Little Blake Lake

All my concentration on electricity and water made me forget one of the most beautiful sunrises at Little Blake.

I got the canoe in the water before the sun came up. Mist was rising from the surface of the lake. In some places the columns of hazy water vapor rose 20 or 30 feet. I paddled as silently as possible to the south end of the lake.

As I paddled back north, I saw an adult and a juvenile loon. The adult was diving and the young one was paddling quickly to wherever its parent surfaced. I aimed the canoe at them and drifted and watched. I got within 10 yards of the birds for several minutes.

Then I turned and headed north again just as the sun came over the trees and lit up the north end of the lake and the landscape up towards Big Round. Wow! I'd never seen the ridges and hills stand out they way they did in that light. Of course, being out in the middle of the lake helped too.

Thirty-some years ago Ruth Bernhard taught me how to see light in ways I'd never imagined. Those lessons stick with me and sometimes I'm nearly overwhelmed by what I have learned to see. Seeing the sun come up over the Little Blake/Straight River landscape this morning was one of those moments. Thank you, Ruth.

Yes, it's always something.

I arrived yesterday about supper time. The electrician had been here and the power was on. His note said the problem was a fuse, but he didn't say which one or why my replacements hadn't solved the problem.

I turned on the pump and it started. I went to the car to get more "stuff," and when I came back the pump had stopped. But there was no water coming out of the taps. The pressure tank sounded empty when I knocked on it. The fuses in the cellar looked good, but what do I know?

So, I filled a container from Skip's hose for washing and flushing, but now I'll have to call the plumber on Tuesday. I'm in Amery this morning and will get some fuses at the hardware store in case. But I think the problem is the pump now.

And I think I'll go home this afternoon.

The electrician from Amery finally returned my call (a week later) and said he'd go up to Sidetrack yesterday or today. Hope so...

Larry said it took only about half an hour to fix his problems, which seem similar to ours (except perhaps for the pump).

I'm planning on heading up tomorrow morning. If all's well others may join me on Saturday or Sunday.

Ah, the boat parade on Sunday afternoon...

I had planned to stay longer, but then lightning scored a direct hit on one of Larry's trees. The tree exploded as the sap vaporized. Pieces of tree shrapnel were thrown all over the place. A large one broke some rafters in his shed.

Well, that didn't happen while I was there. It happened over a week ago. But, Larry's phone connection was burned out and so was the power line from his cabin to his shed. The lightning surged through Mark's TV and one of his air conditioners, "killing" them.

And it may have done in the power to our pump and water heater. It also seems to have fried the power line to the Shakespeare House and the outdoor outlets mounted on the retaining wall. And, strangely, the fixture on the kitchen ceiling and the outside light over the door.

I tried to reset the GFI circuit. No result. I checked all the fuses and even put new ones in the four circuits. No results. I looked at the fuses in the power switches for the pump and the water heater. They looked good.

And then the flashlight I was using wouldn't turn off!

Ah, without running water, I was forced to eat left over pizza I'd brought along on paper plates. I got some water from Skip's hose to do minimal washing up, but no shower.

I reset some of the wobbly pavers, and I pulled weeds in the patio.

And I enjoyed the bald eagle(s). I saw eagles twice, once when an eagle dove through the air and grabbed a little fish. I also got to see one of the cranes fly by, land, fish, and fly off.

This morning, while canoeing around the lake, I saw three loons floating on the lake. I'd been hearing them yesterday and last night. It sounded like they were over on Big Blake. This morning, I got to see them take flight (they need long "runways") and then circle over the canoe on their ways to somewhere else. They make a funny noise when they fly.

I also enjoyed the flowers that are blooming now. About the tiger lillies that I "rescued" from the ditch along Hunky Dory Road: when I was a little boy, my great grandfather Rohl had a huge "flock" of tiger lillies in front of his house. They were beautiful and as big as I was. So, they are magical flowers to me still. There are a dozen blooming stalks now and half that many smaller ones that haven't bloomed this summer. Next year.



The Cone flowers are fascinating just because the petals flop back against the stem.



The daisies are just a welcome additional color.



There are also lots of unwelcome plants. Like these in the patio.



And these that the wind blew up against the shore around our dock.



Well, I packed up and came home this morning with the phone number for the electrician who fixed Larry's problems. I'll call him in the morning and hope he can fix our power problems as easily.