Ice Skating

The 2009-2010 Gilmore Ice Rink is now open!!! I forgot to take pictures last night so I could post today so hopefully I will remember tonight and post tomorrow (confused yet)? Anyway the rink has been open since Friday the 11th of December. We made it bigger On Saturday and bigger yet last night. Hopefully now if we get a bunch of snow we have it cleared back enough to push the snow off and keep the water from pushing up onto the rink like last year and ruining the whole thing for the winter. Oh boy with the sub zero temps we have had over the last week we have some ice now! The last time I checked it was over seven inches and that was on Saturday so with several nights around or below -10 I am sure we have closer to the 10 inch mark.

I hear that Red Lake has over 12 inches and cars are driving out from the Resorts. Several lakes around here have people with 4-wheelers pulling out wheeled fish houses. I guess this means the ice fishing season is off to a good start. With the small amount of snow we have here (around and inch on the ground) the ice should keep building everyday and another week or so without much snow and everyone should be able to have a good year out on the ice.

Take Care

Jon

My Nus Sea-x-Teen

I think we will have plenty of ice for skating now! Sixteen below last night and we still only have maybe a half inch of snow on the ground. It was darn cold with the wind last night. Somewhere in the negative 30 degree range. Oh well it is winter in Northern MN after all!

Fump................Fump..............Fump............Fump........Fump....Fump...Fump..Fump..Fump.
Fump.FumpFumpFumpFumpFumpFump Do you know what that is?

Jon

Gilmore Music

Gilly was giving up the Ice Tunes last night! If you don't know what Ice Tunes are I talk about them here http://lakegilmore.blogspot.com/2008/11/ice-tunes.html I sleep well to them.

Wonder how much ice we have might be worth a check real soon. I haven't seen anyone on the ice yet except for a few cats....

Take Care

Jon

Gilly Freeze

Winter has its full grasp on Gilmore! The lake froze over last night. So December 5th begins the ice covered season on Gilmore. Last night was pretty calm so the ice sheet looks pretty flat. Hopefully we can get some cold temps to get a nice thick ice sheet before any major snow, so we can have a nice ice rink this year. We sure missed not having a rink last year. It was 9 degrees this morning coldest so far this winter.

Take care.

Jon

No ice.

So its December 1st and the lake is still open. Deadhorse did freeze shut this weekend. With as nasty as October was I expected the lake to freeze over in November. This was not to be the case as we had as good a November as possibly can be had on the shores of Lake Gilmore. The temps were mild and for the most part way above average. The only drawback to that was no snow during deer hunting but with the warm temps it was a nice trade off.

With all the rain we received in October the lake is back up to normal levels from its super low point in September and late summer. I have seen a few ducks and geese and even seen a late season lingering loon last week on Tuesday, that was a big surprise to see.

Well December here we come...... with the weather ups ands downs this year it will be interesting to see what happens. The forecast for this week is for snow and normal temps.

Take Care

Jon

SNO....ooooooh NO!

Okay so 21 days ago the water was 75 degrees, the air was 84 degrees and I was swimming! This is not funny! Oct 10th is way too early for snow on the ground. With the warm September the leaves haven't even fully changed and fallen. It looks a little weird with the snow and so many bright fall colors. Last night it was 21 degrees and the night before 25..... winter here we come.... Take care and stay warm.

Oh I guess I better get the dock out soon :)

Jon

More rain

Okay ever since I mentioned the baby Loon taking off I have seen it tons! So I guess he/she is still here enjoying Gilmore. It was almost like "hey you mister, I am still here". It has been fishing in front of our house almost all day the last two days..... sheeesh I am sorry little Loon buddy, you stay here as long as you like, besides we love watching you, just remember you need to take off before the lake freezes.....

It has been raining off and on since Friday morning, and much cooler. Highs in the 40's lows in the 30's. It feels colder with the rain and clouds. Oh well it is October! Still hoping we see some more warm days before winter.

Hopefully I can get some pics of the fall colors before the wind blows all the leaves off the trees.

Take care.

