Three Points of Contact

A friend of mine was thinking about getting a kayak. I offered her the chance to try mine to see if she liked it.  She and her husband have a boat but she thought a kayak is something she could do when he wasn't around. We met at Crooked Lake on Saturday morning. I got there early so I quickly zoomed around the lake.I felt like a kid again pushing myself through the water and seeing the sights. A Canadian goose sat on a nest and pretended to be asleep. The relaxed black neck was striking against the gray feathers.  A man with a sloping lot down to the lake was busy weeding the lake shore.  I could see where he had applied lines of fertilizer to his turf.  On another property a camp fire smoldered near the lake shore.  Smoke drifted across the water.  Four wood ducks landed and swam away. Another large house had a big swing set.  Three kids were swinging on the swings and jumping off into the lush green grass. Sometimes when I am on a lake I feel like a peeping Tom. I get a sensation that the people on the lake don't appreciate being spied on. On the other hand, they own the lake shore but not the lake so there is not reason to feel like a peeping Tom. A muskrat swam by. A painted turtle clung to a clump of reeds trying to warm itself in the sunshine. Traffic zoomed by on Highway 10.  A man with curly red hair got into his boat with a girl; his daughter I imagined.  She was three years old and had long blonde hair and a sun dress.  They smiled and motored away. My friend arrived and I got out so she could get in. She is much shorter than I am so we had to shorten the pegs so she could reach them. A kayak has foot pegs so you can push your foot against the peg as you move forward. She put on my life vest. I warned her to have three points on contact when getting in and getting out.  She did pretty well until both of her feet were in and she tried to stand up straight. I told her that was two points of contact so she sat down. I shoved her out and told her to go around the whole lake if she wanted to.  She ended up going around the whole lake.  I thought she was pretty brave to do that. I got my binoculars and cup of tea out of my car.  I sat on the dock and made friends with a woman who fishes there every day the lake is't frozen. For this lake, it has been about a week since the ice went out. This lady loves fishing.  She fishes every day either here or near the Coon Rapids dam.  She fishes for pan fish but she never keeps them. She told me a story from last year when she made friends with a mother grebe and her grebelings. She got to know this grebe family.  She would  make a noise and they would come out to greet her. I saw some yellow rumped warblers and some sparrows that I could not identify. Tree swallows were diving for insects. A couple of huge dragonflies flew past and they looked like they were attached some how. The woman said the loons are on the lake but I never saw them.  After an hour my friend came back. She had a big smile on her face.  She said she felt like a kid again. She had a hard time getting out of the kayak.  I had her parked parallel to the shore. I sat on top of the bow of the kayak to keep it steady and we both almost went in the lake. She did get out though and she was unhurt.   We loaded the kayak in my car. She helped me tie it down with yellow nylon rope.  She asked me if I could tell her jean capris were wet. I admitted she looked like she had a toileting accident. She said she didn't care and was off to the garden center now. What a beautiful morning in Minnesota today!