Larry the Cable Guy filmed his show at our lake!

So... I don't write for three entire months (while taking a completely unintended break from blogging) ... and I have returned with a Larry the Cable Guy post! "Git r done!"

I had to pass this one on! Larry the Cable Guy has a show called Only in America and he was at Lost Island lake filming with the Iowa DNR for a carp rodeo which will be a featured segment on his show. Check it out tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 14th) on the History Channel!

This photo was posted on the Iowa DNR's facebook page. 

Update: After watching the show, the DNR's description of the photograph was incorrect. It was filmed it at Spirit Lake instead of Lost Island. Spirit Lake is about 30 miles to the north of us. The photo does look like Lost Island though and many people who live in the area thought it was, too!

Judging by the water and the leaves on the trees, I'm guessing this was filmed sometime last spring in April 2011.


Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
What brings Larry the Cable Guy to the middle of Lost Island Lake? DNR fisheries biologist Mike Hawkins (second from left) leads Larry through his first carp rodeo. Watch what happens on Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Wednesday, March 14 at 8 p.m. central on the History Channel.


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First snowfall!

The first snowfall of the season arrived on Saturday, Dec. 3!
 

The lake has begun to freeze... as the temperatures remain low, it will continue to freeze heavily.
Soon there will be ice fishing huts on the ice!

Snow: another love/hate relationship I have... for the most part, I do adore the snow in the winter. It is incredibly bright and pretty and 'cleans' things up when it blankets the ground. Especially when it comes down without the wind to blow it and cause drifting. 

On the other hand, I dislike driving in winter when the roads are coated with snow and/or ice. Often times, the snow remains on the road, melts during the day, but freezes again when the sun goes down making for slick roads. The main highways are kept dry with salt (requiring twice as many car washes to keep the salt off the car) but the roads around the lake can stay rather slick.
 
Regardless of the driving conditions, I love living in an area that receives snow!
 
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(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

A small reflection of summer 2011...

Little chapel on Lost Island Lake

Holly on a boat ride

Busy beaches along the shores of the lake

Hot summer days!

Lots of fun!

Lots of friends!

Lots of entertainment!

The gathering at the shoreline...

The removing of the docks... signaling the end of summer.

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Busy as a Beaver = Timber!

Our friends (who also live at the lake) awoke the other morning to discover the landscape next to their house had been altered. A fairly large tree had come down and was partially lying in the water. 


Upon closer inspection of the tree trunk, the tell-tale signs of a beaver appeared. During the night, a beaver chewed away at the tree and brought it down! 

Look underneath and you can see all the wood chips from the beaver gnawing at the tree.

We see all sorts of critters around the lake and there are plenty of beaver dams and lodges. However, for the most part, I've rarely seen them at work -- usually I see them in the mornings and evenings swimming along the shoreline, probably on their way to an important beaver meeting. They always seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere! 

Not only do beavers use trees for building their dams and lodges, but they also eat the bark and the soft wood just beneath the bark. 

The beaver removed all the branches from the tree trunk closest to the water and hauled them off to his building site.

Beavers cannot control which way the tree will fall and occasionally they will be trapped or killed by the tree they take down. Luckily for our friends, this tree happened to fall in the water. If it had fallen towards their house, it would've fallen on their deck and possibly their kitchen! See how close this tree was to their boat lift:

I returned the next morning to take another photo -- and saw that Mr. Beaver had returned during the night to start gnawing the fallen tree again. He's making firewood!

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The collapse of the cottonwood tree

Awhile back, I posted about the cottonwood trees around our lake. 

In that post I mentioned this: Cottonwoods can become rotten and it is unnoticeable -- until the tree falls.

Well... guess what?

A few weeks ago during some rather high winds, our neighbors who are just two doors down us experienced it first-hand. The tree came crashing down and destroyed their boat, the boat lift, their jet ski, the jet ski lift -- and the entire dock. Luckily, nobody was hurt!

The tree came down quickly, smashing through the dock and everything around it.