Jon

Rain

Today we are getting much needed rain. It has been cold windy and raining off and on all day. I know we need the rain but it sure makes it feel colder out. I finally broke down and turned on the heat this morning, it was 59 degrees in the house. I hope to fire up the wood boiler tonight. The heating season begins! Hopefully the wood pile will last until spring.

Jon

First Frost!

Tuesday September 29th was the first frost of the Fall Season. It also frosted pretty good this morning. The leaves are 50% changed and with the high winds of Sunday and Monday a lot of them have blown off already. You can start to see into the woods a little bit better now.

The lake is now under 70 degrees. After our COOL summer we have had an awesome fall so far with a bunch of upper 70 and lower 80 degree days in September. I did more swimming in September than the whole summer combined, the lake was at its warmest point of the summer the second week of September about 76 degrees. It was awesome snorkeling in September and the lake is so clear right now, I could easily see the bottom at 20 feet. September 20th was the last time I was in the lake, I wont be venturing in now until sometime next summer.

For those of you that are not Lake Gilmore residents or cabin owners I will give a brief summer recap. (I have decided this will be a mostly Fall, Winter, Spring blog)After ice out in late April we had a cold May and June, July was a little bit better but still way colder than normal. August was also colder than normal. Brrr is all I have to say for the summer.

The nesting pair of Loons hatched two chicks and one made it all summer and I haven't seen it for a couple of days so I assume it has taken off for its flight south. I have herd reports of Loons gathering in good size groups on the bigger lakes, I read that they gather and socialize like this for a couple of weeks on the bigger lakes before heading south. Loons typically make there migrations alone or in pairs. I will miss the Loon songs all winter and already I am looking forward to that first tremolo in the spring...... Take care and enjoy this fall season.

Jon

Ice Free Baby!

Gilmore iced out last night about 7:00 PM! Winters grip on Lake Gilmore is lifted. Thursday November 20th to Thursday April 23rd was the 08/09 Lake Gilmore ice covered season... let see how many days was that.... getting out Julian Calendar...... 154 ice covered days.

The kids have already started asking when I will get the water trampline set up. (We found a used one for $50 at a garage sale last year, it needs some pathing but those things retail for $1500 so it was a steal.) I think the water trampoline season isnt going to start until at least after Memorial weekend. Sheesh kids were wading in the water the last two nights. I am going to have to have genetic testings on them because I wonder if they might be part frog or some other cold blooded beings....

Take Care

Jon

Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers and Gilmore Loons.

Last night a pair of Loons finally landed on the lake, they have about 100 feet of open water all around the North, Northeast and Northwest shores. What a sound performance they put on last night, yodels, wails and tremolos! It was almost like they wanted everyone to know "We are back to our Gilmore summer home!" I didn't get much sleep because I didn't want to miss the welcome home loon song party.

It took a while before the Loons swam by the house and I took the pictures above. I did get to see a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a pair of Wood Ducks, and a pair of Mallard Ducks. A pair of Swans flew over just as I am writing this and a couple Purple Martins are circling above the cattails looking for a meal......... ugh that means the bugs cant be too far behind!

Jon

Ice Ducks and Hungry Deer

This morning this duck was swimming in the open water in front of the house then decided to hang out on the ice. The yard is finally drying up and turning greener. This also means that the ditches are greening up and boy have the deer been in the ditches eating the fresh grass the last few days. Last night while I was hauling manure for the garden I counted over 20 deer in a 10 mile round trip..... they are starting to look a little healthier, not so many ribs showing.

Dead Horse Lake opened up yesterday and the Loons are sure making a ruckus. Two trumpeter swans have been on the lake since it opened up. A couple Loons keep flying over Gilmore and calling out.... I often wonder each year if the pair of Loons we always have on the lake is the same pair or one born from the pair the year before.

Jon

Loon Calls and Northern MN Swimming!

The awesome weather has continued and the snow is pretty much gone! We have about 15 feet of open water in front of the house and the dog was in the water Wednesday night chasing minnows so he was the first in the lake this year. On Wednesday night I was stacking some wood in the wood bin by our lake side fire pit and stop dead in my tracks by the majestic Tremolo call of the Loon!Ahhh what a sound it amazes me that it can have such an effect on me. The Loon was circling the lake looking for open water, it flew around it twice with its Tremolo call every few minutes, it was almost like it was telling the lake to hurry up already and shed its ice so it can get down to the business of spring (wink wink). On the way to work on Thursday I noticed the open water on the South side of Little Sand had several Loons gliding through the open water. On my trip home I noticed even more, must have been about 10 in all.

