7 IN THE BOAT HERE ON HIDDEN BAY today. Sunshine is pouring through the den window and I am hard at work making vitamin D. I spent last night tossing and turning in bed till I finally fell asleep around five. I was working my way through a minor bout of depression and the best place to do that is in bed where I can't follow through on some of the things I am thinking. Some ideas are good ideas and some are just rash decisions. One of the thoughts that ran through my head was pulling the plug on writing Lake Iwanttobethere. My readership has gone from thousands a day too just a few dozen. But what that did is make me think about the lake.
I have been writing about the lake for over eleven years and I along with my fishing buddies are eleven years older. I have even lost a few of my fishing friends to the big water in the great beyond. Losing my old dogs hit me hard and I think that is about the time I started writing more about me then the lake and I think I am kind of boring. Us older guys spend way more time sitting in a boat talking about retirement plans, 401 k's Medicare D plans and how many pills we have to take everyday. Twenty thousand dollar Ice Castles are not in our future we just can't afford them. We get a kick out of grand kids and our old dogs move at our pace. Remodeling jobs are done as being the last time we are going to paint a room or replace a facet. The jobs are either going to outlive us or we will be selling the place and down sizing.
But no sooner do I toss the idea about no longer writing and I come up with five stories that I want to share. This one here about getting old was one of them. I did decide on a few things that I want to change and one of them is writing about my battle with cancer. I think I am going to keep that to myself. I hope I will be able to post a final story and wrap the lake all together, I might even give Glen directions. I don't want the lake to end on a cliffhanger like a TV show or worse yet get canceled in mid season. My idea is to write a final story and I will have my daughter post it.
Of course I do get some good ideas and here are a couple of spoilers. Houseboat trip is not going to happen, just too hard to put together. I have been playing with the idea of buying a female chocolate lab but no longer. It would just be unfair to leave the wife with another dog after I am gone. Beside she has Duncan who will probably be at her side for another six to eight years. I am going to take the money I have saved and add it to the twenties I have hidden in the fishing reel box and buy the Tenners lifetime fishing licenses. The grandson and granddaughter are my favorites and they both fish so even though the odds are pretty good I am not going to be able to teach them how to back a boat trailer into the lake they will at least never have to buy a fishing license. With any luck maybe they will become life long fishing buddies with my youngest daughter who I bought a lifetime license ten years ago.
So for all the faithful readers of Lake Iwanttobethere here is a little hint of where the lake is.
Your trolling motor blade is barely turning over as you come out of the narrows into a small hidden bay. A couple of red wing blackbirds hanging sideways on coon tails scold you as you glide by. You feel it before you see it and you turn around in your seat just in time to see an Eagle leap from a dead tree top to catch air with her big wings, The top of the tree sways and you look at the eagle who with just a few beats is already on the other side of the hidden bay. You eyes drop downward to see a couple of nervous ducks swimming along the far bank and then you spot a heron standing still in the reeds watching you watching it. You take your foot of the pedal and the boat starts to slow, vee waves from the bow caress the dead calm water before being absorbed. Lots of places to toss a lure here, a reed bed some Lilly pads a few old docks. One of them has a statue of a tired looking lab, you watch it for some reason and then you see the statue blink and you realize it is a live dog staring into the water.
Your eyes go down the bank and then you see him. A portly gent sitting on a weathered green bench wearing bibs and a green tee shirt underneath. He has a blue baseball cap on covering fading red hair and his face is covered in a gray beard, one hand holds a cigar resting on the arm of the bench and the other hand holds a Hamms. A handsome chocolate lab sits alongside of him pressed against his side his gaze locked on you. Another old lab lies at the old mans feet, sleeping. As you get closer the old man says "Hiya" you respond with a "Hello" It comes out louder then you wanted and it echoes in the hidden bay, twice.
The old guy takes a sip of his beer and then a puff of his cigar, you feel like he is sizing you up. "Hows the fishing" he asks and you pause and try to come up with a good come back but you have nuttin so you just say "I just started, matter of fact I am looking for a place called Lake Iwanttobethere, ever hear of it?" The old man takes another puff from his cigar and blows a smoke ring and then follows it up with several more. "See that point?" And his arm points down the shoreline.Your eyes follow and you nod your head yes. "The lake entrance is right around the point, just take your boat and push the little bog out of the way and you are home free"
You then ask the old guy how the fishing is here in hidden bay and the old guy tells you to try tossing a top water off those reeds and then points at a reed patch. He tells you that Ernie is probably hungry about now, give him a try as long as you releasee him. You say thanks and head to the reeds, Your first cast is smashed and Ernie gives you a battle before breaking your line. You turn in the boat to ask the old man if he saw the fight but he is gone and so are his dogs. You cast a few more times but nothing. Around the point you go and as the old man says there is a bog in the way. You push it with the boat and the bog moves to the side and you are clear. The bog closes behind you and the hidden bay is gone and in front of you lays Lake Iwanttobethere