We have a pair of hummingbirds plus about ten Baltimore orioles coming to our feeders on a daily basis. I’ve been watching to see where they fly to after feeding hoping to find their nest — no luck so far.
Mama snapping turtles have been busy laying their eggs in sandy type soil. On my early morning walk, I had an interesting conversation with about a 40 pounder. She had just finished laying eggs, covering them over with sandy soil.
She told me she hoped for a few days of 90 plus weather, as then there would be a lot of swimmers at the beach. Translation: she needed bone type material to build her body strength back to normal. Her favorites were false teeth and false nails, especially those painted a dark blue. Are any of you swimmers missing your teeth or nails after being at the Beaver Lake Beach?
St. Olaf Lake area had a downpour of almost five inches of rain last week. There was so much water that the lake overflowed. Virgil Thofson reported water in his cornfield as part of the overflow. (For your info, Virgil lives about four miles north of Hartland.) Virgil was not worried about the loss of the corn as he planted water-resistant corn!
The baby red-tail hawks have left their nest on the north side of Beaver Lake. This is the same nest that the hawks have used in previous years.
There are four kinds of larger birds of prey at Beaver Lake. The kinds are red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, osprey and buzzards. The buzzards are not federally protected, while the others are. Other than appearance, taste is the main way to tell the four apart.
Eagles are dark course meat and taste like bear, only stronger. Osprey meat is white and has a fishy taste. Red-tail hawk meat is reddish and tastes like squirrel. Buzzard meat is a challenge to eat as the smell is tough to get past. When you’re preparing the above four, be sure to invite the local conservation officer to taste-test.
Because of the unlawful digging at the Beaver Lake outlet, a trail camera has been set up focused on the outlet. The camera is very high tech with the film in color and showing military time. The date the picture is taken will be instantly downloaded to the conservation officer’s cell phone. For a fee, the conservation officer will let you look at your picture!
The Karaoke party at Bill and Bonnie’s cabin on Beaver Lake was a singing success. Kids laughed at their parents inability to sing. When the kids were given the microphone — the parents laughed. Other than local talent, a dude from Ohio and his wife put on a a good show. The reason he was such a good bass singer of “Sixteen Tons” was that was his major in college at Mankato. His Magna Cum Laude degree was in sing-a-long at the local Mankato piano bars. (Piano bars were the fore-runner of Karaoke.) They now call themselves “Worrell “D” singers!
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. This is the Hanson’s 36th summer at Beaver Lake. They leave the lake in mid-October to go south — to Albert Lea — and return in April. Bob says if you enjoy his article, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of Wisdom: There is always room for God.