Soft-water fishing

Not too shabby for a day which was forecast to be cloudy and windy, at the end of October. Corrine, Sara, Nathan and I took our boats out fishing in Red-Rock's marina cove. Things are pretty quiet around here. One last sail-boat was being hauled out, a couple of runabouts still in their slips, getting lonely.

A fair amount of people were fishing from the floating docks and a few other boats were fishing in and around the area. Everyone seemed to be having at least minor success. I saw one person running double hooks who caught two fish at once. Everything I saw was really small. We ended up moving further into the cove near a creek which unloads into the lake. Presently, the creek appeared to be almost non-existent. Nonetheless, we all caught a few fish here - some white-bass and some large-mouths. The wind stayed calm and the temps stayed mild - it was a great day to be out.

Strolling the waterfront

A leisurely walk to check out the Des Moines river below Red-Rock dam. Water levels are extremely low right now and in several spots, it appears one could easily walk across. It made me excited to think about the upcoming lake draw-down for a year plus to allow for construction of a new hydro-electric plant at this location. Draw-downs here create a huge amount of nice flat shore-line and it should be a blast. 

Harvesting at The Market

Corrine and I checked out the Des Moines farmer's market this Saturday. There is only one more outdoor market after this week and I hadn't been to one this year yet. Given the time of year, I wasn't surprised to see pumpkins and gourds for sale all over the place. We ended up just buying some fudge and hot-cider spices. Cool air, lots of sun, wandering the streets - all in all a great time.

And there was a shift in the breeze.

The sunrise when I got to work this morning.

....a mere 45 minutes later.

IMT Run

The IMT Des Moines Marathon began this morning on a great day for running. Temps right around 60° and spotty sun/cloud cover. Seeing as how I didn't really do anything, I just have some pictures hopefully capturing the atmosphere of the event.

Night-Cap

 It's Saturday night, it's dark and a little cold. It's time for a cyclocross race? You bet it is! 

Tonight was the second year of the Oakley Night Cap Cross at Mullet's Bar in Des Moines. The 2011 edition promised a larger course, expanded support (lights) and larger entrant fields. It delivered on all points  and was a really well run event.

The results aren't out yet so I'm not sure how many people showed up, but judging from the races we watched, it looked like nearly double compared to last year. The spectator crowd was massive and the band sounded much better than last year too (same band).