Fishin report for Lake Iwanttobethere..

[FOOT]

Bobby, thanks for the update on the town hall/ice fishing/lodge meeting. I certainly hope to be particiapting one of these fine days.

Not much goin on down here. Wife is expecting me to stay close so we can get our Christmas shopping completed etc.

She'll be heading up to the UP of Michigan to visit the old home lands right after Christmas so I might get away and head to the lake for a couple of days. We'll see.

[Bobby Bass]

Well Foot I hope ya make it to the Lake before this weather settles in. Sunshine Ray our weatherman has predicted 6-10 inches of snow for the next few days. Was a flurry of folks getting houses out along Marble Eye Lane and some more off Crappie Circle. The Sundown Cafe announced with the coming of snow that their delivery girls will be switching from ice skates to snowshoes and the deliver fee will be a tad higher. Food and drink comes quicker when they are on skates. Lot of excitement along main street yesterday afternoon. Jimmy was fishing from one of the community ice holes on main street and about 5 holes down old man Walter was also fishing. Well Jimmy has a big sucker out and gets distracted talking to the Window Hess and something comes and takes his sucker and starts pulling line out, A few moments later old man Walters line goes down but he sees it and sets the hook.. Well Jimmy feels a tug as he is watching the Widow Hess walk away then feels the tug in his hand from his pole. Well Jimmy sets his hook and the Walter feels a good tug and starts reeling, Jimmy's drag starts wining and he digs in and starts cranking back. Well this give and take goes on for quite awhile and a crowd starts to gather around the two holes. Not unusual to have two large fish on here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Well an hour later and money is starting to change hands as bets are placed. Walter is hanging on but Jimmy is getting thirsty, as you may have guessed Jimmy does not like to go to long with out something wetting his whistle. People are now starting to stand two deep and there is kind of a less filling great taste thing going on. Walter is starting to tire but then someone passes him a frosty mug and he is refreshed, Jimmy starting to sweat and his eyes are darting from side to side pleading for someone to get him a brew. This is becoming quite the battle here as both men give and take with their fish one gaining ground as the other losses some. Then it happens Jimmy starts to hallucinate he sees the Widow Hess walking towards him dressed as one of the October feast waitress. Two big jugs and a beer in each hand. The crowd part as she walks towards him, she has the shape of an hour glass with a few extra minutes in just the right places. Jimmy drops his rod and stumbles towards her. Walter Suddenly lets out a whoop and running backwards reeling as fast as he can, "she's coming out" he yells. Reeling away he is suddenly stopped cold but with one more yank up out of the hole pops......Jimmy's rod....The crowds sigh as one and head back on their ways, The Widow Hess disappears in a puff of ice fog and Walter and Jimmy are left standing staring at each other like two gunfighters. With a wave of hands at each other they to turn and head to their shanties. The sun starts to set and soon the street is clear, lights through small windows are popping up all over and the ice town of Lake Iwantotobethere settles in for the evening Crappie bite. There is a storm on the way and I am sure something will happen, it always does here at Lake Iwanttobethere.

[FOOT]

Bobby, I happened to be at the local watering hole here in Rochester last night playing a little poker and generally BSing when one of the guys asked me if I had purchased a cabin. Seems this guy use to live nearby the lake in Pengilly and he knows Hammerin Hank and a couple more characters.

He told me a story about Hammerin that I am leaning toward believing. Seems one day ole Hammerin had a large pile of Oak and Cedar logs to cut and split. After he had them all cut into fireplace place lenghts he heard the crappie were on a bite and was torn between finishing splitting the wood or going fishing. Since it was very hot and humid that day he really didn't want to split any of that wood.

I guess what happened next involved someone known as Shifty.

Hammerin got Shifty to call the local Sheriff's dept and tell them that Hammerin was the major supplier of Marijuana in and around the Lake. Not only that but he would import the pot in the wood.

Very shortly there arrived a group of local Sherriff's Deputies and State Police including the BCA with axes and desire to put this scourage in jail. The all got to work chopping the wood to find the dope while Hammerin sat in his boat and caught some nice crappie. After the wood had all been split Hammerin pulls up to his dock and asked what inthe world was going on. He's informed that he was under investigation and they had to search all of the wood to find the evidence. Problem was, there was no evidence.

