Serene Morning

What a gorgeous morning to be kayaking on Eagle Lake in the Adirondacks. There was a bit of haze and fog, but it was also hot and calm. We didn't see any loons, but Dave heard one in the distance. We did witness an osprey or eagle (which would be appropriate) fly straight down and slam into the water after a fish. We had never seen one hit that hard before, but it was fine and flew off. No weeds have started to grow yet, so we could sneak back into the far corners of the marshes. It was a great way to social distance!

93 degrees & Snow?!

No, not snow....Dandelion fuzzies! No wonder my allergies have been so bad lately.

First Swim

Dave took his first swim of the summer season in Lake George today. The air was 88 degrees but the water was cold!

In all fairness, we took the water temp with our laser thermometer and the surface was 65 degrees, so I guess we should just average it out. Still cold and Dave was in and out quickly. Back dive!

And me? I sat on 'Moxie beach' with my feet in the water and they became numb within minutes. That was my way of cooling off ('Hey Buddy' is the name of our friend Scott's boat in FL).

Let summer begin! 

Are You My Momma?

Dave came out to visit me while I was painting the porch beams today and noticed a baby robin hopping around on the front lawn. Although we heard chirping, the parents were nowhere to be found. We left it alone and continued with our projects. That's when Dave went into the motorcycle shop and heard more chirping and found another chick by one of the windows, so it must be able to fly a little. He grabbed his gloves and gently brought it out to the backyard. It immediately hop-flew towards the woods where one of its parents waited on a hay rake. 

Dave went to check to see if any other birds were in the nest near the shop while I went to check on my paint. At the same time we both found more robin chicks on the ground. Mine was the original one and Dave's was a different one all together. He was able to grab both and they immediately opened up their mouths looking for food as if to say, "are you my momma?" We released them by the other rescued bird and its parent, who herded them all into the woods. We aptly named the babies the three stooges with the first rescued bird having an attitude, so he was definitely Moe. My question is...if "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", what are two birds in the hand(s) worth?😉

(Larry and Curly were followers)

Back In Clear Water

We are back in Ticonderoga taking care of cellar flooding issues and yard work, but we couldn't resist a break to go kayaking. With the building south wind we stayed in the northern pond section, which at this time of year, is almost as clear as the main lake. Dave has a new blue kayak to replace the one we left in Florida and we stirred up the water in the shallows of the bulrushes. This area grows so fast that we can rarely get back here except in the spring.

The turtles were out in full force too, sunning themselves on the rocks. What a gorgeous 83 degree spring day!

We peaked our noses out into the big lake to see one of our favorite views. We can't wait to get out and explore more. Hopefully the 55 degree water will heat up quickly with this warmer weather. Even if we aren't IN the lake though, we are ready to be ON it.

Rising Waters

We have made great headway with the yard work at home. We even filled up the fish pond to get ready for not only the goldfish (who have been on winter vacation at Jim R's house), but also it is time for 'Toad Fest'! In fact one toad couldn't even wait for the pond to get filled and jumped in as soon as it saw the water rising. It didn't even care that Dave was right there putting the stones in for the fish to hide in and critters to be able to climb out, should they fall in...or jump in, like the toad did.

The past two nights have been noisy with the toads calling and this morning we woke to lots of egg cases throughout the pond. Soon we will have tadpoles!

Unfortunately we had other waters rising up in Ticonderoga. For the first time in 14 years, our sump pump failed and there was almost a foot of yucky water in the entire cellar.

Dave managed to get it running by hitting the stuck switch with a rake while he reached out from the stairway. It took several hours for the water to drain down, until the motor finally quit for good. I was surprised it worked while underwater for most of the time. At least it lasted long enough so that there was 'only' about 40 gallons of water to be bailed into 5 gallon buckets and hauled upstairs to be thrown out. We have had a spare pump on hand for quite a few years and Dave installed it. Thank goodness we don't store much in the cellar, but we think the washer and dryer may need to be replaced despite being up on concrete risers. Dave tried to start them and all they did was dim the lights...not a good sign. Perhaps they will dry out and be okay. Same thing with the furnace, but we will wait until next time we go north to try it out. We will also pressure wash the cellar floor and walls, now that we know the water will be pumped out.

