Before the Next Storm

Tomorrow, a Nor'easter arrives with its heavy rain and gale force winds.  But, today, it is calm and cloudless with cool air and some remaining patches of orange leaves dappled into the grey of a winter ready forest.

I put in on the Housatonic above the town of Shelton and the dam that blocks the river.  I am some ten miles from the sea and a 30 foot wide lane of milfoil, an invasive water plant, runs along the shore.  This shows that the water here is fresh and it also hints at the profile of the bottom, which must be fairly steep.  There is no current, either river or tidal, and there is almost no wind.

I paddle up the river a ways, at times on a mirror surface.  And, I paddle down the river a ways, until I see the buoys warning of the dam. 

There are five mute swans.  They are not mute.  One is vocalizing and it starts with a whistley wheezy sound followed by a short pants ripping fart.  I spot two kingfishers, several mallards, some ring-billed gulls and near the end of the trip, a juvenile bald eagle that sits long enough for me to take several photos.

I find a cattail marsh on the east side of the river not far from where I put in and I have a nice talk with a guy who is trying to wear down his Jack Russell terrier.

And, anything that bothered me, and among other things finding the place to put-in was quite a bother, is gone.  Such are the inner workings of a canoe.