Gray Skies With An Occasional Streak Of Sun

6:24

6:49

7:04

It's 7:20 and I have been up for an hour, watching the sky change as the sun attempts to burst through the gray and listening to the squawking of ducks. It's a warm 69º, with the possibility of a shower in the next hour and mostly cloudy during the day, with a high around 80º, a relief from yesterday's high of 86º. It's 9:15 and I paddled for 50 minutes, harassed by lake flies, on a lake strewn with dead lake flies. Today was the first time, ever, that lake flies bothered me when I kayaked. 

Kayak Morning

North

Great Blue Heron On the Shore Of Long Point

Heron And A Buddy

Osprey In The Pines

Yesterday was a different Tuesday because I had to take my Subaru in for an oil change and tire rotation. I take it to a local guy who specializes in Subarus and his parking area is filled with Subarus. So Finns is a half-hour drive from the lake, in the small town of Niobe. I had my usual hour in Niobe, dropping the car off at 9:00, then going for a 50-minute walk down a wooded road until I was stopped by a bridge over a creek that is no longer in use. It's an attractive walk because of the thick woods on either side of the dead-end road and I pass The Herb Mill and Greenhouse, closed at 9:30 unfortunately. When I finished my walk, my Outback was ready so I took a bit of a detour to see where the Bear Lake Inn was located, about a half hour from our house, then drove home through Panama. 

Niobe Greenhouse

Dead End

Not Too Busy

When I returned, Evie had her list ready and was about to leave for a big shopping day at Wegman's. I had nothing I had to do so I relaxed, read some, then decided to have lunch, the leftover appetizers from Monday night's gathering. I filled up on wraps, corn fritters, and shrimp and watched another episode of Justified. I am only on Season Three and just realized there are Six Seasons. The afternoon was uncomfortably warm, in the mid-80s, so I turned on the air conditioner in our bedroom, read some and napped. Evie got home just as I went upstairs so I helped her some before going upstairs. 

Midafternoon, I decided to get a few things done, put away the cord to the sump pump and gather the hoses. I then decided to see what it was like on the dock and realized the lake was crystal clear so I came in, put on my bathing suit and cooled off with a swim. I was surprised at the weeds around our dock, probably because I stopped cutting them when our family left in July.

After a busy day, we looked forward to wine time but it was still uncomfortably warm on the porch so we sat inside, and enjoyed wine and a good cheese. It was actually pleasant sitting inside on our couches, listening to the news until dinner. For dinner, we had the leftover pasta and the rest of the appetizers and watched our usual shows, Colbert, Cheers, CNN, a dab of FOX for a laugh. It was a productive day.