and then it is disgusting.
-Dave Barry
We did breakfast but still made it out on the water pretty early. The sun was already up and getting pretty painful, but after couple of hours the clouds started building up and things became almost bearable. But no fish and--worse! No birds.
We straggled back and realized that Zack had been barking pretty much the whole time we were gone. Yarp, yarp, awp. Yarp, yarp, awp. I know he was because I heard him while walking back across the fishing pier instead of taking the longer road around in the scorching hot truck. I could hear him long before he could have possibly heard me. Our poor neighbors!
So there went the morning, and sadly, not the best way I've spent a camping morning. It'll get better when the weather cools down. I was a little depressed after that until I realized I had a new toy to play with--my birthday present camera. Hurray! So I turned on the water heater (to do dishes), ate a bit of lunch--
Aside: anytime I feel like doing the prep work, here is a magic recipe for camping lunch heaven:
1. Take an assortment of veg--zucchini, carrots, bell pepper, mushrooms (required), eggplant, onion, anything else that looks good.
2. Cut into french-fry sized pieces, as much as possible. Slice mushrooms.
3. Starting with the slowest cooking items, put on baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil and kosher salt.
4. Bake at 425 about an hour, scraping up and turning every 10-12 minutes. I put the carrots and pepper on first, then added the zucchini and eggplant, then the mushrooms. Experience will tell but there is no wrong way.
5. When everything is soft and sometimes a little blackened, sprinkle with sliced green onions.
6. Take it camping, along with tortillas or wraps and some sort of soft spread. Sour cream, avocado, or even baked sweet potato are all excellent.
Okay, that was a long aside. But I'm not sure if I can roast vegetables in the RV convection oven, so I should do it at home. After lunch and dishes I played with my camera and tried to take it outside to do a zoom shot of a great egret, but our neighborhood egrets had all vanished. The ten-inch tall tripod is cool, but not very useful unless you have a tabletop, automobile hood, or some other support. Plus, at full zoom, my finger introduced so much shakiness into the photo I'm not sure how well it will work with an actual bird. I tried it a little on the picnic table but the heat drove me back inside.
By then it was getting into the late of afternoon, so I walked the dogs and quickly lost my patience at Zack. He doesn't know "walk"; he simply knows "smell". He is capable of keeping up with Izzy and me, but will only do so for the shortest of periods. Soon he is pulling over into the bushes, smelling every leaf and stick and rock and bit of grass and bare ground...
After that I put Zack inside and gave myself and Izzy a quick walk around the campground loop. We didn't go as far as I wanted--a red car was circling the loop and behaving oddly, so I backtracked and walked the other way to the camp host site. So rather than going one full loop, I went two-thirds of a loop twice. Hey--isn't that farther?
fyi, I'm not normally such a coward, but the campground was nearly empty. The only spots occupied on Monday were the ones by the lake and the three uphill from us. And the car was a small one, with dark tinted windows. It seemed very out of place. Later I passed it at the restrooms and an older man and woman got out, so they were probably just scouting out a place to go camping or have a family get-together. Silly me.
We went out on the boat again in the late afternoon. As the sun set, the lake grew silky smooth. And just as the haze over the water thickened to invisibility, the lake was inundated with terns. Medium-sized in a loose flock of about ten, hovering and diving shallowly into the water, then taking off so fast I couldn't be sure if their heads went under or just the tips of their beaks. I hope they fed well.
Because...we didn't get a single bite. It was worth the experience seeing the sun going hugely down over the lake and seeing the sudden onslaught of terns; it was even worth the whapping big bump I gave myself on the "funnybone" in my knee when climbing down to hook up the boat in the dark. But it wasn't worth the crunching noise the trolling motor arm made against the dock as the boat swung in. I was distracted by a huge spider and didn't see it heading directly to the high-standing dock until it was too late to push off. Horrid.
(The motor doesn't appear to be hurt, just the bolts that hold the bracket anchoring it to the deck.)
I took a hike to the bath house before supper and ended up getting all sad at the sight of the Milky Way. I'd tried showing that to my Callie many times, but she could never see it. Probably because she needed eyeglasses those times. But this night, a blind man could have seen it.
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