Saturday, April 16, 2005

We load up the canoe on top of the Land Rover, and head out to a place on
Lake Monroe called Pine Grove. There is a public access ramp for the lake
there, and it is near the main stream (Salt Creek) that feeds the lake (Lake
Monroe is a man-made lake, created when they dammed Salt Creek).

We launched at sometime between 11:00 am and 11:30am. I say this as the
last time I looked at the clock in the dash of the Land Rover it said 10:50
am, and we were still on the road, having not left greater Bloomington yet.

There were a lot of boats being launched, and a few being brought back. One
guy dropped his wife/girlfriend on shore to get the truck with trailer in
tow, however, she couldn't get the thing turned around enough to back it up
straight, so she pulled up the road to have another go, in the meantime, two
other guys and their boats had decided they were finished, they brought
their trucks down, turned and loaded their boats in less than 5 minutes!.
The wife/girlfriend tried again, and this time she made it first time! I
guess watching the other two gave her a few pointers.

Anyway, we didn't actually have to use the ramp, but it is an easy place to
go as there is a pebbly beach next to it that we can launch from. So, once
we get the canoe in the water, and whatever gear we are taking (chips,
bottled water, camera & the spotting scope), we get in ourselves. Getting
in & out of the canoe is the fun part. Fun as in not trying to tip it over,
but yet holding it close to you and getting in at the same time.

Away we go.

I might mention that we haven't had the canoe out in 6 months, and even then
we were still learning how to get the thing to go straight - as it is we go
/\/\/\/\/\/\ kinda like Bart Simpson's hairdo.

Also note that Saturday was very sunny, not a cloud to be seen (until early
evening), temps in the upper 70's to low 80's. About 10 strokes into out
trip, I realize we have used no sunscreen. And don't have any with us. A
bit late now.

We come to a marshy area, near where the creek meets the lake. The water is
shallow - so shallow our paddles are hitting bottom! We move further from
'shore' so we have easier going (and also so we don't drag the bottom with
our $1400 canoe, the one that's made of Kevlar). We are also considerate
and take wide berths around any boaters that are obviously fishing, so as
not to disturb them. Jeff is fearful and wants to head to shore whenever a
powered (gasoline engine) boat comes by, of getting swamped by their wake.
But since we are WEST of the causeway, it is a no-wake zone (a whole 1/3 of
the lake set aside for slower vehicles). And most of the others out
actually slowed when they saw another boat, more so when they saw the canoe.
But as long as you keep your butt planted in the seat, and don't make any
extreme movements, the canoe is pretty darn secure.

So we figure that we are going upstream in Salt Creek, which is what we
want. There is a wetland preserve northwest of the lake that we like to go
to watch waterfowl. I didn't know that there were so many different types
of ducks in Indiana! Anyway, as DH usually does, he's watching the scenery
instead of where we're headed, and he sees a big tangled knot of branches up
high in a tree. We know that there are Bald Eagles at the lake, and so I
THINK i see a white dot hovering just over the tangle. I get the spotting
scope out, and zoom in - sure enough, there's an eagle sitting in the nest.
DH gets the camera out to start taking pictures. After a few minutes,
another Bald Eagle flies up and comes to rest in a tree right next too the
one the nest is in. We've found one of the mating pairs! Mama in the nest,
Papa on lookout. DH was snapping tons of pictures, especially when the male
flew in. Then all of a sudden, I hear DH muttering curse words under his
breath: Seems DH, rocket scientist that he isn't, has forgotten to put a CF
card in our digital camera! Oh well.....

He gets a card into the camera, and takes more pictures. We decide to keep
moving upstream, 10-20 yards at a time, pulling over to the shore to take
pictures at each stop. We are finally right across the stream (more the
size of a river at this point, but not technically a river), and DH gets
some good pics of the male, sitting in that tree, looking around.

What we both found amazing is that, among all the other boaters & fishers
out there, not one of them seemed to be aware of these eagles. How can one
NOT be aware of the symbol of our country?!?!?!

Anyway, we continued up the creek, dodging old rotted tree stumps that stuck
up out of the water (and some that didn't, those were the scary ones as you
can't see them until you're almost on top of them), fallen trees and other
boaters/fishers. We went up until we could see the boat ramp for the creek
access, according to the GPS that DH brought with us , we went 3.58 miles
upstream.

The return trip went quicker (downstream!!!), and was a bit shorter as we
were tired, and didn't meander through the marshland like we did on the way
up. We also took a fairly strait run across the lake from where the creek
enters, around the last bend and to the boat ramp where we launched.
According to the GPS, top speed we got up to for that was 4.2 MPH.

