A Chautauqua Gray Morning

7:21

It's 6:50 as I start this, still dark so that I will have to wait until the sun rises to kayak. I forgot what it's like to get up in the utter darkness of a fall and winter morning. It rained some overnight, probably because I left the boat cover off.  It's 8:48 as I finish this up, having kayaked for an hour on a now green lake, the result of algae bloom. I did see a couple of rafts of wood ducks which was cool, lots of mallards, and a couple of herons, still hanging around. 

Kayak Morning

Woodlawn Heron

Hanging Out At Long Point

Male Wood Duck

Tuesday was another different kind of day because, after the morning paddle, blog, and breakfast, the floor guys arrived and spent the rest of the day tearing up our kitchen floor.  So most of the day was filled with the noise of their saws, hammers, and claws, as they ripped out our kitchen and hallway maple floors. 

Living Room Clutter

Kitchen

Fortunately, I was able to escape in the morning by going to yoga with Julie, a good class as usual and Evie spent the morning working in her garden.  I then stopped for a coffee at Ryder's Cup, in no hurry to get home and Save A Lot to pick up hamburger buns for dinner.  Because the kitchen was a mess, I picked up a sub sandwich at Hogan's Hut so that Evie did not have to make lunch.  When I returned home, the guys were on a lunch break so I had my sub with a bowl of soup and was able to watch my show before they started up with the banging.

We both spent the rest of the afternoon either on the porch or out in the yard to avoid the guys working.  It was pleasant out, with lots of sun and clouds, but warm enough to enjoy being outside.  We decided on a boat ride at 3:00, so we took the usual cruise over to Bemus Point and back along the shoreline. The clouds in both directions were amazing and we were lucky to get sun most of the way.  When we returned, the guys were cleaning up.

We were able to use our kitchen fortunately because they moved both the stone and refrigerator back into place until they return next week to put in the new floor.  Around 4:00, Evie decided it was time for a dip in the lake, cold but refreshing, perhaps the last swim of 2021. 

Afternoon Sun

Evie Of The Lake

After the swim, Evie had her Zoom call with her sisters at 5:00 and by 6:30, we were sitting in front of the TV enjoying a burger and Bob Evans mac n cheese. We watched a depressing Real Time With Bill Maher, as his final monologue, "The Slow Moving Coup,' outlined a possible Republican and Trump victory in both the 2022 and 2024 elections unless the Democrats and sane Americans get their act together. We ended the night with a Colbert and new series on Netflix called Maid which we are increasingly disliking but sticking with it.