Hammerin lays into the officers and start yelling about ruining his wood and by golly he's going to sue. Finally after 30 minutes of carrying on Hammerin calms down and agrees not to sue as long as the Sherriff's Dept gives him $50 from their petty cash and they agree to stack the wood out of the way inside his lean to.

Hammerin gets the $50 and invites Shifty over for a meal of fresh crappie washed down with some imported high faluten beer that comes in a green bottle.

As I say, I am leaning toward believing this story about Hammerin but I wanted to check with you first.

Of course Hammerin

[FOOT]

Bobby, a very similar thing happened down here on the Mississippi only during the open water season.

Dave and I were fishing out of LaCupolis and were drifting "the bar". There were quite a few boats that day and as luck would have it 2 boats got their lines tangled. Each person thought they had Wilma the Walleye the mythical 45 pound walleye on their line and fought to get her up. Dave looked my way and whispered "they have each other's line". We watched them for almost 30 minutes before they realized what they really had.

It was almost better then catching walleye.

One guy finally let out line so the other could un-tangle the lines. Soon they had several hundred feet of line out as one boat was anchored and the other was still drifting to the south. Then along came Slick the Coast Guard Auxillary for the Lake Pepin area, right between the 2 boats. By now the guy drifting south had a hook planted deeply into is index finger. Slick's boat (Didyoushoottoo) hit the line (stren I believe) and pulls the drifter out of his little fishing boat and pulls the rod and reel out of the other guys hands. Now we have one guy skipping along behind Didyoushoottoo by the finger and the rod and reel flying around in ever smaller circles. About the 3rd time around Didyoushoottoo the rod and reel bonk Slick right in the middle of the forehead knocking Slick uncouncious.

With Slick down for the count Didyoushoottoo runs up on the rocks at LaCupolis causing major damage to itself.

Happy to say that Slick came too and is fine today, except for that slight tick he has, the fisherman got the hook out and Didyoushoottoo was able to be repaired. Oh, and Dave and I have finally stopped laughing about this after 15 years and really don't tell this story that much anymore. Maybe only 7 or 8 times a year.

[Bobby Bass]

Well 18 inches of fresh snow on Lake Iwanttobethere today. A few changes to the look around here, As you can imagine we have some banks now for the ice roads. Main street is all open and the community ice hole are back open and burn barrels are glowing here late at night. With our first real snow fall we have a lot of people doing a three day weekend and the walleye bite is always great here after a snowfall. Just to catch you up on a few things, the boards are up at the south hockey rink but no one is skating as the Lars kid has reappeared and took it upon himself to clear the rink. He borrowed his uncle's tractor with the manure bucket on it and moved snow with that. He also left a lot of brown lines on the ice and no one wants to get checked and fall on the ice. Old man McFarlane is up from the cities I can hear him now. The story on McFarlane is that he is an old rocker from the 60's and is some big wig at one of them letter companies in the cities like 4M anyway he has Hammering Hank haul his shanty out on the ice for him. The thing is loaded with nothing but 12 inch speakers and it takes 2 Honda's to power it up. He says it took him 40 years till he could have enough cash to buy the sound system that he dreamed of as a kid and now that he has it the only place he can play it is here at lake Iwanttobethere. Since he is a big sponsor here we let him have 24 hrs each winter to play as loud as he wants. Right now he is doing some Black Sabbath You can look into your holes and see the beat coming across the ice. Just heard the Garth new 5 disk set, lot of boots tapping the ice with that one. As you can see ice fishing is different here, No garbage and people are polite if they are not there house will disappear during the night. Well I am out the door here going to do some late night plowing, just something about moving the snow with nothing but moonlight as your guide.

[FOOT]

Bobby, you will be surprised a all get out when we bring our ice shack to the Lake. I know I was amazed the first time I viewed it.

Right after I told the guys about the cabin Barry set to work on a little project. He's like that. He never asks for help or lets anyone know what he's doing he just goes ahead and does it. Sometimes this works out and sometimes it doesn't.

I'll try and describe the shack.

It actually comes in 5 seperate pieces and the main area is 2 stories. The main area is a quaint 16' x 16' square. Each corner is open about 4'. He made these openings to attach the sleeping sections. Each section is 12' long by 5 ' wide and has a bunk that folds up flush against one wall. There are shelves, a built in table and heater in each sleeping section as well. 3 holes for fishing are along the 12' length oposite the bunk.

