Memorial Day weekend 2013, Day 1

It was a chilly start with temps down in the 40s overnight. I fed the dogs, tied the canoe to the car, and was on the river before 8:00 a.m.  It was clear and cool, a beautiful morning.  I saw a bald eagle, a couple Great Blue Herons, many ducks, lots of turtles, some pretty big, and one pair of geese with at least 8 goslings.

The river was fairly high still but not high enough to completely float over all the normal obstacles.  I hit a partially submerged rock, it turned my canoe sideways, and the current swamped it.  The river wasn't deep but the current was strong.  I managed to keep ahold of the canoe and paddle.  I discovered that a thermos full of coffee actually floats (who knew?), and I managed to catch it too.  It was the day after the Boy Scouts finally decided that I could join their organization and I felt like I should turn in my canoeing merit badge.  However, after pulling the canoe ashore and dumping all the water out, I remembered that part of the test for the merit badge had required us to intentionally swamp the canoe and recover it, a task I had accomplished masterfully today. 

The rest of the trip was chilly, but the sun was shining and I paddled the entire way to keep myself warm. 

My canoe, back on dry ground at the end of the trip. 
The seat is a real back-saver and the kayak paddle is great for a one-man canoe. 
The yellow dry bag saved my camera and phone.

When I got back home, Clay was in the middle of brewing up a new batch of beer.  This is another porter, and you can see that it's very dark. 

It should be very good. 

 

 

 

Augie and Rocky checking out the new platform.

I was back home, warm and dry, well before noon.  My other project for the day was moving a long wooden platform from one of the empty kennels over to the dog yard.  We accomplished it without hurting ourselves with the aid of a little engineering. 

It is set up next to Trooper's observation post and offers an elevated platform only about 3' off the ground.  It also creates some shade.  I'm not sure this will be the final arrangement, but it works for now. 

x



The support structure required a little reinforcement.  Maya had to help, of course.

Here's a few pics from my container garden.  The cold night was tough on my sweet potato vines but most of last week was finally pretty good for the garden.



Hercules with a toy.  He can't really carry this
but he pushes it around with his nose and paws.

No blog post is complete without a picture of Gigi.
She is wearing her new elbow pads and laying on soft grass.

  This is my 1000th blog post since starting this back at the end of 2008. Thanks for reading.