Just as Rainy Lake water levels had seen a cresting this past week, by Saturday afternoon, I could tell by the dock that the water level has come up another two inches.
Friday when we arrived, the level looked as if it might have fallen since Sunday. The rains and thunderstorms of Friday were followed on Saturday with more rain and harsher winds.
It may have been just as well. I had planned to work all day Saturday on renovations to the cabin, and warm sunny weather may have distracted me from those plans. Instead, the grout was applied around the edges of the new ceramic tile wall in the kitchen.
The humidity and heat of the earlier part of the week had thousands of flying guests meeting us at the dock on Friday night. That cloud of mosquitoes followed us all the way to the cabin and continued to remain vigilant outside the doors and screens all night long.
The strong winds from the north sent the clouds of mosquitoes scurrying for cover over night. As I grouted around the tiles, a large bald eagle landed and sat lonely on a dead branch near the top of a tall white pine just across the bay. The wide head and golden beak faced into the wind and rain. It appeared to be grounded waiting out some harsh rain. The bird remained on its perch for almost two hours occasionally sticking its head under its wings and spreading its rain soaked tail feathers. Eventually it too gave up waiting for a break in the weather and relocated.
Once in the morning and then again in late afternoon, we turned on the weather radio hoping to hear that a break in the wind and rain would occur quickly. There was no such luck. The temperature in the cabin continued to fall and by mid afternoon, I had put a fire on in the wood stove to take the dampness and chill out of the air. That didn’t speak much of the last Saturday in June.
For Marnie and myself, we took the afternoon off to catch up on reading books and magazines. We both dozed off from time to time. The grout dried. A pail that we had place outside under the edge of the roof drip line filled with water and cleaned the sponges that we had used for grouting.
Time slipped away. The winds kept gusting and falling. The chill from the cabin disappeared.
Saturday evening the weather station announced that the rains would diminish over night, the winds would reduce and we would see a return to summer temperatures and sunshine. And by Sunday morning we began another day of summer.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher