Feeling Lousy

7:24

 It's 7:30,. a gray day to fit my mood.  I came down with a cold yesterday, chills, a bad cough, and aches, making it difficult to get much done.  So I have been up since 6:00, not very happy at the moment, and just want to get this blog done.

Yesterday was mostly sitting around the house, wishing I had the mojo to get outside and do something.  I felt better in the morning but as the day progressed, I felt worse.  While I sat around the house, Evie was busy outside, potting her geraniums, weeding, watering, doing those sorts of things. She made me a good lunch, a nice bowl of chicken soup and I took a nap upstairs, hoping to feel better.  

Spring

I would have brief periods where I felt better but then I would have a coughing jag and feel worse.  For dinner, Evie made us salmon, with rice, garlic spinach, and a salad.  It tasted good to me.  We started a new series on Netflix. another Israeli series called When Angels Fly.  We liked it enough to watch a couple episodes before ending the night with an HGTV show.

  

Let There Be Sun

6:13

6:20

9:00

It was pleasant to wake up to a rising sun around 6:15, as it moves from right to left across our vista. Despite the sunshine, it's a chilly 36º and Evie had to bring the geraniums onto the porch.  It should, however, get up to the low '50s later in the day, good for working or doing something outside.  I bagged kayaking this morning because I just did not feel like it, rare for me.  It's 9:10 as I finish, having had breakfast with the guys.  

Yesterday was gray and windy, no morning kayaking but by 8:30, the Tri James truck arrived with 6 yards of #1 crushed stone for our driveway and road.  We do this once everything three or four years because the snowplow ends up tearing up the road and each winter it gets worst.  He was able to finagle so that he dropped the stones both on the road and parking areas.  It also left a large pile and I had to spend a good hour filling a wheelbarrow and spreading it in areas he could not get to with his truck.  It needs a steam roller to pack it down but I used my car instead, driving over the road and parking area many times, making it more solid. 

While I was working outside, Evie was in our pantry, taking the advice of our daughter Beth and moving all the stuff we use most often from one side to another, making it easier to get to, a Kondoing so to speak.  It took much of the morning but it looks fine and works.  After my work with the stones, I had lunch, the leftover soup and a salami, tomato, pickle, and lettuce sandwich.  I am into my show, Queen Of The South, and have to limit my viewing to one episode although I am tempted to binge-watch.  

Part Of An Orderly Pantry

After my nap, I worked some in the yard, pulling weeds, a fruitless task I know but there is some pleasure in it, a container filled with weeds when I am done.  At 4:00, I drove over to my friends' barn where we were gathering for beers for the first time in a year.  It was good to finally get together and enjoy each other's company. Evie made us popcorn so we were a happy foursome.  

Dinner was the leftover chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes along with Brussel sprouts. Yum.  We watched the usual although Colbert is on vacation.  We finished our series, Bloodline, and were surprised by the ending; it was not predictable.  We ended the night with another Off The Grid. 

Chautauqua Gray Morning

7:27

It's chilly, 44º, overcast with a light wind and I don't think I will get in a paddle.  It is just not inviting this morning or I am lazy.  Only a few rafts of birds highlight the gray of the lake.

Male Cardinal

Yesterday I got back into a routine, starting the day with a paddle and photographs of lots of waterfowl, a great way to start my day.  After the blog and breakfast, I went to yoga and the studio is beginning to edge back to normal.  Julia is back after 17 months of absence which was nice.  We had seven participants as the numbers edge up each week. I stopped at Tri James and order six yards of gravel for our driveway and road which has been devastated by the plows this past winter.  

Female

Lunch was the leftover chicken soup which Evie had thawed and a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches.  She left for a hair appointment with Jaret at 12:30  then did some major shopping at Wegmans's, as she beginning to store up on staples for our summer when the family arrives. I  read some, watched my show then drove off for an appointment with the dermatologist where I had minor surgery, removing another melanoma in situ on my back.  It took about 20 minutes and I was on my way home, stopping at Rite Aid to pick up some waterproof bandaids for my incision.  

