Loons, Eagles, and Assholes

Discovered Friday morning that our neighbor somehow managed to get a building permit to build a house on a beach front lot to which 40+ families in the Tobey Development have a right of way.  We dealt with this issue two years ago at the Planning Board and they agreed that the ordinance did not permit a home to be built on the lot.  Somehow, under the cover of secrecy, he managed to slither back in this spring and get the permit.  We'll be consulting with an attorney tomorrow to see if there is recourse.

Friday was a beautiful day but I couldn't stand to sit on my deck and listen to the construction noise as they further raped the beach front lot with more tree cutting and digging.  So we decided to take some supplies to camp so that we could go back out there Saturday afternoon to spend our first night.

We went to Danielle and Shawn's adoption party Saturday and headed right out to camp afterwards.  Unfortunately it started raining just as we left the party and was still raining when we got to camp.  We hung out for a bit and by 5 p.m. the sun was out and the wind had died down.  So we unloaded the kayaks and went for a paddle.

As soon as we got to the other side of the stream we saw this beautiful juvenile eagle perched high in a tree.

We explored around the area for a while and noticed some dark clouds moving in so headed back to camp.  About half way there we came across a couple of very vocal loons and I took this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7PYrfBD3L4

Cathedral Pines, Eustis, Maine

Spent the weekend up in the Eustis area. Left Belgrade Lakes around noon on Friday, after getting up at four a.m., unable to sleep. I was definitely ready to sleep about half way to Eustis. Pulled off at the picnic area in Carabasset Valley and shut my eyes for five minutes and felt like a new woman.

Met Cindy and Mary at The Plaza in Stratton for a couple drinks, then went over to the campground and Woody helped me set up the camper real quick. Cindy then drove us over to Grace's house. What a nice surprise. Last time I saw Grace she wasn't really talking and really didn't seem aware of her surroundings. But this time she was talking in full sentences and really hopes to be able to walk again before long. She had a brain aneurism and a stroke a few years ago and it's been downhill for her for a long time. She was always so full of life and she's only about 50 now so it's so sad to see her like that.

We took her back to The Plaza with us and had some drinks out back around their campfire with some interesting locals. Rick got into town about 10ish and picked me up there and we went out to the campground and crashed. I slept extremely well and woke up to probably 40 degree temps. We had a campfire to warm up and after coffee and breakfast Rick and I headed out to the North Branch of the Dead River for a paddle. It got warm very quickly and we were in short sleeves for most of the paddle.

We saw an interesting assortment of critters on the paddle. First these ducks. I'll have to do some internet research to figure out what kind of ducks they are.

and this turtle.

We sat in our kayaks at the foot of the dam and let it pull us slowly around in a whirlpool about five times while we ate a snack and drank a beer. I always expect water rushing over a dam to create a fast current that you really have to paddle against, but more times than not it seems that you encounter a whirlpool of varying strength. I'm sure at some dams it could be quite dangerous, especially if you were swimming. But in most of the places I've been, it just creates a lazy little whirlpool where you can just kind of go with the flow. This one took us full circle about once every 3 or 4 minutes.

Came across this heron on the paddle back.

There were several - maybe 5 or so loons just off our campsite. They were very vocal all weekend. At one point one of them went flying in circles overhead, calling the whole time. Very odd, but very cool.

Morning at Camp

I wake to the sound of the loons calling from somewhere out in the fog drenched stream, the chatter of the red squirrels, the call of the crows, and the whistle of an osprey soaring overhead. I feel the tight muscles in my lower back grouching for lack of movement and delight in the feel of the soft sheets against my skin. I'm guessing it's about 5:00 and when I turn to glance at the clock, see I'm “dead on balls accurate.” Though I had been feeling a little lonely and out of sorts last night, not being able to get into Deb's “best book she's ever read” and feeling too uninspired to drum or write or even listen to music, I'm now once again reveling in the freedom allowed by solitude and complete lack of a schedule, to get up or not, depending solely on my own desires. No worry about the deafening sound of the coffee grinder, but to my own ears, or that my puttering about at this early hour will disturb my partner's sleep. No questions of “whatchya writing” as I tap away on my keyboard, or “whatchya doin” as I'm sitting there doing absolutely nothing but being present with the emerging morning. I can blather away about nothing (as evidenced here) with no expectation of some great revelation to be enjoyed later by a reader who is not the writer. Or sit and watch the various shades of white turn gradually into rippling water and summer trees. There's no newspaper delivery out here so no news to be consumed, no puzzles to puzzle over, no tv blaring stock prices or predictions. Knowing that all of those things that I've come to love are just a 45 minute drive away allows me to luxuriate in their absence. If I didn't have a sweet man at home, would I feel as peaceful in my solitude? If I didn't have my connection to the world through newspapers and tv available to me at any time, would I feel so content in my ignorance of local and world events? If I didn't have my seven room house on the lake with all the accoutrements of modern day living, would I so readily celebrate the simplicity of my one room camp on the marsh? I think not.