It also crushed a boat, a jet ski and both lifts!

This was the jet ski lift. You can see the crushed wheel which is used to raise and lower the jet ski.

What is left of the boat lift -- the cover stayed on. The home owners definitely kept their sense of humor -- do you see the chainsaw sitting on top of the tree trunk??

Base of the tree where it was rotten. This was a HUGE tree!

Better view of the ruins.

And another. The tiny chainsaw probably wouldn't cut a small branch on this tree!

The disaster from the other side.

This man, who insisted on climbing over everything to stand out there, is over 6' tall -- gives you a good idea how large this tree was! (There's one of these guys in every crowd, isn't there? LOL!)

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Are you ready for some ... football? Already?

I guess that time of year is approaching! This morning at the lake, I see the flags are a-flying...


The house to the right of us:

University of Iowa Hawkeyes

And the house to the left of us:

Iowa State University Cyclones

After moving to Iowa many years ago, I quickly discovered that the Iowa / Iowa State competition is a fierce one! 


I remain mostly neutral. I am a college football fan and enjoy watching both teams. However, when they play each other, I usually choose one over the other. The Hawkeyes.




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My Garden Center Purchases!

In my last post, I blogged about visiting a garden center and mentioned I had bought two items. So I thought I'd share a photo of them!

I actually started this post two days after the last one and just now found the time to finish it! If you've read my "about me" page, you might have noticed my regular job is a web designer. Well, that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks months -- working on a new website that will launch on August 1. So far, I've built over 5,000 pages on the new site. Page. by. page. by. page.

After sitting at the computer from 7 am - 5 pm each day, the last thing I want to do is get back online when I am home... I have so many posts I've not had the time to do yet -- and so many blogs I need to catch up with. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now!

So back to the garden center stuff! Remember the black and white pottery? I loved the mushrooms! They had large, medium and small and I bought a medium sized one. Hubby put it by this tree, but I'm still trying to decide if I like it there -- I picture it nesting amongst a bunch of hostas in my shade garden. The other day I moved it to try it with the hostas, but ended up putting it back under the tree because I missed it there.

My neighbor, Julie, said it looked like a Gnome Home. I'm going with that.

The other purchase was the heart-shaped turtle! Love at first sight. <3

(That's a heart. The "<" and the "3" together make a heart and I know how to do those because I'm cool... ok, actually it's because I have a 19-year-old daughter who told me how to make them.)

Mr. Turtle resides on my side table outside. Right next to the pepper plant I planted -- that actually has peppers on it!

This is the east side of the house with my shade garden... I took the photo two weeks ago and will have to take another updated one. The flowers along the edge are a type of "balloon flower" and have exploded in purple!

I'm still working on the shade garden landscaping. I started three years ago. Since I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, my game plan has been to buy something that grows in shade, plant it, and hope it comes back the next year. If it doesn't, I get something new in the spring and try that. It works for me. I <3 planting things and get so excited when they actually grow!


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Kitesurfing on the Lake

A few times this year, we have seen someone "Kitesurfing" on the lake. I have to admit -- this looks like a LOT of fun!

(I'm not sure if it's called Kitesailing or Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding as all of these terms describe about the same thing. But since Kitesurfing is what Wikipedia brought up, I'm going with that.) 

This is the description given: "Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding is an adventure surface water sport that has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding and gymnastics into one extreme sport."

I was so excited when he was close by our house and I was able to stand on my deck and watch him and take photos. 

Kitesurfer circling the boat his friends are in.

Catching a 'running start' towards the boat.

Getting closer to the boat...

And OVER the boat he flies!

He is able to control the direction he wants to go and turns around quite easily. 

Zoomed in to show the board he is riding.

Another zoomed in shot.

And OVER the boat once again!

He seriously makes this look so easy but this takes a lot of talent!

Occasionally the kite just lifts him right up out of the water.

Hubby and I enjoyed watching him in front of our house.

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I am joining Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I love rainy days!

Then when the sun peeks out in the afternoon... beautiful things happen.

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