Hazy And Humid Lake Morning

6:01

6:03

6:10

A surprisingly quiet morning after a busy Fourth of July.  Hardly a boat in sight, as the sun rose around 6:05, an orange ball over Long Point State Park.  It's 72º and may not be as warm as yesterday when the temperature was near 90º.  I did get a short paddle in before heading to Bemus Point for breakfast and was rewarded with a photograph of a heron, sitting up in a tree, preening.  When I returned from breakfast, about 9:00, I was surprised to see a weed gathering barge in our yard with four high school kids gathering weeds.  I joined them and they worked for about a half hour in our area, clearing most of the weeds, saving Evie and me hours of back bending labor.  We spotted them a couple of twenties for their hard work and they vowed to be back whenever we needed them.  A great way to start the day.  Yes, there is a God.  And the blog is unusually late this morning because my proofreader and editor has been on the phone for the past hour. 

Kayak Morning

 An Ancient Great Blue Heron

Yesterday as I mentioned, was one of the busiest days of the year on the lake, as everybody was out enjoying the water except for us.  We tend to avoid boating on busy days, preferring the weekdays when there's less traffic.  It was quiet early when I fit in my paddle to Tom's Point.  When I returned, we did some major watering, taking lake water from the sump pump to Evie's garden where the dahlias are ready to bloom in full force.  We cannot wait.  We also worked on the bedrooms, getting all the air conditioners in place, ready for company.  It will probably cool off by the time they arrive but it's always nice to have them in place if it heats up. 

We had no plans for the day until 6:00 when we were picnicking with our friends, Linda and Ron, at their house near Lighthouse Point.  It was nice for Evie, not having to worry about dinner, so she spent a good part of the afternoon on the dock or cutting weeds.  I do not enjoy this heat much, so I stayed inside reading, having my lunch, watching an episode of BABYLON BERLIN and taking a nap.  I did manage to sit out in our yard, under the tree, looking for some breeze as I read but soon got bored and put on my suit and waded out into the weed beds and cut for about a half hour.  It's getting tiresome but a necessary task if we want a nice swimming area.  It's a problem lakewide, not just in front of our house but we are one of the few that do anything about it. 

We went to Linda and Ron's at 6:00 and their neighborhood, like ours, was busy with people celebrating the fourth on the lake.  We sat on their front porch, enjoying our beers and appetizers, taking in their great view of the lake, the park next door. 

Burger Boys

Around 7:00, Ron and I went out and grilled the burgers while Linda and Evie got out the potato salad, baked beans, and condiments.  And then the fun began.  I walked in with the burgers and their fire alarms went off, an obnoxious clanging noise, loud enough to wake up the neighborhood.  After finally figuring out how to turn off on their new alarm system, they called their service to say it was just a false alarm.  We then sat down to eat and it went off again, this time suggesting that there was a burglary in the process.  Police were being notified and would arrive shortly.  Ron ran in, turned it off and tried to get in touch with the security system to say, again, it was a false alarm.  Meanwhile, a neighbor came over who had been alerted to the fact that there was a burglary going on.  She's on Ron's security list to be notified if there is a problem.  Evie's phone also rang but she assumed it was not important.  When Evie realized a neighbor was notified by a phone call, she checked her phone and it was the security system calling because she is on the 'call if emergency list'.  We finally figured out the alarms, Ron talked to the security agent, finished dinner, and sat on the porch watching the neighborhood and Mayville fireworks. 

Picnic's Almost Ready

We ended up sitting in the kitchen, having dessert around 10:00 when the doorbell rang and it was the police.  They were checking on the burglary alert, wondering if there was a problem.  We were curious as to why they were a couple of hours late and if there had been a thief, he would have already been in Ohio.  Linda and Ron explained to them the security alarm fiasco which seemed to satisfy them and they drove off. 

So it was an eventful, funny night for all of us but Ron.  Great food, especially Linda's famous potato salad, beers, fireworks, and fire alarms.  What more could we ask for on the 4th?  We came home about 10:30, to a surprisingly quiet Woodlawn, as all the neighborhood festivities seemed to be over.