Minnesotans were big losers last night. The Vikings lost 38-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau, “Grumpy Old Men”
Floridians were also losers. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost 24-20 to the New England Patriots.
Minnesotans and the North Floridians are both grumpy today. But there’s on big difference between the grumpy old men facing a depressing winter on the Florida coast and the Minnesotans up north in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Minnesota ice fishing houses
We get to go ice fishing!
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 22, 2018
Views from the Edge 
Reminds of ice fishing up on Lake of the Woods on the Canad border 30 years ago. I had heard about the elaborate ice houses so I walked to one in the area I was fishing on. I knocked & was invited in to see a few guys relaxing with their gas stove, TV, beds, frig, etc. Where are you guys from, I said. The answer was that they were from the Mn. Iron Range 100 miles to the east. I said I suppose you fish back there in the summer? They said, “we don’t fish in the summer”. Why? “You can’t walk around & talk to people in the summer”, they volunteered. Then it all made sense.
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Gary, Did you take your spear up there? That’s a great story. “You can’t walk around and talk to people in the summer!” Love it. I have yet to have an ice house experience other than the igloo my friend Ted Bonsall and I tried years ago back in Pennsylvania. I’ve always wondered. Now, with your help, I know and will take it off my bucket list. I go fishing in a canoe . . . to get away!
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Actually, I’ve spearfished on Christmas Lake in Excelsior right in front of Judge Miles Lord’s house. He’s one of my heroes but is kind of a grumpy old man when it comes to giving access to the lake. He made sure the public access next to his house was made inaccessible about 15 years ago. I guess there were too many ppl ice fishing in front of his house. Talk about a wonderful view through a spearfishing hole. It is crystal clear & total stillness as the fish glide by. There’s a great novel by Will Weaver called “Red Earth, White Earth”. It is about the N. Mn. White Earth Reservation where I used to go to Boy Scout camp. It includes a story about a Native boy whose foot gets caught up in the rope attached to a fishing spear. The problem was his grandfather had just speared a very large Muskie that was so powerful it dragged the boy through the large square hole in the ice. The grandfather saw him under the clear snowless ice but could do nothing to rescue the boy. Talk about the stuff of nightmares.
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Did the boy grow fins? -:) Did Miles Lord ever spear fish? Was he a grandfather? Was he ever in Juvenile Court?
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Ice fishing. Do the fish come up already pre-frozen?
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They do, Marilyn, and they wear funny fur hats with ear flaps! And when an Eagles’ fan catches ’em, they come up holding signs that say “Eat me”.
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