Thursday, July 01, 2010 The weather I suspected would come did, it started out as rain falling about 3:00 am and then progressed to Thunderstorms with lightening that lasted until it slowed at 8:00 am. Huge peals of thunder, lightning so bright it hurt your eyes even though they are closed. These were the characteristics of this storm front as it moved through our area. And rain; don’t let me forget the rain that fell in sheets for hours. The winds were a constant 20 mph out of the south still when I ventured out of the tent at 8:30 and re-hung the tarp to give us a place to sit out of the rain to prepare coffee and a good breakfast. This morning it will be biscuits and gravy to go with the coffee to offset the cool rainy weather. We see that with the wind blowing the way it is we will do nothing today except sit in camp, relax, and reflect on our time here since this is essentially our last day. Tomorrow we head back to the real world of work and family duties.

We spent the first part of the day drying out the hammocks, and drying out the tent where water had ran between the footprint and the tent. Wind caught the tent while we were doing this and bent my central fly pole so I will have to get another one. Finally all is dry and camp is back like it was, we alternate sitting on the rocks and lying in the hammocks to let the hours go by. Later in the afternoon we see a canoe! It is the first to enter our lake since we had seen Sue enter the day before. It heads to the first campsite, passes it and heads toward our site. I take all our evidence of fishing and stash them in the woods for some stupid reason, I guess for a good laugh later! It is the Forest Service man and woman we had seen the day before on Lac La Croix and ask directions from. They were checking campsites and portages after the storms last night. They reported that a Canadian Outfitter north of us report they got 3.5 inches of rain during the night… I believe it! They also said that there were 1.5 to 2.0 foot rollers on the Bay as they came in. After checking our permit they depart and we are alone once again. They also tell us the forecast for tomorrow our exit day is strong winds out of the south at 15-20 mph gusting to 30 and advise us to be careful! Then I brought the illegal fishing gear out and started putting it up for travel.

We originally planned to have walleye again for dinner tonight however the wind put a damper on that idea as we could find no place to get out of the wind to fish. So we had an early dinner of the Stove Top Stuffing concoction again and again enjoyed it! Then we just sat on our rocks, in our Crazy Creek chairs and looking at the lake and listening to the sound of the water as it crashed into shore. We also watch a mother Merganser as she herded her 8 babies from side to side of the bay looking for minnows to eat. It was entertaining to watch them swimming along with their heads in the water, and then all of them disappear as they dove for minnows. Soon we retired to the tent to be serenaded to sleep by the waves and the wind.

Highlights today were simple; the time shared working around camp, and the time shared just sitting together listening the waves and watching the Merganser and her babies. Thank you Lord for simple Blessings