Cloudless and almost hot. Perfect for the last bit of pier work, a little Windriding, les aperitifs on the lower deck, and even a bit of swimming.
Plus pea picking.
And the pea picking resulted in a Pea-tata, illustrated above. Garden peas plus onion, zucchini, chives, thyme, and brown rice, all tied together by a few eggs.. Recipe available on request.
Wind from every direction the past 24. Big surf last night about 2, motivating us to take flashlights into the night to make sure the dingys, kayaks, and pier were not being further abused. Brisk, cool wind from the west now, but a midday interval of calm which permitted the near completion of pier repairs.
Above is a view of Sandy Beach during last week's blow. Thanks to Pat Hess for this photo.
And, here the pier, almost fully restored, with only the on-ramp to go. Now (with a few longer poles) a foot or more above our very high water.
And here, the farm jack (with custom extension) that makes pier work much easier.
Disassemble, repair, re-assemble.
Photo courtesy Mary Ellen
A full, eight-hour workday devoted to this project (not counting lunch and naps), and we are close to completion. Luckily, no super-major destruction. The newly purchased high-lift farm jack, while heavy, made light work of all the heavy lifting.
Sue met the Geisers on the Lane, and George opined that the pier-destroying storm last week was the worst he has seen in forty-plus years of cottaging along the bay.
Today's weather perfect for pier work—sunny, warm, and mostly windless (and therefore waveless). And that is good because we spent quite a long time in and under the water. Hot shower before dinner felt good, none the less.
Two years ago, when the Spaldings were here, Jeff, the physicist and audiophile, surveyed the cottage trying to determine how to improve the poor, echoey acoustics. He suggested a baffle between the vertical posts upstairs, to keep sound waves from sloshing back and forth. And now we have such—not just a baffle, however, but a beautiful piece of art.
The acoustics, I'm pleased to report, are noticeably better, but that is only the lesser half of the overall upgrade.
Better photos tomorrow with decent light.
Beach restoration this morning, and all watercraft and their shore platforms have been recovered, restored and elevated (although there is almost no more up to get up to). The pier has been inspected, evaluated, and analyzed, with the conclusion being that it is reparable at minimal cost and with only moderate effort. But that's for tomorrow, if the rain ever stops.
...of storm tossed destruction.
It looks like the pier has sustained major damage.
For dinner--home grown beets along with fairly local sweet corn and watermelon.
Prairie, a wonderland of flowers. Yard, short-stopped from its attempt to revert to jungle.
In honor of Collette's move to Springfield. Perfect day for it—hot and muggy. Delicious picnic provided by Sally and Glenn.
First tomato of the season. Delicious.
Business meeting with Bri to discuss business book The Four Disciplines of Execution, and, of course, bring it alongside our "bible," Human Competence. Lively discussion; very fun.
Saturated steam bath outdoors. No yard work possible due to heat, humidity, rain, and storms. Severe storm warning in effect now.
Still no wifi internet.
...with Katy and Will.
Lunch, walks, books, games, dinner.
...to air conditioning, mosquitos, thunder storms, non-functioning internet.
But on the way south we got to stop in on some log rolling, sand castle building, and accomplished swimming (Becca, but I failed to get a photo.)
Trying to squeeze in chores plus a bit of recreation plus prep and packing for tomorrow's drive back to Wisconsin.
Erosion caused by high water, coming for the church.
Shady Lane?
Shady lower deck.
The cedar slab above the couch is supposed to be the anchor for long, dangly, braided, macrame-type fabric and mixed media artistic creations created by grandkids. At least one per child per year.
With the Pinebox set. Light wind, bright sun, smoked trout on gluten free crackers.
So far, so good on the water pump situation-new breaker in the electrical panel.
Impeded somewhat by malfunctioning water pump.
Contemporaneous with Kagawong SummerFest. Big windrows of rotting shadfly remains pushed up along the shore, combined with copious quantities of seagull poop. Both the village beach and Sandy Beach have "No Swimming" signs posted. Rather substantial bummer on this busy weekend. But otherwise, the Island is hopping.
SummerFest included rides on the giant "Metis" canoes. It did look odd, though, to see "voyageurs" wearing splash jackets and PDFs, or do I mean PFDs? And where was the gonfalon?!?
The Historical Museum featured a "barbeque" as a fundraiser, specializing in commercially pre-formed burgers and general-purpose hotdogs. Only trouble there was how they forgot to put the raw meat on the grill until the queue wanting to buy was about 10 deep. We gave up and went up the hill to the Main Street Cafe (which used to be alongside the Esso). Busy up there too, but management capable of serving customers.
The quilt show in the Park Centre was our favorite part of SummerFest. Contemporaneous with the show, Sue has, just today, finished her incredible, two-sided wall hanging. All that remains now is the hanging. I've become a great fan of fabric art, btw.
Also of note, the Susie Pea has been rejuvenated. A little epoxy here and there, and a sweet green paint job. Oars brought back to life, too. What a boat.
... after what turned out to be a three-day blow. Probably very bad for the shadflies (and for certain Nick breaks up with Marjorie).
What change. After three days of dark skies, off-and-on rain, and roaring surf—flat calm and blue sky.
Below, a bit of yesterday (shot by Sue).
...or at least to the camper.
A fun project for a cool, damp day.
Iridescent, silvery-green arachnid who joined me in the outdoor shower today.
Now more than 48 hours of northeast blow. Bad news for the shadflies who have been emerging the past few nights and trying to mate. Conditions seem to be settling, though, so I doubt we will equal Hemingway's Three Day Blow.
Strong northeast blow with big surf. Chilly, gray, with occasional rain. Actually quite wild out in the Bay—not a day to be sailing by choice. How very different from yesterday—the many moods of Mudge.
In recognition of the weather, waffles. Pine box brought the bacon.
Photo by Sue
If nobody else, Pax loved it, and he got in a good number of high-speed, up-and-down-the-beach, wave-biting romps.
No worries about boats, at least.
...to begin with, followed by warm, humid, mostly sunny, and mostly windless.
Too warm for meaningful work. Between naps, however, able to squeeze in dog walks, bike ride, kayak paddles, Wind-ride (not much wind), and episodes of swimming (light breeze blowing in so water nice).
The past three nights have seen small flights of shadflies, but nothing like some of the big explosions we've seen in the past. (The gulls in the above photo have been gorging, however, on what there was.)
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When you look at this beach (above), and then think about all the dozens of kids who jump off the high dock every day, you have to come to the conclusion that this would be a perfect place for log rolling instruction and competition. Do you not?
The milkweeds, now blooming. And traces of their magnificent perfume are now wafting on the breeze.
Much sun, little wind. Water warm enough for swimming.
