Monday Morning Heat And Quiet

6:00

Some Color, Finally, At 6:45

I came across this quotation, from Brendan Gill on the Elephant Journal Blog yesterday and liked it enough to begin today with it.

In fact, not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the argument that life is serious, though it is often hard and even terrible. And saying that, I am prompted to add what follows out of it: that since everything ends badly for us, in the inescapable catastrophe of death, it seems obvious that the first rule of life is to have a good time; and that the second rule of life is to hurt as few people as possible in the course of doing so. There is no third rule.

Up early, 5:50. on a Monday, hot and humid (68º) and will be getting more so as the day progresses, a high of 84º.  It's extraordinarily quiet at this hour, overcast as there's no sign of the sun.  Not a whisper of wind, not a wave on the lake, not a sound but an occasional  bird, a car crossing the bridge.  What a contrast to the weekend of boaters, skiers, and fishermen  In fact, where are the fishing boats, none within sight.

Yesterday, I took a great kayak and fishing expedition early, around 7:00, before it got to warm outside.  A fairly quiet lake at that hour, a few fishing boats, even fewer fish but I don't care.  It's just great to be out on the lake so early.  When I got home, we decided to skip our walk at the CI and get things done around the house and yard.  For starters, we finished getting all the upstairs bedrooms ready for our kids, for my sister and brother in law, who will  be coming out on Tuesday.  That means putting an air conditioner in each room, just in case it's needed.  I now own five air conditioners, if you can  believe it.  Crazy.  After that, we decided to wash windows, screens, stuff like that so I was outside, Evie was inside and we got it done fairly quickly, before the heat of the day hit.  I bought a new bucket at Walmart last week, really cool and sturdy, and I liked it so much I want another.  Who could possibly have an opinion about a bucket and want another.  Pathetic.

Evie's Geraniums at 6:05 AM

By the way, because of the heat, we have started closing all windows the moment  the outside temperature matches the inside and it's keeps our house amazingly cool.  Walking in from the heat of the yard, it feels like we have air conditioning, making me wonder why I own five air conditioners.

After the bedrooms and windows, I went out side and decided to take down the martin house since we no longer have martins, an easy task.  There were four or five nests, no dead babies,  but I found three white eggs, evidence that the parents fled because of predators.  I washed and cleaned out the house, getting it ready for the task of creating an owl guard,  to keep the predators away.  I am hoping my grandson Mitchell will make the guard his first week here at the lake; he's a handy kid, unlike me.  I then cut some weeds, along with Evie, fixed our ladder which moved with the waves by attaching a cement block, and replaced a buoy which had come loose.  It was a busy day for both of us.

At 3:30, I rewarded myself by going out for a beer with my neighbor's son, David Leonard, at the Southern Tier Brewery.  We felt a bit like derelicts, drinking in a pub at 4:00 in the afternoon on Sunday but quickly got over it as we downed out pitcher.  There were about 40-50 patrons enjoying the various micro brews, some inside, just as many outside on the patio in the heat.  We were there for an hour and half before making our way home, groggy and tired.  So, there was only one solution to this drowsiness, jump in the lake and wake up, which I did, a panacea for many lack of energy.

We had salad and leftover Chicken Kapama with orzo for dinner, easy and good, and watched two more episodes of The Newsroom, which we continue to watch despite the fact we think it's wordy, often silly, overly dramatic.  How many newsrooms applaud the news anchor when he finishes a show?  Or argue over a romantic relationship during the news of Bin Laden's death?  And what a contrast to The Killing, which we watched after The Newsroom, so real, nothing tacky or silly, great acting, keeping us on the edge of our seats.  We keep hoping The Newsroom will get better but so far, we are not optimistic.