[Bob Longfellow (see “Please Bare* With Me”) took this photo, of the Lake Carlos property (it’s a new house) where he grew up, as he flew out of town after homecoming weekend.]

On Sunday, as a series of beautiful days continued, we invited neighbors to the south, Arnie and Jo, and neighbor to the north, Dangerous Dan, to join us on what would possibly be the last venture by the Moby Obie for the year.  It was also only the Moby’s 4th such trip of the year.  Incredibly, after record or near-record precipitation amounts for winter, spring, and summer, last month set a record for the driest September in history – and that is continuing into October.  The once predicted great fall color season has been tampered somewhat because of absence of rain.

[The day before the pontoon ride, small birds came to gorge on our European mountain ash berries.  The tree was full of such birds, I believe they were eagles, until they detected my movement inside the house, though I tried to hide behind a lamppost.]

[Dangerous Dan and Arnie at the prow of the Moby.  Arnie gave up the Vikings game (though that’s a relative term) to enjoy the great weather.]

[Darling Heights Place waterfront]

[Jo]

[More Darling Heights Place waterfront]

[Arrowwood]

[Baywood]

[Hay bales protecting property during the high water levels – the recent “drought” has reduced lake levels by at least 18 inches.]

[The Fieldhammer property is under recovery.]

[Lake Darling landmark]

[Darling-Carlos channel – we could finally get through it again.]

[Little Darling West shore]

[Color on Lake Carlos]

[Beginning of a series of photos on Lake Carlos.]

[Longfellow property that inspired Bob to submit the aerial shot.]

[Loons.  During most of the season they are solitary birds – or just a nuclear family of mom, dad, and the kids.  At this time of year, they begin to cluster in preparation for migration.  We ran across a group of 20 or so on this day.]

[Carlos State Park]

[The Long Prairie River exiting out of Lake Carlos.  This is the drainage for the chain of lakes, and during the high water times of this summer was probably producing Class 5 rapids!]

[Carrington House]

[Carlos-Le Homme Dieu channel]

[“Hey, Crazy Dave, how are the Vikings doing?”]

The next day:

[As Mary and Crazy Dave prepare for their southern migration this week, they invited us over to the other side of Lake Darling to watch the sun set.]

[The sunset vantage point – the supervisor, Mary, and Mariah Wirth, who is related to the Owens through the convoluted Camp Ballentine kinship system.]

[A reminder of early October two years ago.]

Coming soon – yet another visit to the North Shore.  And if more photos of Gooseberry Falls doesn’t light your fire, a certain fan of questionable judgment has requested a blog reprise of the Alaska cruise of three years ago!

Alaska teaser?

[Prior to the high school bond referendum last week, the most nervous I can recall being of recent vintage was trying to stay awake to photograph Mt. McKinley at midnight on the summer solstice.  My circadian rhythm dictates that I be in La-la Land from 9:00 pm to 4:00 am, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Emptying a tray of ice cubes in my shorts every 15 minutes did the trick – I did it!]