OH SO MUCH WILDLIFE, AND OOOPS!
Day 6 – Another good night’s sleep. Particularly for Luna & Gracie who snuggled in with us beneath the covers. Are they spoiled? Well, we don’t have hook-ups here, therefore they didn’t have their heated pads to sleep on. Yeah, they’re spoiled. It was 44 degrees outside this morning, 58 inside, not that bad, but evidently it made the girls hungry because they gobbled down their breakfast completely in minutes. They think they’re being abused because they can’t have their heated pads. We tell them that cats in Africa are starving, but do they listen? We think they will survive.
We started a loaf of homemade bread in our breadmaker this morning, then left to go to town (Greenville) to pick up a few items: Rob needed some plumbing parts for the RV (some of the tank flushing valves leaked all over him when we were dumping tanks at Wolfe’s Neck – eww, yuk); we needed some produce (lettuce, tomatoes, red onion) from the grocery store. We decided to drive through the entire campground to check out the two boat launches. At one of them, there were a mom-and-pop-plus-babies grouping of Canada Geese which quickly fled to the Lake when we drove thru. First, on the way to the other boat launch, there were a couple of deer right beside the road eating the leaves off the trees. The deer surprised us & we didn’t get pictures, but we were prepared for the geese.
We went into town, got the things we needed, and on the way back to the RV we stopped to check out Prong Pond. The road to the Pond was pretty rough but otherwise things had not changed from 2018 when we were last here. We decided to kayak the Pond after lunch. Thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow, so today would be the best day for kayaking at the Pond.
We drove back to the campsite and sat outside in the screened tent until the bread was done baking. The bugs have definitely increased just since yesterday. It’s the season…..
After lunch we went to Prong Pond. We paddled from one end of the pond to the other and back again. It was very pretty and since it was early in the week, we had the Pond to ourselves.
We’d covered ourselves with bug spray, and the wind was blowing, so that helped with the bugs – at first. We saw several Loon pairs, other ducks, and Turkey Vultures. After reaching the far end of the Pond, the wind died down and the problem with the bugs increased. (Anyone living in the northeast, particularly in wooded areas, is familiar with the biting black flies. They come out yearly in May and last until around the end of June when the mosquitoes have taken over. They look harmless, like dainty, kind of lacy, small flies, but once they bite you, painful welts appear, itch, and they bleed when scratched. The bite becomes sore, almost like you’ve been hit by someone with their fist. They are AWFUL! If you are susceptible to the side effects of their bites, you learn quickly to avoid them at any cost.)
We were paddling back to the boat launch when we heard a ruckus above. Two Bald Eagles were chasing an Osprey overhead, the Eagles squawking. This got the Loons going and all around the Pond there were the echoes of the Loons warning each other. Then the two Bald Eagles settled in some tall trees, but the Loons continued to call back and forth. It was amazing.
We returned to paddling towards the boat launch. The wind had died down and the sky had darkened. Looking ominous out, it was obvious a storm was coming – the calm before the storm? Swarms of biting black flies descended upon us. Rob reached the launch first, pulled up and waited for me. By the time I got there, I was in a panic. Bug phobia? More like Bite phobia, since I can actually swell up and get physically sick from too many mosquito bites, let alone the lethal black flies. As he helped me out of the kayak, I basically had a meltdown, “get me out of here, get me out of here”. What a baby, eh? I hurried back to the Honda as he brought the kayaks back and tied them up on the roof of the car.
Ooops! As we left the Prong Pond boat launch, the dirt road being quite pot-holed & rough, CRASH! Rob’s beautiful kayak got loose from the roof, slid down the driver’s side of the car, disconnected the driver’s side mirror from the car, and crashed to the ground, cracked and broken. Shocking. I continued killing the bugs that had traveled with us into the car while he dealt with the mess outside. It started to rain.
He strapped his kayak back on the roof and we limped back to the campsite, the driver’s side mirror hanging from the door of the car. Back at the RV, Rob went online & watched a video on how to install a new side mirror. Looked doable, which was great because there was no telling where we’d find a Honda dealership to install it for us in the timeframe we needed. He ordered the new mirror to be picked up at Advance Auto Parts next Tuesday in the area we’d be then. Things were starting to look up! Then he went out to his kayak and temporarily repaired it with EternaBond Waterproof Tape, which he just happened to have with us in the RV storage compartments. Mr. Fix-It Strikes Again!
Sigh. Although it turned out okay, it was traumatic, therefore beer & wine were in order before dinner. Hopefully next Tuesday the mirror will be at the auto parts store as planned and he will be able to get it all installed like new. And hopefully his kayak will be okay through the rest of this trip. Then we can shop for a new one for him without pressure.
The high today was 75 degrees. Dinner was Greek Pasta Sauce over Angel Hair Pasta with Scallops and Rob’s Garlic Bread. Tomorrow is another day. Gracie, however, was very comfortable on the dashboard in the sun.
Vicki, I checked on line- how to protect yourself from black flies. I these ideas! Try rob you head face neck hand with mint, peppermint, spearmint oil. Try on kitty’s catnip toys or catnip robbing all those places too, scientists found mosquitoes don’t attack cat’s face when cat rob their face on catnip toys or catnip! Another one is sprinkle ground cinnamon, ground clove on your burning candle wax. Black flies, mosquitoes hate those smell. These little bloody creatures hate herbs and flowers! Planting a lot around your house front and back yard. Lemon oil too! After you use your lemon for cooking , squeeze lemon oil on your hand , rob and smell wonderful lemon, it keep you safe to go out , also boosts your brain power!
What a day of ups and downs you had. I don’t know which I love most: Vicki’s amazingly good writing or Rob’s amazingly good photos. The combination keeps me on board.