Lake Superior Aquaman: I just went to Wisconsin for a second

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman) Jul 30, 2021 No Comments

The other day was so warm I didn’t wear a wetsuit, just my Golden Age costume. Didn’t even wear my flippers because I felt natural. I was at the Duluth rock beach called The Ledges — you can see Richardson Island from there. Standing at a sheer drop, in one-foot-deep water, within a step you plunge in @7-8 feet deep. From there, a casual swim to 12-15? I vaguely fear the sight of large fish. Happens sometimes/nothing there this time but the boulders. Loons and mergansers hunt here though. When I came up after a minute my friend Stephen Bockbock said, “I was getting worried about you,” and I said, “I just went to Wisconsin for a second.” Someone said, “Rock.”


Outdoors, Videos , ,

Bear and Three Cubs Messing with Trail Camera

PDDTV Jul 30, 2021 No Comments

A black bear and three cubs in Voyageurs National Park took a moment to knock over and batter around this trail camera.

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Videos ,

Postcard from the Alger-Smith Sawmill

Paul Lundgren Jul 29, 2021 1 Comment

This postcard was mailed July 29, 1911. By then the Alger-Smith Sawmill in West Duluth had been dismantled following a decade-long decline in the sawmilling industry.

Anyone with a century-old garage in West Duluth likely owns scraps of the Alger-Smith mill. “There must be 100 garages in West Duluth that have been built this summer out of lumber taken during the process of dismantling,” the company’s president told the Duluth Herald in a story that appeared in the Sept. 22, 1920 edition. “Every day or two some person inquires for the lumber, and when we ask him what it is for he says, ‘A garage.’ Our lumber must have built almost all of the garages in West Duluth this summer.”

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I stopped saying I wanted to learn to paddleboard and just did it

Victoria Lynn Smith Jul 29, 2021 No Comments

After a Saturday fling with a paddle board on Superior Bay, I was smitten. Within an hour of finishing my lesson, I wanted one. I experienced this same love-at-first-try feeling forty years ago when I cross-country skied for the first time and rushed out to buy skis. I used those skis for years.

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Outdoors , ,

Russell Method, crack backfield man

Paul Lundgren Jul 29, 2021 3 Comments

Russell G. Method, a running back from West Duluth who went on to play in the National Football League for six seasons, appears on the sports page of the Duluth Herald 100 years ago today — July 29, 1921. The caption notes he had signed to play “with the K. C. gridiron squad” that fall.

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Sports

An interview with viola soloist Jonas Benson

Northshore Philharmonic Orchestra Jul 28, 2021 No Comments

Former Duluthian and professional violist Jonas Benson is back in town to solo with the Northshore Philharmonic Orchestra. Jonas will play the brilliant Telemann Viola Concerto on July 29 at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm and on Aug. 3 at the Mitchell Auditorium in Duluth.

As NSPO conductor, I was eager to sit down with Jonas to ask about his path in the music world.

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Music

Bon Iver to play Bayfront Park in Duluth Aug. 18

PDD News Sieve Jul 28, 2021 3 Comments

Indie folk band Bon Iver will headline Honor the Earth’s “Water is Life: Stop Line 3” music, art and cultural festival at Bayfront Park in Duluth on Aug. 18. The event will also feature performances by Mumu Fresh, Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt, Larry Long, Lissie, Charlie Parr, Corey Medina and Alan Sparhawk, among others.

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Events, Music

MN Moder – “Pimp”

PDDTV Jul 28, 2021 No Comments

Duluth-based hip-hop artist Zachary Moder, who performs as MN Moder, has a new album out titled Sweet Dreams. The track “Pimp” is produced by NorthWood Beats and features guitar by J-Smooth.


Music

Algae blooms on Lake Superior continue

PDD News Sieve Jul 27, 2021 No Comments

The first confirmed sighting of blue-green algae on Lake Superior was in 2012. Since then, scientists have been trying to determine what’s causing it and if it’s linked to climate change.


News and Current Affairs

Spirit Mountain, Mission Creek trail link ready

Mark Nicklawske Jul 26, 2021 1 Comment

A biker crosses the new Sargent Creek bridge on the DWP Trail Connector west of Ely Peak. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A critical bridge is open, a tunnel has been repaired and work is nearly complete on a six-mile scenic trail that uses a former rail line to connect two large recreation sites on the west side of Duluth.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Division is in the final stages of improvements to the Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific Trail Connector which provides a direct link between the Mission Creek trail system in the Frederick Rodney Paine Forest Preserve and Spirit Mountain. A ribbon cutting on the $600,000 trail project is expected later this summer.

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PDD Quiz: July 2021 in Review

Alison Moffat Jul 25, 2021 No Comments

Another month of summer has flown by. Were you paying attention to current events? Step up to this week’s quiz and find out!

Duluth movie mentions will be the theme of the next PDD quiz, which will be published on Aug. 15. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Aug. 11.

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News and Current Affairs

Seagulls dive bombing my shit

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman) Jul 25, 2021 No Comments

 

Lake Superior Aquaman pink flamingo seagull dive bomb attack, Duluth, Minnesota.


Outdoors, Videos , ,

On Patrol

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman) Jul 24, 2021 No Comments

Lake Superior Aquaman on patrol.

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Outdoors, Photos , ,

Bob Dylan on Hibbing from 1966 Playboy interview

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman) Jul 24, 2021 No Comments

Dude reads highlights from the 1966 Playboy interview. Dylan on Hibbing: @6:40-8:53.

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History, Videos , , ,

Red Flag Warning

Paul Lundgren Jul 24, 2021 No Comments

It’s almost suspicious how often I happen to be nearby when bodies are pulled out of the water. Am I a jinx or a murderer? No, I just like being by water. And it’s pretty well documented that water is a serial killer.

I’ve already written the essay “Lake Superior Wants to Kill You,” outlining just about everything I want to share on the subject of drowning. There’s one more warning worth putting forward, however, regarding the various ways you can lose your life in the water. So please keep this in mind:

I won’t try to stop you from putting yourself in danger, and it’s unlikely anyone else will, other than maybe your mommy.

Of course, you’ll probably get some general, impersonal warnings. This essay and my other essay, for starters. There are warnings in the media constantly. And then on Minnesota Point in Duluth we have those red flags and warning signs on the beach. But that’s all you get. And it’s not enough, obviously.

Telling someone about the dangers of rip currents is like warning about the potential for pregnancy. The risk vs. reward balance is quickly weighed and then it’s time to get wet.

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