Who am I? I have a happy little existence with my husband, my large yellow lab & my two kittens. My dog is 100 lbs of bouncy joy. My male cat is addicted to "Greenies", catnip & thinks he's a dog. My female cat looks like a sweet housecat, but is a serial killer.
I took up fencing after I turned 40 & wanted to find a sport that would keep me active and fit into my old age.
I spend my time coaching beginners, training, & working at our vintage autosound business.
Note: Some of my blog entries are only available to my "Blog Buddies". They are either private in nature or about coaching. I make my coaching entries private because public entries can be read by the general public. While I never use names, the descriptions of the events can reveal information and I want to respect the privacy of my students. If you would like to be on my list, please PM me and I will add you.
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High-line Parries.:
A cougar giving birth to tigers? How is that even genetically possible? :D
Prior to going to our usual camp we went up north gold panning. This is a spot we have never been before.There are 4 of us, my husband, two Europeans & I. We were initially a group of 7, but this story begins the second day at this camp after the other 3 moved on. Gold Panning- Part one is a private entry that is written prior to this one. If you're a blog buddy you should see it.
We decided to stay a few more days & look for gold before continuing on to our usual camp. I didn't bother to set-up a full camp, as I really was hoping on leaving sooner rather than later.
Our first task was finding an ATV route down to the river. The Swiss guy & hubby decided the best option was to open up an old road that hubby found earlier. The Swiss guy scouted a route ahead by foot while the German & I removed the overgrowth.
As hoped, it lead us straight down to the creek. Buggy… but beautiful. We spent the next few days panning, fishing and swimming. The Europeans each took home a little vial of gold, the German caught the largest bull trout my husband has ever seen and he also found some shed moose antlers.
The last night, we watched a storm approach. The boys & I were star gazing when the German asked me what those flashes were in the west. .. I turned from my northern gazing (hoping to see Northern lights) to see what he was talking about.
Typically, our weather comes from the west, off the ocean, so I quickly realized it was sheet lightning (recognizing it from travelling through the prairies). So I got the boys busy covering everything for a rainstorm. Afterwards we watched the storm approach. For me, this was a rare treat, that usually only happens on the prairies. The mountains, trees & buildings of Vancouver generally obscure any long views. While we were surrounded by mountains, I realized that we were in a large valley and had a long westward view. Soon we were hearing the distant boom of thunder as the lightning made it’s way towards us. I could tell it’ll be several hours before it was overhead, so I decided to go to sleep.
I was awoken to the storm overhead. Hubby invited the dog on the bed (thinking he might be upset by the noise). I laid and listened to the storm while our dog Eddy lay cuddled up beside me. He snored softly. Everytime there was a boom of thunder his legs started to move, then he would put my hand in his mouth… at which point I couldn’t help but laugh to myself… he was having happy little lab hunting dreams… the thunder was gunshot sending him off to fetch up the bird. Yup… my dog was real scared of storms! LOL…
Looking at my watch, I estimated it took 3-4 hours for the storm from the time we first saw it. The storm passed over us in about hour. Unfortunately the dampness made the bugs even worse the next morning as we broke camp. It was a good day to leave, another weather system was on it’s way.
I enjoyed that part of the trip to some extent. It’s unlikely I’ll camp up there again. Plus I found the initial size of the group unwieldy and hard to manage and no one in charge. Hubby & I didn’t take the lead, as this was Ron’s trip and Ron wasn’t a good leader. He wasn’t used to dealing with a group. Naturally, things got much easier when they left, as we took over & it was easier to manage a group of 4 rather than a group of 7. Plus the remaining 4 had good skills.
I have a lousy sense of direction but the other 3 were excellent. I am an excellent bush cook, capable to turning whatever someone gathers or hunts into a good meal. I also possess a certain amount of common sense & experience. The German is a trained forester. He was valuable in quickly clearing old roads as well as recognizing edible plants. The Swiss guy & hubby were fantastic navigators & mechanics. The Swiss guy loves fishing & could always be counted on for fresh seafood. My husband studied geology, so knew where we would likely find gold. He also knew this part of the country and showed the boys how to kill & prepare grouse (something they could easily do with homemade slingshots as they didn’t have hunting permits). We all got along very well and shared a good sense of humour.
09-09-2009 04:58 PM