The Loon Series

I went out for a paddle on Saturday to see what was new on the stream and found these loons building their nest. With my 12x camera I was able to stay back far enough so as not to bother them, and watch for a while. They would stick their heads underwater and pull up some weeds, and pile them on the small mound sticking up out of the marsh. I love that they're nesting so close to camp that we can hear them clearly throughout the night. In fact, Rick was able to observe them at their nest, using binoculars, standing at the shoreline. There were a lot of power boats out yesterday afternoon and I hope they're staying far enough away. In the past we almost never saw power boats on the Cobb but yesterday there must have been five different boats speeding up and down the stream.

May 25, 2009

I’m glad to report that all is well on The Cobb, after leaving work early on Thursday. The loons are looney, the squirrels are squirrely, the ospreys are osome (spelled awesome), and the turtles are sh(w)ell.

After a quick lunch and Sam Summer at The Depot, it felt good to escape from the ninety degree heat of town and just 15 minutes away melt onto my shady porch bed with windows open, and enjoy the steady breeze and the sounds of the marsh. Twenty minutes was all I could give it though cause I really wanted to get out on the stream, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, float, explore, soak up the sun and feel that Vitamin D pulsing through the body. We’d only been out 15 minutes before we were approached by an old CocoaCola canoe with a silent little electric motor containing none other than Eddie and Betty who’d come all the way down from Mary’s place near Collins Mill Dam.

Later we heard splashing and looked over to watch a pair of loons flapping their wings and doing mating dances with each other. And then they let out one of those long haunting loon calls that went on for so long, it even made me amorous.

Friday was spent on a longer paddle, down to the dam and back, gorgeous sunny day with all the usual suspects along the stream. Saturday I picked up seedlings at Harvey’s and filled my log planters, so it’s looking very colorful out here. Plus it looks like the heavy rain we got last night created a new bloom. Everything is so lush and green today. It was a hell of a downpour about 3 am with rolling thunder and impressive lightening witnessed from my porch bed.

I made a little hobbit house out of clay while listening to soft music with the peepers and assorted unidentified critters hooting, screeching, and whistling in the marsh. I seldom see turtles right here in our cove but this weekend there have been three of them hanging out here, both on the fallen limb in the water and the big rock 30 feet away.

A mommy and her six baby ducklings just took a paddle around the cove. They do love the duckweed; I can see why they call it that, instead of green slime . . . or something equally descriptive.
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Spring is here

Today is May 1st – May Day! Means different things to different people but I remember when I was young it was a big deal to hang May Baskets on people. We’d have a basket and decorate it with flowers and fill it with goodies, put it on someone’s doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. We’d hide where we could see the person come to the door, see their confusion first that no one was there, and then see them smile and delight at the pretty little basket filled with goodies. I don’t think people hang May Baskets anymore.

I haven’t written much lately. Now that spring is here I’ve been going to camp and cleaning up winter’s ravages, and spending some time out in my kayak. Last weekend Rick and I were paddling around the stream and were serenaded by a symphony of bullfrogs and loons. At dusk our little muskrat, Edmund (named after Maine’s former Senator Edmund Muskie) can be seen busily swimming back and forth tending to his duties. There were over a hundred ducks on the stream one day a couple weeks ago and from the splashing sounds coming from deep within the marsh it sounds like a couple of them may have decided to nest in there. Cobby, our beautiful black and white kittie with double front paws, returned to visit last weekend. I still haven’t figured out who he belongs to but he seems well cared for.

Kerri and Gilli spent the night at camp early this week and Betty stayed there last night after our Hallowell outing. I’m hoping Rick and I will get out there tomorrow night as it looks like it will be a good kayaking day on Sunday. We knocked one of the kayaks off the car as we were unloading them last weekend and broke my side view mirror off. $265 for just the mirror! When I put in a claim for insurance they were able to find a used mirror and negotiate the price for painting and installing it down to just $180, so it saved me $70 and cost them nothing as the cost is under my deductible. Fine, I don’t mind saving some money.

The drama continues with our shared beach lot here in Belgrade Lakes. The douchbag who owns the lot has finished clear cutting all the trees and brush and brought in some heavy equipment last weekend and graded the whole thing, took our our access road, and installed a lawn. Now the runoff that used to be absorbed by the vegetation will flow directly into the lake, taking all the pesticides from his lawn with it. The good ole boys from DEP and Code Enforcement just give him an attaboy. Groan.

Today we’re off to buy a riding lawnmower. We were paying $50 a whack to have the lawn done last year and figure we can pay for the mower within two years. John Deer, 18 hp. Zoom Zoom.