Loons are back

The Loons are back on Gilmore we have open water out for about 100 yards from shore and the Loons landed this morning about 7:00 AM! Should ice out totally in the next couple of days!

Better Get Back at It!

Okay so its been since last April since I posted! I know, I know what a joke. Okay so I know I dont usually post anything much for Summer and just a bit for fall but this is rediculous. So here we are December 9th and I WILL get with the program!

We had a beautiful Fall the nicest I can remeber ever. Lots of warm days. Gilmore froze over completely on 22nd of November. It has been a bit below average temps since that time. The first sub zero reading I had was on the 25th of November Thanksgiving morning at 6:00 AM I had -9. We have had two nights since then with sub zero temps.

On Saturday the 4th of December we cleared the ice rink on the lake. The ice is a little soft on top so the skating isnt great but I think I will flood it soon if it ever stops snowing everyday. Seems like we get a little bit everyday. The first measurable white stuff came on Saturday November 13th. Then we got about 5 inches on Monday November 22nd and have been getting a little bit almost everyday.

Thats it for now.

See ya soon.

Jon

Ice Free!

Lake Gilmore Iced out today! So lets see December 5th to April 2nd that's 117 ice covered days. so lets compare that with last year. Last year Gilmore froze over on November 20th and iced out on April 24th and that was 154 days so that's a difference in 37 days! Wow! That's over a month less time ice covered.

I wish I would have kept track of this every year I have lived on Gilmore but I do have a sense of the averages which are - freeze over has usually occurred sometime around the second week of November and ice out is usually sometime around the 15th of April.

Let the open water fishing commence!

Jon

March 31st Start of Swimming Season?

WOW what a March. Not a flake of snow, temps way above average and lots of sun. The snow melted at historic speeds. We had 72 and 70 degree days March 30th and 31st! On Friday the 26th I saw my first Robins, Monday the 29th Deadhorse was almost all the way open and a pair of Loons was on the water. On Wednesday the 31st I heard my first Red Wing Black bird and had a pair of Hooded Merganzers on the little bit of open water in front of my house, by 8:00 that night that little bit of open water was about 300 foot of open water from shore to the ice, you could litterally watch the ice sheet melt. I will be amazed if the ice isnt all gone by tommorow.

Okay on to the swimming season. The dog was in the water and it is always a competition around here to see who is first in the lake so I jokingly told the kids that they were aced out of the "First in the Lake Title" by the dog, two of them started running for the water to be the first "crazy humans" to be in the water...... so I guess the 2010 swimming season is upon us? By the way Kaitlyn ran faster than Connel!

Take care!

Jon

2009 - 2010 Ice Rink

Well its been a while since I have posted busy busy busy. Anyway above are pics of this years ice rink. We added a light rink side so its lit even better at night now. We have been using it almost every night. The snow we got over Christmas almost ruined the rink but we were able to save it. It has a couple of rough spots where we couldn't quite get the slush off in time before it froze but with use it keeps getting better.

2009 ended with tons of snow and 2010 started with a deep freeze. First four days of 2010 were in the -30's with a record low of -38 on the 2nd. Since then this week has been real nice and last week we even almost hit 40 degrees. The kids were out skating in t-shirts on Saturday in the sun. It felt awesome to get some sun and decent temps.

Another snow storm is aiming at us this weekend which is good because the snowmobile trails could use some snow.

Take care.

Jon

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