The sleeping sections are pushed into place and velcro flaps are engaged to make them comfortable. When everything is in place it forms a square with 4 equal spokes, kinds like a star.

The lower main area has 16 holes, heater, shelving, cabinets, permanent bait containers, fish storage container and a table that can be raised or lowered, by use of a chain system, to keep it out of the way on hot bites.

The upstairs of the main area contains cooking facilities, 4 additional bunks, and a portable shower and potty.

Approximate weight of the structure when fully assembled and manned is about 5,000 pounds. It is quite the

Taz-Ma-Hall, that's the name of the local Rooster Roaster's Sportmen's Club's meeting hall. If you've ever seen it you won't forget it.

The one good thing is that Barry has a flat bed to hall this shack up North to the Lake. I don't know how this will work for the launching of the ice shacks. Do we have to have it assembled or can we just shoot the main section out and then attach the spokes ?

Barry also told me that on slow fishing days he would be willing to open the shack up to other fisherperson's, can't forget the women, as a bar. He would serve mix drinks, beer and hot cocoa but no wine. He got sick on wine when he was back in 8th grade and hasn't touched the stuff ever since. We've tried to tell him over the years that the wine was really not wine, it was Mazola Cooking Oil with food coloring added that Danny mixed up. It sure was a funny thing to watch as the rest of use had real wine and there sat Barry drinking with Mazola and puking almost at the same time.

We'll be bringing the shack up the first weekend in January so we'll stop by and introduce ourselves.

[Bobby Bass]

Well Foot that sounds like a dandy little shanty. I would think that we could launch the center section with out a problem, might even be able to shoot off the sub sections also. Might not be close but we could get them in the general direction. As for being a bar if you are to offer these beverages for free then there would not be a problem otherwise you will have a conflict with some other business that cater to the ice town, but of course like everything here at Lake Iwanttobethere it can be discussed at a town meeting. I like what you have done with the shanty it will fit right in. I have a little place on the ice myself, nothing much kind of like yours but a little longer to house the two lane bowling alley and we did add a deck two years ago so we can do some trap shooting. I have a permit so I can shoot out over the north end of the lake. Another thing you might want to add with all of them holes is a hole heater. I have a bunch of them deep fryer heaters that I picked up at Surplus is Us and I keep them in my holes, just a flick of a switch and no skim ice! You will have to come by for sure and we can trade ideas. I think you will like my beer trolley, It run all the way around the inside walls of my shanty, I can bring beer and chips right from the kitchen or I can pour you and ship it from the main hall. I always have a keg of Hamm's on tap. Another 6 inches of white stuff coming down this morning here. Will be out plowing again tonight, Nice part is we can expect another good bite this evening. I have the main hole all ready to go here as I was up at the boat house yesterday and I got the hand winch off the trailer. Not going to lose another one like I did the other day! remember fishing is always good here at Lake Iwanttobethere

[FOOT]

I called Barry and mentioned your beer trolley and boy did he give out a howl. He yelled in the phone that he had an idea and hugn up immediately.

Even though it's only been a little over an hour he already has a solution and called me to tell me about it. He's installed a tapper system in the upper level where he can lug in a 16 gallon keg. Then he's run surgical tubing to each bunk room and down two sides walls of the main area. Each end of the tubing terminates with a simple clamp device. Then when one wants to fill his glass he releases the clamp and the beer flows into the glass. His last comment to me was "I'm testing it out right now and there doesn't seem to be any problems".

I like the idea of your deck and being able to trap shoot. I use to trap shoot quite a bit when I lived in Mpls but since moving to Rochester in 77' I kind of gave up on it. We'll have to give it a go sometime.

As far a hole heater, you've got a good idea there with the deep fryer heaters. However, I'd be a little afraid of cutting my line of the heater. Dan works in the Alcohol Room at Mayo. This is where they get alcohol in huge 100 gallon barrels and then divide it up in to smaller portions as needed. He gets us all of the alcohol needed so we just pour a little in the hole and the alcohol keeps each hole ice free. We've even noticed that we are catching the same fish over and over again the same day. I think it has something to do with pulling the fish up through the alcohol. Can fish become alcoholics? We've discussed this at a couple of poker games but there is no clear cut agreement amonst us. Maybe you could bring this topic up at the next town meeting and see if someone up there knows the answer. I swear we've even heard a couple of smaller pan fish hicup the 3rd or 4th times we've caught them.

