One more day at the lake....

Labor Day 2010....The pictures are NOT REAL...(uploaded from google) but the experience is.

My dad wanted to go sailing!!! and the church youth had a boating activity and he was taking his sail boat out as a boating option. Off to Mark Twain Lake I went, Edgar was too scared to try sailing. When I arrived a kid by the name of Sam age 10 had sailed from the boat ramp to the dock with my dad. His Dad was going to meet my parents at the dock with the pontoon boat, but it took too long to get to the dock since the wind was coming from the same direction as the dock. You can't sail the boat directly into the wind. It was very windy winds about 30mph+!!! and the waves on the lake were bigger than I have ever seen they were the size of ocean waves4 foot swells easily. The boat leans way over to the side in big wind, and Sam was scared. But we could not leave him on the dock alone,so we made him get back in the sail boat. Sarah was going to be there but she could smell trouble so she went home. So my Dad, Mom,Sam, and I were in the boat. We sailed out to find Sam's Dad with the pontoon boat. It was so windy we were going fast and the boat was leaning hard and the waves crashing getting us wet. We found his Dad in the middle of the lake and since a sail boat cannot manuver so well... we came in faster than we meant, so my dad turned hard and fast at the last minute so we didn't ram into the pontoon boat. In the process the boat tipped too far over and water started rushing in and my Dad fell out....well thats bad because he is the only one who really knows how to sail.

As soon as he fell out the boat came back up right and we took off so unbelievably fast away from the pontoon boat. My mom was holding the main sail tight, and Sam just started screaming and crying. I had gotten in the cabin to help level the boat in the wind. and I started to yell at my mom to let the main sail out, so we would stop going soo fast. She didn't know how. So I got myself up there, realeased the jib sail and let out the main sail. Then I knew we had to take down the main sail but I couldn't remember how. It had been years since I had been sailing. And then all of the sudden it came to me unloop it from the mast. and I took it down. that slowed us down to a near stop! whew! So the pontoon boat caught up to us and Sam finally got on the pontoon boat. My dad had been rescued by the pontoon, so he got back on the sail boat. We decided to sail back to the dock with only the jib sail since it was so windy. We couldn't go directly there since the wind was coming from that direction. We had to tack back and forth going in at an angle inching closer as we sailed along. Unfortunately... there was a cove and we cut the turn too close in our effort to hurry back to the dock...and we ran aground. In the small cove with lots of dead trees. We could not get out the wind and the waves pushing us into a rocky shore. We flagged down the pontoon boat. They tried to just pull us out but the roaps got crossed and we couldn't both get turned the right way due to the trees in the way. So Sam's dad, on the pontoon boat had a jet ski, which he thought he could use. So I got out of the sail boat to help with the lines, and push the boat off the rocks. It finally got moved and and I got on the pontoon boat. It was easier to climb onto and the jet ski had less to tow.

While he towed in the sail boat, the pontoon boat also ran aground. Well the smart youth of the church got out without lifejackets to push the boat over into deeper water. With Sam's dad gone a 16 year old was left to drive the boat. We could have waited there at the shore for Sam's dad...but the teen agers thought it was a great plan to get us out of the cove. I don't know anything about a pontoon boat including the front and back of the boat. So when I got on the boat I sat on the front ledge helping with the ladder. Anyway we got out of the cove but the kids where stranded and had to swim quite a ways without lifejackets in big waves. Not smart. Once safely back on the boat we started to motor around kinda slow hitting every wave. It felt cool because the waves kept hitting me. But as we would go slower the waves hit harder and the back of the boat started to get a lot of water on board. Well we finally hit a wave so hard it swamped the boat. I took a last breath because I thought we were all going to sink. I was on the front and actually floated up. When the boat came back down I landed back on the boat, but the whole thing was full of water. The engine was out of water in the air and the front was deep in the water all the kids were so scared. The boat righted itself when people moved to the back and had about 3 foot of water over it. and did drain, but everything on board was soaked. Everyone had their cell phones.... all wet.

We hit at more of an angle than this boat.

Sam's dad finally caught up with us as we were getting to the dock. He was clueless as to what had happened and was wondering why we were going back so soon. When I finally found my parents I told them that at least in the sail boat I never took a last breath.! We went and ate a picknik lunch and I called Sarah and told her how smart she was for leaving. That girl knew something was too crazy!

That was my Labor Day. Scary as hell! When I left I drove about 25 miles toward home and felt so tired I pulled off in a Missouri dept. of conservation parking lot and slept for an hour or so... too exhausted from the excitement of the day to drive on without a rest.

Back to the Birding lake....Edgar took his mom and sister fishing.... and I went to find the birds.

To the life list I add Tufted Titmouse. A little gray bird with an echoing voice, the Tufted Titmouse is common in eastern deciduous forests and a frequent visitor to feeders. The large black eyes, small, round bill, and brushy crest gives these birds a quiet but eager expression that matches the way they flit through canopies, hang from twig-ends, and drop in to bird feeders. When a titmouse finds a large seed, you’ll see it carry the prize to a perch and crack it with sharp whacks of its stout bill. They often flock with chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers and are regular visitors to feeders, where they are assertive over smaller birds. Their flight tends to be fluttery but level rather than undulating. (( Interesting I also saw at this location chickadees, nuthatches and red bellied woodpeckers.)) The redbellied woodpecker I could see their nest/ cavity in a tree there where at least 5-6 of them. It was really neat to watch them playing, feeding and going back and forth to the nest. I saw many other birds, all species I have seen and listed before. Guess I need to find a new place to bird.