Brute’s Bleat by Harold Brutlag-August 22, 2018

I did a one-man fishing trip with my dog Vanna to Sugar Lake Thursday morning hoping to find enough keeper sunnies to make the trip worth while. I wasn’t disappointed and had the help of two other anglers who were fishing the bar I intended to try. I might have found it on my own, but their marker helped immensely. I didn’t get on the lake until about 10 a.m. and the south access parking lot was about half full. I was armed with six leeches left over from a previous outing with George Palmer and some minnow power bait, also about six. The leeches, which I cut into pieces, worked the best and about two hours later I had 11 sorted out of the approximate 50 I caught. The bite was light and the sunfish sucked off a lot of the bait. Several of the sunfish measured 9 inches while the remainder were about 8 inches, a nice size to put into the frying pan! I was pleased with the morning and got an assist from Jim Peterson and his grandkids who helped me get my boat back on the trailer when a slight wind wanted to blow it crosswise. They had been fishing for bigger fish and had caught a number of Northerns. It may be the dog days of summer and a time when catching is more difficult, but I’m not complaining. . . The half inch of rain we got early last week was great for the gardens, flowers, lawns, and the corn and beans which needed the moisture. * * * This year’s Gearhead Day was a great day for ML with some outstanding cars, military vehicles, boats, lawnmowers, motorized lawn carts and a host of other machines to keep spectators entertained. I suspect nostalgia was running high among those looking for the cars of their youth among the 700 plus that were on display. The paint jobs on those restored was outstanding and one that caught my eye was in the community park labelled a 55, 56, 57 Chev. and exhibited by Mel Messer, NowThen. It was immaculate inside and out with a hood that opened from the windshield and over the tires. Truly a labor of love. Another was a ‘55 Mercury that appeared to be resting on the grass without any wheels showing. It apparently was outfitted with a hydraulic system that lowered or raised the tires. A Studebacker Hawk and Champion reminded me of my youth when the Henning Public School Superintendent and Principal showed up with new cars as the term was closing. Naturally the Supt. had the more expensive Hawk. Both vehicle designs that were ahead of their time as cars go. A fire dept. ladder truck was another exhibit in the park that I would have liked to crawl up, but digressions ruled. A rugged looking open air roadster just off the Legion Parking lot was another great car that had a refurbished interior and rumble seat. It was labelled a Seagrave Phanthom Speedster from the late ‘20s or early 30’s with huge tires and an immense 12 cylinder engine. The engine was made by the Pierce- Arrow Automobile Co. out of Buffalo, New York, a company that produced automobiles from 1903 through 1938. The Seagrave’s engine featured two sparkplugs for each cylinder and I noticed two distributors under the foldup hood. The seaplane suspended on a single cable from a huge crane was another attraction and added to the variety of exhibits. I watched the 4 p.m. performance of BMX Mega Jump show that featured four bike riders who kept the spectators glued to jumpers as Dustin Grice announced their runs. It was a great show and featured a local rider, Layne George, among the four that are part of the traveling BMX stunt show. The show concluded with two person tandem teams doing back flips above the ramps. on Star Street West. The troupe thrilled the kids in the audience too, giving away some T-shirts and a grand prize Stunt bike to one lucky youth. I was impressed too with the number and variety of vendors that inundated the Laker and Boulduan Park softball parking lots selling car parts etc. Those young ladies wearing period clothing also added to the day as did the vendors who served food and beverages to a enthusiastic crowd as they milled around looking and listening to the bands that performed at various spots. There had to be some great Kodak moments for the spectators! * * * Maple Lake Lakers were at their Sunday best when they shut out the Windom Pirates 5-0 behind a great pitching effort by starter Mitch Wurm. The pitchers were backed up by an error free defense that featured one double play and two outstanding outs by Nate Mass when he snags ground balls at the hot corner and threw the runners out at first base. Apparently his injury in the Region game with Hutchinson wasn’t as serious as first reported! Shortstop Luke Fobbe also made a great stop at shortstop and threw out the runner when Riley Decker snagged the wide throw in the dirt. The Lakers picked up two runs in first inning with Brian Redemske driving a fast ball into the left field canvas for a double and scoring Riley Decker. He also scored in the first inning. The Lakers added two more runs in the fourth inning and another in the bottom of the eighth. The Lakers had eight hits and Windom two. Laker draftee pitcher, Andy Johnson, Maple Plain, struck out all of the three batters he faced in the top of the ninth to close out the game. Maple Lake will face the Region 14A champion Midway Snurdbirds on Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. game at Shakopee. A win would pit the Lakers against the Fort Ripley-New Market winner at 5 p.m., Sept. 1. Both Howard Lake and Delano lost their games Saturday leaving only Maple Lake and Hutchinson in the tournament. Hutch’s first game is Sunday, 5 p.m., against Lastrup. Daryl Hennen and I took a side trip to New Prague to see there new stadium. We were both impressed with the field and the stands which cost that community a ton of money. The finals will be played there on Labor Day. The Laker games are at Shakopee until the finals. It’s about an hour and a half drive to Shakopee and another 20 minutes to New Prague. It would be great to make another trip there on Labor Day!

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