So Melissa has consistently been doing 7 to 8 hours a day in meetings for the past two weeks. New team members spinning up has added to her already heavy workload. While Dave has been taking half days off. So Melissa decides today she is going to take a whole hour and go for a kayak ride at lunch with Dave. This marina is right at the entrance to a small stream that runs inland. So we launch the kayaks and head up stream.
It’s a pretty gorgeous day. We paddled up as far as we could go upstream in the kayaks. At the end we found this amazing old water wheel. A bit of research later revealed that it powered a saw mill that was used to build ships.
We suspect that this was the original house that was owned by the guy who owned the mill and the water wheel. Its so cute and would make a perfect summer cottage if someone were to fix it up. Melissa later discovered that the property on which it sits includes the more modern house you see in the background. So no hope of buying it and renovating.
As we head back down river we hear sirens. They stop at the marina. As we reach the marina two paramedics come running down the dock. They hop aboard the boat docked at the far end of the marina so they can look out over the bay with binoculars. We paddle close enough to hear the radio communications. At this point a neighbor paddles his canoe out to his small ski boat which was on a mooring buoy, powers it up, speeds to the marina, picks up a medic, and then full power – speeds out to the boats anchored in the harbor. Turns out a guy who was aboard one of the boats cut his hand off somehow. So not good. And we thought we had a bad day yesterday.
About the time the rescue boat shows up, the paramedic that went aboard had loaded the injured man back aboard the ski boat and they headed back to the marina. Upon reaching the dock, they loaded him onto a gurney and from there into a waiting ambulance. They were headed for a nearby elementary school where the airlift helicopter was inbound to take him to Harborview. They had secured the hand on ice and the hope was to sew it back on. Melissa has checked the news several times to see how this story ended alas she couldn’t find any news articles on it.
After all that excitement it was time for burgers again!
After dinner, a good friend messaged. He asked whether Melissa had heard that her Mom’s husband had died. No indeed she had not. We would learn in the days following that he died a hard death – a heart attack – all alone and scared. Its super sad. He was a good man who didn’t deserve to die that way. In these days of COVID, not clear what sort of service for him is even possible. There are rumors of an online memorial, but no specifics yet.