Mystery Guest Revealed

Thanks to my friend Jason's hard work and research we now have a name for our mystery lake guest.

Bryozoa
The Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about 0.5 millimetres (0.020 in) long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia. Most marine species live in tropical waters, but a few occur in oceanic trenches, and others are found in polar waters. One class lives only in a variety of freshwater environments, and a few members of a mostly marine class prefer brackish water. Over 4,000 living species are known. One genus is solitary and the rest colonial.

Thanks, Jason for figuring this out. i was really hoping for "lake monster egg," but this is pretty cool too.

To find out more about bryozoa check out the Wikipedia entry for Bryozoa.
(i know that wikipedia isn't always the most accurate place to get info on the web, but the International Bryozoology Association recommends this page, so...)

What is it?

Danielle took the kids to a movie last night which left me free to go kayaking after work. i didn't have any of my gear with me, aside from the kayak of course, but i rolled up my khakis and headed for the lake anyway. it was pretty humid, but otherwise very pleasant.

The only point of interest was finding this (see pictures). i don't know what it is. i found it a few yards from the shore on the north east side of the lake. at first i thought that it was a large clump of frog eggs or something similar. as i examined it a little more i found that it was all one piece. only a small piece was floating on the surface, the majority was below. it looked like it had once been round (maybe about the size of my head), but had since been torn open. it was very slippery, very dense, and surprisingly heavy (maybe about 8lbs., give or take). i tried to lift it out of the water with my paddle to get a better picture, but the weight combined with the slipperiness made it difficult. at one point i was able to get it balanced on the paddle, but i needed to use both hands to hold the it and could not take a picture.while i had it balanced on the paddle, the weight of the two ends pulled the middle section apart and i was able to see the consistency of the material. it was clear, and looked like jello that has too much gelatin and not enough water. i tried to lower it back into the water before the two pieces completely separated, but i wasn't fast enough. the two pieces tore apart an i lost sight of the bottom half. i think it sank. the top half remained floating. that is when i took these two pictures.

i've never seen anything quite like it and i'm hoping that someone out there can enlighten me as to what it is. i have two theories—lake monster egg or alien embryonic sack. have a better idea? let me know.

Going Green

I went kayaking yesterday but didn't have time to post it. So, here it is today.

Last year i did a drawing of a light bulb. This year i decided to be a little more "green" and do a compact fluorescent bulb. there really isn't much to write about for this one. it went pretty smoothly. i had the most trouble with all the overlapping straight lines especially where the glass tubing connects to the base of the bulb.

i also tried to do the entire thing smaller than last year's bulb. last year's took me almost an hour and it had a lot fewer lines than this year's. i was worried that if i did this one the same size it was going to exceed my morning kayak time limit. so, i tried to make it smaller. and it worked. this year's bulb ended up being considerably smaller and only taking about 45 minutes to complete.

it isn't my best work but, all-in-all, i think it turned out alright.

Yesterday's Stats and Map

Always Plan Ahead...

it has been well over a week since i have been out in my kayak so i decided that, no matter how tired i was this morning, i needed to go. and i'm glad i did. it is a great way to start the morning. it really sets the mood for the entire day.

when i left the house i had no intention of doing a drawing. but as i got closer to the lake (which took a lot longer because i forgot about the stupid road closing and forgot to take the detour and had to come up with my own detour... anyway...) i decided that i should probably start doing some before the summer slips away. so, as i paddled out into the water a thought came to me... and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

On July 9 my company, WQLN, is presenting Music Fest, an all day folk/bluegrass festival. using the woodstock dove as inspiration, i created a guitar playing chicken which has become a main symbol for Music Fest. so, my brilliant idea was to do a drawing of the woodstock dove. it seemed like an easy enough idea. well, as i have discovered and re-discovered countless times, it does not matter how easy a design may seem, if you do not plan it ahead, chances are, it will not end well.

i guess if you turn your head and squint the finished product does resemble an older, fatter woodstock dove. it actually turned out so poorly that i'm not going to post the picture. luckily i had my camera today and snapped a few pictures so that this entry is not completely void of pictures. if you feel you need to see it out of some morbid curiosity just follow the link at the bottom of the page.

one good thing that came out of this horrible drawing was that i was driven to come up with something better for the next time. and i think that i have. well, it may not be a better idea, but at least next time i'll have a plan.

Today's Stats and Map

Le Ver

today i decided to try something different instead of going to Edinboro lake i decided to go to French Creek. i went to a nice little spot just east of Cambridge Springs where i have seen a lot of people fishing and where i once stopped and found a geocache.

my goal was to try and make it all the way back to the route 6/19 bridge in town. that actually turned out to be the easy part. the river was very wide and lazy with almost no noticeable current. so, paddling upstream was almost as easy as paddling downstream. i was able to make it to the bridge with plenty of time to go about a third of a mile past and still have plenty time to get back to my car.

the hard part seemed to be getting in and out of the water without getting completely covered with mud. every opening from the shore to the river was pure, thick, clayie, deep mud. getting into the water wasn't too bad. i slid the kayak into the water and then sat across the hull to clean the mud off my feet before getting in and shoving off. but, in order to get out i had to trudge through the shin deep mud. walking through the deep, wet grass helped clean some of the mud off my feet. but, after loading the kayak i had to break out the baby wipes to clean off the rest. thank goodness that we had four children and bought baby wipes in bulk. all four of out kids are well past the diaper wipes stage but, we still have enough of a supply to keep some in both cars just in case. good thing, too. i don't think any of my co-workers would have appreciated me washing my feet off in the sink at work.