More projects for us, but that is what keeps us busy!

The Return

We have arrived back in the north country just in time for some beautiful spring weather. This was one of the advantages of spending the winter in Florida, being able to drive back depending on the conditions. However, we had quite a night sleeping in the van on I 81 at the West Virginia Welcome Center. We were shocked to see (and feel!) that it was only 40 degrees. We hunkered down in the back with Dave on the bench seat with a doubled up blanket, and me on the floor in a cozy sleeping bag (I gave Dave the softer of the two sleeping options because he drove...way too many trucks on the road for me...in fact very few cars). The cold crept in quickly and in two hours I had to start the motor and run the heater for 15 minutes. Two hours after that I said let's get out of here and we headed further north. We even saw some snow on the side of the road outside of Binghamton. Despite being sleep deprived, at least it gave us the opportunity to arrive back home sooner than expected. Even though we said we were going to take much needed naps, we went to work instead. Water, power, and heat came on, van was unloaded, unpacked, and everything that needed to go to Ticonderoga was repacked and reloaded. Even the birds got watered and fed (they were trying to take a bath in a little puddle of dirty melted snow in the bird bath).  All is well in the house and there were not many dead flies and no mice. Even the yard looks better than usual because thanks to Jim R., he mowed and then bagged all the mulched leaves. It's a perfect time to be home and everything is blooming including leaves on trees, my flowering quince apple and the forsythia bush.

The sun is shining today and it is in the mid 60's. Tomorrow it will rain and then time to head to check out Ti before we will really get to work on the yard. There are plenty of projects to complete before summer and we are ready!

The Plan

We have a departure plan firming up and all we have to do is wait until after this weekend when there is a possibility of snow up north. Yes, that's right, snow in mid May (Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, no matter where you are)! I am glad we have been watching the weather and holding off on leaving. Dave keeps saying we will leave when he runs out of his daily bananas, but then we do and go to the store and get more. 😉 Later next week things will begin to warm up and we should be home by late Wednesday, if all goes well. That is the nice thing about driving, because our plans can change. We both had to change doctors appointments too, but have been told, "don't worry, lots of people are stuck wherever they were when the pandemic began," so rescheduling wasn't a problem. Plus DMV isn't even open in NYS, so we are unable to put any of our vehicles on the road once we get there, since it has to be done in person. Hopefully the lockdown will ease up in the northern part of the state or at least they make other arrangements for getting license plates.

Meanwhile Florida is in Phase 1 of reopening and we can tell because the traffic is increasing. We did go to the beach yesterday in the late afternoon and it was fantastic. Talk about going out on a high note! It was calm with no waves, since the wind was from the west. It was so nice to be in the water again. Beachgoers were adhering to social distancing and instead of 6 ft. away from each other, everyone kept their distance at about 50 ft. or more. I am sure all this will be much different on the weekends, and I certainly wouldn't go then anyway.

We will take the powerboat Coqui out one more time and Dave has already taken his last sail in Coquina. However, he had quite the adventure when hauling the boat out of the water at the ramp next to the Jensen Beach Bridge. He came out at a slightly different spot and angle than he went in, and the bridge happened to be just a bit lower. He hit the bridge and the mast broke. Luckily there was a gentleman to help him and he made it home quite shaken. He was not hurt, nor was the boat itself or the van. After awhile he rallied and has already procured a different mast that he is retrofitting and transferring the rigging to. We all know Dave and how he loves projects, so this has given him something to focus on besides the fact that his confidence was shaken that it happened in the first place when he is usually so careful (maybe because I wasn't there to yell at him when he got too close 😉)...he is not going to be happy that I even posted about any of this, but hey, sh** happens!

I am sorry that I have no photos for today's post, but thanks for the read and more when we get back home. Stay healthy and wear your masks! I will leave you with this crude but true explanation...