Waiting For Momma

Evie did not get home till 4:00, the car groaning with her purchases.  I helped carry them in and she spent a good 20 minutes putting things away until it was time for her Zoom call with her sisters.  They talked for over an hour and I sat in the TV room, watching my series and reading, waiting for dinner time.  We had amazingly tasty Brussell sprouts, with baked potatoes, salad, and chicken for dinner, easy and good. We watched Colbert, Jeopardy, and an episode of Bloodlines before ending the evening with an episode from Off The Grid where they built a  cob house, an old method of combining clay, sand, straw, and water. It was fun to watch a group of maybe 20 volunteers spend five weeks building the house.  

A Couple Of Gray Days

Immature Bald Eagle

Great Blue Heron

6:13

Lots of gray skies but little rain over the past 24 hours, perhaps a quarter of an inch.  The same this morning, a lake of shades of gray, a 55º morning, with hardly a whisper of wind.  It's 8:30 and I just returned from a good paddle, over to Long Point and back and I was lucky to see mergansers, wood ducks, herons, and eagles, a great morning for waterfowl.  And for the second time, I observed a loon dive deep into the lake and never saw him again although I waited for five minutes and looked in all directions.  Amazing. 

Kayak Morning

Wood Ducks

Victoria/Woodlawn

Merganser Poppa And The Boys

Loon

Yesterday as I mentioned was overcast and I endured a light drizzle when I kayaked in the morning,  It drizzled just enough to dampen my clothes.  We both felt energetic after our breakfast and writing of the blog.  So we went out and spent a good part of the day working in the yard.  I planted a couple more bushes in the front yard and we gave the privets another cutting.  I cut on one side of the fence, Evie on the other and we filled up a couple of buckets with twigs.  We also did some raking of the beds of leaves and deadfall so that I had to make two trips up the hill to the woodpile.  That took most of the morning.

Momma Robin

Hawk On Our Martin Gourds

Before lunch, I changed the oil on the lawnmower and cleaned the plugs so Evie was ready to mow the lawn.  First, she made me tuna sandwiches for lunch and I finished off the last of the cauliflower soup. I then read and napped, serenaded by Evie's lawnmower. By 2:30, we were finished in the yard and could relax although Evie did some weeding later in the afternoon. 

Trekking Ready

Around 4:00 I decided to trek the Woodlawn/Victoria "mountains."  I was out a half-hour, enjoying the rapid greening of the woods. And like this morning when I went out to kayak, it started to rain as I walked so that once again, I returned home with wet clothes and had to hang them in the hot room.  

Victoria/Woodlawn

We both were able to enjoy a spritzer before dinner, the leftover moussaka with a salad and rolls.We watched a new series on HDTV, Hometown Makeover, with Ben and Erin,  the couple with like from Hometown.  It's a bit cheesy, too much drama so we may skip it.  We ended the night with Jeopardy and a new four-episode series from Acorn TV called Bloodlines. We watched the first two episodes, the second episode ending with a big surprise.  

Docks Are Going In!

7:13

Momma Robin, Outside Our TV Room Window

It's overcast, a warm 55º and it looks like rain much of the day.  A couple docks went in next door yesterday afternoon, a sure sign that summer is coming.  Well, it's 8:45, I am back from an hour kayaking, over to Long Point and back to Sandy Bottom and home.  I scared off a couple of herons as well as buffleheads so I did not get any good photographs.  When I got home, Evie was up, finishing up the dishes from last night like a good girl.  

Kayak Morning

Long Point

Long Point

Sunday was another beautiful day although it started out for me with a paddle in the drizzle.  We were having our neighbors over for dinner, Ken and Marjorie, both up from Pittsburgh for the first time since last fall. So we had a few things to do during the day to get ready but we also had lots of time to enjoy ourselves.  Around 10:30, after breakfast and the blog, our neighbor, Debi, brought her two grandsons over because they were interested in Evie's Treasure Chest.  

