October Already

Welcome back!

Our close-down efforts are in full swing.  I’ve washed and bagged all the beds.  Gruper has drained all the cabins and is shining floors with gym floor sealer.  I’ve got our quarterly paperwork in order.  All boats but ours are drained and stored.  Our boat will help Gruper get the docks to their winter storage bay down the lake.  We still need to do some work in “command central” (aka under the Bear’s Den) but we are looking pretty good.  The weather had been unseasonably beautiful until a couple of days ago when it turned windy, rainy and cold all at the same time!  It even snowed a bit yesterday…just a warning shot though.

Our 22nd wedding anniversary was last Saturday.  We fished and Gruper hunted.  We fished again on Sunday and AGAIN on Monday!  Gruper won Saturday (first, biggest and most); I took Sunday (first, biggest, most and variety); I took Monday but it wasn’t much to brag about!  Here are a few pics.  If you follow us on fb you’ve seen some of these but not all of them:)

The one on the left represents my average fish last Saturday, and I caught a gazillion of them!  The one on the right was more my norm on Sunday!  Here’s my variety point from Sunday–a perfect breakfast perch:

Such a lovely sunset to end a lovely day!

Our friends joined us for dinner last week.  I invited them for surf and turf a la Andrea (ostrich medallions in a cranberry reduction and halibut cheeks).  I made a cherry pie from Wayne & Shirley’s cherries for dessert–just in case everything else was inedible.

While Mike and Dawn were here, six of the guys took a one-day fly-out!  Gruper released three very nice 24″ walleye and everyone did well.  Here are a couple of Mike’s pics:

Mike and Dawn did just fine on Wabaskang as well!  They always do:)

They saw the merganser phenomenon we see very fall–a whole herd of them together.  It’s like dead flies when we arrive in the spring.

I loved their gold trees and red moss as well:

Bruce and Debbie were here in August.  They are busy people who just got around to sending me their pics;)  I like this one from a busy berry-picking day:

That’s Jenny on the far right (see you VERY soon, Senora)!

They saw a pair of loons and an awesome rainbow as well!

I think you can see all seven colors if you look closely.  I caught a rainbow in our wake last week:

While Buck was bear hunting, Chris and Lance were fishing and on-call for bear retrieval.  They took a very nice pic of Buck and his bear:

and his bear’s paw:

They had a hard time with walleye but found some nice northern right in front of Camp!

They did mix it up a bit!

We believe they accomplished their missions!  We know they had a good time!

I also stumbled upon an 18″ bass released by Steve O. during their September visit and added it to our Conservation Awards page (www.tallpinescamp.com).  I also (finally) updated a few pics of cabins, etc.

That’s about it for now, Folks.  You may get another post before Iowa becomes Home again…you may not.  I’ll be in touch though:)  Take care!