Do you have automatic spin spotters on your bowling alley or do you hire local kids to re-spot the pins? I can see pluses and minuses to both.

One nice thing about Barry's new ice shack is he will be able to rent it out over the summer as a cabin to defray some of the building cost etc: Does the town have any restrictions on sub-letting?

WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU GET HAMM'S BEER ??? We've had to put up with Fox Deluxe, Chief Oshkosh or Grain Belt. If I told the guys you had Hamm's your life wouldn't be worth a plugged nickel. I never did understand how they could quit making a premium beer liek Hamm's. Whenever I see the word Hamm's or even just plain ham I start to humt he Hamm's Sky Blue Water's song. You know, "from the pines lofty Balsam's, Hamm's". If you are into hard liquor I'd be willing to trade Chivas or Johney Walker for Hamm's.

Pole Jockey Mike has whittled down some of the old wooden telephone poles into the cutest looking ice rods and since they're socked with creasolte (sp) they won't rot. He's experimented with attaching a smaller warmer to the handles so your hands won't get cold but after a couple of minutes the heat ignites the creasolte and PJ has to start whittling again.

Another call coming in from Barry so I'd better go. Wonder what he's come up with now.

[Bobby Bass]

Did you feel the shack move......))))))))) we just got moved to a different forum...Someone up top must have found out we were writing about ice fishing here on Lake Iwanttobethere

[MT Net]

Whoa! Can others move your shack like that? Apparntly so. Sounds like a nice lake you're on. Any ice Bocceball tournaments while watching the tip-ups?

[Bobby Bass]

We don't have any winter Bocceball we do have a summer league and people just get burned out during the long 10 week season. However the ATV soccer games will be held right after the Super Bowl kind of the same idea just bigger balls

[Bobby Bass]

Well taking a break from the shack's honey do list. Yup even the ice Shanty has a do list. I think I have one problem already taken care of so it will not recur like last year. One of my nephews who works at that Honeydeep Co. in the city's brought me up a couple of those robot vacuum cleaners for the shack. The one worked well enough cleaning up the indoor outdoor carpet but it take take a shine to the area in front of the auto dartboard. Would pause there and make beeping sounds. The other robot vacuum was tinkered with so that it did not do carpet but it would go from hole to hole sit down and clean the shaving from the hole and the skim ice. Then it would go out a slender dog door that we put in and drop the shavings outside on the ice. It worked well till we got a visit from those space people NASA is it? anyway they show us pictures from space of a hole in the clouds and there was Lake Iwanttobethere with all these dots on the ice in some kind of weird pattern. They said that one of their satellites had been acting funny every time it passed over that area. Well they took the ice robot cleaner a way. Claimed it was talking to the satellite in space and they had both come from the same place, you know Honey Deep Co. They asked if I had any others but the carpet cleaner was hidden under the bank of slot machines and they did not find it. I was also tinkering with another gadget my nephew brought up late last season. He calls it stealth crappie 2 it has a camera in it and he has been tinkering with it trying to track the crappie under the ice. A small motor gives it about 20 minutes of travel time and so far we have had some fun pestering neighboring holes. Stealth one was eaten by a northern last spring and that was like watching the fantastic voyage movie just no Rachel Welch in it. Will let you know how that goes, He is working on a Captain Nemo version to play with the Dark House guys...I still have to get the BBQ cleaned out to, we are going to do a small pig and watch the Vikings game tomorrow and someone did not clean up last time. It is a pop out BBQ it sits outside to cook and then you can just pop it back into the shack through the wall cut your meat and pop it back out again to keep cooking, no smoke no muss but sometimes we forget it's out there..

[Bobby Bass]

Well we have settle in to a nice relax day to day here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Sleep in late everyday, catch a few Northerners during the day, Crappies are biting just at dusk and a few walleye in the mix to give an extra tug. Christmas in a few days and a lot of coming and going on the lake with spouses checking with other neighbors to see what is needed in the shanties. Some of the gifts are loads of wood from Hammering Hank, beer coupons and minnow punch cards. Nothing going on till after the holidays, no lodge meetings and no town meetings but there will be a dance at the Lodge and that is usually good for a few interesting comments as the punch in the past has been know to attract a different flavor as the night goes on. A lot of lights on the shanties this season and some interesting things have been spelled out by the town's youth. They are already out on vacation. If I don't get back to you have a Happy and safe Christmas..

