Dear Open-water Rowing Was out yesterday on the Hudson, rowing by myself. I do it a couple of times a week, a misanthrope's passtime. 10 miles in two and a half hours, but the wind came up pretty strong before I got back, and I always stop to look at things and zigzag around. I row a resurrected kevlar guideboat originally made by the Apple boatworks in Amsterdam NY.

The place is crowded with eagles. Must have seen 18 or 20. Once three juveniles were wheeling around about 25 feet away from me. A lot of snowy egrets too.

Went from the put-in at the Coxsackie town park north to the southern tip of Houghtaling Island and back. best, Ed Atkeson

-- Ed Atkeson (edatkeson@earthlink.net), August 30, 2003