Thursday brought more nice weather and the first human swimmers to Lake Gilmore (at least at my house) Connel fell in up to his knees while climbing on the rocks next to the beach and Kiana tripped and slid off the bank and all the way in! Boy did she scream! Connel was right there to grab her and haul her into the house. When I asked her what it was like as she was warming up in the shower she said "very cold daddy", she is just under 3 years old. It wont be too much longer and the kids will be in the lake every day, for me I wont be in that water until sometime in July!

Take Care

Jon


Jon

Lake Pictures on 4-15-09

LOON!

Tuesday brought mid 60's and a Loon! As you can tell by the wall paper on my blog I love Loons! It wasn't on Gilmore but on the open water where the sand river runs from Lake Ida into Little Sand. Boy does that lift my spirits even higher! Tuesday night I heard a few frogs making a little noise in the swamp across from the house. The peeper frogs should be singing any time now.

On Monday I seen a Blue Heron in the little slice of open water near the Eastern Shore of the lake. The last few days have been sunny / breezy and in the 60's so the lake ice is really starting to take a hit. The ice in front of the house is starting to honeycomb and break up.

When I drove by Little Sand this morning and after work I seen the Loon again today! Cant wait to hear the first loon tremolo and wail.

The snow is almost all gone in the woods and the yard is starting to dry up and a little more green is here and there.

Take Care.

Jon

The changes in a week!

Early last week we received about 10 inches of snow! Yuck! Although I must admit it was a really pretty snow that was wet and sticky so it covered all the tress with a blanket of white that was in stark contrast to the dark and dingy greys, browns and blacks of early spring.

This week has been warmer with highs into the 40's near 50 again. The forecast for Saturday is for the lower to middle 50's so the snow in the woods and in piles about should vanish fairly quickly now. I have even seen a little green starting to appear in the lawn.

I seen my first Blue Heron of the year yesterday! (actually I saw many Blue Herons in February but that was 1850 miles SE of here, its amazing that they make that journey twice a year) It flew over County Road 40 heading towards the North. I take that as a good sign that lakes are starting to open up around here. The shore line in front of our house has thawed and frozen many times over the last few weeks. I think we had about one foot of open water yesterday. Hopefully with the sun and warm south winds forecast for this Easter weekend it will do some serious damage to the ice!

Yesterday morning the birds were really singing up a storm. The robins were almost drowning out the Cardinals and the chickadees, sparrows and nuthatches were trying hard to be heard. In the distance I could here the faint sound of a Red Winged Black Bird! The peeper frogs should be starting to emerge I cant wait to hear them.

Take care

Jon

Signs of True Spring

So a recap of last week. Last Sunday I seen my first Robin of the year, we actually saw 4 flying together across the road. Then the weather turned cold and we had some more snow mid week and lower teens for lows and lower 30's for highs. This Saturday and Sunday we have had highs in the lower 40's today was 47 degrees but with the bright sunshine it felt much higher than that. You can tell by the warmth of the sun that winter is really losing its grip on us.

Today the kids seen a Red Winged Blackbird! Yes! One of my favorite sounds and sights of the spring is the Red Winged Blackbird, its song does wonders to lift my spirits from the winter doldrums. Cant wait to hear its song now. If you have never heard the Red Winged Blackbird song you can hear it here http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=25

Take care and enjoy the coming spring.

Jon

A break from the melting

The weather dipped below freezing this morning to put a stop to the melting for now. It has been in the 40's since last week and the last 2 days we have received about 3 inches of rain so add that to the snow melt and we have some serious flooding conditions around us.

The ice is just starting to separate from the shore with a little open water visable. After all the water that has been on the ice I am sure it is getting real week. No more ice walking for us until next year.

I hate to wish for a few cold days but it would be nice if it stayed dry for a few days and the temps stayed below freezing. We dont need anymore water run off right now and they certainly need a break in the Red River Valley.