[nytelyter]

heyya bobby. wanted to wish you and all the folks from the lake a very happy holidays and a great and prosperous new year. i did have one question tho. would it be alright for a guy to bring up a portable fishhouse and fish on lake iwanttobethere. since i lost my motor out infront of the john deere colored cabin i have been wanting to get back up there. i did have on a rather nice fish after it dropped into the lake and was fortunate enuff to have that fish pull me almost all the way back to infront of the landing before i lost it. never did see it tho but i am sure it was one of your smaller trophey fish i hear about. anyways i want to bring up the portable and fish a few days during the break between the holidays.i will watch the forum for a reply. again i wish you all a very happy holiday and hope to see you before the new year. paul

[Bobby Bass]

Not really a fishing report here today but just checking in to let you know how the Lodge dance went last night. Our Christmas mixer was held and a lot of the town people were there. Hammering Hank spent most of the day working on his chain saw ice sculpture of an elpout at least that is what he said it was. I kind of thought it was something left over from the alien opener. Reed the Realtor was busy handing out 2005 business cards as his new batch was on order. Bet'Em Casino had a table by the door and the Widow Hess was working the room. Dr. Burriem was seen a lot hanging around the punch bowl. Barney the mechanic was our lot boy. Wolgang Puck was helping out in the kitchen and Willie Wrenchead was busing tables. Jess the paperboy was making the rounds collecting a wad of cash. He is a good paperboy. Lots of food was provided by the Dew Drop Inn and the Sundown Cafe, Porky's provided some sparkling water. Even the Amazing Elmer came in. Old Man Walter was not there but seen standing over a hole on Main Street. The gals from the Lumber Yard did some line dancing. I heard that Foot was there but I must have missed him. Actually there were quite a few people there that were friends of the lake. And a new stranger that was seen wondering about with a grin on his face. Asking a lot of questions to. I think we may have another future resident checking Lake Iwantotbethere out. Well the Christmas dance is just the shake down for the Gala New years eve bash. It is the start for a lot of things here at the lake. The skating rink is now open 24hrs a day and the speaker system is on.. They do one of them a to Z play lists. As a matter of fact as I am writing this I can hear Boom Boom out go the Lights. Well over the next few days there will be a lot of lights on here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Snow is going fast as we have had drizzle for the past 24hrs. When things get cold and start to freeze it should be interesting. So that's it here for Christmas Eve 2005 everyone here at Lake Iwanttobethere wishes you a happy holiday and hope you get everything you and your ice house asked for. O and just a reminder that Floyd would like you to bring all your empty boxes down to the hardware store. He has heard about how well them big Box stores do and he wants to try it out...

[Bobby Bass]

Well of course Nytelyter you are more then welcome to spend a few days and nights I hope up here on Lake Iwanttobethere. We are not one of them there private lakes we always welcome business. All we ask if you do come up to do some ice fishing is to not put your house in the middle of one of our streets. Up here at Lake Iwanttobethere the streets in the winter are a lot like a wild west town. They may be covered in ice and snow but there is a lot of traffic and there has been a herd of deer that will travel down them from time to time. If you do spend some time up here Stop in and say hi to all of our friendly folk. Also in the center of town you will find the hot bite board, Locals post where the fish are biting and it is a quick way to put you right on top of the bite. As a matter of fact I will give you the latest Hot Bite info right now. If you go out from the landing a fer piece and head North towards the Willis cabin but not quite as far as the old Johnson log cabin and you put the sun at your back and look at the white spruce tree and then line up the Widow Hess's cabin and take 12 big steps and then go out two Brett Farve passes and you will be right on top of them

[Bobby Bass]

Well back at the shanty after some family business pulled me away for a week. Kind of catching up myself on the goings on. Been snowing all day here and I am sure the plows will be out tonight when it slows down. Ice is a little shaky in spots here but at least no one has been stupidity enough to go through. I see there was some talk about a noise regulation at the dinner. Someone was complaining about a generator running at night. A visitor I do believe, No big deal here part of life on the lake. Got to have power that's just the way it goes. Besides can you imagine what it would be like with 100' extension cords Cross crossing the ice? Some of the guys here already have a hard enough time walking around in the daylight think of night and it would create havoc with the delivery girls on skates.. New years eve just around the corner and that will be quite the weekend here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Lots of people on the ice as we have our first big weekend fishing contest. I will post a prize list later as I have not been down to the lodge to pick it up yet. I am sure it will be somewhat along the same lines as what we have had in the past. I know a lot of people want to win that pack of 100 paper plates with matching napkins and we also have that free car! Well I have to dig into my mail here and a weeks worth of papers are in front of the fire thawing out. I should be able to start peeling them apart here soon. Put an extra log on the fire tonight looks like it is going to be a long night..

