To the Editor:

I have read my neighbor’s letter of last week with the attention it deserves and will confine myself to two observations.

First, on the bird list. I note that the Pilot-Independent is currently holding a spiral notebook found near the bay, described in its own classified advertisement as containing entries since 1994 and as “not entirely about birds.” I wish to state plainly, for the record and for whoever is keeping one, that I have not claimed this notebook, have not read this notebook, and will not read this notebook. A gentleman does not read another man’s list. He does not need to. If a man has been writing down what he sees across the water since 1994, then across the water is where the answer to that correspondence has been all along, and it will be settled on the twenty-second by the county’s scale rather than by anyone’s handwriting.

Second, on gates. It was suggested that a man who widens his gate in July is telling the county what he expects of October. I accept the characterization and thank my neighbor for putting it more elegantly than I would have. A gate is built to the size of the thing that must pass through it. Mine is built. His is the width his father’s was, which is a fine and traditional width, and I say that without any qualification whatsoever.

I will be at the weigh-in at ten. I will arrive with a cart. We will see what the cart is required to do.

M. Aakre
Loon Lake