Tuesday
the 22nd. Our nephew
Jesse spent last night and all of today at Sue's house to help
Amy and Grandma Sue out. Jackson enjoyed Jesse being there to play with. The pictures to the
left are some that Amy sent me from Colonial Heights
this afternoon. It's very cool that I get to see what the family is up to
because I certainly miss them this week. While they had another beautiful, sunny day, I had a
cloudy rainy one, much of which was spent in Marion and Wytheville, Virginia.
Yesterday, when I had sunshine, I went paddling.
So today I had rain, and guess what, I went paddling again. It was an
awesome evening on the lake, very quite tonight except for the sound of water
landing on water. I planned on making a quick time of it, but I again
found the lake alive with activity. At first I thought the lake was empty.
The frogs and geese were no where to be seen or heard. As I paddled
past an island I thought I saw a goose egg, so I pulled up to take a photo.
Mother and father stormed down a hillside on the other side of the water to let
me know they didn't like me getting so close
to
baby. So I moved on. As I approached the next island a gander rushed
out to meet me. He came within ten feet of the kayak, started
flapping his wings and honking. I didn't want to bother the big guy, so I
tried to change course. But he kept getting in front of me, flapping his
wings and honking. I finally set the paddle down and asked him just
exactly where he wanted me to go. He stopped making his noise and quietly
glided along side me. All of a sudden we were big pals and he followed me
where ever I went. I finally shook him and as I glided into the
reeds on the far end I noticed wild turkeys coming out of the wood's edge.
In all, thirty-seven wild turkeys walked out and then slowly moved through the
field just beyond where I was sitting. It was interesting to see how the
younger jakes lagged behind before coming into the open and did not get close to
the hens. Two larger toms kept look-out and also stayed in position
between the hens and the jakes and younger toms. When a smaller tom got to
close, the larger one chased him back. From what I understand, much of the
groups pecking order is established during March before the mating season hits
full swing in April. I watched until it started
getting dark, then began paddling for the dock. Before I made it back the
beavers came out again to swim around me and gave lots of big warning tail
splashes. While drifting I also watched a muskrat swim all the way from
the opposite bank in a beeline for my kayak and then pass directly below it.
I'm currently watching three of the coolest people on the planet performing together at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame on VH1. And it just occurred to me that I have had the amazing good fortune to see all three of them super up close. I saw Eric Clapton from the third row at UNC thanks to Barry Joyce, saw BB King in Winston-Salem from the third row thanks to Martin Clark, and saw my hero Buddy Guy at tiny little Ziggy's in Winston-Salem. The night I saw Buddy I had worked till around eleven and couldn't wait to get to Winston because I knew the show had already started. I couldn't believe that he was going to be at my favorite hang-out spot and was seriously afraid that the place would be empty. After all, I didn't know a single other person that knew who Buddy Guy was. When I got there the place was busting at the seams, totally packed, and Buddy was tearing it down.
