Sunday, September 27, 2009

First Weekend of Fall, 2009

It's been raining for over a week. Before it began to rain, I was worried about my boat. Our cove needs dredging and the water is very shallow at my dock. Two years ago, when we had a drought, we ended up moving the boat when the lake level dropped to 96.4. Last week, the lake level dropped to 96.3! I was calling Doug, asking him if I needed to move the boat. He was confident the boat would be fine until he arrived home to help. I wasn't so convinced.

But then the rain came! I think it started as outer bands of a Tropical storm that came up in the Gulf of Mexico. But then it rained, and rained some more. I watched Duke Power's lake levels every day (sometimes two and three times) each day last week. To my relief, the lake levels rose.

Yesterday, Saturday, it was still raining. Most of the day was misty, but we had several bursts of heavy, soaking rains. I just checked the lake level; LKN is up to 97.6! This is such great news! I was not (mentally) prepared to trailer the boat for the winter just yet. I was so hoping to be able to take it out as the leaves change color for a fall cruise or two. This week's rain will allow us to leave the boat in the water a little longer. I'm so happy!

Today, Sunday, the sun began to peek through the clouds. We squinted our eyes and commented how bright the sun is. It's funny how, when you've been covered with clouds for an extended period of time, the sun seems so much brighter than we remembered it being.

The commute to my new job takes about 45 minutes in the morning. In the afternoon, the commute takes longer as I travel through congested Mooresville. So I found another, back-road route. It takes me through a tiny little town called Catawba. And past an historic mill called Murray's Mill. This weekend, Murray's Mill held their annual Harvest Folk Festival. They've been advertising it for about 6 weeks with small road-side signs. When I took Doug for a ride along the same back roads we've never explored, he saw the signs and mentioned we should go. When I reminded him it was this weekend, he held true to his suggestion.

The day ended up being absolutely beautiful. The grounds were pretty soft and very muddy in places, but the Folk Festival was a great place to spend the first Sunday afternoon in Fall! There were horse drawn wagon rides, a petting zoo, an antique tractor parade, boy scouts demonstrating candle making, wood crafts, and even a hand made catapult. (Typing out "hand made catapult" is giving me a sense of Deja Vu... Hmmm.) Folk Singing families sang their concerts over at the mill all day long. Later in the afternoon, there was even a Civil War battle reenactment.

After Doug and I got home, we took the boat out for a cruise about the lake. There was not a lot of traffic; the wind was decent so there were a lot of sail boats out. A small helicopter hovered above the lake and we waved and the pilot and passenger waved back.

What a gorgeous day!

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