Back & Forth

We have continued to go back and forth to the Adirondacks, depending on the weather. At home I had another good show when Mama deer and her fawn took a stroll through the backyard. The fawn was all excited and running around "kicking up its heels" until it spotted something that startled it. It stood in place and stomped its front feet on the ground until mellow Mom came over to see what the problem was. That's when I saw a rabbit slowly hop towards the woods with the fawn literally on its tail. I was amazed that the rabbit allowed both deer to smell it and not run away. A real life Bambi and Thumper! Sorry my photo is blurry, but it was taken through the window and zoomed as far as possible.

Up in Ticonderoga, I had a great walk that led me across the La Chute River footbridge. Looking south, that is the end of Lake George before the water heads towards the falls on its way to Lake Champlain. What a nice calm morning it was with fog in the mountains.

With Covid-19 restrictions on Fourth of July celebrations and gatherings, the town came up with alternative events, including a house and business decorating contest. I haven't seen too many places decorated, but I think this one is the best and I hope it wins...

There is normally a large parade downtown for the holiday, but instead this year there will be local first responders driving firetrucks, etc. through quite a few of the streets around town while people can cheer from their houses or from inside their vehicles. There will also be fireworks on the 4th, but no gatherings and if you can't see them from home, you can watch from your vehicle. If you get out to watch, you can only stand next to the car with a mask on (it will be live-streamed on Facebook too). There are strict rules that need to be adhered to in order to pull off this event this year. Most other cities have cancelled fireworks and celebrations, so I give the Ti Chamber of Commerce and their 'Best 4th in the North' committee a lot of credit for adapting and trying to please as many people as possible while sticking to restrictions.

Happy Independence Day everyone! Stay safe and healthy.

Thirsty?

We have been wondering why our birdbath keeps going dry overnight. Now we know! 

She must have been late this morning, because I took the photo at 8 AM. While she was there, she couldn't resist having breakfast and eating my daylilies, conveniently located right next to the 'water bowl'. She didn't even have to lean down for food or drink. 😉 Thanks to friend and neighbor Jim R. for replenishing the water when we aren't home. Both the birds and animals have needed it with our dry weather, which is coming to a close since it just started raining. My plants and lawn (which at the moment is more like a wildflower/weed field) will appreciate the showers too.

Not Done Yet

We are not done with swimming yet! Dave's doctor's appointment ended up being a consult and measuring of the cysts, so we are free to still swim until his office surgery on July 9th. Meanwhile the heart wave has broken and we are back to low 80's and gorgeous weather...for now. Looks like much needed rain this weekend. We are anxious to get back north again though, for both fun on the water and nightly walks now that it is a bit cooler. Last week we took a walk along the La Chute River and came across this snapping turtle laying eggs. We didn't disturb her, and luckily she didn't have far to go to back the water. Hopefully no predators got the eggs this time, like they did in previous years near the baseball field.

We'll return and check it all out soon!

Heat Wave, Day 8

The south wind really kicked in today, so we have a feeling this will be last day of the heat wave. A cool front is predicted to come through tonight or tomorrow morning. No storms materialized today, but hopefully it rains tonight, since Dave finally mowed the lawn. Everyone's lawns have really been burning out up here, but we were smart and decided not to do anything about the clover field we had growing in the yard. We did water a bit, but the long grass and clover really protected the lawn and we are about the only property in the area with green grass. You can see the difference with the first swath of mowing by the garage.

So what to do after weeding and mowing on a hot, windy day? We took a ride in the PT Cruiser Convertible around Schroon Lake, instead of taking the Aprilia motorcycle. If a shower did happen to go overhead, we could just put the top back up. We stopped at the swimming hole in Horicon on the Schroon River and this water is warm already! There was very little current running, so we lounged in the water to cool off for awhile.

Now our swimming is probably done for awhile as we head back home so that Dave can get two large cysts removed by a surgeon. We are so glad that we have been in the water so much lately!

Hot & Calm, Days 6 & 7

And the heat goes on! Yesterday I needed a break from being out on the water so that my brain could catch up with my eyes, or maybe it is my eyes can catch up with my brain (or is it my ears?)...vertigo had set in from bouncing around in boats. We did make it down to our town beach, which is closed, but you would never know it with so many people still sunning and swimming. There weren't any lifeguards there, but everyone was very civil and social distancing. The south wind had picked up and the water and shoreline were quite turbid for pristine Lake George, so I opted to stay on the beach and Dave did go cool off in the water.