[Bobby Bass]

A strange winter here even for Lake Iwantotbethere, people are talking about working on their boats in their front yards. Have even seen a few with the covers off. This fishing in mid afternoon in January in your short sleeves outside of the shanty is something else. It is nice on the heating bill, only had to go to Gus's once to fill up the propane tank and I think most of that was used on the pig BBQ First of the year town meeting on Tuesday night, going to be in the 30's so there has been talk of having it outside on the ice so we can stay cool. Kids went back to school just the other day, There was a group of lads that were following a big school of crappies around the lake during their whole vacation. They would just keep putting down holes and move around the lake, They were on crappies for 192 hrs straight! Every morning you could get up and look for them with the binoculars and see where they had moved during the night. Gee to be young again I was up at the MPLS folks cabin just the other night, they are pretty nice people once you get to know them. They have one of them there HiDef TV's it is really huge, that is the light we were seeing down on the lake der. Anyway I was up there watching the Red Green show and did you know he has both Red and Green suspenders? I think that is how he got his name.. Well I just ran up to the cabin here to check my answering machine and to get last years fishing catalog so I can compare prices with this years. Have to get back to the water as the crappie school seems to be turning and heading back my way..

[nytelyter]

sorry about the generator runnin bobby, i thought i was far enuff from the crowd, that it would not bother anyone. i just can't sit in my portable shack without my sattellite dish and my hi-def television. i have my fishing cam hooked up to that hi def tv and wow do those fish ever look big. i will bring a noise block next time i visit the lake. by the by i do love your little ice village and i may just start to look for property up that way as well. i like the looks of that property next the john deere green cabin that has them nudists init. as i to like to be natural at times as well. welll i am off to find one of those quiet running generators. i always try to keep the peace. .... paul

[Bobby Bass]

Well the holidays have come and gone here on Lake Iwantobethere lot of new toys out on the ice the past few weekends as every one is breaking in their Christmas gifts. Things have settle down to a nice comfortable winter glow. We have enough ice to last us for awhile although slush can be a problem. Temps are steady and no real cold snap has happen yet.... The price of propane is high but we can live with it. Hammering Hank has everyone stocked with wood and bait is in good supply. The usually betting is taking place with side bets on almost anything and everything. The other day a couple of them Jovial Witness people were working the shacks on the ice, Funny them people will go anywhere and everywhere. Guess after banging on just about every door in town they found out that there was no one in town and moved onto the ice. Well they were seen going into old Ben's and Jeanie's place and right away the money started changing hands as to how long they would last. After about two hours one was seen to almost make it out the door before being pulled back in by their suspenders. Guess they didn't have any idea that Ben and Jeanie used to have their own bible show on the local cable access channel.. Was well after dark before they were seen breaking out a back window and scamper out across the fish cleaning house gut pile. There has been a few calls to Reed the Realtor about some cabins coming up for sale this spring. No real lookers about now as once the pass snows in it is pretty quiet here till Spring. There was a report of a float plane trying to land with some supplies but we just figure they wee lost and were looking for another lake down the road from us. I think they were from Chicago or some other big city to the East. Won't be to much longer and we can look ahead to boat shows and such. I know Porky's here was talking about going into the houseboat business. They tried it once with a barge but people just didnt take to pitching a tent on a barge and then getting pushed around the lake when Porky was picking up garbage. O wait I guess there was a little excitement on Sat night when McPeeters still blew up.. At least we think it was McPeeters still he won't say as there was some doubt whether it was a still or a meth lab. What ever a Meth lab is. I know that down at the drugstore you have to fill out a form when you want to get certain kind of medicine and when the form is finally all filled out and approved your cold is usually gone by then. Anyway it kind of lite up the sky there for awhile and everyone came out of their shacks to watch. But it was soon over and we are back to normal again. Well time to throw another log on the fire have a good one..

