The lake opened the earliest ever in my memory on March 28th
(average is April 15th). There were a few hundred smaller panfish
that didn't make it through the winter, floating to the top as the ice
melted--a slightly larger than normal winter fish kill. On the 28th,
there were 14 bald eagles, countless gulls and crows all doing spring
cleaning to clear fish, floating just under the thin remaining ice.
The sap run has been early and so far an average year. The warm up we
are having this week is likely to end the season. Mom planted peas,
radishes and lettuce in the garden for the first time in March this
year. I am afraid trappers may have gotten the beaver family, as I
see no signs of them this spring around their house. The pair of
trumpeter swans claimed the lake three weeks ago. Over all it looks
like Spring is about three weeks ahead of time. My neighbor tells me
"these early springs and dry weather are Al Gore's fault--he and his
global warming hooey. If he'd shut up, things would get back to
normal." Margo and son Scott are making the sap collecting easy for me
as I get my leg back functioning again. I have what Margo call's a
"Walter Brennan limp."
Comments and photographs from an old local historian and backwoodsman about life in the St. Croix River Valley
