It is one of my greatest failures that after four summers in a part of Minnesota where there are more lakes than people I still do not know how to fish. Therefore, this summer when I am not measuring Echinacea I can often be found on a lake trying to learn how to fish. I have been only somewhat successful in this endeavor (as you can see by the picture below). However, with the help of Ian, my dad, and my Kensington friend Clint, I am completely confident that by the end of the summer I will be a mediocre fishing woman.

This summer, much more so than in years past, fishing has been a major pastime for a number of the field crew when we are not learning the wonders of Echinacea. Overall I contribute the increase in fishing to two major factors; one living at Andes where we have access to a row boat on a lake full of fish, and, more importantly, actually having crew members that can tie fishing line on hooks (before last week this was not me). Below I have included just a few pictures of our fishing excursions. However, for the entire 112 fishing pictures (most thanks to Ian) see my piacasa web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/ison.jennifer/FishingInMinnesota

Lake Isaac
Is a lake nearly completely on Andes property with a row boat that we have been given permission to take out for fishing. Isaac is a fairly small lake but it is quite beautiful and scenic.

The Lake has a large number of sunfish (or blue gill) crappies, and bass. Both Ian and Amy have caught some very respectable size bass.


Everyone on the crew (except one) has been out on Isaac at least once. Even my dad, who visited last weekend, fished Isaac with me two times.


Supplementing our food budget
One great thing about fishing is the ability to supplement our food budget. On a few occasions we have kept larger sunfish and crappies to clean and eat.

With the influx of work related postings, I thought I would shed some light on the day to day goings-on of the Andes’ condos.

Specifically, I will cover the activities of the 3-bedroom-condo, fondly dubbed “The Mando” (though it is now slightly inaccurate as Jennifer has been living here for several weeks now). I exclude the 2-bedroom-condo, fondly named the Raj-Mahal, not out of spite or ill-will but rather because they’re crazy and I don’t know what they do all day.
The Good:
We continue to improve our living situation by adding a mass supply of cereal, donated by the kind folks of “Sweet Retreat”, the Bed and Breakfast that Jennifer’s parents stayed in this last weekend. It seems that Post cereals gives away huge numbers of sample boxes to B+Bs everywhere, and by some good luck and friendly coercing we’ve managed to procure 144 sample-sized boxes of “Blueberry Morning” and “Cranberry Almond Crunch”. We also continue to supplement our food budget, though the pheasant supply has slowed. We continue to pursue alternative food options. I’ll leave that open to interpretation.
The Bad:
The cereal donation wasn’t entirely beneficial, and did create some negative emotions. Jennifer specifically was influenced by the free food. Who can blame her, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. And by “absolute power” I mean sample boxes of cereal, and by “corrupts absolutely” I mean causes her to blame me for its disappearance. We also seem to have run into a bought of clumsiness around the Mando. With freshly burned hands, smashed fingers and chiggered bodies, we persist. Hopefully this accident prone streak will fade in time.
The men of Denison are approaching the end of our stay here quickly, with less than 3 weeks left in Minnesota. We will continue to live interesting lives here Douglas County, and I will continue to provide the lovely details.