SOLVED. Incident prone boy visits relatives near lake of cattails for the summer. [s]

[Jeff]

This is a young adult book I read back around '95. A boy and his sister visit their relatives (aunt and uncle or maybe grandparents) for the summer. They live next to a lake. Most of the water has dried up leaving a field of cattails. The boy is incident prone, (not to be confused with accident prone). The boy starts his own business and paints on the side of a barn. His first endeavor is selling worms. His sister watches a birds nest outside her window for weeks. The eggs hatch and she watches the birds until they fly away. Most of the houses around the lake were abandoned after the lake dried up but a few of the people remain. One of the inhabitants talked about how when the lake had water every house had its own conch shell horn, used to call people home or communicate. One of the abandoned houses is overrun with cats. The boy finds a puppy caught in a storm drain, (The dog is unharmed). That is all I can remember about the book. I would really love to find this book. Thank you for reading.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I don't think this is a perfect match, but thought I'd toss it out anyway. Gone-Away Lake. There is a second book, Return to Gone-Away but I'm even more sure that that isn't it.

[Jeff]

I'm 90% sure Gone Away Lake is it! I'm going to head to the library and find out.
Thank you! I've thought about this book countless times over the years.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Be sure to come back and let us know if that is it or not. (And I loved Gone-Away Lake.)

[Jeff]

It is the right book! Reading this has me in a constant state of Deja vu. Little bits of the book keep jogging my memory, (the cough drop in the piano, the philosopher's stone, The Gulper, and The Machine).
It's tough, but I'm only reading a chapter or two at a time, just like when I was a kid.
I can't believe you figured it out from my description. Thanks again!

[Jeff]

Ok, it's half of the right book. I combined two different books in my post above. I separate them and make a new post. Still a book out there I don't know the name to.