A few perfect Minnesota Summer days

It finally arrived - our perfect weekend of Minnesota summer. We'll take a little more of this, thank you.

ping pong Egyptian style

While I may have had to trade the lake for the sea and the lawn for the sand, at least I have found one thing to keep me feeling at home this summer...

From Mothers Day weekend

Here's a quick jump back to Mothers Day weekend. Three stooges reflected in Eagle Lake, many stooges enjoying the new deck, and Sarah holds her annual Hummel gift from Doug. Can you name who the figure resembles?

The Swimmers

Not only did they swim in 60-degree lake water, Sara and Ted looked darn good while doing so. Should you be interested, Ted's pink and yellow floral swim cap IS available for rental use.

Tanner catches the BIG one and Lily sees her catch get away

Tanner caught the Memorial Day biggest crappie of all time!!! (see below) Lily hooked a giant 10-pound something-or-other, but it snapped the line. (see Jones family in boat pic) We can only wonder. Perhaps it was a rainbow fairy fish called out by the magical songs of Evie. Aidan caught a massive northern pike and found it extremely slimy as he threw it back into the lake. Lily wins the prize for most exuberant return of a fish to water.

Memorial Day Nature

Since I took 1,525 photos over Memorial Day weekend, I'll try to split a few up by post. Here we have Mother Nature--a trillium on its way to turning pink and a loon stretching its wings. I also spotted a single yellow lady slipper in bloom by the shoreline, but nowhere else.

The next posts will show the extremely active wildlife at Eagle Lake. Animals that usually only surface on the weekends.

Breaking news! New fungus discovered at Eagle Lake!

Whilst on my morning shroom hunt at the cabin today, I noticed this beautiful creature. The Googles told me that she's a Geastrum saccatum or Earthstar. Sarah and I were excited by the discovery, but I did find out that these fungi are pretty common in coniferous areas. We'll ask the Hawthorne resident mycologist for more information and get back to you with further details. Post by Courtney

Eagle Lake Tri

Alli has promised to recount all the blood, sweat and tears from the tri, but until then you can distract yourself with the video.

Slip 'N Slide

In any high stakes match up of competitive of slip 'n slide, style counts. You be the judge, the votes will be tallied...who should walk away the champion?

Sandhill Cranes

Steve took this photo with his phone on HWY 8. He thinks they may be Sandhill cranes. You all can keep your eye out for them next time you're on that road. I (Angie) will be avoiding them due to my major fear of flying creatures. In any case, nice pic Dad!

Albert Flies

Probably shouldn't let Huck see this or we'll have to increase his Prozac.

Photo credit: The Incomparable Courtney Perry

This is a guest post by Courtney, the unofficial official member of the Jones clan. I mean, you've seen the wooden rings, right?

If you thought your dog was the one who had committed the most heinous offense at the cabin yet, let Bingo's roof hopping put you at ease. The first time it happened, Tony yelled, "Bingo's on the roof!" As a photojournalist, I was torn--do I run in and grab my camera because it's so darn cute/funny or do I rush to save my dog from falling 8 feet or more to her demise? It was a tough decision. We chose life.

Later, whilst sitting on the dock with Albert and calling Bingo's name to no avail, we suddenly heard the telltale pitter patter of tiny feet on roof. Luckily, we were camera-ready this time. Careful not to call her name from lakeside so she wouldn't launch herself off in that direction, we ran up to the opposite side and lured a freaked-out Bingo to the safe edge.

Thanks to Tony for the swift camera work. The cam certainly balanced the weight of the wine in his opposite hand.

On Behalf of Doug and the Fish Guts

First, some context. Sarah thought the best way to remember to bring home the fish guts was to place them in the recycling bin. Of course! Well, not really...on the way home she exclaimed, "Oh $hit! I forgot the fish guts!" The next weekend, as Ted was trying to show off the cabin to his California friends, he encountered a stench that sent him gagging, hunched over down the road (see below). It was only Doug who could handle the mess...

Actually, I'm the one who should blog about the fish guts because I'm the one who had to deal with it since Ted wimped out and walked away (talk about puke in the driveway!!)  Fortunately, Tony came up with the great idea of pouring chlorine bleach over it to kill the wigglies and the smell.  So I stopped on the way up, got some bleach and did that.  Only problem was, after letting it stand over night, I still had to get rid of the mess.  So I dug it out of the garbage can, carried it down across the creek and buried it where I hope the dogs won't find it and dig it up.

 Then I had to deal with the cans; I doubled bagged them and hauled them to the recycling center in Crosby.  Then I had to clean the garbage can which I did with more bleach and soap.  Whole thing shot a lot of the day - but its gone.  If anybody does that again, guess who is going to clean it up.

Medal of Honor (Eagle Lake style) for above and beyond would be appropriate!

Welcome to the New Mug

Beer, Barmaids, Wurst...and a little Dancing too

 

Duck, Duck, Dead Duck

the triumphant hunters back from their quest (and just a bit soggy)

preparing the feast - anything wrapped in bacon is delicious

Breaking in the New Pontoon

One pretty fabulous weekend...

A nap in the sun...

















Some air on the wakeboard...

















A looong run, great food, doubles pong...good stuff!

Hard at Work this Morning

Ping Pong Serving Rules...

...Cuz Ted can't blog (anymore)...

The real serving rules are basically this -- you have to throw the ball up in the air (without spin) at least 6 inches, then hit it. You have to hit it from behind the end line.

It doesn't matter whether it bounces twice on your opponent's side. It also doesn't matter whether it goes off the side, or the end line, of your opponent's side. Given that you have to serve from behind the court, and you have to throw it up, it's basically impossible to do dink serves anyway.

In doubles it's the same, except you hit it cross-court, right side to right side.

http://www.usatt.org/rules/index.shtml