The Easy Life....

Little Diamond Thousand Trails Park has kayaks for rent to go out on the little fishing lake here, Little Diamond Lake...it's a 43 acre lake and is covered with lily pads, but for 4.00 an hour, I decided it's a nice little paddle and cheap! You can also rent a small canoe or paddleboats. You can only rent them on the weekends and on Wednesdays from 4:00-8:00 PM. I rented a little polyurethane kayak about 9 feet long. It was great, and they had a nice set of paddles to go with the boat.

Off I went for an hour and a half, paddling around the lake...it was very very peaceful, not busy at all and for the last half hour, I was the only one on the lake....I saw an osprey go fishing for his dinner. He'd fly high, swoop down and SPLASH! -- skim across the water, and take off again...He did this several times, and finally caught himself a fish! I saw him take it to the trees and start to eat it. As I paddled "VEWY VEWY quietly" (Elmer Fudd style), I guess it wasn't quiet enough as he saw me coming towards the trees and took off without his little fish....

A big blue heron swooped down out of a tree, squawking like crazy. They REALLY don't like you anywhere under their resting spot even though they are usually high up in a tree. Who knows, it could have been a nesting spot. There were quite a few geese on the lake and one family--as I approached, Papa took off honking in one direction, hoping to entice me to follow him, Mama and two young geese skeedaddled off in the opposite direction. Mama and one of the geese took semi-flight and got far enough away to feel safe. The other young one, didn't seem to have his flying wings as fully developed, or he decided he would try a different tactic. He slunk wa-a-a-y down into the water, sort of like a sub cruising just along the top of the water. You could see his body and his head, but he was swimming so low to the water, he blended in very well. Papa was off in the distance, honking his head off, like "C'MON, JUNIOR, SWIM FOR YOUR LIFE!"

Junior making his getaway.....

Here's Mama and Papa after they calmed down....

I cruised on past the geese and they settled down and went back to their business. I paddled two trips around the lake this evening....it was wonderful to be in a kayak again!

The temperatures have been very pleasant here...it's been in the high seventies during the day, and fifties at night. It's supposed to climb in the next few days to a high of 90 this weekend...but the nighttime temperatures make it very bearable to deal with the heat for only part of the day. Ah-h-h-h, it's a great life!