Monster Truck Tire

I walked my canoe to Lake Washington, again, today. It was nice. The water was wet.

Paddling north up the shoreline, very little wind and very few motorboats. It is only 10:30, so the majority of boat drivers are still working over their second or third mimosa and won't be in the water for a couple hours. I spot the large female eagle once I enter Union Bay. She is being harassed by crows, but she steadily climbs and the crows leave her. She soars very high today, so high that she is hard to relocate if I take my eyes off of her. I try to continue my mapping in the NE lagoon, but it is all goofed up, so I retrieve two car tires instead. I find a bigger tire in the process and after dumping the first two I return for it. It is really big. I cannot lift it out of the water, so I tie my stern line to it and tow it slowly to shore. It is a big truck tire, maybe 42 inches in diameter and it might weigh 75 lbs or more. I contemplate rolling it out, but decide to set it across the gunnels and paddle it. The boat is a little high centered, to say the least. After dumping it, I go back to mapping the west shore and everything now goes smoothly. I spot a couple of cinnamon teal, two broods of goslings. I talk with some bird watchers. When they see me mapping they fear that I am there for some road development project. We all seem to worry about stuff like that, those of us that enjoy this recovering natural area.

Here's that tire next to my 60 inch paddle.
Uff dah...

notice the beaver work on that tree in the background!