19 September 06
I was thinking it has been such a long time since I
took the kayak off the shore to hit any water . This
was confirmed when I tried to flip the Kayak over to find it stuck
with grape vines holding it fast. So with a little more effort of pulling
and tugging it broke free and slid into the pond with the my Muskogee
ducks. It is a little early for the leaves to change color but the
season is changing. There is that fresh nip in the air that comes
after a hot and hazy summer. Some of the trees are premature in
turning red and most of the pond brushes have a yellowish tinge and
as I look around I wonder to my self where have all the water lilies
gone. It almost looks like some small child has come along and
snapped the tops off of all the white and yellow water lilies leaving
only the stems and the large flat leaf floating on the surface of the
water. I am looking for my three ducks but there is no sign of them,
later this day I have all six appear on the lawn looking for their
supper but I have no idea where they are now.
My four Muskogee ducks were
a little perturb with me as I slid my bright orange kayak into their
pond. I hear some wild ducks out on the pond on the far shore
but they flew off as I approach. I wonder if my ducks are thinking
about joining them on their journey south as the nights are cold and
days well lets say summer is definitely over. I lazily paddle across
the pond following the channel that flows from the beaver dam in my yard to
some source beyond eye sight.
I glide past the beaver lodge and I try
to remember when it was that I had seen or heard Mr. Beaver slapping his
tail last. There is life on the pond now: as I think back to last
January, I was sure that nothing lived here but now birds are gathering in
flocks of different sizes, fluttering from tree to tree. A large
blue heron stalks some prey just off to my side. I have already
mentioned the ducks but no geese seem to be on the backyard pond only in the pond at the front side of the house, on the other side of the road in front of my house the pond has hundreds of Canadian Geese coming and going.
There must be a reason for this but I don’t have any idea what soever of why. I just missed running over a frog who was sunning
it self on a water lily in front of the kayak. This brings to my
attention that I haven’t seen any turtles sunning them selves out
on a log or a rock lately. I know that they are there because this spring
they were in my yard planting eggs in spots that one might question
why, next to my gardens . Not to mention all the turtle eggs that were dug up on side of
the road by Mr. Raccoon. I personally carried two turtles back into
the pond after they had an encounter with Ben. I wonder what the
frog was thinking – here it was sitting on a warm lily pad
enjoying the sun’s rays beaming down with a gentle breeze blowing and all of
a sudden his world is crushed by a huge orange log that came from no
where and just kept on. My thoughts turn to think how uncomfortable it is to be
sitting on a dock and anticipating that first jump into the cool fresh water of the lake. I
know that once I commit my self and leap into the water it will be
so refreshing on a unbearable humid day in July but it always take a
moment or two to have the body realize this shock is a pleasant
experience. Now it is mid Sept and the water is not that refreshing
– the air is not that life sucking humidly heat wave. On the
contrast we are craving any heat that the summer sun can throw our
way knowing that in only a few weeks the world will be frozen and it
will seem like a thousand year ago when there was a time that we
called summer.
When I look at the front of my kayak
and see the millions of life on the bow I think about the
children's book from Disney, Horton Hears a Who. The bow is
covered in thousands of little bugs. I wonder if each one is living
in it s own little private bubble. They are traveling as fast as I paddle
into places of the pond I am sure that they would never go to on their own accord – like a man
going to the moon to live. Do they have any idea of time and space:
once again I think back to different episodes of Star Trek and the
Star ship Enterprise being throw into a time loop or tossed across
the galaxies from some higher power . I use my paddle to drizzle
water over their free loading ferry ride to their new worlds, but soon feel
guilty about this act of unkindness so I continue my cruise as I
begin to wonder what is happening back on the home front. I had not
told Donna that I was out on the pond so I thought Kyla and Montanan
might be out in the yard looking for me and Donna assuming I was
there so not watching. So with a little more drive I swish through
the lily pads to arrive back home to have Ben bark at me to say where
have been. So once again I flip the Kayak over and lean the paddle
against a tree and wonder if I will be out again before freeze up.
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