Puttin' up the Maple Leaf

Tonight we drove one more nail in the coffin that is the memories we made last summer.

But wait, you can't really put to death a memory, can you?  Not that you'd want to, if the memories  are good ones. 

There's probably a more fitting analogy, but I can't think of it right now.  We finished issue 47 today, and my brain is tired. 

Anyway, what we actually did this evening, just before dark, was go to the creek bank and load up the grill and the chairs and the fishing pole props and hook up the little ol' Maple Leaf and pulled her to higher ground.  She's been on the creek bank since it finally stopped raining, in what, August?  

While time for camping was limited last summer, what time we spent on the creek bank was still 

chill-axing.  We enjoyed a few weinie roasts, a few fishing sessions, even an overnight stay or two. 

We watched turtles float, and an otter surface and dive outta sight again after it saw us. We saw big carp and narrow gar swim lazily near the top of the water when it was so hot and dry.  

We listened to coyotes yip, yip, yip, all around when darkness fell on warm nights.  We marveled at the stars and the sunrise that we got to view from a different angle on the farm. 

We saw excitement in our grandkids' eyes after Clay caught a fish.  

So, yeah. I felt a bit sad about retrieving the Maple Leaf, but the reality is, if we'd left our camper on the creek bank, we might not have one to use next spring/summer/fall! 

The Maple Leaf.  She's high and dry now. 

I'm amazed at how inky the creek looks right now.  

The light was reflecting off the surface of it, so it was hard to get a photo that showed true colors.  I saturated this one a bit, and it still doesn't accurately show how black the water is!