Jerry Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Mary, I can't help wondering if you ever went ice fishing when you lived up North. I realize the Brits get the warm Gulf current so their winters are not conducive to driving a vehicle out onto the ice to build a cabin with a fireplace to keep warm, try dropping a hook and line down into the lake, drink alcoholic beverages to keep warm.... We've often mentioned ice fishing in the News from Lake Wobegon and some of you have expressed disbelief at the very idea ? well, here's your chance to see it up close, first-hand, February 11-13 when APHC will broadcast live from Bemidji, 225 miles north of St. Paul ? all for $550 per person double-occupancy ($650, single). You book a flight into Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Friday afternoon, departing Sunday evening. We'll provide the rest. * Deluxe motor coach transportation to Bemidji including box lunch. * Two nights at the AmericInn Lodge (high-speed Internet, indoor pool, free "breakfast"). * Friday night bonfire by the lake, with hot beverages and GK leading the singing. * Four hours of ice fishing (catch-and-release) on Lake Bemidji Saturday, including poles, bait, fishing license, and box lunch. * Saturday live broadcast of APHC. * Saturday night walleye dinner with GK and other cast members. * Sunday morning breakfast and horse-drawn sleigh rides. (Of course GK stands for Garrison Keillor, my favorite living poet.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Each Winter Jezz, we seem to be getting closer to the posibility of "ice fishing"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 The answer is yes Jerry; the first 8 years I lived in MN I was very close to 3 lakes. As a matter of fact I only had to walk a few feet from my house to be standing on Big Deer Lake - which is about 250 miles north of St. Paul. Did I enjoy it, yes - but then I could go out with the guys and sit in a warm fish house and drink, fish and listen to tall fishing tales. It was amazing to get a fish on the line and then try to maneuver it up through a 3-4 foot hole in the ice!! Wonderful experience but I do not miss the cold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Oh by the way, I always thought G. K. was speaking of the small town I lived in, Bigfork was very much like Lake Wobegon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Watched Ray Mears surviving in the Canadian forests tonight - minus 30C - now that's cold. One interesting fact, they farm wild rice, like the Huron Indians did, but now it's a buisiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Did you mean business, typo's I do them all the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 "i" do them less than you though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Mary, I've belonged to a Unitarian-Universalist religion since growing up Presbyterian. This morning I was invited by our Church of the Larger Fellowship to watch a short video of our pastor, Meg Riley who usually communcates with newsletters and emails. I'm telling you because: she's evidently in Minnesota -- she said it is 20 degrees below outside which is colder than usual. She lit a candle in the her kitchen window and we could see the neighborhood scenery -- very evocative of my life in Illinois years ago. She wore a heavy wool sweater, almost a turtleneck type, and her accent was NOT as strong as it could be, but some of the inflections sounded sort of Lake Wobegon. I've got to send in my dues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 To correct a misconception- the actual Lake Rice is harvested exactly the way the Native Americans did it -200 yrs ago. I know because I riced for 8 years! If I was a good enough story teller as some you would be amazed at the experiences I had ricing in a canoe with two thin sticks and another person pushing the canoe with a duck bill! So many kinds of spiders! But there has been paddy rice grown in the more southern regions of MN and that is a business. As far as sales of Lake Rice - we would trade - that is the rice we turned in was measured and calculated as to what it would be after the drying process, then we would be given dried rice. It was a very welcome staple in the winter months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Many years ago I received a brochure suggesting I might like to purchase the native grown/harvested rice in Canada -- and I think it was touted as black rice. And they also touted it as 'wild' rice, if my memory serves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Mary, what were the ancient tribal lands in that area? Huron, Cree or some other? I, ve read that the Souix were originally north of the Gt Lakes, but were driven West by the Cree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Ojibwa - Chippewa were their name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Your correct Mary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Oh gee thanks - I knew this because we lived in and around the Chippewa Forrest, went to college with Native Americans and well I taught history Observer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Can't argue with that Mary; I think there was/is a tribe called the "Cree" though, which I thought were located north of the Gt Lakes; but I'll have to check some of my books! I've trawled some of the web sites, but I can't find a link or a book title that provides a concise history of (all) the native Americans. I believe, some of the largest tribes (prior to European arrival), were located along the coastal regions, but were seriously depleted by disease brought by the Europeans? And the Iraqois, had an early form of democracy, uniting a Confederation of tribes? There is also the theory, based on the three liguistic groupings, that the original native settlers, came via the Alaskan land bridge from Asia, in three distinct waves? Aside from the claims of Viking assimilation; there is now a theory of early settlement by Europeans, moving (like modern Eskimos) along the ice age Atlantic ice bridge, from S/France into N/E America? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Talking of Eskimos; watched a prog about them - seems when they build an igloo, with an outside temp of -30 and below, the temp inside the igloo can be as high as +16C - all supplied by their body heat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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