Big Bloody Red Patches

Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams, The islands and bays are for sportsmen. - g. lightfoot

Suspended in Gaffa

they’ve told us unless we can prove that we’re doing it, we can’t have it all. (I want it all) - Kate Bush

Cook Stoves & Sleeping Bags

You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been, A place that has to be believed to be seen - bono

Ok, so it’s one week until I head off to Michigan. So I’m suddenly experiencing that quick shallow breathing that comes with not being even slightly prepared for the trip. Not to mention the fact that this is the first “solo” trip I’ve taken in many years. Normally Mary and I make most of our trips together but this time schedules did not match up. Especially if we want to make a fall trip together to the Georgia symposium.

Tasmanian She-Devils

Got a devil’s haircut in my mind - beck

Bugs Bunny sure was in drag an awful lot! Do you remember the bit where he dressed up as the Tasmanian She-Devil? If you’re a trivia buff that was in “Bedevilled Rabbit” from 1957. Anyway, that just jumped into my head while I was putting this post together.

PFDs & Revolutions

Don’t you know, they’re talkin’ about a revolution, it sounds like a whisper - tracy chapman

What’s weird in our world? Ha! Where to start! I’ll take the blame for my weirdness. . . .

Confession number one; I often sit in a steaming hot bath with the shower running as well. . . . I love the total immersion in water. No real surprise I suppose. So somewhere shrinking in the hot vapour I was thinking that we should stop electing members to the House and Senate of the US and instate a draft instead. If you’re 18 years old or older and hold a drivers license, If you have no criminal record, and have not served in the last 10 years your name can be drawn to serve. . . As Jesus is quoted in the Bible at Luke 4:24 (depending on translation) “No prophet is recognized in his hometown (country). . ” So maybe selection by popular vote is missing the best candidates or at the very least, balanced representation. But then that’s why I don’t talk to folks about politics. I have weird ideas.

The drowning of the witch

I will watch her dive beneath, the white cascading waters, she may beg she may plead, she may argue with her logic and then mention all the things I’ll lose, that really have no value, in the end she will surely know, I wasn’t born to follow - Carol King

Here’s a picture I took while paddling Mirror Lake. Although her broomstick is only partially submerged the body was never found.

Sea kayaking feeds an independent soul. You hit the water and you’re gone…

But then you return to shore and again are easily encased in the mundane. Sometimes I just turn around and head right back out. Sometimes I can’t, but I sure think about it!

Crane Spotting

So just a quick note today. I had hoped to make it up to the Paddle America event in Manitowoc but the morning did not play out that way. The next choice was to go out on Mirror Lake near Wisconsin Dells. This turned out to be a lucky break. Out in the slough Sandhill Cranes are nesting so I just slid my boat up unto a mudflat and watched the cranes for awhile. What a great morning!Cranes are spectacularly big birds. There are just 15 species globally and only two, Whooping Cranes and Sandhills are native to North America. Sandhill cranes can stand anywhere from 4 to 5 feet tall and have nearly a seven foot wingspan which you can imagine is pretty imposing from the seat of a kayak as you can see from the shot. I actually have a bit of an “inside” knowledge of cranes being that Baraboo is home to the International Crane Foundation and I worked as a tour guide & chick parent there for a time. Yeah, I know, “Chick Parent” is not a manly title. But, considering I’ve never been a chick magnet, “Parent” will have to do!