniums, Korean lilacs, forget-me-nots, foam flowers, a pink primula, and a single orange day lily are also blooming.

Loons, herons, eagles, barred owls, phoebes, woodpeckers, wild flowers and perennials: No wonder I love being here!

Spring is bursting out

2006-05-18T22:44:00.000-05:00

Look at the difference in the shore line in 3 1/2 weeks: the house is obscured, the leaves are emerging in many colors, their seeds dropping everywhere. We took a short boat ride this evening. It's chilly when the sun goes down. No sign of the loons. I've been here since Saturday night: have not heard nor seen a loon. I've been reading the loon books but none of them discusses a long silence during mating season. They are silent in the winter when they are on the ocean but their voices are so prominent during the summer. I wonder what is going on.

Black ducks?

2006-05-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

While I was searching the lake for the loons, this pair of birds came into view. They have white faces on long black necks perched on dark gray bodies. Using the bird books I have, I can't figure out what they are. I'll keep looking.
The loons were elusive this morning but at last I sighted them, bobbing around in the water. It's been a short stay at the lake for us between trips to New York and California.

Loons near the dock

2006-04-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was sitting on the dock watching the loons dive and emerge and dive again. They moved farther apart and one started moving in my direction. After one of its dives, it surfaced just off the stern of our pontoon that was tied up to the dock. It is the closest a loon has ever come to the dock when I've been on it. I did NOT have my camera. I had my binoculars which helped me see a great detail of its wonderful color--iridescent green on its neck with the familiar black and white markings.

Later in the afternoon, we took a pontoon ride and encountered them on the northeast part of the lake. I took the picture of our house and dock from the pontoon as we were returning. The pontoon is usually tied up on right side (as you are looking at it; that's the north side) of our dock.

I didn't see the loons today although two barred owls were hooting in the afternoon. Bonnie and Charlie alerted me to them last night when we were in the hot tub. The owls were carrying on in the woods. Charlie replicates their call so well and they responded both last night and this afternoon! Very cool. We didn't get to see them but their songs were a good beginning for me.

Two loon pairs

2006-04-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, I watched a pair of loons cruise south, down the middle of the lake. About 500 yards from us (just south of Lobergs), they turned into the west shore and continued their swim south. About 75 yards along (almost to Fornettis), there was great commotion and flapping and the loons took flight. I kept my eyes on them as they departed. They ascended in a spiral of ever increasing circles.

When they were out of sight, I returned my gaze to the shoreline. While I was focusing on what I thought might be a bird at the shoreline, a large loon in its colorful coat came into view. It was followed by another of similar size and color. They seemed to be coming from the bay around Durkees (about 300 yards south of us.) They ambled north toward us, diving, preening, not in any hurry, with no apparent destination. Once they got up to our place they hung around for a while and then started back south again. This promenade went on for well over an hour.

I'm headed to my loon books to try to figure out what was going on. I could certainly build a story around what I thought I saw but I don't have enough information to assert a good hypothesis.

First 2006 sighting for me

2006-04-14T18:11:00.000-05:00

I wandered out to the kitchen this morning to put on a pot of coffee. Behold! there was one loon swimming past our dock (or where our dock will be) and two more in the air. Then, if there had been any doubt, they started calling to one another. Ahhh...happiness is hearing a loon on the lake. Don't know if they are looking for a spot or checking out nesting spots but we are glad to see and hear them.