[Bobby Bass]

Up early today and I see I failed to get everything down about the past holiday here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Over the long holiday we held our winter carnival. Some of the events that were held was the alum can jumping contest and we had several divisions this year including the loaded can and empty can and also the loaded and unload jumpers. The unloaded jumpers went first but they were complaining cuz they were having to land on the loaded cans but for safety we only allowed the loaded jumpers to jump over the unloaded cans and also they did most of the unloading. Saturday night we were lucky enough to have the MPLS couple donate for the night the use of their projector for the viewing of movies. We had a very large turn out as we served hot cider and had a couple of nice fires going where we placed kettles to pop popcorn and do brats. Our first movie was Fargo and it was projected on to the side of the town hall which gave us a really nice picture, at least right up to the end where the scene of the wood chipper might have been a little to graphic for some and adding to the fact that Hammering Hank had a yellow chipper on the back of his truck that night... Sunday morning brought on the ten pin bowling contest that we had to change to nine pin as during the night the pins were left out and a beaver took a liking to the head pin and dragged it off into the night. With the lack of snow on the ice the games took longer then we thought to play as the ball really travels a ways on the ice and you don't want to try and stop it will your ankle as it makes your whole leg quiver before you start to scream from the pain. I guess that some of the brats were not cooked all the way and they came up during the night, To bad this happen around the end of the Fargo movie and it seem to happen again the next morning outside the Town Hall. Sunday night brought on fireworks and the annual snow blower rally. Also a big event again this year was the swapping of shanties for Saturday night. Everyone puts there house number in a cap and then they drawn with everyone spending the night in someone else shanty for the night. There is no real reason for this but there is a lot of drinking this past weekend and this seems to take care of people ending up in the wrong shack. Well I hope this helps everyone and if you should stop by and read this say hi to us here, Sometimes we don't know if anyone is here but just us folks. Everyone is always welcome at Lake Iwanttobethere

[FOOT]

Bobby, well as you can tell from my lack of posting it's been rather busy for me. I decided to take some extra time off and work on the cabin. The nice thing was the guys came up with me.

You should stop over sometime, it's looking pretty good right now. We've added a few hundred square feet and actually have indoor plumbing now. New windows were installed as well as outside doors. The old carpeting, full of cat p, was pulled up and burned. Sorry we really didn't think it would smell that bad or put out that much black smoke. The porch has been re-leveled and a new roof installed. The old furnace and window A/C have been replaced. In fact I would have installed central A/C if I could but Barry said it was too cost prohibitive, which means he couldn't get me one at cost.

If you get over to the cabin and want to look inside there is a spare key sitting under the 14th rock from the left side of the porch under the cedar tree. Please don't tell anyone about the key and please replace it when you leave.

I've never worked so hard in my life, here's a typical day.

Up by 08:15 - get coffee going and drink 2 cups while discussing who will make breakfast - after 30 minutes we all head to the Sundown Cafe for breakfast at 08:55 - finish breakfast and return to cabin 10:15 - change clothes and get ready to ge to work 10:30 - One more cup of coffee 10:40 - head to outhouse to get ride of coffee 10:55 - Start work 11:00 - break for lunch at 12:20 - have a beer or 2 discussing who will make lunch - head to Sundown at 13:00 - back from lunch and ready to work by 14:35 - work like a dog until 15:50 when it's time to break for a beer - drink 1 or 2 beers and lose feeling to get back to work - head to Sundown for dinner - stop by off-sale house and pick up a couple of cases of beer - back to cabin by 20:45 - start working on 2 cases of beer - passs out and get to sleep by 11:35 - up the next morning and get back to the grind.

Thank goodness I had the guys to help me out or I'd still be working at getting things done.

