It was another banner day on the South Channel. We enjoyed bright sunshine, a light breeze, and the temp was around 27°C (81°F). We finished gathering up propane tanks that need to be filled and empties to go back to the beer store, and sterilized and prepared empty wine bottles for the batches of wine that my parents have ready for bottling at the Wine Cellar Club. I had a good cruise in the boat this afternoon, zipping all over the bay gathering water samples and taking water readings. The ColiPlate test plates are prepared with the water samples and are cooking in the incubator as I write. The results from the tests will be ready to measure and record tomorrow evening. I tested two additional “spot” locations this time around, one near the Big Sound Boat Works and one just east of the swing bridge. The OPP police boat was hiding in a speed trap behind the bridge pilings across the channel from me, lying in wait for the unlucky jet-skier or cruiser that didn’t heed the “Slow – No Wake” sign before the bridge. I wondered if the police would come my way and do an equipment check since I was stopped near the edge of the channel and probably looked suspicious, but they didn’t seem to give me a second glance. My guess is they probably checked me out with binoculars and realized I was doing water tests or something and that I wouldn’t be a likely candidate to help fill their quota of tickets.

The channel is quiet this evening and we are all settling in for the night. The occasional baritone bullfrog can be heard crooning in the dark, with a bevy of peepers serving as backup singers. A very brief sprinkle at around 9:00 PM foretold the possibility of a shower tonight, so we battened down the hatches and took everything inside just in case. A family of five ducks came paddling out of the cove as we were down buttoning up the boat. There were two parents, two young ducks about half the size of the parents, and a tiny little runt duck. I couldn’t help wondering what made him so small in relation to his siblings and thought maybe he’s a “tough young bird”, like my Pop started out so many years ago.

Pop continues on his road to recovery today. The doctors successfully lower the PEEP setting on his ventilator to 8 and his body seems to be tolerating it well. A healthy person’s PEEP from their lungs alone would be around 3 or 5, or something around there depending on the person. If things keep going as well with his respiratory function as they have been, the ICU staff may be able to extubate him (remove his breathing tube) soon and let his lungs take over breathing on their own. Pop’s vital signs overall are strong, but he still remains in a deep fog. Jeremy, his nurse this evening, said that his body is full of all of the drugs that were administered to him over the past five weeks, and that some people just take longer than others to come to a fully conscious state after being so heavily sedated for such a long time. We are all impatient for him to truly awaken, but are confident that the fog will eventually burn off.

Rest up Channel Man. The Channel awaits you.