Excitement at the lake

It was a busy day, although I didn't plan for that to happen. Most of it was pretty mundane, but I did manage to recycle one of my old computers at Best Buy. They charge ten bucks, but they give you a gift card for ten bucks to spend in the store and that got me to buy a Bruce Springsteen CD and a bag of Snickers in their Robert Street store. Who knew that they sell Snickers at Best Buy.

The day was cloudy, but warm, in anticipation of tomorrow's all day rain - so says the weather wizards, but since doomsday is Saturday, I decided to make as good use as I could of a nice May day. [As an aside and one I'd like to have Chad's owner verify, "m'aider" in French seems to mean "help me" and is pronounced "May Day" which is the universal call for help. Coincidence??]

Lots was going on at Como Lake, where I stopped for a circumnavigation after a brief stop at Goodwill to give away some old clothes and toys. The lake shore restoration has encouraged wildlife to find the lake quite enticing. Today, and some of these are pictured here, I saw an egret, multiple mallards, several wood ducks, a black headed duck, a muskrat, and about a thousand turtles basking on logs. The shore line restoration has been going on for a couple of years and there are cat tails and lots of vegetation along the shore for wild life cover. This egret was kind enough to let me get close enough for a photo. And stayed around for several.

There was also some sort of turtle census or tagging going on today. These city employees (I think they work for the city) captured this giant turtle and were tagging him or perhaps taking a blood sample or who knows what. They released him back into the lake and he didn't end today as soup. It was a big guy and he was not happy about the process. Of course, the turtle may be female - I don't know how to tell the difference.

There were myriads of smaller turtles basking on logs in the lake. I guess they are just happy to be past the harsh winter and are probably getting ready for the summer and a lot more basking.

On the other side of the lake the Sheriff's department had divers in the lake. They were searching for something, but one of the other passersby said they have been doing it for about three days. With the help of google news when I got home, I ascertained that they were probably searching for a weapon that had been used in a shooting over on Dale Street last week. The news article said that the perp had disposed of the gun in question, by throwing it into Como Lake. It was not a dull day around Como Lake.

And then when I finally got home I made a loaf of raisin bread in the bread machine and played some scrabble.