Today's Stats and Map

First Trip of the Year... and it's about time.

So, after 8 loooooooooooong months on dry land, i was finally able to hit the water this morning. it was awe... wait for it... some! That is until i got about halfway across the lake and my arms realized what was happening, came to the realization that they hadn't actually done any type of physical activity in the past 8 months, realized that i was only about 10 minutes into my trip and still had about 30 minutes to go, and began screaming at me to please, for the sake of baby kittens, stop paddling. actually it wasn't quite that bad. actually, for not kayaking in 8 months i think that i did pretty well. i may change my mind if i wake up tomorrow morning and can not move my arms.

Today's was pretty relaxing. i decided to start out slow and just enjoy being back on the water. My GPS (having not been used since last October was a little slow to wake up from it's long winters nap and could not get a fix on any satellites which is why my map makes it look like i started in the middle of the lake. i'm good, but not that good.

i was also a little slow to wake up this morning and forgot to take along my camera which is a shame because i saw two snapping turtles this morning. the first one i mistook for a log at first. i was passing by a partially submerged and part of it began to more. i thought that something under the water was agitating it then realized the the moving part of the log was actually the head and front portion of shell of a mostly submerged, huge ass snapping turtle. it's head was at least as big as my fist. when it saw me it sunk and swam off. it was really cool. The second turtle that i saw was on the other side of the lake. it popped up out of the water just in front of me. i almost accidentally hit it with my paddle before it disappeared back into the water. it wasn't as big as the first on that i saw, but it was still pretty good sized. i don't think that i really would have had time to get a picture of either turtle, but it would have been nice to have had a chance.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good start to the season.

Today's Stats and Map

Bugs, Beavers, Dogs, and Ducks

today i thought that a nice leisurely trip would probably be better than struggling with a new design. i just wasn't feeling creative and decided not to try and force it. Plus, i have been wanting to get back into the lake tributaries again ever since my last trip there a few weeks ago.

it was a beautiful morning. the air was cool, but not cold, there was a gentle breeze, and the lake, as far as i could tell, was completely empty. the only one fishing this morning at 7am were ducks and geese. it took about 10 minutes to cross the lake, and another 5 minutes to make my way back to the dock by the park. i was surprised at the amount of algae and weeds that had grown in the area in the last 2 and a half weeks. areas that were completely clear then were now so crowded with vegetation that it was difficult to see the top of the water. i thought about ending the trip there and just circling the lake instead, but decided to press-on and see how far i could get.

After passing the dock i came to a fork in the stream. last time i went to the right. this time i went left. if the maps on google were correct they should come back together. and as i recall from the last trip, i did see a spot where it may have been possible. after paddling a little way i noticed what looked like a small lagoon to the left and decided to go check it out. it was pretty cool, but very overgrown with weeds. after accidentally scaring some ducks, i noticed a bunch of bare sticks and logs littering the entryway. on closer examination i realized that the bark had been stripped by a beaver. so, maybe the thing that i saw last time was a beaver after all and not in fact a muskrat. i guess i'll never know for sure, but this was sure some good evidence for the beaver argument.

after snapping a few pictures i decided to see how far into the lagoon i could get pushing through the weeds and lilies. it turned out to be about 6 feet. as i started through the weeds i felt something on my arms. i looked down and saw thousands of little tiny bugs all over the place. they were on the kayak, they were on my, they were everywhere. apparently the were living on the lilies and when i went through they decided to jump on board. i back paddled as quick as i could and started brushing them off. banging the kayak with the paddle scared a lot of them off, but not all of them.but, i was more worried about the ones on me anyway. i decided not to try to go through the lilies again and headed back out of the lagoon and continued on my original path. i eventually came to a sharp bend around which i found a bridge and a house. a house with 3 dogs that are probably not used to people paddling by. two were tied up and just barked, but one was loose and thought it necessary to stand on the bridge and bark at me the entire time that i was passing under the bridge. i must say that it was a little intimidating. it was a big dog. it wasn't very far past the bridge that i finally came to a dead end. this was almost to the point where i was supposed to meet back up with the other forked stream, but i was definitely not making it through. it was completelyovergrown with cat tails and reeds. it was a good time to turn around anyway. i took to long messing around in the lagoon and was already behind schedule. the trip back was uneventful. when i made it back to the lake i finally splashed off the rest of my little buggy hitchhikers and then paddled like crazy to make it back to the car in time to make it to work.

it looks like there is one more tributary to the lake. i'll have to try that one next time.

Today's Stats and Map