H.M.S. Ark Royal

H.M.S. Ark Royal is our johnboat. Normally it rests 3/4 of it's length on the shore in front of our lake house. The last two days it has been raining steadily and, instead of being safely on the shore, she has resided out on the water at the side of our dock. While it is convenient to have the boat out on the dock, there is a chance of rainwater filling the boat and sinking it. Normally, if one has a bilge pump, this is not a problem. Without the pump, however, the water can build up slowly inside the boat and...well, you can probably guess the inevitable result. My task was obvious: I had to move the boat from the dock to the shore before she sunk. For a 66 year old man this is easier said than done.The boat cannot be motored in, using the electric trolling motor, because of the distinct possibility of hitting bottom before coming ashore. The boat had to be paddled. So, paddle I did until I finally got her to shore. I then pulled her up on the ground about 4 feet and, wet and exhausted, I could sleep content that night, knowing that H.M.S. Ark Royal would not be at the bottom of Lake Bream when I woke the next morning.

The Bishop of Bream

It occurs to me that most of the images I capture at Bream Lake include people other than me. I take hundreds of photos of my assorted relatives, the dock, the house and various plants and animals. No images of Hank. I have devised a method of capturing my image in the Bream habitat. I think of myself as a gnome and a kind of shepherd of the flock at Bream. Voila! 

Bream Lake at moonrise. Incomparable. 

The duck problem is simple: we like the ducks...we don't like what they do to our dock. We feed them corn on a daily basis. After eating the corn they immediately swim out to our dock and let nature take its course. Note the results of their endeavor just to the right of the assembled trio. This is a problem that is easy to bear. Harry, Bess and Margaret are far too charming to resist and so the cycle will continue.