Take care.

Jon

My personal pond!

Well the weather has been awesome since Saturday. We have had highs in the 40s or 50s everday since Saturday. It is hard to belive how much snow has melted. The anual spring tradition of having a pond in my back yard started on Monday. The pond is up to 8 inches deep in some spots. Yesterday the lake had waves on it! No the ice isnt even close to off yet but between the snow that has almost all meleted off the lake and the runoff from around the lake, we had quite a bit of standing water on the ice, enough so that the wind was making small waves! Cant wait for open water.

Monday morning on my drive to work I witnessed an awesome sight. Two swans were doing their spring dance in the Sand River between Ida and Little Sand. The water was so calm that you could also see the reflection of their in time bobbing heads on the water. What a majestic bird.

Take care.

Jon

After the storm

Well we ended up with 10 inches of new snow on Gilmore and some pretty impressive drifting. Nothing like the drifts on the prarie land to the west though. This morning was -9 and hopefully we can now be done with the sub-zero weather. The forcast is for highs above or near 40 all next week! YEA! We did end up with -28 yesterday with a pretty good breez so it was nasty.

Hopefully the flooding isnt too bad over the next few weeks. There is quite a snow pack to melt.....

Take care.

Jon

Not agian!

Its been way too long since my last update....

Well after the 2 plus weeks in Florida the weather on Gilmore wasnt too bad. It was a little cold on March 1st when we got home it dropped to like -15 but was then in the upper 30s almost 40's most of the week. We did get to miss out on a 2 inch snow fall while we were gone and quite a bit of below zero weather.

Today the schools closed at Noon because a blizzard is aiming right for us. Expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow with 20 to 35 MPH winds so it will drift real bad. Ish is all I have to say cant wait for spring!

Take care.

Jon

Sunny and 80 degrees

Ahhhhh sunny and 80 degrees today! Spent the day on the beach.... oh wait wrong blog.... oh wait I dont have another blog....... okay so this weather wasnt on Lake Gilmore but is the weather we enjoyed today in SW FLA. We spent the day listning to the waves crash into shore from the Gulf of Mexico...... 14 more days.......


Okay back to Lake Gilmore news. We had a warm up after the last cold spell, last week seen a couple days in the upper 30's and lower 40's on Tuesday we were supposed to get a whole bunch of ice but the temps were too hign and we set a record for rainfall in February and got 1 inch of rain in 24 hours. That and the warm weather sure put a beating on the snow. I would say more than half the snow is now gone. This should help reduce flooding for the spring thaw. Forcast is for the 20's or close to it the rest of February. We really dont care so much as we wont see Lake Gilmore February weather again until 2010!

Take care!

Jon

Sun bathing anyone?

35 degrees doesn't sound warm but with the weather we have had this winter..... get out the shorts and T-Shirts baby! I was outside cutting some wood today and boy did the sun and warm weather feel good. It felt more like 60 degrees. See ya later I have to go find my shorts....

Jon

Dusting

We got a little snow yesterday and last night. Not much maybe and inch at most. It was nice though because we haven't had any snow in a while so it was nice to cover everything in pure white again. It has been a little bit warmer too so that's nice.

Jon

Back to the deep freeze

Well we got to enjoy a few days out of the deep freeze and they got many of the roads scrapped down to bare pavement again while the snow was softer and the salt would actually melt some ice.... so that's a good thing a lot less ice to drive on. It was in the -20's last night and a stiff breeze brought the wind chills to about -40. I don't think it made it across the zero mark today but the wind calmed a little bit. Forecast of -20's tonight again, oh the joy!

Everything was frosted this morning with the temperature change. The frost sure makes the trees quite a site and helps to make you forget the cold temps.

Take Care.

Jon

Talk-in-bout a Heat Wave

Sunny and 24 today! Yea! They are saying in might get in the mid to upper 30's tomorrow. Feels like summer out "almost" its hard to believe that 24 can feel so warm. We have to enjoy it because normal January weather is forecast again for the weekend.... oh well enjoy it while its here! See ya for now I have to go find my sunglasses.... with the sun reflecting off the snow it sure is bright.

