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What Is That In The Water?

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I wrote about this briefly a couple of weeks ago and included a couple of photos but I just put together a more cohesive set of photos today so I'll write about it again. On our first morning at the lake house this year, Sheila and I were sitting in the living room. The file info embedded in each photo shows that it was just after 5am (although, I thought it was two hours later but Sheila disagrees) ... it was dreary... rather dark... but the lake was illuminated by reflecting the brighter sky.  We were sitting there having some morning coffee... Sheila comfortable on the couch while I sat at my desk beside the couch. My desk overlooks the lake and I noticed something floating in the water directly out in front of our house but halfway across the lake. This is a good distance and it is very unusual to see debris in the lake so it caught my eye immediately. I pointed and asked Sheila, "what is that in the water?" At first, I thought it was just a big log floating wit

Turtles, Turtles and More Turtles

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Every year, turtles are hatched on our lawn... they emerge from their buried nest, scattering broken shells and then scurry into the lake. We happily find the disturbed mound in our lawn covered with broken shells afterward and always wish we had been sitting there as these baby turtles made their way out of the nest, to the lake and then dropped into the water off our rocky shore.  Turtles can be seen all around the lake but you really need a fairly keen eye to spot them because they blend in so well with their surroundings... then they sit perfectly still until you get too close. Often, you don't even know there was a turtle on a nearby rock until you see what you thought was part of the rock quickly scurry into the lake with a plop! One day last week, I managed to capture a few good photos of turtles as we were kayaking around the lake. And, I have to say, paddling this far makes for a very long day of activity! I was actually hoping to capture a good photo of a bobcat bask

Eagles or Hawks or Vultures?

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We've been spending time at Lake Groton for about seven years now. We often hear our visiting guests claim they saw a Bald Eagle flying while they were out kayaking. I've always had my doubts though. The unfortunate fact is that there probably are no Bald Eagles in the area. Vermont actually has a Bald Eagle Recovery Plan in effect because these birds are so exceptionally rare in our neck of the woods. There are a few known nesting pairs of Bald Eagles in Vermont (mostly around Lake Champlain where the water does not ice-over in winter) but no known Bald Eagles at Lake Groton. These birds are tracked closely by numerous sources and especially if there are nests. Knowing the exact number of Bald Eagles in all of Vermont and where they are located is important for this program. In all the reports I can find, the few Bald Eagles in Vermont are still near the area where they were introduced at the beginning of this program... near a wildlife refuge in Addison. Lake Groton is id

Panorama from the Lake House

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While my spinal injuries are settling down and I'm recovering, I've been sorting through some of the latest lake photos. I never actually got around to pulling out the tripod to shoot some high resolution panoramic images but I did notice that I had a short series of sweeping photos that I shot using the same lens and the same focal length so I tried to stitch them... I got lucky and it worked! So, here is the view from the house on a beautiful, clear morning. I love the deep blue... the crystal clear skies... the perfect reflection of the trees and mountains in the flat, placid water... the color of the mountains... and the quiet scene... of course, we also enjoy awakening to this scene every morning as we look out the windows...

Brutal Spinal Problems

I've been in significant pain since Saturday. I can't seem to find any position for relief either. Sitting hurts, standing hurts, laying down hurts... anti-inflammatory medications don't seem to do anything... icing it seems to be more of a bother than a benefit. I can't sleep. At rest, the pain is in the 7-8 range on the 10 point pain scale... which is quite brutal and relentless. This latest problem is with my lumbar spine... it feels as though someone pounded a railroad spike into my spine. The pain radiates through my pelvis on the left side... into my left hip... down through my groin and down my thigh to my knee. I get occasional twinges of intense pain in my left foot too whenever I move or turn the wrong way. This pain has been recurring since my first line-of-duty spinal injury almost 20 years ago.  Whenever my spinal pain gets bad, it brings back a lot of bad memories related to the time period of when I first injured my spine. These events replay in my

Another Beautiful Day

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Starting with last night's sunset... still a rather uneventful and boring sunset compared to past years but this is how we closed out our day yesterday followed by a nice braised pork dinner with noodles and fresh green beans...  oh... then we had some crappy Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (perhaps the worst cheesecake I've ever eaten)...  This morning was a bit unusual... the lake stayed this placid until 10am! The kids didn't mind watching these fish from the safety of shore but, once they were in the water with these perch (and a small family of Blue Gill Sunfish), they were terrified of them! When I sat on the rocks on the shore with them and we named each fish names from the movie "Finding Nemo" they seemed a little more at ease but the kids were still as skittish as the fish when they were in the water.

Looks Like A Kayaking Day

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Yesterday, for the most part, was a rainy day for catching up on sleep and for resting our sore, tired bodies. I think both of us slept away most of the day. We just napped in front of a fire all day. It was a much needed break from all of the activity lately. This morning the overcast skies are gone and the sun is shining. The lake is calm so we will head out on the kayaks this morning for a longer trip than we have done all year.   I have some rigging to replace on the sailboat before I can go out sailing again. I replaced some rigging before we arrived at the lake but some of the stuff that I did not replace is now only holding on by one single strand! It needs to be replaced now, for sure, so I'll attempt that sometime today too. I'm hoping the wind will pick up again at some point so I can do some more sailing but that rigging needs to be fixed first. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos from this morning...

Another Beautiful (but hot) Day

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We had another beautiful day yesterday (today too, but I may write something about that tomorrow). Liza and John visited in the evening to have dinner with us and spend the night.  Dinner was delicious... Kansas City style ribs (two full racks), corn on the cob and homemade fries. We've been eating well at the lake house! The weather was great so we spent much of the day in the water. We had some thunderstorms through the night but the weather was hot and humid yesterday during the day... Another day of teaching Lukey how to sail...

Yesterday's Photos

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I got up out of bed at 6:30am this morning so we could all go kayaking as the fog rose off the flat, silent lake... it is now after 8:00am and everyone else is still asleep in their beds!  I guess there will be no early morning kayaking today... maybe I'll get to eat a quiet breakfast on my own. In the meantime while I am waiting for everyone, I sorted through the hundreds of photos I shot yesterday. It was a really nice Father's Day here and here are a few photos from all of our activities yesterday... We thought that this might have been an eagle or perhaps a hawk... it was the usual ugly-duckling... the Vermont Turkey Vulture. I suspect many people THINK they see a Bald Eagle but it is really one of these ugly scavengers. Deep water training... Deep water training... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing...  Kenzie has not gotten up the nerve to get in the sailboat yet. Luk