No Shortage of Water Here
/Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 2:18PM
The rain came again last night. Before going to bed, I had read a new alert posted for a hydrologic outlook. Two to four inches of rain were predicted, and with that could come flash flooding. We've been so fortunate this year, with rain that falls in big drops, but does not overwhelm us the way it has in communities to the south.
Sometime in the night, I heard it begin, and it came steadily. No thunderstorms accompanied this round, and so it was a welcome and comforting sound to hear the drumming of drops on our metal roof. It easily lulled me back to sleep, and later invited me to stay put under the covers for just a few more minutes. My gardens hadn't been watered in a few days, so I was grateful to mentally cross that task off of my list.
I was somewhat surprised to learn that we had received a fresh three inches. It hadn't seemed to be raining that hard, but I guess I slept through most of it. This morning, I went to the beach to get a boat ready, and lo and behold, all the excess water from the lowlands was draining in its usual places, carving deep gullies in the sand. The boat was on a ramp, so I thought that I could just straddle the ramp and push it off. No luck, as there was a large build-up of sand and gravel at the stern, blocking me from sliding the boat into the water. Watershoes were an excellent invention, because they allowed me to just get right into the lake, and with a little help, push and pull the boat off the ramp. Soon the fishermen were on their way, and I had only briefly dipped my toes into the water. The lake is feeling nice and warm, by the way.
We
hear that the trout are biting in North Lake, and the small mouth bass
are quite eager in Little Gunflint. No doubt our continued high waters
are helping the fishing this year, as the fish find places to feed that
are normally inaccessible at this point in July. While it may not be a
good time to be a fish in the waters around here, it's always a good
time to be in the woods.