Today was predicted to be in the low 90's and in fact reached 95 degrees. We decided to head further north and go to Valcour Island on Lake Champlain with our Sea Fox. We launched at the Peru State Launch Ramp and Foxie ran perfectly once it got its initial first of the season smoking out of the way. We were amazed at how few boats were at Valcour Island, but then again, we shouldn't have been surprised since the Canadians cannot cross the border yet and this part of the lake is known for Canadian boaters. In our whole trip around the island we saw maybe half a dozen skiffs and only one cruising sailboat anchored out! We had the bay on the north side of Bluff Point all to ourselves for our picnic lunch stop.

As we were eating, I noticed lots of big ugly fish swimming around us, which must have been carp, or perhaps bullheads, since that is what the name of this bay is. They stirred up the bottom so much that we decided to move a couple of coves to the north and found gorgeous sand and clear water. Dave keeps the boat super clean and you would never know it is 19 years old. Gotta love fresh water!

It was fun reminiscing about how we used to anchor out here when we had a cruising sailboat. Sometimes we would have to change coves in the middle of the night when the wind shifted. That was back in the days that the tour boat Juniper used to come in the bay at night with music blasting. It was also when the Plattsburgh Air Base was in service and the jets would take off overhead with their afterburners aglow. We nicknamed the Clinton County Community College Fort Velcro and it still stands quite regally.

Even I went swimming and I can't believe I was in Lake Champlain in June, when the water is normally freezing. When a few other boats came in our cove, we decided to up anchor circumnavigate the island. Cutting through the islands in Spoon Bay is fun but shallow. Good thing we know how to read the water and be in just the right spot with enough depth to get through.

We headed across the lake towards Vermont and peaked our heads into Mallets Bay. With it being so calm, we couldn't resist a quick trip out to Colchester Reef in the middle of the lake, before heading back to Valcour.

The good thing about Lake Champlain is that you can see any bad weather coming, unlike Lake George where once those clouds show over the mountains, you really better make a run for it. I saw some rain cloud on the horizon, but Dave wanted to go snorkeling in the cut by Spoon Bay, so we stopped for a short time...even shorter than expected. Once he got in the water, I heard him yelp and he flew to the shallow rocks. He was attacked by a huge bass protecting its fish nest! 

He tried several other times and it kept coming after him with its mouth wide open. He even tried going on the other shore and there was another fish nest. He gave up and got in the boat to realize he was dripping blood from cuts on his legs when he got chased into the shallows and the razor sharp zebra mussels sliced him in several places. We always keep saying how we love the fresh water because we don't have to worry about anything getting us. I guess we have to think twice about that now. LOL. Good thing there were no sharks though...

Dave dried up his wounds and we got back to the launch ramp before any rain showers hit, although we did go through some downpours on the way back to Ticonderoga. Our timing was perfect and so was our day! Dave will even have some battle scars to prove what fun boating is. 😉

Hot & Calm, Days 4 & 5

More of the same, we are trying to stay cool in and on Lake George. Yesterday we anchored out in the Waltonian Islands near Hague. 

The ducks are way too tame here, begging for food that we didn't give them. The male mallards sure are iridescent in the sun though. 

Today we went kayaking from the Washington County Beach at Hulett's Landing. There was no wind but the weekend wakes made up for it. Normally we go either north or south, but this time we did both routes so I guess the boat traffic wasn't as bad as I made it sound. 😉

Swimming is so refreshing and invigorating, and I am getting used to the chilly water temps which cool us off. On the way back to the beach we saw this wooden Gold Cup Race boat at a dock. 

Yesterday this one went by our house on a trailer (photo from the internet)...

Plus today we saw at least 7 poker run boats zooming up down the lake, so there must be some kind of an informal event going on. It's good we saw them too, because the poker run that we like to go to in the 1000 Islands has been cancelled this year, along with many other events both up there and here. We will make the most of the season though and just being out on the water is fantastic. 90 degrees for 5 days in the row is a great start to the summer!

Hot & Calm, Day 3

Actually it wasn't as calm as predicted, with quite a few whitecaps in spots on Lake George. It didn't bother us too much though, because we had Moxie! We escaped the south wind in a bay we had never anchored in before called Lamb Shanty Bay, which I couldn't help calling Lamb Shank Bay 😉. I don't know how it got its name, but it is up against the hillside (Lake George is like a fjord), so it would be best suited for mountain goats, not sheep. Such a pretty area, although the bay is open to boat wakes, which wasn't much of an issue this early in the season.

X marks the spot and a good place to anchor, not that we needed good holding in this benign weather.

I checked the water temperature with the laser thermometer, which was 67.8 degrees at the surface. As always, Dave couldn't wait to get in the water anyway.

The 'Turtle Whisperer'.

It took me awhile to get into the water, but I made it and set a record for the earliest swim of the season! 

We have no plans for Day 4 of the hot weather, but I bet we come up with something interesting "by land or by sea."