August 29, 2025
In case you missed me, I was at “the cabin” last week. In 1981, my younger brother Brian and his wife Jean Marie Hamilton purchased a lot on a lake near Aitkin. It was “Lot 1” of the development and the first lot that was purchased. The lake is a small “natural environmental” lake with Rainbow Trout. They built a beautiful log cabin in 1989. I have been spending the third week of August there for many years.
For a lot of those years my old friend Bob Andrews and his girlfriend would drive up from Des Moines and join me. We would go to town to buy a Dairy Queen cake to celebrate his birthday. Bob died a few years ago. He would have celebrated his 81st birthday on the 17th. I miss him a lot.
In 2018, after breakfast at the Birch Café in town, I took a ride around the lake, and I spotted a “For Sale – Waterfront” sign on the south end. I called the real estate agent, and we met at the log cabin. I signed a purchase agreement. After the real estate agent left, I went back to walk the lot. It was 2 ½ acres of solid oak and maple with a gorge in the middle. I had to climb over a lot of fallen logs to get down to the lake. “Lot 11” was the last lot that had been owned by the Healy family. Grandpa Healy once owned all the property around the 50-acre lake. His granddaughter, Doctor Josephine Ruiz-Healy, a pediatric surgeon who lives in San Antonio Texas flew up for the closing on September 21st, 2018.
After obtaining a lot of permits and carving out a spot in the middle of the lot that met all the criteria for building on a “Natural Environmental Lake”, there now is a “Tiny Cabin” on Lot 11.
This Sunday, the annual Millstream Arts Festival will come to downtown St. Joseph. The festival is a free event held from 11 am until 5 in the afternoon. The arts-and-crafts exhibition will include a staggering variety of work. Outdoor entertainment will be provided. I will be back at the cabin, so enjoy. www.millstreamartsfestival.org
“The easy bus never comes around. Learn how to handle hard better.” Kara Lawson Basketball Coach Duke University.
Category : General 