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

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