Mimi And The Boys

While they were here, I drove to Mayville to check if my old kayak is repaired yet.  The answer is no.  I also stopped and dropped off the travel bed and talked with Ron before heading home.  When I got home, Evie was making pancakes for the boys, Arlo and Louie, loving having youngsters around to play with. I was lucky to get a stack of cakes as well with maple syrup for my lunch.  

Arlo

Louie

Once they left, I read and napped briefly and Evie kept busy, putting together a pudding cake for our dessert and making a salad.  Once that was done, she could relax and for the first time this Spring, it was warm enough for her to enjoy the dock.  I did a little yard work, adding a couple of bags of dirt around the junipers and watering them with lake water.

Happy That Our Neighbors Are Back

Around 5:30, Evie made the white sauce for the moussaka and put it in the oven just as our friends arrived for dinner.  I made them my now-famous whiskey sours with maple syrup and they loved them, of course.  We sat out on our front porch, enjoying our drinks, edamame, and crackers with beer cheese.  We had fun catching up on lots of grandchildren's lives.  What else do grandparents talk about?  Dinner was great, the moussaka better than ever, with a simple salad and sourdough rolls.  We had dessert, the pudding cake with vanilla ice cream in the living room.  Because Ken had just recently gotten Netflix we spent most of the time talking about movies and series we have liked on Netflix.  They left around 9:30 and I then did up most but not all of the dishes to end a good day and evening with friends.

  

Warming With A Morning Drizzle

6:43

9:22

I woke to partial sunshine but now it's overcast.  The back stoop was wet from a touch of rain but it has done hardly anything for our plants.   It's 58º and should get up in the mid-'70s later in the afternoon.  The lake is fairly calm so I think I will be able to get in a paddle even if it rains.  It's 9:20 and I was out paddling for over an hour, in the drizzle, to Tom's Point and back, pleasant enough because the drizzle hardly got me wet.  The Powerboat Club was busy, as at least 25 guys were putting in their extensive dock, grooving to the sounds of Credence Clearwater Revival, audible from our front porch. 

Kayak Morning

The Bridge From Tom's Point

Into A Drizzle

Yesterday was a good day as we both got things done; it makes us both feel good.  I started my day early by rescuing what I think was a neighbor's kayak and towing it home. I then wrote the blog, had breakfast and by then Evie was up. Once she had her coffee, we gathered the trash, cleaned out the refrigerator and I drove off to the Transfer Station.  Because we are getting ready for Spring planting, I drive off to Home Depot and picked up the potting soil Evie needs for her ivy geraniums and dahlias.  Before I left, I watered our new junipers.  Home Depot was busy, a long line in the garden section and I even had trouble finding a flat pushcart to stack my five bags of potting soil. I also stopped at the bank, deposited checks and checked out a nursery for plants.

Tina And Jim, Weekend Paddlers, Are Back

I didn't get home till 1:00 and had the leftover spaghetti for lunch and watched my drug carte series. Evie decided we needed more trees for creating our wall of green so while I read and napped, she drove off to Art's and picked up four more junipers, stopped at Mikes's for ivy geraniums, and Wegman's for a few things.  When she returned, we planted four more junipers and I think we have enough, at least I do.  We were busy the rest of the afternoon as well, Evie in the kitchen, prepped a moussaka for tonight's dinner.  I cleaned up the kitchen, watered the new junipers, and raked up all the deadfall from Friday's windstorm, filling a couple of pails.

Around 6:00, we were finally done and settled on our couch, enjoying happy hour with a couple of Manhattans and a big bowl of popcorn, our new favorite snack. It was a quiet early evening on the lake, with a slow, darkening sky, and searched Apple Music for new songs.  Dinner was baked potatoes and meatloaf from the freezer. We watched Real Time With Bill Maher and a couple of home improvement shows to end the evening.  

