A daily journal concerning Lake Vermilion and surrounding areas
Selected real estate, notes, stories, musings, and anecdotes
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Thursday, March 31, 2005
Beautiful Lake Vermilion/Pine Island building lot, $300,000
One of the more typical indicators is when the snow goes away.
Today, with Lake Vermilion area temps nudging 61 degrees, the average snowmobile enthusiast might be convinced to entertain a concession to Mother Nature.
The 2004-2005 season was enjoyable however, with lots of snow and excellent riding conditions.
Another way to conclude that your season may be over would be to have your snowmobile burn to the ground. This is not as subtle an indicator as the one provided by Mother Nature but it is, nonetheless, an undeniable sign.
An event such as this is unfortunate and regrettable. And besides the loss of the snowmobile, the only thing that might be an even more unpleasant event would be when you had to explain the situation to the person that was kind enough to let you borrow the machine.
I suppose it's not necessary to post photos of dead animals. But...
I came upon this Brush Wolf in the middle of Niles Bay. I assume he met an untimely demise due to natural circumstances. Maybe his larger cousin, the Grey Wolf, found him in a vulnerable position and took full advantage of the opportunity.
If you have spent anytime traveling on the lake this winter, it quickly becomes evident that such events are a fairly common occurrence. (Typically, the more traditional victim is the Whitetail Deer and with the perpetrator is, again, the well organized Grey Wolf.)
It is always surprising that these natural life events of our native woodland animals occur right out the back door.
I've posted on this project before so it could be classified as a special interest but...
They caught one!
Yup, they caught the first neutrino. I imagine it as a slow 12-6 curve thrown from 450 miles away that just caught the inside edge of the plate.
I'm sure it was a major league event for the folks at the Soudan, MN detector.
It is anticipated that additional catches will occur at the rate of one every four hours. It is the hope that neutrino research will help reveal mysteries of the universe and information on other subatomic particles.
It's a game that might very well go into extra innings. So play ball!
It's time for an update on the mortgage rates. If you look at a graph extending back for 3 months or so, you might come to the conclusion that mortgage rates hit an all time high. But the longer 5 year trend (shown above) shows rates remain at a very comfortable level.
It looks as though the short term trend is towards higher rates. Holden Lewis tracks mortgage trends for Bankrate.com.
The popularity of walleye fishing on Lake Vermilion has prompted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to consider new regulations for managing the population.
The Minnesota Attorney General's Office has noted that, as of March 1, 2005, Minnesota consumers can obtain free annual personal credit reports. This opportunity is the result of the Fact Act (pdf). Reviewing your credit report is important in that you can confirm its' accuracy and correct any errors.
Soudan, Minnesota (on the shores of Lake Vermilion) will receive it's long-awaited trillion-plus unit shipment of federal government supplied neutrinos today.
Representative Jim Oberstar will personally deliver the goods.
Local residents will probably consider this a non-event.
The event organizers are looking for volunteers to participate as "ambassadors for the lake". There are a number of activities planned for the weekend including meetings, meals, plus a little fishing.
As a follow-up to the post about my most used map resources... I had several people alert me to the new map resource provided by Google.
It's called Google Maps and it offers some powerful features. At this time (it's still provided in Beta form) it offers an impressive format for locating streets, roads, and highways.
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Beautiful Lake Vermilion/Pine Island 
On Fire.
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Sunshine State.
