Day 3: Loons

Tuesday, August 10

Our day began with eggs’n’stuff (green pepper, cherry tomatoes, onions, cheese) and bacon.

Eggs'n'stuff

We were on the deck contemplating our plan for the day when three loons appeared on the lake right in front of the dock. There were two adults and a juvenile. The juvenile was the same size as the adults, but did not have black and white plumage yet.

Loon family

The juvenile reared back and flapped its wings to dry them off. I got a picture before and after the full extension. So it goes.

Juvenile stretches its wings

Jane was eager to see if she could get in the rowboat this year. We collected out fishing gear and went to the dock. She got in without much difficulty. Since she had her right shoulder replaced in early June, I had to row. Rowboats are stupid. Whose idea was it to go backwards? I did the best I could, but we zig-zagged all over the lake. The fish were not biting at all. As it turned out, the only thing caught that morning was the sponge from the bottom of the boat, which I snagged as I tried to stow my pole so I could start rowing again.

“It’s SpongeBob!” Jane said.

SpongeBob

There is a new product on the market called “P3” for three proteins. The three proteins are various kinds of cheeses, ham or turkey cubes, and nuts. Jane gets them on sale at Meijer, and we often have 3P salads for lunch when I visit her. For lunch on Tuesday, I made 3P salads with leftover steak, cheese curds, and mixed nuts with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots from my garden. Jane declared it better than our usual 3P salads.

Salad with three proteins

We drove down to the Chik-Wauk nature center in the afternoon. One of the new displays this year was on a dendrologist who spent his career building maps of historic forest fires by coring trees and counting rings. He must have been a very patient man.

At Trail’s End campground, Campsite 20 was unoccupied for the first time during our visit for many years. I followed the trail behind the campsite over rocks and roots to the cascade between Seagull and Saganaga. I have many happy memories of this place from back in the day, but this year, there was barely any water.

Dry cascade by Campsite 20

As we were out and about, we saw a legume with small purple flowers. I did not recognize it. Imagine my surprise when I looked it up and discovered it was alfalfa. I can only assume that farmers cut it before it flowers. If I’d seen a whole field filled with purple flowers, I think I’d remember.

Alfalfa--who knew?

I made peach and blueberry cobbler when we got back to the cabin. 

Peach and blueberry cobbler

We sat on the deck drinking wine until it was time for supper. I got a picture of a white admiral in the flower box that lines the deck rail.

White admiral on the impatiens

We had tortellini with baked tomato pasta sauce and green beans for supper.

Supper

The sunset was not colorful, and the brightness of the sun on the water got to be too much for us. We went up to the cabin, ate cobbler, and went to bed.