[Bobby Bass]

Well Foot I am glad to see that you are doing a little remodeling. I am sure that the township will reflect it's appreciation come Spring..Just between you and me I have been doing some work around here between bites. I added a home theater to one side of the shanty, did a little add on and now I have a theater with rope lights around the ceiling and a projector screen, gives me a 90x48 picture to watch the Superbowl on. Will be upgrading to Hi Def so you might not hear from me for awhile cuz I hear even watching the weather channel is fantastic. Spent a day in the big city yesterday, mostly going to them big box stores and eyeballing fishing lures and such. With the weather the way it is we are not making much new ice and I am expecting a warm and quick Spring this year. Rainy River is calling me already and I sure would like to get in to Cloud lake and Disappoint Bay. With these warm days more and more people are out on the ice instead of their shacks. Lot of conversation as you might expect going on and of course there is some trash talking. The other day there was a little disagreement over at the Peters, seem he forgot her anniversary and he was seen leaving the shack and you could hear her yelling at him "that by tomorrow there better be something sitting outside the shack that goes 0-200 in 2 seconds flat"... Well the next day she found a small flat package on the ice and when she open it ....it was a bath scale... I think the funeral is set for next Monday... Been fighting a cold last week or so and that sure is no fun, glad it has been warm out and just the smaller fish are biting. Sometimes I feel so weak I can hardly strap myself into the fighting chair. I should tell you about my chair at the center hole, she is a dandy. I got her at a barbershop/Drs trade school auction. I don't think they make it anymore it looks like your old fashion barber chair except it has stirrups! I took that long leather belt that they have hanging on the side to sharpen there blades with and punch a few holes in it. Now I can strap right in. The sturrips work great to get a good place to set your heels in. Of course it swivels and with the pump handle you raise or lower yourself for a better look down the hole. Actually the leather warms up nicely after you have been in it for awhile. Bolting down to the ice can be a problem but with those mountainaire spikes we have that problem taken care of. I must admit I have even taken a few naps in it. Well Sun is out so I best set up a chair outside, I hear they are going to have a practice funeral procession for Peters today. They will line up all the snow blowers and the snow machines will follow. I think there was a talk of burial at sea style but something about getting permission from the hot springs manager cuz no one wants to cut a hole that big in the ice...

[FOOT]

Bobby, sorry to hear about Peters. Ithink I met him once at the Pump & Go. He was there talking to someone about replacing the passenger side leaf springs on his 1974 Dodge. Seems as whoever had been sitting on that side was a little too heavy and one of the springs broke. Now it appears it might have been his wife. He seemed like a nice enough fellow. In fact when I offered him a beer from the cooler in the back seat of my car I swear I could see a tear come to his eye as he sucked it down. Any truth to the rumor that his wife made him quit drinking before his "accident" ?

I've been playing a lot of cards here since the ice conditions are a little iffy. Not for money, but you do get a chance to go on to a "regional" tournament if you're in the top 15%. I'm close but I've got to get a couple more final tables to solidify my position.

Won't make it up for the next couple of weeks, I got stuck being on-call. I hate on-call, much rather have my weekends off.

I think I made a huge mistake in allowing my "friends" do so much work around the cabin. Now I'm getting pressured into letting them go up while I'm not even there. All I can think about is that one Jerry Seinfeld episode where Kramer burned down George's girlfriends father's cabin. Did you ever see one that one?

Well time to get out of here talk to you more next week.

[Bobby Bass]

Yes it's to bad about Peters, I don't want to say he was hen pecked but he did have these marks all over him. I to would run into him from time to time. And as a matter of fact he was just talking about last years anniversary gift that he had gotten his wife. He said it was a new clothes dryer and it was still in the box that he gave her. 200' of perfectly good clothes line he said... Been having a few problems here on the home front myself, I don't know if I ever mention that I have a couple of Labs that pretty much have the run of the shack and also the wife has a cat and we have two 5 month old kittens that for some reason think I am there daddy and the Labs are there long lost brothers. They sleep with the labs and everyone fights to lay in the sun when it does show itself. Well both the kittens are jet black bookends to each other so it is very hard to lay blame as you cannot tell which one is are getting in trouble. I think the labs are rubbing off on them as one of the kittens we call Buff now thinks he is a retriever. The bad part is he is retrieving things that were not meant to be retrieved. He, as cats have the uncanny ability to do retrieve things from the top of bookcases, shelves, stoves and cupboards. Pulls things off desktops and counters. Not to bad in the house but out in the shack everything is dragged over to the hole and deposited. I think he just likes to watch things sink. I have a grandson who does the same thing, as a matter of fact him and the kitten both seem to have the same blameless look on their face as what ever they just deposited does the slow death spiral down into the depths. Kittens are worse then babies, they can climb higher but here at Lake Iwanttobethere it is just another day. Did I mention that my wife now wants a shelf 7' from the floor with nothing within 6' to place what is left of her crystal?