Day Two of Birthday Festivities.
Jon was all like "LET'S WAKE UP AT EARLY AND GO FISHING ALL DAY. I'M THINKING 5 AM."
Hmmmmm.......... No. I told him marriage wasn't a democracy.
#tyrantwife #AllShallLoveMeAndDespair
I emerged from my lair sometime around 9 am.
We had big plans. Breakfast, fishing at Big Lake, fishing some more, and perhaps, more fishing.
We stopped at Walmart to get trolling supplies. (Note: if you are like me, and have no experience with fishing, trolling is going to a lake with this shinny lure contraption in a motorized boat and catching them that way.) I was in charge of getting the "lucky power bait." I grabbed the most obnoxious, glittery barbie themed bait and shoved it in Fishing's face.
FISHING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
We drove all the way to Big Lake to see this sight. Every single one of those units is a Sheriff vehicle.
The trailers you see are the search and dive rescue (or should I say recovery?) teams. There were 4 total.
I didn't take any pictures after this because I felt it would be kind of disrespectful.
HERE IS THE STORY.
We pulled into Big Lake parking area around 11 am. We saw probably 30 police personnel milling about as the sheriffs set up the base. We went to the little red bait shop to ask what was going on (although we knew they were probably looking for a body).
I see a dog outside of the bait shop. I love dogs.
It was a big, fat chocolate lab with a wise face and his fur speckled with gray hairs.
He looked at me with his beautiful droopy brown eyes and I thought....
oh my gravy, Jon looks just like a lab.....
Naturally, I had to pet Jon's spirit animal.
It was at that point, when I was on one knee about 3 loving strokes in that a man emerges from the bait shop and proceeds to tell us what happened.
A 30 something year old man had been fishing the previous evening around 5 pm in a canoe with his dog. The dog and the boat had returned to the shore, but the man had not.
Apparently, the man had been trolling and steering the motorized boat with a rope around his leg. He did not have a life jacket on and a disturbance (due to either the dog or the lightning storm or the dog in reaction to a lighting bolt) tipped the boat. With the cord around his leg, and no life jacket on, it was presumed that the boat was still on troll and dragged him under the water.
(moral of the story: wear a life jacket, don't go boating in bad weather, don't put cords around your body)
He then pointed to the pooch and said, "That's the man's dog."
I looked at the dog in horror, I was now emotionally affiliated with the death of the man.
Perhaps the most shocking part of this story is that the little red bait shop was STILL ALLOWING PEOPLE TO RENT BOATS TO FISH IN THE LAKE WITH A DEAD MAN.
Although, if you were to rent a boat, they had this huge disclaimer that you could potentially be the ones to find the body; and I quote,"if you find 'im, jus make shur ya flag the poe-lease down."
Roger that, Red bait shop Bumpkin.
We passed on the offer. I have this uncanny capability of drawing trauma to myself.
Keep in mind that Trout are carnivorous and John Doe had been in the water since 5pm the night before.
It would have felt sacrilegious to have enjoyed the beautiful weather atop the lake with an unmarked, water grave below.
We graciously declined a lake boating trip.
I see a dog outside of the bait shop. I love dogs.
It was a big, fat chocolate lab with a wise face and his fur speckled with gray hairs.
He looked at me with his beautiful droopy brown eyes and I thought....
oh my gravy, Jon looks just like a lab.....
Naturally, I had to pet Jon's spirit animal.
It was at that point, when I was on one knee about 3 loving strokes in that a man emerges from the bait shop and proceeds to tell us what happened.
A 30 something year old man had been fishing the previous evening around 5 pm in a canoe with his dog. The dog and the boat had returned to the shore, but the man had not.
Apparently, the man had been trolling and steering the motorized boat with a rope around his leg. He did not have a life jacket on and a disturbance (due to either the dog or the lightning storm or the dog in reaction to a lighting bolt) tipped the boat. With the cord around his leg, and no life jacket on, it was presumed that the boat was still on troll and dragged him under the water.
(moral of the story: wear a life jacket, don't go boating in bad weather, don't put cords around your body)
He then pointed to the pooch and said, "That's the man's dog."
I looked at the dog in horror, I was now emotionally affiliated with the death of the man.
Perhaps the most shocking part of this story is that the little red bait shop was STILL ALLOWING PEOPLE TO RENT BOATS TO FISH IN THE LAKE WITH A DEAD MAN.
Although, if you were to rent a boat, they had this huge disclaimer that you could potentially be the ones to find the body; and I quote,"if you find 'im, jus make shur ya flag the poe-lease down."
Roger that, Red bait shop Bumpkin.
We passed on the offer. I have this uncanny capability of drawing trauma to myself.
Keep in mind that Trout are carnivorous and John Doe had been in the water since 5pm the night before.
It would have felt sacrilegious to have enjoyed the beautiful weather atop the lake with an unmarked, water grave below.
We graciously declined a lake boating trip.
At this point, I felt like the worst wife ever.
A truly sombering spirit descended upon our trip.
We were faced with the brutality of morality while attempting to celebrate the essence of life.
AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A BIRTHDAY CAKE.
However, Jon is a trooper.
It didn't matter that 4 months of planning for the perfect weekend had gone down the drain.
Or that I was horrible at fishing.
Or that I had no back up plan.
Or that I had no cake.
He still enjoyed simply being in the woods as much as my elaborate plans for the lake.
Sometimes you get so caught up in how to make something appear perfect, that you lose the beauty of it.
And that is when I decided to stop cleaning my house.
#TheFloorIsMyShelf
Check out that sky.
We found an abandoned bridge which was PERFECT for fishing.
Jon had fun fishing,
Kylie acted like a troll because she is cantankerous and despises joy and fishing.
#KylieTheBridgeTroll
I caught my first crawdad.
He was glorious and also terrifying.
I also caught a fish;
Buttttttttttttttt,
I'm pretty sure it is because he was deformed and blind.
pretty much sums up my life.
The streams were crowded, and the water far too swift.
Eventually, even Jon was disenchanted with fishing and we went on a scenic drive.
You might also know this as getting lost.
Either way, it was the best idea/mistake that we ever had/made
The meadows were just absolutely breathtaking with the sharp streams from the mountain water runoff from the heavy rains.
I FOUND LOTHLORIEN.
LEGOLAS, COME AT ME, BRO.
The scars from the most recent wildfire were beautiful in a tragic way.
life,death, rebirth.
Seems to be a common theme, eh?
The land was so beautiful, rugged and wild. It really was the perfect getaway despite all the things that went wrong.
Happy 25th, my love; this is your year.
I love that location!! Minus what happened with the guy who died, RIP, so sad! But Jon looks so happy in his element. I laughed at the blind deformed fish comment. I understand ya, gf!
ReplyDelete