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cloudburst before floating
Monday, July 31 2023
location: 800 feet west of Woodworth Lake, Fulton County, NY
This morning I pulled my aching body out of bed and got the day started by making a french press of coffee and another vegan BLT (mine always include mushrroms). The day was beautiful, sunny, and a little bit brisk for this time of year. I took advantage of the conditions to begin digging out the north end of the west foundation wall, using the removed dirt to fill in the ditch some distance east from the west corner along the north wall. I wanted to pile that dirt up in such a way that it wouldn't be tempted to collapse back in my direction. So I gathered some beech branches and beech leaves and used them to build a crude "wicket" retaining wall. The branched provided structure (some of which was supported by a wire backtie into the soil) and the leaves kept the dirt from filtering through.
I would be leaving for Hurley today, so I needed to collapse a chair and put away a kayak down at the dock. I popped open a beer and started walking down and immediately a cloud rolled in and it started to rain. I continued on down to the dock despite this, figuring I could shelter somehow if the rain continued, though it probably wouldn't. Sure enough, I was only at the dock a couple minutes before the cloud moved on, leaving me with a mostly-sunny sky. It was a little cool for immersing myself in water, but the water itself was fairly warm. So I climbed on a water hammock and floated around near the dock like I like to do. Before I left the dock for the week, I spotted a single loon over in the lake's northeast corner. Perhaps not surprisingly, it started to rain again as I was walking back to the cabin.
Back at the cabin, I did all the usual cleaning and straightening and was able to leave at 3:30pm. I drove homeward using the usual Thruway route, though I encountered a few downpours along the way that caused traffic speeds to fall into the 40s. Nevertheless, I managed to get to Woodstock in exactly two hours (Gretchen and I had arranged to meet for dinner at the Garden Café, which I hadn't dined at in many months). Due to the continued threat of rain, we dined indoors along with the dogs, who managed not to get in any trouble (though Neville went out through an open door once to greet a little poodle). We ordered a whole bunch of things, including stuffed mushrooms, a pasta with cream sauce, cauliflower tacos, black bean quesadillas, and bowl of chickpea soup. I also had an Abbey Ale on top of road beer I'd cracked open as I'd passed the Catskill exit. Gretchen told me a long story about what sounded like a reconciliation with her college friend "David the Rabbi" (who is no longer actually a rabbi), who happens to be the brother of our friend Anna, the woman whose wife overdosed and died a couple months ago. I was trying to pay attention to all that Gretchen was telling me, but she could see I was not following her to the extent she would prefer. I told her I was uncomfortable in my body due to the injuries from falling down the stairs the other night. This was true, though I'd also eaten a lot and really just wanted to lie down. The first thing I did when I got home was to take a bath.
The dock in the rain today. Click to enlarge.
The best photo I could get of the loon today.
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