Ryan's Ramblings: Is this the earliest ice out?

Is this the earliest ice out?

This past weekend the ice on Pelican Lake was blown from one side to the other by high winds that even turned some of it into ice cubes and mush.

This has to be one of the earliest ice outs on Pelican Lake. Easter Sunday morning through the binoculars I could see ice near the south shore, but by 6 p.m. it looked like the ice was gone.

Driving to church last Sunday morning I noticed open water on Cross Lake and on the many small ponds. This is one of the times I'm sorry that I haven't kept the calendars on which I've noted the date when the ice was gone on Pelican.

How has it been on your lake?

Ted Leagjeld for many years kept a record of ice out on lakes in the Whitefish Chain. Maybe he knows if this is the earliest ice out in the past 25 years.

Spring really doesn't start until the lakes are open with waves splashing on shore. Now I know it is spring. Time to start raking, cleaning out the flower beds and making trips to the nurseries. I'm like a little kid; I want it all. I want the pansies, the geraniums, the colorful coleus, the day lilies, lobelia and lots of herbs. I know it's too early, but maybe I could plant some pansies; they like cool weather. But before that can happen I have to do some careful raking of the small flower garden by the back door. It gets covered with leaves and snow, and it is rather a mess right now.

My friend Donna starts her tomatoes from seeds and always has a new variety or some of the old heritage kind. She also grows a variety of hostas - those shades of green and blue leafy plants that the deer love. My son calls hostas the drug of choice for deer. Fortunately, the hostas I have are very close to the back door and so far haven't tempted the deer to get that close to the house. I've lost several bushes to deer so I now am looking for some bushes that deer don't like.

One of my neighbors says there are two 10-point bucks in our neighborhood. I mostly see does or very young bucks with just a hint of horns. There's a large doe and a couple of younger ones who like to walk along the beach and then between my house and next door to get to the woods behind our houses. I saw them frequently earlier this year, so I know we are sharing the woods with them.

We lost a few trees in our woods this winter, but it's a pretty old growth of oaks and ash. The white pines have been browsed by deer, and the young pines have been topped by the deer. I guess that whatever wasn't covered with snow provided breakfast and lunch for the deer.

Tell me the date the ice went out on your lake. And if you have any super suggestions for bushes the deer won't eat, let me know that, too. You can contact me at betryan@tds.net.

I really think spring has finally come. It was a long time arriving.