Category: lakes
Minneapolis is clearly a part of Minnesota: the land of 10,000 lakes (there's actually more than that). I live on the Chain of Lakes, a series of lakes that surround the South-western side of Minneapolis. Lake of the Isles is closest to me, but Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet are near by. Beyond the obvious three, I also visit Cedar Lake, Lake Nokomis and Brownie Lake. Odd how the word 'lake' alternates from before and after the names.1
Rule Number 18, Limber Up
It's the first of November and it's time for these web-footed holiday dinners to get ready for the big trip. I've been observing the canucks training since August, seeing small vees chugging across the city, but now they are forming bigger groups. I watched a thirty-something-goose-flock strafe Lake Street on my way home from Caribou yesterday. If you watch them this time of year, you can see that they are going slow and working to stay in formation. When I head South myself for Thanksgiving to Kenosha, I see several hundred-plus-goose formations on the wing, so they have a few weeks to go. In the mean time, they will be slickering up the trails and hissing at me. OK, I go asking for it, can't help myself, how often can you get a bird mad at you? Don't try this at home though, they can be pretty tough, those big wings can give you a good beating if they grab you. When I was in high school, a teacher's adult golden retriever chased the geese and they turned on him — and killed the dog. So don't mess with the geese. So what's the deal with Minnesotans and "gray duck"? Over in Wisconsin when I grew up it is was duck, duck, goose. Seems that Iowans are gray-duckers too.0