1/16/10 A TRIP TO THE BEACH WITH BIG SISTER WATCHING

A MAUVE MORNING
SNOWMOBILE TRACKS; THEY GO OUT, DO THEY COME BACK?
ONE LONE FISHERMAN ON THE BA Y
PLENT Y OF CROSS COUNTRY SKI TRACKS

Saturday, 8:30 AM. 25.5 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel has some open water, the sky is partly cloudy with a towering cloud of mauve colored lake smoke on the far eastern horizon. The barometer predicts snow. There was no one else out and about this morning.
Yesterday afternoon, as I was working around the house, I felt a pair of eyes staring relentlessly at me. It was Lucky, and his telepathic message was obvious: “Let’s go to the beach.” I needed a break anyway, so we went. It was 32 degrees and sunny so I only put on a sweat shirt, no jacket. But even though it was warm, it was windy and damp, so we moved about pretty lively-like. There was only one fisherman out on the bay ice, but there were plenty of tracks on the beach snow, both snowmobile and cross-country ski (as well as boots). The bay ice looked pretty rough for either but the tracks ventured out, and I assumed back. The lady game warden who drove up in her pickup with a snow machine in the back wasn’t venturing out, though. I talked to her for a few minutes but didn’t get much information about fish or anything else. I think I interrupted her observations of the lone fisherman, but I don’t think he was catching anything anyway. Big Brother wasn't watching, but I think Big Sister was. The mouth of the Sioux River is still open.