Why Deadman Lake?

     Twenty acres in size, Deadman lake is not home to any fish beyond an occasional small, black cloud of baby bullheads. However, loons, swans, Canada Geese and a variety of ducks seem to like the water a lot. So do I. The State of Minnesota classifies Deadman as an environmental lake. For us, that means our cabin has to sit two hundred feet back in the woods where the lake is only visible if you're sitting on the roof. Not a problem, we're city folk and find being surrounded by oak, birch, pines and hazel brush every bit as exotic as a lake view. Almost.
     Local legend has it that around a century ago some unnamed man of questionable sanity wandered off from his family and was never seen again. Lacking any better idea - those were simple folk back in those days and weren't very creative as to what could happen to crazy people wandering around in the forests of northern Minnesota - it was decided he'd drowned in a small, soft-bottomed, unnamed lake. On that day the name Deadman was born.
     I find that story a fitting one for this blog. My mind, also of questionable sanity, tends to wander off once in a while. Luckily for me it always seems to wander back, usually more experienced, once in a while a bit wiser.
     Yes, though it doesn't seem to be heading in that direction at the moment, this is indeed a wilderness canoeing and fishing blog. However, it is also home to someone with a sense of humor a couple of degrees off center. Stick with me and we'll eventually throw a homemade spinner in Northwest Manitoba, head back from shore once in a while with trowel and toilet paper in hand and maybe even have a laugh or two on side trips into tiny, fish-filled canoe lakes in northern Minnesota.