Warm Welcome at Camp

Harlan drove up the day before, and had a nice pot of chicken wild rice soup waiting for us...

...accompanied by grilled fresh caught brown trout, just hours out of the Escanaba river.

Checked out a used pontoon boat for sale on the lake.

Still dithering.

Otherwise spent Monday relaxing, waiting for Erik to arrive and watching more football with more gourmet dining... Harlan's pot roast.

 I think I will arrange for Harlan to prepare camp for our arrival in all future trips.
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Saturday Work Crew

The big project on Saturday was to grade, rock pick, seed and straw the grounds surrounding the cottage. It's amazing how much work gets done when you have a virtually unlimited supply of slave labor unpaid interns.




Everybody pitched in for the last few tasks to help bring the New Improved Family Cottage close to normal.

The other big improvement - for the first time since Grandma Neumann's hand crank washer/wringer, we have a washer and dryer at Camp. In related news, the Gwinn laundromat files for bankruptcy.

Our resident Kenmore appliance expert oversees the delivery and installation.

Of course, the women folk love the new washer and dryer:

Staring in admiration and gratitude.

Gathering of the Clan

Jeff and Katie arrived Sunday; Robyn and Roy on Monday; Dad and I arrived Wednesday; Harlan and Jonah on Thursday; Wendy, Kristy, Erik on Friday; then Karl and Brian early Saturday. It's a full house. We are considering this a stress test of the new septic system.

Even with the new addition, sleeping arrangements were a challenge

Kristy learned that air mattresses work better if the valve is closed.

Friday Fish Fry at Jack's Hideaway


The locals could not be happier to see papa back in town

Not all in the clan were happy to see each other ...

Apparently Delilah and Gryff disagreed about who owns the Shag Lake turf.

The clan gathers for dinner at camp...

Slow cooked Boeuf Bourguignon by Harlan, sea shell pasta shrimp salad by Wendy, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy by Robyn, corn and more. It was a fantastic feast. I've given up trying to get a good expression on everyone at the same time on self timed group shots. This was the best we could do.

UPDATE: Ripped Harlan's much better pics for the clan feast:

Blizzard at Shag Lake

I've restored Shag Cam to it's place of honor in the sidebar, just in time for the near simultaneous arrival of my sister's family and a Yooper blizzard. While we're calling this a blizzard, in the U.P I think they refer to this as a "lake effect snow flurry".

Jeff's walkabout recording of the blizzard is destined to become a family classic. Fun part starts around the five minute mark.

Dock Deconstruction

I don't know how may times I have to explain this to Brian

Yesterday's Grand Reopening happened just in time to begin closing the camp for the season today. First step is getting the dock safely out of the way of the way of winter ice. Despite helping out in prior seasons, I found Brian still needed a lot of direction.

Here I am showing him what he did wrong

He gets it right eventually

Managing Brian is mentally exhausting.

Here Brian wanted me to see the injury he incurred while removing the dock.

Natural Selection and Adirondack Oak Vinyl Siding at Shag Lake

The story of the "peppered moth" near industrial cities in England is the iconic example of natural selection found in every textbook on evolution:

Dark moths on light colored bark are easy targets for hungry birds but are hidden on pollution darkened trees.

In pre-industrial England, the dark moths were rare as they were easily picked off by birds from light colored trees. In post-industrial England, the light colored moths became rare as they were easily picked off against dark soot colored trees. Evolution in action.


Pictured here are some of the local fauna happily blending into the vast new expanse of Adirondack Oak siding we have introduced to Shag Lake. I could not help but wonder whether we may have shifted the local natural selection balance on the lake.

Still more fishin' ...

Another beautiful day on the lake. Caught a few more blugs and undersized pike. Decided it was not enuf to warrant a fry, so let 'em go.

More fishin'

After dinner at Jacks, Harlan and Jonah hit the streams while Papa and I took to the lake. A beautiful still night after a dark dreary and cold day. We fished until dark.

Dock Road Rain Test

We had a pretty good thunderstorm roll over last night. Some of the dirt washed out, but not as much as I expected. The Muck Crew job passed inspection.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

By Popular Demand - The Water Level

Finally - the water level is rising again.


Yes - 17.5 inches.

Still low, but way way better.