A Respite From The Wind

White Water Kayaking On Chautauua Lake

6:39

8:24

It's a lovely morning here on a placid lake, with clear skies, and full sun filling the living room.  What a difference from yesterday's heavy winds most of the day,  constant 20-30 mile an hour, with gusts up to 50 mph.  We lost our electricity mid-afternoon for a couple of hours and the lake looked like I could have surfed the waves.  Neither of us had seen it so wild, the waves so ferocious, even feathering from the wind. It's 8:30, Evie's still sleeping and I just returned from a walk down to Chestnut Hill where I left my kayaks yesterday afternoon.  I dragged them out through the sludge into the water, hooked the runaway kayak on a rope up to my kayak, and paddled home to our lakefront.  Fortunately, the wind was just starting to pick up a bit so it was easy going all the way home. It's 9:10, Evie's up and is wondering when I am going to go get my kayaks, not realizing that I had already gotten them.  

Towing On A Kayak Morning

Today, however, I could easily kayak but that's another story for later in the blog.  Friday, then, we woke up to a cloudy, windy morning with no hope of a paddle.  We were not sure what the day would bring other than hunkering down in our home and doing the usual.  Around 10:30, however, we drove off to Art Sample's nursery where we have bought many of our trees and bushes.  Evie has been looking for a bush or tree that will create a wall of green behind and between our pine trees.  After browsing with Art's daughter, we found something we liked, Junipers, not our favorite but they are perfect for the job.  So we drove home with five of them and I began digging some holes for them when we got home, fighting the wind.  We decided to finish the job after lunch and my nap so we went inside and I had the leftover spaghetti for lunch and napped on a bed with clean sheets and pillowcases, always delightful.  

We finished up the planting around 2:30, went inside to warm up and Evie noticed a kayak floating down the lake, obviously taken from someone's yard by the wind. Foolishly, I decided to go get it despite the 25 mile an hour winds and waves. Fortunately, I was able to corral it, hook a rope on it but when I tried to paddle back the waves were breaking over my kayak and the wind was so strong I could not paddle north back to our house.  I made it finally to shore next to Chestnut Hill, beached my kayaks and pulled them up the shore so the wind would not take them.  As I was doing this, two neighbors, worried about me, came down to help and one even drove me home.  I won't be doing that again.

Fighting The Wind And Waves To Shore

Around 4:00 we lost our power and got phone calls from neighbors wondering if we too had lost our power.  We tried to call our provider, First Energy, something you would think was simple but it wasn't.  We decided it made sense to go out to dinner, called around and found the Rod and Gun also had lost their power and had restaurants in Bemus Point.  Finally, we called the Swedish Club and they and power so around 5:30, we drove over there just as the power returned at our house.  

Willows At Viking Club

The Swedish Club was busy but not full, with tables safe distancing, everyone wearing masks when standing.  We found a table next to the bar, ordered our beers and Evie went to wait in line to order from the kitchen.  She then joined me and we waited for our number to be called and I went and picked up our fish fry, silverware, coleslaw and potatoes.  The fish fries hit the spot though not quite as good as the Rod and Gun, too greasy.  We left about 7:30, ended up talking for a good ten minutes with a couple that we had met once before, both having graduated from Miami University about the same time that I graduated from Ohio.  We the ended up talking with Jaret, who owns a hair salon in Lakewood, and his two friends, Troy and Lorelei, getting a selfie before we left for home.  It ended up being a fun night at the club.

Selfie Of Vaccinated Five

We got home and watched Jeopardy, with a contestant from our hometown of Euclid, Ohio,  She did not win, alas.  We then watched the final episode of Season One of Unforgotten and ended the night with Colbert and very berry pie with ice cream.  What a day of contrasts.