Beginning of August

 Our time is running out--we leave Minnesota on the 13th of August and we have a lot to do.

One thing was to visit our Florida/Minnesota friends at their home in Stillwater. No this isn't their house, but we took a trolley tour of historic Stillwater and saw some beautiful restored mansions of the logging barons of the late 1800s. Beautiful homes, many made into Bed and Breakfast Hotels, many still a private residence.

We stopped a spell at the top of the 157 downtown steps from lower Stillwater to upper Stillwater (reminded me of Quebec City) to look over the city to the oldest lift bridge in the US and onto the St. Croix River as it meanders past the town.

Just a note: we have a new email address: monacomitch@me.com.

The middle of July

 Donna and Ron are high school friends of Jim and Carol and live on a little lake a ways away. Donna knew with our flooded lake that the 4th of July would be a wash so she invited all of us to have the 4th at their place. What a sweetheart!

 So we all (minus Shayne and Sarah and the girls) had a great time with our cookout and playing at the lake at Ron and Donna's.

 The lake is slowly going down and we decided to "get out of town" for awhile. So off to Bayfield, WI we went, a great three hour scenic drive along the south side of Lake Superior. We stayed in the "billard room" (top floor two left windows) of a 1890s mansion which has been converted into the gorgeous Rittenhouse Bed and Breakfast. We had a great two night stay.

A 20 minute ferry ride from Bayfield is the Apostle Islands National Park and we enjoyed a 3 1/2 hour narrated cruise around the islands. One of the highlights were the sea caves on Devils Island.

All in all it was a great diversion from the high waters of Big Sandy.

The End of June

We had 19 inches of rain in about three weeks and the lake went up and up. Soon the shoreline looked much like this--skeletons of docks and lifts.

Eventually the water rose to cover the steps by about three feet, much of the docks and posts were completely covered, and only the front portion of the lifts are above water.

Not only water, but a good wind storm gave us a scare. This nice clump of huge oak trees are on the hill above the motorhome, the red marked one naturally leaning above us. With the 60 mile an hour winds--or a twisting wind or a bolt of lightning--a six foot crack developed and fortunately the power company felt it compromised their power line. We moved the coach, they cut it down piece by piece, and we moved back in. We feel safer now!

Early on we sandbagged Jim and Carol's cabin. We had a nice wall about three feet high and they had two sump pumps going. As the water came up, we thought we might make it--and then one night a portion of the wall broke in and the basement filled with water. Since this picture the water has risen to about six inches above the sandbags.

The dock at our place is moved up the shore as far as it can go and the water is almost covering  the sections completely, hence no shallow water, no beach, no ledge, just cliff...no place to park the pontoon with its sealegs.

We moved it to the lagoon and for about a week moved it forward everyday. This picture is now in the middle of the road to Jim and Carol's cabin which is about two and a half feet under water.


The lake is closed to the public, there are "no wake" rules for those of us on the water, we can't swim in the water in many cases can't use it for drinking or washing. That's the bummer!

But we made the best of it by having a "bad water" theme meal as in a hurricane. So we drank hurricanes while we prepared some great Cajun food--red beans and rice, shrimp roumalade, okra and andouille creole,  oyster hushpuppies, and enough to fill us all!

This is not a picture of our smorgasbord, but Addy and Macy made this cracker and carrot feast for the chipmunks. I especially loved the little daisy Addy added for the centerpiece.

The Middle of June

We attended a Monaco North Central Rally in Osseo, WI (and had a great time) and on the way home we stopped to spend the weekend with Bryan and Stacy at their new cabin in Minong, WI.

 We had a great time with the kids including a tasty waffle and venison sausage breakfast.

We spent Sunday on the lake fishing and checking out the sights. You can just see their cabin through the woods.

They have a really cute cabin and will enjoy their weekends at the lake!

The Beginning of June

Mid May was very warm and sunny and we got a lot of work done. Good thing--the rains came. We began to understand Noah a lot better. The lake rose nearly two feet and they say it isn't done yet.

The first weekend mornings of June were fantastic however; the sun was shining, the temperature was comfortable, but the lake was eerily quiet and calm--no boats, the docks are pulled out, canvas covers are off the lifts, we park the pontoon on what was once the beach.

But it lends itself to a wonderful pontoon breakfast on the river ride. Mitch manned the controls Saturday morning and Shayne manned the grill. We girls thoroughly enjoyed our scrambled eggs with chili and grilled English muffins. Yummy!

For dinner all twelve of us hit the pontoon for a quiet lake ride and a taco and refried beans dinner. We made great use of the quiet lake.

IHOP eat your heart out. Breakfast on Sunday morning was on the deck. Tony made the waffles and Shayne made the omelets and bacon, both on the grill. Jo left her caramel rum sauce and together with fresh sliced bananas, breakfast again was better than we could get at a restaurant (except Jason's).

After breakfast we all took the pontoon to the sand bar, the spot on the lake that "was" ankle deep last year. With water temp at about 70 degrees the kids were loving jumping off the edge of the pontoon into the chest high water. We didn't have to fight for sandbar space at all!

The "Boys" Underwater

It's fun to see what's going on in Florida. The boys are taking swimming lessons and it looks like they are having fun!

Finally "Up North", Happy Birthday, Addy!

We got the motorhome parked, and short of a number of projects around the place, we are ready to have a great time for the summer.

But, first things first, celebratingAddy's fifth birthday with a dinner of pizza followed by chocolate cake, opening her presents--mostly purple and Squinkies, then some fun with the birthday pinata. Happy Birthday, Addy!!