Milfoil Primavera

July 16

Wind: from S 1.2 m/sec (3 mph)

Air Temperature: 25.7 °C (78 °F)

Water Temperature:25.97 °C (79 °F)

Today at the lake, there were not so many people there, which as a big relief. The parking lot was still mostly full, but there were not cars parked illegally along the entrance road. 

The energy was much more laidback, the Tuesday night crowd. 

I ran into one of the regulars, who I now know as Stu, and it was nice to say hi. He pointed out a man sitting on the steps near the beach who had fallen. He was at his car getting something to help they guy clean his wounds. I stopped by the man on my way and asked if he was ok. 

Then I saw some people on the beach with cute little dogs, one on a red lease, one on a pink leash. I thanked them for using a leash and tried to compliment their dogs, but they didn’t speak English, so I just smiled and then walked over to my little area of the beach.

I tried a new approach today (well, not totally new because I did it the other day; I just haven’t written about it yet), swimming north instead of south. A lot less paddle board and boat traffic in that area. It turned out to be a lovely surprise because there is a stretch of beach where the water is sort of shallow and not covered in milfoil. It’s shallow enough that the other day my swim buddy, J, and I just stood in the shoulder-deep water chatting for awhile before heading back to the beach. 

I think because it’s farther from the swimming beach and the put-in area for boats not as many people want to walk that far. So now I have a plan.

Today I was exhausted from all the drama around possibly losing my housing, so I decided to swim breast stroke, to go slowly, and to not stay in the water too long. 

As I swam over this new part of the lake I could see thousands of milfoil strands in the water. I couldn’t tell if they were more yellowed and frayed or if the sunlight and angle were different enough to make the bright green plants seem faded. There were broken strands floating in the water, as well as lots of green and brown-sh fluff clumps. The poor lake is getting used so much that everything feels disturbed. 

I saw a school of itty bitty fish, less than an inch long and wondered why their mom and dad waited so long. All the other little fish are almost four inches now and getting some girth to their bodies. 

[I almost forgot – the other day I saw a large fish – maybe 7 or 8 inches, swimming straight down toward the milfoil. It looked like it has stripes and dots. Don’t know what type of fish it was, but I was super excited to see it and that it completely ignored me.] 

Once I got about 15 minutes away from the cement dock I did some backwards chair stroke for awhile so I could look out at the mountains and across the lake. I was so happy be in the water even if I was too tired to swim much.

On my way back toward the cement dock I saw clumps of milfoil that seemed to be reached the surface of the water, then holes where I could see the lake floor. As I swam across a tangle of stalks I realized how relaxed I was. Maybe this is the same with divers in the ocean. If you do something enough times it starts to feel familiars, and the fear subsides. 

Nothing has ever darted out from the milfoil at me, so I’m feeling pretty safe swimming over it. I try not to tread water at the depth were I can still see stalks, but otherwise I think it’s not a threat to me. 

I could feel my energy draining, so I slowly swam back into the swim area, then made my way to the beach. Showers still hot! 

Thank you, lake.