Hunting For Herons And Ducks (with a camera)

A Handsome Male Wood Duck And His Mate

6:49

7:17

7:19

7:39 (from Evie's seat in the living room) (dirty window!)

I was up at 5:45, lots of stars still in the sky when I walked outside.  Now, at 7:00, we have a pink or rosy morning sky, as I wait for the sunrise in 20 minutes or so.  It's 65º and today may be our last day in the 80's this year, as tonight, the temperature drops and tomorrow's highs will be in the 60's, more fall like.  The lake is empty and calm, the only action seagulls flying by.  Oops, a bass boat just invaded my quiet time, filling the lake with its roar and waves.  It's 7:22, the sun rose three minutes ago and I am going to finish up this part of the blog so I can go kayaking.  I am back from heron and duck hunting with my camera.  I caught a couple of herons, a wood duck, and a couple of mallards.  Evie has worked with them, cropping and making sure the photos are blog worthy.  They are!

Mallard Among The Reeds

Blue Heron, Hunkered Down

A Stately Mallard

Looking For Breakfast

Yesterday began early with a kayak paddle, as I was on the lake by 7:20.  I took my usual paddle because I like paddling across the lake to Long Point, its tip straight across the lake from our living room window.  I scared a few herons out of the reeds but never got a chance to take a photograph.  A ski boat was out but not our neighbors who are usually up and out.

Paddling Home To Woodlawn

When I got home, I had my breakfast, finished the blog and wanted to go for a hike in Long Point but Evie had a few things she wanted to get done in the house so she suggested I go for a bike ride.  So I put my bike on the rack and drove across the bridge to Bemus, parked and rode along Lakeside Drive to Long Point State Park, and rode the trails, through the woods, out to Long Point and back to the car, an hour ride and enjoyable because its flat and often in the shade.  I then drove to Chautauqua Brick to pick up some sandpaper for sanding our pantry door after its spackled.

Biking Out To Long Point

When I got home, Evie was busy and suggested it might be time to bring in the buoys from our lakefront.  So, I rowed out to the buoys and pulled all nine of them out of the water, another one of the chores signals the end of the summer.  I undid the chains, stored the cement block anchors under the privets and put the buoys in my wheelbarrow, to clean later.  I felt righteous having had a busy morning and Evie rewarded me with a lunch of pork sandwiches with mayo and tomato and the last drop of the cauliflower soup.

After our busy morning, Evie took advantage of what might be one of the last summer-like days of fall and went out on the dock.  After my lunch, nap and some reading, I joined her hoping to take a swim but the algae was back, so neither of us went in.  I had enough around 4:00 and decided my car needed washing, a result of the pine sap and leaves falling on my car. It does not take long, about 15 minutes and washed some screens as Evie had been washing windows earlier in the day.

We both needed a pick me up, so we packed a cooler with two beers and went for a pleasant boat ride, down the lake, just beyond the Viking Club and back.  It was just what we needed, to be one of the few boats on the lake, a nice breeze cooling us on the 80º day, the lake calm.  We were back around 6:30 and Evie put together a healthy dinner, a salad with leftover salmon, hard boiled eggs, and various greens.  She also heated up a couple of sourdough rolls and we had a good dinner.  Salmon seems to go a long way.  We watched the second episode of Vietnam, not exactly a rousing documentary as its clear that we really made a mistake by getting involved and four Presidents were responsible, often going in or staying in for 'political reasons.'  We ended the night by watching the first episode of The Five, a British series recommended by my sister, Ellen.  So far, so good.