Laddie Lake

  Lately I have been taking walks during my lunch break. I can leave my building, walk down a side street, turn onto a nature trail along the north side of Laddie Lake, and follow that all the way back to 89th Ave. where I can follow the sidewalk back to my building.  I can do this nice walk in 15 minutes if I'm by myself.  I usually ask other people, some of them don't get out much, to come with me.  With company this walk takes 20 minutes.  I like this walk for many reasons.  The path is accessible so I can ask people who use wheelchairs to come with me.  Pushing a chair helps me work out my arms as well as my legs.  Part of the path is sunny and part is shaded.  The shady parts are nice on days like today.  Part of the walk is near a lake, part is on a street, and part is in the forest.  I like the variety.  Last week we walked and saw at least 100 tiny toads hopping across the asphalt path away from the lake. The ground was alive with tiny toads.  We usually see red winged blackbirds but have also seen robins, blue jays, cardinals, gold finches, a great blue heron, a great egret, a bald eagle and a red tailed hawk.  My ultimate goal is to spot an owl in the forest.  There is a sign warning park users that coyotes have been spotted in the park and dogs should be kept on a leash. One day a butterfly landed on a person I was pushing in a wheelchair.  The butterfly landed on his upper chest just like a live orange boutonniere.  On about half of our walks we see a friendly bald man riding his three wheeled bike while smoking a cigar.  He typically says hello. He doesn't wear a shirt, and if he's wearing shorts I can see that he has an artificial leg.  One day we saw a muskrat by the lake.  We pass the Blaine fire station on the way back and sometimes we see the EMT's hanging out or playing Frisbee.  Today, as we were entering the forested part of the walk, a dragonfly with white and black spots on it's wings came flying at me right at head level.  I could see the dragonfly and it could see me.  Just like two people doing a dance in the hallway not knowing whether to zig or zag, the dragonfly quickly flew left, right, left, right, left, right and stayed right.   I stayed straight.  Being larger I felt I had the right of way.  I had to laugh out loud at the silly dragonfly's panicked moves.  I am very grateful that I can complete this walk again.  I used to do it regularly more than 10 years ago but quit because it was too painful.  Now I can eat, go for a walk, and resume my work feeling good.  I think of Laddie Lake as more of a swamp than a lake so I looked it up.  The deepest part of the lake is 4 feet deep. The lake has 77 acres but has no boat ramp or public access. Despite it's shallowness, the lake has blue gills, pumpkinseeds, walleyes and large mouth bass.