Is the Ice Out?

That is the question of the day on the phone. Is the ice out? Not yet but we are hoping for ice out by fishing opener on May 10th. All the signs are there for the ice out but it could be close. For Clearwater Lake, historically 'ice out' roughly two weeks following the Brule Rivers. The Brules were open last Thursday so that should put us on a schedule for ice out by fishing opener. The ice has darkened and is pulling away from shoreline.

The smaller Lakes are going to have the ice go out before the larger lakes such as Seagull and Gunflint and even Clearwater.

Watch the blog or give us a call and we can tell you what is going on. In fact, I might just update my voice mail daily for those after hour calls.

Tree Planting

The snow has melted and we are all looking forward to a day of tree planting at the Green Up Event. I was checking the list for what we needed to bring along and if you have one, you should bring a dibble or dibber to plant the trees. There were will be some available from the forest service. I wasn't sure what this tool was so before I started digging through my garage I had to look it up on the Internet. This is what it looks like.

Mourning Cloak Butterfly

Thank you to the person who provided more information on my 'Signs of Spring' blog entry where I identified a moth that is actually a Mourning Cloak Butterfly.

One of the "winter" butterflies, the mourning cloak is often seen flying very early in the spring. Like other tortoiseshells and anglewings, the mourning cloak overwinters as an adult, even in areas with freezing winters. On sunny days, the mourning cloak's dark color and basking behavior allow it to raise its temperature well above the air temperature. The wings act as solar collectors, warming the hemolymph (blood) in the wing veins and returning the warmed fluid to the body until the butterfly reaches a temperature sufficient for flight.

On a weather note, we continue to have temperatures over freezing. With rain on Monday night and Tuesday morning, the snow is melting fast at mid-trail. I was actually able to get to several of the resort outbuilding pretty easily. At least the top layers of soil are soft so this is all good for the Green Up tree planting even starting May 1st.

Lynn

Creek

The signs of spring just keep coming. I walked out on the porch this morning and could hear the creek next to the lodge. I has opened up in the past few days and the melting snow is running off.

Our temperatures continue to be in the 50's during the day and 30's at night.