There is a thunderstorm around three or four in the morning. About seven I get up and make chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing from backpackers pantry. It was good but more of a chunky gravy than what the package made it out to be. I ate it in my tent, which is a no-no, as another thunderstorm passes over. This one was more severe than the one in the night and I learn a little about my tent. There are ceiling vents that are best left open otherwise a crease can form and allow water to drain inside. I suspect the time to close the vents is if you want to hold a little warmth inside. It seems summer and fall are doing battle as the winds change from light to strong and the sun plays peek-a-boo to heavy clouds. More storms are predicted. Holy crap, I had to hold the side of the tent facing the storm to keep it from collapsing. The wind on this one was super strong and even managed to rip a loop out of my CCS tarp. My REI flexlite chair made a run for the lake and almost made it too if not for some bushes that got in the way. The vent holes didn't drain water like they did when they were closed but of course some mist came in with the wind. All in all my theory about keeping the roof vents open was correct but my theory about never needing those side wall loops roped and staked in the ground proved false. I've never had to do it before. Now there is new thunder to the south and a lone wolf howling to the west. Soon the thunder moves to the east and that storm misses me so I figure the bad weather is over. It is calm now and I wonder what happened to the cold front that was supposed to be coming. Now to the west I hear a chorus of yelps and figure the pack and that lone wolf have found each other. It's getting on into evening now and I decide to walk along the sloping rock shoreline while I brush my teeth. First I have one foot start a slow slide and when I shift weight to the other it starts to slide too. Before I am able to drop my toothbrush and get my hands to the ground one foot is in the lake up to the knee and the other to the ankle. This must be the most boring, slowest fall in the lake ever. At least it stopped raining so I can hang my socks out to dry. Just as I'm about to drift off to sleep for the night I hear what I think is an absolute downpour heading my way across the lake but it isn't. It's just the wind blowing through the pine trees from the northwest. The cold front is here.

Religion: If there is a higher power than I don’t believe we are wired to understand the creator any more than a blade of grass can understand us. I do look at the complexity, beauty and wonder of this paradise in which I paddle these clear, clean waters and ask how can there not be. I am suspicious of those who put words in the mouth of God or demand action on his behalf-I prefer to leave God as undefined. I suspect man created religion out of the struggle of man having descended from apes and bringing with the hierarchy system of his former self and the intuitive knowledge that the system of the heard is better for the whole. Crooked Lake