A Flurry of Wild Life

A unusual day here at the Light. We have been battling the temperature and the water woes (on and off) this week and this morning and early afternoon saw the most unexpected thing of this bizarre winter season.

The temporary line had broken on Wednesday morning.  I had been able to take a good, hot shower. Haley was able to brush her teeth.  Julie arrived to find the taps dry. With the temperature around minus 6 with the wind chill, and the source in the shade at our neighbor's house, I was sure this was another frozen line episode. 28 out of 33 days we had either a complete or a partial interruption of service. It has been that kind of cold. We were getting kind of good at the kind of camping where you can sleep in your own bed.

Yesterday, with more melting, and a crowd around for the delivery of a new donation, (more about that at a later date), it was revealed that the line was possibly frozen but also broken at one of the connectors.  I patched it up as the snow began later yesterday. Some electrical tape, some luck, and we had water back flowing. It is a good feeling when you can flush at will.

This morning, out of luck. The repair had not held.  I attempted to recreate what I had done the day before without success.  It was time to hit the hardware store for ideas and a new kit.

Returning from the hardware store and assessing where to start, I was stopped by a visitor who asked me if I had seen any deer around the house.   From time to time you see one in the marsh I replied. He told me one had just torn down the beach, then he showed me the tracks.  I decided the hose repair would have to wait a little bit and headed for the house to grab a camera. From there the destination was the Tower.

This is the first glimpse of my own little trip to Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

I got a few pictures from the Tower and decided I needed to get a little closer to the action.  Taking myself to the Revetment, I got these shots. 

We had ourselves a short staring contest. I won. About this time, my good old brother in law arrived as we had a plan to work on a project together today. He joined me and we watched unbelieving as this deer made its way onto the Big Jetty.  There was a scary moment as the animal seemed to disappear into the ocean on the left of the rocks. Amazingly, the deer scrambled back up and made its way to the elbow.

You can just make out his head in the middle of the frame.

At this point I had a telephoto lens on the camera. I had taken some video with my phone that I will try to edit and add in tomorrow. The twist that was coming was a total bolt out of the blue and it had four of us reeling. ( A couple walking had joined John and I.)

The deer dove into the water. And swam to First Cliff.

There was a brief pause with about 25 yards to go where we all hesitated. The deer seemed to stop, to tread water, then he started again for the jetty.  He rested for a little more than a minute, bounced up, headed up toward the street, then sat and rested again. It was phenomenal. None of us could believe what we had just seen. The whole episode lasted roughly forty minutes.

 And what about the water you ask.  In no time at all, with Johnny serving as the much needed extra set of hands, we had the two pieces knit together and water running in the house.  I did a dance not unlike this one.  Substitute water for fire and you have it.