October 25, 2008
Carroll shows up with his boat trailer in tow. It’s 7am... 33 degrees... didn’t have my hot tea yet...I'm not dressed... Tom’s half way through breakfast.
"I thought I was suppose to call Carroll at 7. You want to go honey?"
"Yeah. No. Yeah, I’ll go!" Let’s see: 2 sweaters, winter coat with hood, hat, gloves, cell phone (mine and his), and a travel mug of hot tea! He grabs his hooded sweatshirt, a jacket and slips on his moccasins (no socks) and we’re ready to go!
The water off the dock is so shallow Tom has to push off with a paddle. Whoops! The dingy is still attached to the boat. Back to the dock to release the dingy, then paddle back out to deeper water (18 inches!), lower the motor, start the engine and we’re off. We can hear the sound of the loons above the hum of the engine. It’s beautiful. The fog is moving across the lake. We won’t see the sunrise today but it’s getting lighter.
We’re careful to watch for rocks. I’m hoping the duck hunters will see our lights or hear the engine. Their gun shots woke me up this morning. The oak trees are beautiful this year. The leaves are yellowish orange.
The entrance to the inlet is in sight. We passed some loons and saw a few ducks flying just above the water’s surface. In the immediate distance I see two heads.
"Oh, that’s what a duck blind looks like" with some very poised happy looking duck decoys and a couple of duck hunters that didn’t look so happy! Tom nods, I wave.
"I think that’s Harry Vanderweide."
Sometime later I say, "Oh the guy on TV?"
A beautiful Great Blue Heron comes up out of the marsh. We notice a pile of wood in the form of a hut, carved by the beavers . We continue down the inlet to the landing where Carroll is waiting all ready to receive the boat. After a couple attempts, the boat is on the trailer.
Carroll’s in the truck, Tom’s holding the boat while standing on the trailer, I’m on the boat.
"WHOA!!!" The boat tips sideways while it’s getting pulled out! But the guys are right on top of the situation and take care of the problem! I hurry off the boat.
We chit chat on our way back to the house.
"Nice to finally meet you Carroll. I’m sure glad you built that storage facility."
"Yeah, I didn’t know what I was going to use it for when I built it!"
"People of Maine are kind of funny, we take something with little value, put it a barn and when we take it out we think it’s increased in value!" Tom says in his dry, Maine sense of "humah."
Carroll drops us off. Tom’s off to his next task: going to see what Carroll’s doing with the boat. The temperature is up to 34 degrees!
I put the tea kettle on to finally get that morning cup of hot tea and sit down to write the details of the morning so I can share it with my grandchildren someday!
Submitted by Joni Angelakis
