The “House Critters” At the Lake

   If you have read any of the other “House Critters” stories you already know the cast of characters. They are Big Bunny, Blue Booby, Ducky Duck, Henrietta Bobbie Bunny, Rainy Reindeer and a few humans. I must keep listing the critters because they like to see their full names in the stories. Everyone was moping about, it had been hot, it was hot, it was going to be hotter and it was just early July. The air conditioners were doing the job of keeping inside around 70 degrees but without going outside to move about critters and humans were getting cabin fever.  

  Barb got everyone together; sent Bob out to get the car, threw a bunch of stuff into a large tote and had Bob take out a big cooler. Once in the car she told Bob, “Go to my sister’s house!” The drive took less than 10 minutes, the temperature dropped 10 degrees and they weren’t even down at lake level yet. You may recall from previous stories that the critters knew Jackie and her husband (Don) quite well and were always welcome at their house. Many times Ducky swam over using the outlet to get to the lake and then cutting diagonally across the end of the lake to their beach.

  Bob went directly to the stairs that went down to the beach with all the critters following him. Critters don’t need to worry about changing into swimming suites as they just use their birthday suite, so they just kept going right into the water. You may think that some critters would be more at home with the lake than others and you would be correct. The bunnies stopped where the water washed up to their bellies, Rainy went out till the water washed under his belly while the other two got on their bellies and paddled out to deep water. Within a few minutes Amy, Barb and Avatar (Amy’s boyfriend) came down to the beach with Jackie calling down from the deck to get a drink order together. Bob didn’t need to ask for anything, he just followed Amy into the basement where she was getting her paddle board and he was going to the refrigerator to get a beer.

   Amy got out on the paddle board and Ducky wanted a ride. He didn’t go anywhere different or much faster than he could on his own but really enjoyed not having to paddle. Next Blue got the trip around the floats and docks within a loop around the cottage. Amy, being the good person she is, came in and asked if the others wanted a ride. Rainy could swim using the doggie paddle but didn’t think hoofs would keep him on the board very long and the bunnies didn’t think they were designed to be water creatures and were content at the surf line building sand castles and decorating them with pebbles and shells. Everyone was feeling much cooler and was a lot more interested in being active now that they were in the lake.

   Jackie and Don came down with trays of drinks, munchies and dips just as Amy came in from taking the paddle board across the lake and back. She thought it was great timing while the critters just thought it was great as Jackie always had veggies that each of the critters liked. Bob loaded up a plate, put his beer in the holder and pushed off in a floating chair to find a shady spot next to the pontoon boat called “Queen Jackie” to enjoy the munchies. While Bob was still enjoying his snack Jackie decided a boat trip was in order, so Bob had to move when the critters and other humans loaded and Don pressed the magic button that lowered the Queen into the water.

 Bob wasn’t going on the cruise to look at other cottages and decide if any updating had been done to them as he had to get grilling the items for supper. They were having Spiedie chicken kabobs so he needed to get the chicken on the skewers to do the precooking which took about 2 min.s a side with never more than 10 min.s for any skewer. This was done over high heat to sear the chicken cubes which would finish cooking along with the veggies over medium heat for another 4 min.s a side depending on how big the pieces of chicken and veggies had been cut.

   Out on the lake things were going great, the humans were sitting in the padded captain’s chairs blabbing away and the critters were lying about on the wrap around seats in the bow and stern of the boat, just like royalty on a barge in ancient Greece. It helped that Jackie had brought along the rest of the munchies and there always was a cooler full of water bottles in the boat. They cruised south to Point Neamo, which is the beach for the local college, and then Don headed east across the lake. Then he turned to the north so they could check out what appeared to be a total cottage teardown. Jackie remembered the two beautiful cottages that had been located where one large home was now being built on the point. This happens a lot on water ways around the country as it seems everyone wants their vacation home not to be a summer camp but rather to be their house in a different location. They continued north and watched campers in canoes, kayaks, and a dozen or so small sail boats called sunfish.  Don noticed many of them didn’t appear to know what they were doing so he went way out around them. The critters decided that Bob needed to buy Amy a sunfish so they could all go for rides with her. Amy liked the idea as she had sailed one of them and much bigger sail boats while at six years of summer camp. They continued on till they came to a marina with many boats of all sizes tied up at the floating docks. Then they passed a town park where children were swimming and playing on the swings, slides and teeter-totters which is where Don headed west to get back to the cottage. They passed a restaurant, then another town park with more swimming and playground activities going on and many more lakeside homes and cottages before Don pulled into his boat host.

   The critters all scrambled out and raced over the dock to dry land and the great smells the bunnies had picked up while still out on the water.  Bob had timed the kabobs to be done a few minutes after the landing, which he had judged from using binoculars to watch the crew come up the east side of the lake. The picnic table had been all set up for eats by Jackie before the crew arrived so all Bob had to do was lay kabobs on the platter at each end of the table. Jackie got a couple of salads out of the fridge and everyone yelled at somebody to get drinks. Avatar was down on the beach looking at the bunnies’ marina and castles so he got stuck bringing up an armful of very cold pop cans and beer bottles.

   During eating time many discussions about the boat trip took place with the new house where two cottages had been coming up the most. The campers out in boats they didn’t seem to be trained for was next and general discussions about who had done what to their lake frontage filled in the rest. There was, as usual, family matters sprinkled in around everything else.  As you have guessed none of the critters was into chicken no matter how it was prepared. They each got a personalized skewer of veggies they liked and of course some trading of items took place. They ignored the human chatter while eating and when clean up took place but somehow noticed a conversation about what to have for dessert. When a walk to the ice cream store was suggested they all agreed with the activity and each had a flavor picked out. They get served in bowls, as you might expect, because cones are not easy to use when you don’t have thumbs. The night concluded with a bonfire, where the critters got a suprise, as what day at the lake is complete without cinnamon gram crackers, marshmallows and chocolate made into that wonderful concoction called S’mores!