The First Canoe of 2014 - for me at least

Mr. Camera Shy is behind me there!  ;)

I do NOT know how it gets to be 9:30 at night before I sit down and plan to write a blog post.  It is officially too late to start my St. Louis post- again- because that is going to take some time.  So will the kids blog post- sorry my darlings, we all know its about Greggy and Ella now.  Love you muchly but babies tend to win, don't they??  :)

At least the turtle let me take HIS picture

And so did this crazy bull.  I think he is the cutest thing

So, even though I did go to Bayfield yesterday and had a FABULOUS time, I still have a few pix to edit from that trip, and I have some NICE photos from the lil old canoe trip I did this morning.

Headed into the Smith Creek section of the flowage

Yesterday on our trip north, it was discussed that none of us who are inclined to canoe had been out yet.  I blame the weather and the mosquitos. The weather has been somewhat rainy/stormy/windy and the mosquitos  you've heard us complain about before.  I'm sure.  And the river was super high and blah blah blah, I was gone and then it was the 4th of July and company, yeah.  So the weather was forecast to be perfect and the MA built this handy dandy canoe rack AND the dear boy was in Park Falls today which all added up to a plan for the Mad-English teacher Adam and I to jump into the truck this morning and head to Smith Lake County Park.

I love these shots with the canoe tip

It was PERFECT.  The morning was cool, the clouds were partly, and there was a little breeze which did pick up later, and was a bit rude at times on the way back to the boat landing, but nothing we couldn't handle.  SUCH a glorious day.

The Oswald family farm on the river

The water is high, and that was just fine.  It was quite a workout going upstream- but we flying downstream!  It was so so pretty out- and I saw SO many dragonflies.  There were so many different sorts of many different colors, lime green, emerald green, turquoise blue, black, black and white, so so many.  It was a fun thing to see- 4 or 5 landed on me.  But they refused to be photographed!!  I tried to remove my little camera from it's drybag for several of them, but they wouldn't hang around.  I don't keep the camera out of the drybag and I never bring my phone in the canoe.  I just can't take that chance, you know?  So I may go down by the river sometime and see if I can catch a few of them on "film".

More creatures willing to have their photo snapped

Love this shot! 

So 3 hours later we drag ourselves back, only having had one little flaw in our preparations.  While we had lifejackets, backed seat cushions, bug spray and (I had) lip sunscreen, we forgot the water and small snack.  We were flagging by the end there.

I hope that I will get back out there next week, there are supposed to be a succession of nice days again!!  YES!!

And that will be a joy.

Canoe, canoe

I finally got to launch the new canoe- who I just realized needs to have a name.  Hmmmmmm.  I have to think about that!  Any suggestions?  Lola 2? idk, but I will be considering the possibilities.

Anyway, it was a breezy day and the MA was a little hesitant to go out, and of course at one point I could have smacked him upside the head with the paddle but that moment passed quickly and we had a pretty nice journey.  The river is VERY high, so we went down the flowage area where Smith Creek enters the river.  It is more protected and quiet and not a lot of current to fight against along with the wind.

This canoe feels a little different from the other one we had and the paddles are different, and I have a ton more canoe experience than last time I was on the Flambeau.  Can you believe I have not been in a canoe (a kayak, yes- a canoe, no) since the Boundary Waters trip???  UGH!

I talked and thought about that trip a lot during that paddle.  It was a wonderful thing to revisit.  I need to do that again!

This is the reason we live up here......

Ready for take off

This is where the creek narrows (I guess this is actually where the creek widens and becomes navigable)

And it is such a joy

One last Boundary waters post- tying up loose ends. LOL!!!!

OMG- LOOK at what I found.  I apparently never tied up these loose ends!  Funny!!  LOOK at the green grass and sigh people of Wisconsin.  It is coming!!!

Ok, I am going to make a few comments as we go here and post this as is.  

Ready to leave!  LOOK!!!  SHORTS and a tank top!  :)

Emily and Rose during their canoeing test at the camp

Emily and Rose after their bailout!  

Emily and Rose with a canoe-full

Preparing for the trip

Packing our shtuff

This is a hoot!  The memories and smells and sounds come flooding back

The other group of canoers who were there at the same time as we were

Swimming!!

Penny!!

Pat hard at work lifeguarding, Nathan trying to get settled and my pedicured toesy!  That pedi was not long for this world.  Lol

First night campsite

Our life jacket tree

Yay for coffee!!!!!

Morning in Minnesota

Typical path to the loo!

Our glorious sandy beach campsite

Oh wow this was so much fun to revisit-

What a fabulous week that was.

And sometimes when you least expect things!

I was lucky enough today to be able to purchase a CANOE!!!  

Now if you know me at all, or at least have known me since last summer, you know that I adore canoeing.  Ever since I returned from the Boundary waters last summer, I have been missing that past time badly.  We took the canoe we had borrowed back to it's rightful owners, and I have been without water transportation ever since.  Sad Debi.

I was in the right place at the right time (wow, that is saying something, considering where I was at the time-eesh) and a colleague of mine told me about a REALLY great canoe he had for sale. He had a need to lighten his load and knew that I might be interested!  So, after thinking about it for perhaps a minute and a half, I decided I probably would be getting this amazing deal, with some nice little perks thrown in. Like paddles and life jackets and good stuff like that. Later, after another meeting, a gym session and a phone call or two, the plans were made.

This morning, Dan shows up with this beauty!  FABULOUS!



It is pretty funny to see the canoe perched in the snow like that~

It is going to be tough to have to wait until May- but it isn't THAT long, right?


And that first launch will be a joy!  Anyone want to join me this summer??  I have an extra life jacket :)

Photo post- again

I am in the mood to blog this afternoon.  I feel very tired but I think I could be making headway towards health.  At least my voice is not compromised today, which is a good thing for my ability to teach tomorrow!  So, what am I going to post?  I am going to scroll through my pictures and see what strikes my fancy- so you will be surprised right along with me.

Some of my favs from past and present- because I want to!  :)  Sorry if this seems excessively long and repetitive.  HOWEVER, it was enjoyable to put together.

Lol, Luann made a comment about the two "Dirty Girls" at this exact moment!

Clean Dirty Girls

Dirty girls

So lovely.  One of the bridesmaids took this pic

Fall at it's finest

Ruger girl

Cute shoes!

Wedding finery

Misty

Full Harvest moon

Lovely fall leaves

Flaming

 FALL was gorgeous this year.  We really thought that the leaves would dry up and fall off.  However, we must have gotten just enough rain to save that from happening.  We were treated to a showstopper!

Surreal landscape

The sunsets were also quite spectacular.  There were no particular big fires out west that I know of- at least none that made our air smoky.

Favorite tree

Little bit of bark right outside the Outhouse Bar

Summer Stone house

Butternut creek

Stone house- alternative view

Inside the stone house

Thistle down

Ashland Marina

Road construction

In the canoe

The most incredible cloud formation of the summer

Still life in red

The Oswald farm

Red barn

Flambeau River

Flambeau River

Rainbow capture at the Mall of America Parking lot

Debi and Callen

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, GoodBYE!

I miss my kids

My seniors

Vermilion Lake

Boundary waters

Boundary waters evening

I am very pleased with this batch of photos.  It was cool to go through and choose them, I hope you enjoy my trip down summer and fall's memory lanes.

Be sure to relive your big and little joys, too!