The ice left Sawbill Lake on Tuesday, March 27. This is the earliest ice-out date since records started being kept back in the 1930s.

The West End was saddened to receive word of Reuben Tofte’s passing last week at the age of 96.

Thank you to all the candidates who ran for office in the recent township elections in Schroeder, Tofte and Lutsen.

 Congratulations to Frank Moe of Hovland who recently completed a sled dog trip from Grand Marais to the state capitol in St Paul.

We had a little excitement here at Sawbill last weekend. If you remember, that was two storms ago, when we had the first significant snowfall of the season that Sunday.

It was good to see what I am calling The Big Snow Storm of 2012 drop a season high 5 inches of snow the other day.

Although we are barely halfway through February, the freeze and thaw cycle that we usually see in March and April has begun.

The second annual Birch Grove Foundation boot hockey tournament will be held at Birch Grove School in Tofte on Friday, Feb. 17 starting at 4:30.

After ducking the various cold viruses that are rampaging through the county, I finally got caught a couple of days ago, which explains why I’m singing bass in the choir today.

It is certainly good news that the wolf population in Minnesota has recovered to the point where it no longer requires special federal protection.