Rain And More Rain

8:06

Looking North At 9:00

It's 7:40 and the duck hunters are obviously out as I just heard a blast from a shotgun, a nice way to start the morning.  It's just beginning to get light although it's overcast and there will be no discernable sunrise. We were both awakened last night by thunder and we received another inch and a half of rain overnight.  I was up at 6:20, hoping our plumber might stop by early to fix our gas fireplace.  So far, no go.  It's 8:15, 52º, and I am torn between kayaking or hiking in the drizzle or doing nothing.  So far, nothing is winning.

Our Red Maple

Yesterday was more of the same, thinking about getting ready for our trip, doing little.  We, like most people I guess, put things off until the very end and then do whatever is needed in the last few minutes or hours or days.  It was wet and windy most of the morning so I did not venture out on the lake.  I did make it to breakfast with the guys in Bemus and we had almost a full house. It's fun because I get to hear all the local and Chautauqua Institution gossip.  Clearly, I am mostly a listener.  When I got home, I started thinking seriously about our Thanksgiving odyssey.  It gets easier each year, especially if I write things down so I don't forget something, like an umbrella, or beach towels, or winter coat and gloves since we will be in both Florida and Kansas City, hot and cold places in November.  Evie, too, was thinking about what she needed to bring.

Our Tulip Tree

Lunch was simple because I was not very hungry after a big breakfast of two poached eggs on a bed of hash with toast and coffee.  I watched part of a silly Clint Eastwood movie; he's hot on the trail of a killer, a guy who is responsible for the death of Clint's heart donor.  Yep, Clint had a heart transplant and the only reason for getting this heart is that his donor was murdered.  I did not wait to see the ending.  I finally finished my book, A GENTLEMEN IN MOSCOW and I highly recommend it, my sister Ellen agrees.  And I started a nonfiction book called DREAMLAND, an award-winning book that looks at the opioid problem in the States, its causes, and beginnings, focusing on the city of Portsmouth, a small town in Ohio although it most likely could have been any one of the hundreds of small towns like it in the Rust Belt, or Jamestown, NY, 15 miles away from our home.  It's really a page turner so far and scary.

Wood Duck, Mid Afternoon

Around 4:00, I went outside and did some more yard work as it had not rained since the morning and it was unseasonably warm.  I cut down lots of Jerusalem artichokes, did some raking and filled up another trash can with stalks.  And because it was so warm and some sun was beginning to show, I went for a kayak paddle, over to Long Point, back to Sandy Bottom and home, catching a photo of wood ducks, my favorite and some coots, another bevy of at least 40 or 50.  I'm curious as to when they will head South.

Another Seezurh House Dinner

By 6:00, we were ready to go out to dinner with our good friends, Linda and Ron.  It was the ribeye special at the Seezurh House, which we have been enjoying for past four or five years.  And like previous years, the bar was practically empty at this time of the year.  All four of us ordered the special, had a couple of beers and talked about our trips, ours eventually to visit our kids and Linda's to NYC to visit with her sisters.  As always, it was a fun night, good food and friends and we were home early enough to watch some TV, a couple of Stephen Colbert's before bed.