Take care

Jon

Square Tires Anyone?

Well I have talked of the many different things winter can bring but an interesting one happened this morning. Those of you that live in a extreme cold climate or have ever lived in one and don't park your car in a garage will know what I am talking about. Square tires, well technically not square but a flat spot on the side that they were on when the car was PARKED OVERNIGHT IN -37 DEGREES! Whew got that off my chest. I pulled over twice this morning to look at my back tires because I was positive one was flat with the bumping and thumping the car was doing this morning but sure enough the tires weren't flat just a flat spot on one spot. After about 8 bone jarring miles the tires must have warmed up enough to straighten out er well i mean round out.....

The forecast is for near 30 degree temps on Saturday, well I will take 67 degrees warmer right now and the car will be much happier. Take care and have a great weekend.

Jon

-Cold Enough

I wonder if the schools are getting soft? 2 hours late again today and it was ONLY -18..... kids 2 schools 0. Have a great day.

Jon

Water Explodes

Ever seen water explode? Well it did on the shore of Lake Gilmore this morning. Okay it didn't really explode but it froze so fast it made a loud popping noise. Here is how it works:

Take one super cold day (This morning worked it was -36)
Fill glass of water with 1 cup hot water.
Go outside into said super cold day.
Toss water into air.
Water freezes instantly with a pop and turns to ice crystals and falls to ground!

Welcome to January 13th at 7:30 AM on Lake Gilmore! Man I love winter (see that positive attitude?) Cant wait to see if -36 is the low for the winter, bring it on old man winter! We can take it.

Plugged the car in last night so he he he it started no problem! Electric company 1 consumers 0. Cant wait for the January bill.

One positive of -36 with a windchill below -40 the kids got to sleep in a couple extra hours, school was 2 hours late. Kids 1 School 0.

Jon

Cutting wood

Since the winter has been so much colder than average already, our wood pile is going to be short. Today I started cutting the dead trees on my property and let me tell you the snow is deep in the woods. I would say on average 3 feet. I got a good workout cutting one 4-wheeler trailer of wood yesterday!

I cant help but think the deer are really going to have a hard time making it through this winter unless we don't get much more snow or it warms up enough to do some serious melting...... Next years hunting season might be a little tough. The good thing about that is any deer in the TB zone that are sick should not make it this winter and hopefully we will come away with a TB free deer heard by spring. I think new hunters that have never hunted before the light winters of 2000 - 2006 will be in for a real surprise. I know there are many hunters that haven't had to hunt in a buck only zone or lottery only zone. Management tags and intensive harvest permits might be scarce next fall.....

Jon

Fire not

Okay false alarm yesterday. It wasn't a fire that had all the fire trucks and cop cars on main street yesterday. What happened is Park Salon on Main street had a bad natural gas leak and it was near explosive levels when it was detected. Fortunately it never ignited or there would be at least one less building on Main........

Jon

Fire

Somehow -9 doesnt feel that cold anymore, that was the temp this moring when I started the car for work. Hmmm must be finally aclimating to this cold winter.



I didnt see it when I came to work this morning because I use the south bypass and dont go through town but people at work are saying there is a fire downtown this morning. Not sure on the details yet but I will let you all know when I get the details.



Take care.



Jon

4 wheeler thawed

I haven't been on here for almost a week so a quick update. We have had about another 8 inches of snow since New Years Eve. Yesterday and today were in the single digits to the low teens but before that it was below zero from the evening of New years day until yesterday with some lows around -30.

We tried to get the 4-wheeler on Gilmore and check out some different fishing spots but still too much slush. We checked out some other lakes around and found that Upper Bottle had a road plowed so we took the 4-wheeler out and did some fishing New Years day. The wind was fblowing and the road drifted in so it took about an hour of going 10 feet and digging the 4-wheeler out to get off the lake so I AM DONE fishing til spring, its just not worth it!

I had to use the little propane torch for about an hour to get the plow back on the 4-wheeler (too much ice underneath). I put it in the heated shop and it took 2 full days to melt all the ice off it. It was so cold that it was bringing the temp in the shop down about 15 degrees........

Take care.

Jon