Now for the hard part: Getting out of the canoe without dumping everyone &
everything in it. We managed it, but then we had to carry the canoe back up
the hill where the ramp was located (remember Spider Creek Road - and that
hill that ran along the quarry??? Imagine carrying a canoe up that, loaded
down with camera, spotting scope, half a bag of chips, 2 empty bottles of
water, a couple of towels, 2 paddles and about a gallon of muddy water
sloshing around in the bottom). Oh, and your arms back & butt are sore from
padding it for about 7 miles.

It was not pretty.

We finally got it up to the parking area, unloaded it and basically threw
everything into the back of the Land Rover, and somehow got the canoe back
on top of the Land Rover & lashed down. DH thinks it's anal of me, but I
always tie off the loose ends of the straps so they don't flap in the breeze
while we're driving. I figure if it's not flapping, it has less of a chance
of working itself loose. Also, since the canoe is tied down in front, back
and middle, it's less distracting when your driving to not have a flapping
1-2 foot section of strap in your face.

Land Rover is all loaded, so home we head. Get home and get the canoe off
the Land Rover. We don't put it back in the garage as our intention is to
was the lake/creek gunk off of it first. We leave it in the yard. Screw
getting the rest of the stuff out of the Land Rover, save the camera. Jeff
decides he's hungry, but neither one of us has the energy to cook, so we
ordered takeout from Outback, and ate it on our newly retiled back porch.
While eating, a bunny came from the woods next door, and wandered about the
yard a bit. Ping (the Siamese) caught sight of it, and thought we might
have a new friend for him to play with. Lizzie (formerly a 'stray adopted
from the pound) was more of the thought of "Mmmmmmmmmm dinner". Moe, Smokey
& Ernie were more interested in my steak, DH's BBQ ribs & chicken. Mimi was
sleeping, Weeble was playing with 'his' purple puffball, and Tennessee
couldn't be bothered to get off the bed.

After eating, clearing off the table and putting away the leftovers (DH's
salad went out in the yard for the bunny, or whatever, to have a treat -
nothing left on Sunday am but a couple shreds of lettuce), the bones from
his BBQ pork went to Merlin (the dog-cum-garbage disposal), as did the
leftover cheese-fries (fries re-heated are a greasy glob of yuck).

We watched a bit of TV (not much on Saturday evenings), and then went to
bed.

I might mention at this time that we are both quite sunburned. Remember I
said we had no sunscreen with us!!! Can you say "ouch"? I knew you could.
Fortunately, I was wearing jeans, so only my face (I was wearing sunglasses,
& had my hear back in a bandana (a-la hippie/flower child style), so now I
have a reverse-raccoon effect going) & arms (aside from a white band where
my watch was) got it, but DH was wearing shorts. He has now some very red
thighs, from where his shorts ended (mid thigh) to just under the knee. I
feel for him having to wear pants tomorrow at work.

During the night, DH & both toss & turn a bit, trying to find a place that's
not bothersome for out 'tender' areas. During my short periods of
wakefulness, I still feel like I've got that !@$%!@#$% paddle in my hands.
I probably even made paddling motion in my sleep!

Next day (Sunday) we rest, aside from a quick trip to the nearby grocery to
get some sunburn ointment, and we also washed (and waxed) the canoe. Then
we did the Land Rover, but didn't have the energy to do the Jeep.

We took frequent breaks, too, and during one, we heard a cat meowing from
outside. It sounded like Smokey. We were confused (easy thing to do to
us). We look around (or rather DH does, since I am 'indisposed' on the
'porcelain throne' at the moment) and all of a sudden, he hollers that
Smokey is OUTSIDE!!!!! Seems the screen on the front bedroom window has
popped out when she leaned on it, and she wants back in! She can't because
the way the screen fell, it is still upright and the upper holder-pin-things
are still holding it in, but the bottom is resting on the ground outside. I
have, by this time, finished my "business", so I slam the bedroom window
while DH runs out to get Smokey. As soon as she's back in, we do a
headcount. All present and wondering what all the fuss is about. Whew!
Now to get the screen back in. And we also apply Frontline to ALL cats to
keep nasty fleas away. Smokey may have only been out for a minute or two,
but that's all it takes. They did not appreciate it in the least.

So now you know our exciting lives.

Anyway. Now that you've either been bored or amused, I will sign off for
now as it is waaaaaaaaay past my bed time.

--
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde
in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep