When the wind stiffens it blows the fog off the lake and replaces it with a biting spray. And when the wind slackens the sound of air rushing though the leaves and around the cabins is replaced with the crashing of the white caps that stand off from the more protected bay. Either way it is chilly and inhospitable, with ambient temperatures near 40 and a wind chill that might be close to freezing.

In other words, a perfect day at the lake.

This is the perfect weather if you want to be alone, or at least, not dragged into the obnoxious loud fantasy of some motor head’s idea of nature, or to have professional bass fishermen bumping into your dock as they struggle to pitch their dumbass lure into every nook and cranny while we stare at them wondering if they have no shame. I have not seen a water skier or even an intrepid wall-eye fisherperson in two days. For one moment I thought I heard a motor boat but it turned out to be the 50 knot wind doing something slightly different along the wooden docks.

Speaking of boat motors, the mystery of the returned motor complexified slightly when my father in law took a walk last weekend and inspected the ravine in which the motor was found. There were two previously missing gas tanks and, astonishingly, the previously missing battery charger. I don’t recall that the battery charger was missing for as long as the boat motor, so the theory that explains this can’t be the parsimonious one. People have been saying “Well, the simple explanation is X” or “The simple explanation is Y.” Nope. Nothing simple about this. Just watch the film “Feeling Minnesota” for your cultural reference point, and throw in a little plot from “Very Bad Things” and you’ve got the motor story.

Or, maybe it was just the chipmunks.

The two “baby loons” (I still think of them as babies even though they are all growd up now) are all that remains of the loon family, the adults having headed off to their intermediate gathering grounds… or even migrated out of the region. In case you were wondering, the babies do vocalize now and then, but not often. Yesterday a bald eagle was either aggressively buzzing the loons or fishing the waters they were in and the loons were making a small fuss, but nothing like what their parents would have done.

The Flock of Flickers that was here two weeks ago is gone, but the hairy/downy woodpeckers are still very active. The Canada geese have not been here for a few weeks (there was a resident pair with four offspring). Every now and then I see a tern or a gull appear like a ghost or a UFO in the cloud/fog.

Oh, and Derrick and his crew did come by to dig the trench. I’m glad I saw the process of installing the drainage thingies, but the trenching did not reveal anything of interest.

Uh oh… The wind has just shifted from the north. There is blue sky showing, but it is CANADIAN AIR!!! The temperature is dropping, the surf is up, and I’ve got to throw some more wood on the fire. Bye for now!

Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:

In Search of Sungudogo by Greg Laden, now in Kindle or Paperback
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