A pot-luck post

Pot-luck, to me, means a variety of things thrown together without special preparation or coordination.  My dictionary says it should be a meal, but I think it could apply to a post as well.  I’ll include a couple of things about meals, but the rest is just some of my experiences today.

I picked up this little magnet a couple of weeks ago at the Minnesota Fishing Museum.  It’s message seemed like a good idea to me.

So, last night I fried up a batch of small sunnies and perch that I had caught on Lost Lake for dinner.  I just dipped them in some breadcrumbs for a little crunch.  They were very tasty.  Since I don’t have a boat, I only fish from shore with worms, so far, and don’t really expect to catch anything very big.  I just enjoy being outdoors, and the excitement of reeling them in.  I must admit that I need a little more practice on my fileting skills though.

I headed out early this morning to work on my assignment of painting all of the refuge posts.  My first stop was that tall sign at Chippewa lake that I was too short to paint all the way without a step stool yesterday.  I had a step stool with me this morning, but it sure didn’t help much on the tallest downhill post.

As I was getting everything set up, several young marsh wrens were hopping about in the reeds along the Otter Tail River.  Forgetting about painting, I grabbed my camera to try to get a couple of shots of these little birds.  It had been a foggy morning early on, and the dew was very heavy.  The little birds were quite wet as they busily made their way through the reeds looking for tidbits for breakfast.

Altogether, I ended up painting 28 posts today.  That was an improvement over yesterday, but it still only scratches the surface.  By noon, I was a little wilted, so I stopped back at the rig for lunch and to enjoy a bit of air conditioning.

After lunch, I decided to take a little detour and see where Steve has been working this week.  There are three old cabins that were moved to a location on the refuge by the Becker County Historical Society.  I think they were originally located on lands that eventually became the refuge.  The Tamarac NWR Fall Festival is held in this location, and Steve’s job this week is to help prep things for that.

Of the three cabins, this is the only one with information printed about it at the site.  After paying to have them moved here, the Historical Society has done nothing further to restore them.  So here they sit, crumbling into oblivion.  I think that’s too bad.  They are a real piece of Minnesota history.

On my way out of the site back to paint some more posts, I came upon this pleasant scene at the top of a little rise.  What a peaceful setting.  I think I’ll try to come back here in about a month to see what magic Mother Nature does with the colors of the deciduous trees.  It could be spectacular.

As I was sitting outside with Emma this evening, I watched a little coming of age drama unfold.  That male red-bellied woodpecker that I’ve pictured in recent posts has been feeding two youngsters waiting and begging in the nearby trees.  Tonight, one little one came to the Hard Rock Bird Café with his father.  As dad loaded up on seeds and suet and took off to feed his sibling, the remaining youngster clumsily hopped about from hanger to hanger until it landed on the suet feeder.  There it stayed for a full five minutes figuring out how to take advantage of the feast before its eyes.  Dad came and went, but was now ignored by this youngster.  It won’t be long before that Dad will be experiencing empty nest syndrome. 

I’m pretty excited to report that Gypsy will be arriving in a couple of days to stop by on her journey from Sacramento to New York.  I’ve persuaded Steve to fix some ribs on his smoker for a celebration dinner for Thursday.  We are going to get down and chow out along with Gypsy!

                                                          Time to head out of here for now…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy