The Fog and the Vet Appointment 10/10/02 Yesterday morning I had an early Vet appointment. Now, you must know that while we are here in Canada, we live on an island, so one must take a BOAT over to the village, where the car is parked. This Fall has been unusually warm, so the lake is still warmer than the air....do you know what that means? FOG. MAJOR FOG, LIKE BIGTIME, CAN'T-SEE-THE-HAND-IN-FRONT-OF-YOUR-FACE-TYPE FOG. OK, I figure I have been on this lake for fifty-some-odd years, I should know how to go around the corner of our island (where there is a little lighthouse) and then make it STRAIGHT IN to the public docking area. STRAIGHT, no turns, nothing in the way, no problem, just keep the steering wheel straight, RIGHT? WRONG. (Incidentally, I had not anticipated this fog in preparation to leaving, so didn't leave any extra time). OK, so, I carry the dog and crate to the boat, and start out, despite all interior warnings that would be in a sane person's mind. Around the corner, straighten her out and "just" go straight in to town. No problem. I tried to follow the tree line on the island to my right, but couldn't see it at ALL.  In fact, couldn't see much of the WATER around my boat, the fog was so close-in. I went slow, not knowing WHERE THE ---- I was, and knew if I got too far over to the right that I could hit a huge rock shoal on the next island. But, hey, I had this Vet appointment and HAD to get there. So, onward and upward! Slow, slow, trying to keep away from the island on the right, I FINALLY start to see the darkness of a treeline ahead, tho I knew I was headed straight for it, instead of passing it like I was supposed to, but at least it would tell me where I was.  I inch up to it, get to the back of the boat where I could see better, and as I come up to it, I'm thinking, gee, this LOOKS familiar, but I am not placing WHERE it is.  I have been going for at least 20 min, so I was trying to think of WHERE this could be, twenty minutes away. (The REAL trip, when you can SEE, is, like, FIVE minutes). OK, inch by inch, I get closer to this shore, wondering where I AM, and suddenly, I realize I am back at my own LIGHTHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally undaunted, and actually given more hope, since now I could line up the boat with the island and just head STRAIGHT in toward the village, even tho I still could not see any tree lines. There wasn't even any wind, so I could tell which way I was going by the wind direction (I'm sure some great SAILOR has already thought of this)! OK, so I keep going, DETERMINED to get to that Vet, and NOW NOTICING I AM ALMOST OUT OF GAS! Long story short, I traveled for another twenty minutes, worrying about the gas (of course, we OWN a marina, so why would I have lots of GAS in my boat?), very carefully, and low and behold, saw another mass of trees in front of me. Inch by inch, and what do I see? I have come upon our NEIGHBOR'S dock, same island as the lighthouse, but closer to mainland by about 300'. So, I was STILL basically "home"! I won't say what my exact, out-loud words were, but it was something like "screw it." I followed the shoreline back to our place, tied up the boat, went up to the cottage and called the Vet to say I would be about a day late. TALK ABOUT going in circles!!! Of course, NOW the big joke at the marina is that Judy needs a G.P.S. (Global Positioning System) to get from Hen Island to mainland (about 2 straight miles). Back to Judy Stories List HOME