alexandriacardinals

[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!]

Yes, vacation finally did come to an end.  It was time to head home and ease back into the rigors of retirement.  The penultimate day began as had all the others.  Beautiful morning at waterfront as we prepared for the lake swim (yeah, I jumped the gun by a day) – not to do it, but to cover it.  It’s one mile across the lake, and the camp sends the pontoon with staffers as a lifeline.

[The swimmers]

[The spectators – a young college-age swimmer can be seen off the end of the dock finishing in under 15 minutes, as I recall.  The rest float in at various times up to 45 – 50 minutes.]

[Heads bobbing in the distance.]

[“Are they all in yet?  It’s time for breakfast!”]

[The Biddies’ respective eldest offspring prove themselves eligible to be honorary Oberts!]

We interrupt this reverie for a brief interlude.  Camp features almost daily field trips to the surrounding area.  The previous day featured a trip to Hennings Cheese, makers of the largest cheese wheels in the country (well, it is Wisconsin).  The supervisor and I had made this trip in previous years – this time the kids went:

Meanwhile, back at camp . . .

[Guess what the last evening’s theme was?  Arrgghhhhh!]

[“15 men on a deadman’s chest . . .”]

[“Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of sugar-free, caffeine-free, MSG-free some kind of pop.”]

[People always take my picture when I drop my pants?]

[Once school nurse of the year in Indiana!]

[With Beth, her eldest, computer scientist of the year in California.]

[The supervisor with her color-coordinated eye patch.]

[This is staffer Sam Bohney (yup, rhymes with “Zamboni”).  He’d be a big hit here in hockey country.]

[Staff – their last night after a long summer of eight different groups of campers.]

[Jami and Danny]

[The Biddies last hurrah – our only rain of the week washed out the last night’s bonfire.]

[Our last morning – staff had already begun de-campisizing the camp.]

[Tom says good-bye to Karina and family.]

[We say good-bye to our home for the week.]

[The supervisor is not good at good-byes.]

So, until we meet again!  🙂

As we headed out the door Wednesday night, the supervisor noticed Monarch butterflies were dining in her flower garden.  No doubt stoking up for the long trip to Mexico?  They did not seem to mind being the objects of the photographer’s eye.  Then a short trip to the golf club for the final Wednesday night buffet of the season – the trip took as long as it took Lisa Lynn to sing “Hallelujah” on CD.  A beautiful evening required some shots (photographic) around the course, “as the days dwindle down to a precious few.”

[No. 3]

[No. 4]

[Flowers help make a golf course.  Thanks again, Steph.]

[Now comes the funny stuff.  The buffeteers, ranging in age from about 65 – 80, talked about the “old” people in the adjoining room celebrating a 70th wedding anniversary.  Everything is relative.]

The night before the vote for the new high school, our Cardinals defeated their fellow Cardinals from Willmar, 3 – 0.  Also should have been taken as a good omen.  Our staff photographer was there as usual to cover the action.

[GOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!]

[Looks like a GOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!]

[It’s easier when they stand still.]

[GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL scorer?]

Finally, purloined from Jess Lourey’s Facebook page, an “I love reading” visual metaphor.  Jess, of course, is internationally renowned for her murder-by-month novels centered in Battle Lake.

 

I had to drop by the school Wednesday night to pay my final respects.  After all, it was my school too.  On Tuesday the voters in School District 206 decided it was time for a new high school.  Jefferson had performed valiant service for our community for over 50 years, but its time had come.  It’s now a new time – a time to enter the 21st century.

Nervousness abounded for those of us in the “pro new school” category.  School referendums have had tough sledding in recent years.  Few were confident this measure would pass.  But not only did it pass, it did so in surprising numbers!  Many thanks to the voters in 206, and to those who made it all possible.

http://www.alexandria.k12.mn.us/112910716204220200/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=56075

I drove to the polls Tuesday along West Lake Cowdry Road.  It was a glorious late September morning here in Vacationland USA – the kind of day the Chamber of Commerce dreams about.  I should have taken that as a good omen.  (It was such a great day that your correspondent then proceeded immediately to the golf course where he ran off 8 pars in a row on the back 9 – then double-bogeyed 18 for the sake of handicap.)

So, while we now look forward to the future with great anticipation, let’s take a few moments to revisit those glorious “school daze” of yesteryear.

[1898]

[1910]

[1910]

[1910]

[1907]

[1916]

[1919]

[Washington School, 1909]

[Washington School (Lester Nelson in photo, I’ve been told)]

The following post cards courtesy of Class of ’65er, Lorlee Bartos:

[Washington School, 1949]

Meanwhile, back at mid-century – back when Jefferson was the “new school”:

[Rolfsrud is now publisher and editor of the Class of ’65 blog; Elton is full-time emcee of the Hall of Fame induction activities.]

[Yes, we had homecoming even way back then!]

[I believe I voted absentee ballot – probably something to do with another skin outbreak.]

[Kathy today is generally just dismayed at the e-mails I send.]

[Some of these people are still occasionally spotted in this area.]

[Will the new high school have a central courtyard for photo ops?]

[Yes, we had a band . . . and color photography (then on something called “film”?)]

[We graduated . . .]

[And went on to bigger and better things (Kadena AFB, Okinawa, February 1972).]

[A military leave visit in 1971.]

[We had reunions – 1980]

[We had snow – 2007]

[A visit to Washington School in 2009 – it has now been displaced by Woodland Elementary and is fast becoming a condominium.]

[Woodland Elementary]

[We suspect the people above had a huge impact on the vote for the new school – they want an auditorium!]

[Students jumped for joy at the election results.]

[The supervisor celebrated (OK, it’s an archive photo)]

[The school-to-be]

[Until 2014]

Acknowledgments:  All photos contained herein were taken by the publisher – except for those taken before he was born, for those in which he is a subject, and for those stolen from somewhere else.]