lake tomiko – WHAT IT IS/WHAT IT IS NOT

SPIDER

blog photo 93 spider WHAT IT IS

Justine Flagstaff was running down a story in Philadelphia about a strange sighting of colored lights dropping into the water near Penn’s Landing. Witnesses claimed bright objects appeared high in the night sky, descended rapidly and when they hit the water huge eruptions of steam occurred before the objects vanished below the water.

Flagstaff arrived too late to interview anyone, so she hopped on the River Link Ferry and headed back to her hotel room. Sitting on the upper deck, she noticed a man at the far end of the ferry. He was a nervous chap…like a bobble head constantly looking in all directions. Suddenly he sprang to his feet, slapping and swatting at something…insects perhaps. He danced about relentlessly, arms waving and hands and legs quivering all the while yelling and yelping. All this animation attracted the attention of a couple of state troopers and as they approached the man he leapt from the ferry into the Delaware River.

Flagstaff wandered over to where all this took place and found an unusual number of spiders crawling over the bench where the man had been sitting.

WHAT IT IS NOT

INSECT agents Jones and Brown went through a battery of psychological tests to see if they were ready to return to work. INSECT doctors determined they were most likely hypnotized into believing their restraints were real and were simply dumped at Lake Tomiko as a warning to the agency. At any rate, they were cleared for duty, given two weeks paid vacation and told to do some serious relaxing before returning.

Jones nagged Brown incessantly about spending two weeks on Manitoulin Island, and with that the two headed for the Island. They hit the swing bridge at one AM and were the first in line to get across, as the bridge was swung in the open position to allow a large boat to to sail past. As they waited, they realized not only were they the first in line, they were the only ones in line. That is when the spiders came…thousands, tens of thousands…perhaps millions…crossing the road in front of them…behind them…over the car and under the car…into the engine…stalling the engine…inside the car…

SONGS

WHAT IT IS

Mr. Song was the keeper of a magnificent waterfront property on Lake Ontario, not far from Tommy Thompson Park. Mr. Song was a close friend of Mildred Duck and when he heard of Mildred’s upcoming production, he offered the cast and crew the property to use as their staging area.

Mildred was grateful for her friend’s generosity and on their second evening Mildred planned an elaborate wild rice dinner for Mr. Song and anyone he wished to invite. The meal was a great hit, and everyone was enjoying themselves until a loud argument broke out between Mr. Crane from the troupe and Mr. Song’s nephew who just flew in from Lake Tomiko. It seems the free- spirited nephew and the strict discipline of Mr. Crane resulted in the loud disagreements on just about everything.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Margaret Brookside’s experience with office administration, her attention to detail and her ability to work independently made her the obvious choice to scan the hundreds of aerial photos taken by Mutt Jefferson’s swan.

After being released from her duties at the mayor’s office in Beaver Falls, she would spread several hundred photos out on the floor of her office and carefully study each one looking for anything that might stand out.

It was painstaking work, with little reward. For five days Margaret diligently reviewed the photos brought to her by Slim Clemons’s private investigators. When she studied the photos covering the trestle area she was familiar with, the aerial views she was now looking at displayed unusual patterns in the fields surrounding the trestle. The trestle appeared as if it was the center of a spider web, with tentacles shooting off in all directions, many interconnected to one another.

FLYING

blog photo 77 Swan WHAT IT IS

It was a warm spring day, fishing season had just opened on Lake Tomiko and the anglers were out in full force, selecting their secret spots that would land them the prized pickerel they all sought.

A couple of good old boys from Louisiana had their speedboat at full throttle heading for the excellent fishing areas at the east end of the lake when a low flying trumpeter swan appeared on the horizon in apparent suicide flight…heading directly for their boat. It looked like the collision was inevitable, but at the last second the helmsman turned hard to port, spun the boat on a 360, clipped the propeller over some protruding rocks and became helplessly still in the water.

Some local fishermen, seeing what had just happened, towed the Americans back to their lodge, perplexed by the absence of fishing gear in the boat.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Mutt Jefferson was anxious to join the search for Cricket and Sapphire, but he had unbreakable commitments to transport a truck load of Pittsburgh Penguin uniforms to the Paints arena for a playoff promotion soon to be underway. But there was something Mutt could do, while on route to Pittsburgh he detoured to Beaver Falls to drop off a swan he had trained to do grid search patterns with a small HD camera strapped to its underbelly.

THE RED CROSSBILL

blog photo 69 red crossbill WHAT IT IS

The drive from Temagami to Wanapitei took three times longer than normal because Samantha Gallant kept pulling over to the side of the road, wondering just what she’d say to her new siblings, Sapphire and Cricket. Would they believe her? What of their parents, Emma and Bill? Where could they be…what became of them? The questions raced through her mind, the answers, if any, were weak and fragile.

There would be no questions answered on this day! Cricket and Sapphire were not at home, although Samantha told them she was on the way. The neighbour said the pair, cameras in hand, took off down the road chasing a Red Crossbill. Samantha set off in the direction the neighbour indicated and after a few minutes came across two cameras on the side of the road. A tripod, two water bottles and a knapsack were found in the ditch not far from the cameras.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Buck-jimmy and local frog artisan Wilbur-jack were quietly doing the creative process on the shores of Lake Tomiko, when their friend and patron, Gus Madison happened by with a sack of brightly colored pebbles. Gus told the duo of a man in Sault Ste. Marie by the name of Mutt Jefferson who trains birds to do all kind of interesting tasks. In fact, Gus recently purchased a Red Crossbill trained to lick-up tiny pebbles and deposit them on a small sack on Gus’s front porch.

THE FROG

blog photo 20 frog.JPG WHAT IT IS

Early on a Sunday morning, Lake Tomiko resident Gus ‘the master’ Madison was leisurely paddling his canoe along the shoreline when he ventured into a swampy area of the lake. As his canoe skimmed along the water’s surface, Gus came across a huge log where small rocks were unmistakably arranged in patterns resembling Orion, The Big Dipper, Cassiopeia and other constellations were on display.

At the end of the log, a green frog dove into the murky water, but not before Gus got this photo taken. Cricket found a plain brown envelope in our mailbox containing this photo and a brief explanation of the events leading up to the time this photo was taken.

WHAT IT IS NOT

One of the most anticipated events at the Apache county fair in Oklahoma is the frog jumping contest. Frogs from all over the west south central states of the USA converge on Apache to compete for bragging rights and modest prize money.

Sapphire took this photo of ‘buck-jimmey’ who hails from Chappell Hill, Texas and who won the longest jump at thirty-five feet, one inch.