Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 375

Well, the rain came, no watering my gardens this week. We had three inches in my gauge after two nights and some during the day which made water run out of my pond for the first time in a couple of weeks. Then we had a thunderstorm roll through again last night with another inch. I was just up to Number Four yesterday and there was no water running out of Francis Lake, so I don’t think they got that much rain up that way. The Loons still had their chick in tow and growing. Over at Beaver Lake I found the nest that had hatched two chicks while I was in Alaska, but I never did see the chicks. There is a resident Bald Eagle nest with one chick about to fledge which may have had those chicks for lunch as there were none on the water. Three adults were feeding together as I came back down the lake. On one lake earlier last week I had six Loons fishing together. When they have no chicks, they get together and can be social to each other, no fighting. Those adults with chicks are still protecting territory from other Loons who will kill their chicks if they get the chance, that’s what happens out in the wild.

There are more storms just to the west of us which have some powerful storms with them which will hit here before the end of the week. The folks out west and in Canada still see no end in sight with several hundred fires burning all over the area. Eighty-seven active fires are burning in the states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Montana combined. Fire crews from all over the country are out there fighting these fires. There have been three deaths one a firefighter and two died in a helicopter crash that was dropping water on a fire.

There was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Columbia which so far has killed 132 people with a lot more missing. Access to a major part of the country hit has not yet been searched because of the damage to roads and bridges to that area so the death total will be much higher.

Locally over the weekend a few big events occurred, the gala at View where there was a full house indoors as it poured outside. Lots of things to bid on in the galleries, an exceptionally delicious meal and the Founder’s Award given to Lewis and Betsy Bryden. It is the 75th anniversary of the organization founded by Miriam Kashiwa who started with an art show on her front yard to what it is today in this beautiful building. The Kashiwa family were all there to celebrate with us, which was genuinely nice. Betsy Bryden gave a nice speech after receiving the award starting when she was just a young girl up to the present in this beautiful building.

Second was the opening of the National Watercolor Show at View along with the timeline of watercolor posters done each year in the Eco Gallery.

Then third was the Old Forge Library Bash held each year with lots of great, donated prizes to be won by the lucky winners who put their names in the raffles for each prize. It was the biggest ever get together for the Bash, lots of good finger food, desserts, wine, and drinks to enjoy and visits with our neighbors.

The summer is winding down with lots more events to come but that’s another story. See ya.

Photo above: Banded female Loon Limekiln Lake