This Is Teapot

This is Teapot. This is last winter on a beautiful afternoon waiting for cross country skiers to come by his post....... this picture is the perfect picture of Teapot.... he loves tea and especially out in the woods. 

Happy Birthday, dear! Let's go find the perfect spot in the woods for a cup of tea!

Phsssstttttt!

That's me blowing raspberries from my straight jacket......

I have been chasing the ever elusive 12 t.p.i. I thought I had it..... yes I did.... but I washed the skein and it relaxed and turned into a 10 t.p.i. So I'm back at it again today.

All day yesterday I spent nursing my prolapsed disk and all the stupid radiating pain down my left leg from sleeping on the ground on a mattress that wouldn't hold up a starving African, let alone a fat middle aged balogna butt. And while doing that, I did some catching up on write ups for work previously done on my level 3 homework.... yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know it is due today. Phhhhssssttt to that too!

Anyway, my 12 t.p.i. turned into a 10 t.p.i. and so I still had a little bit of cotton singles on two spools so I jumped right on that and spun the rest of the cotton as a two ply yarn and guess what..... no guesses eh?...  ok I'll tell you what.... I got my 15 t.p.i. It is washed and hanging to dry as we speak.... All I have left of that blinking section is the dumb and ever elusive 12 t.p.i.

Then there are only two sections left.

It is 5:44 a.m. and the sky is orange, purple and grey off to the east.... I'm hoping it will be a nice day.  I might even take my spinning out on the deck. All is quiet on the home front.... though Daughter #1 is away at a sleep over with one of her friends. I love this time of the day. There are no ruddy interruptions and all is beautifully quiet. Dreamer the horse is pacing in her paddock... the sheep are stirring and milling about, the alpacas are soporific... the cat is off hunting and not making a racket to come in and check his dish for crunchies.  The bats have settled for the day after hunting all night and they are not soaring and veering around the outside of the house... the birds are just starting their morning chatter.  All is well with the world.

Except for that d#$n 12 t.p.i. I think I'll go try again... (sigh)!

A Cold Night Brings Thoughts Of School

I think I can safely say that Canadians generally tend to watch weather patterns. This morning I woke and came downstairs to our first frost. It didn't really surprise me since this area often receives frost between the middle of August and then end of August. Last night, before I went to bed I let Jiggs out... and as I did I had a look at the night sky.... it was full of stars with a crystal clearness that signals a cold night. A sure reminder that it won't be summer for long. We are beginning to think about school again as Teapot and the girls head back a week from now. The growing season is almost over and what didn't die off in the heat over the last few months, is turning brilliant shades of yellow, mustard, and gold. After this frost there will be red as well, I expect.

I awoke this morning to thick fog and wanted to go out into the fog looking for photos.... but the cold chased me back to bed to another hour of reading and partaking of the last few sleep-ins that we'll enjoy before the normal schedule of getting people out the door for school returns. Teapot and I are thinking that we might take the girls for a shopping day soon. Our camping trip was cut short due to weather but the least we can do is give them some time to think about what they want and need before school starts. A shopping trip to the great big city would be good for them... actually for all of us.

Living in a small town has given us good memories over the years. We have on occasion taken our two Daughters for shopping trips and have always found something to laugh about due to their lack of know-how in the big city. Having grown up in a small city (albeit a city all the same) I find that my children's lack of understanding for city things amazes and amuses me no end. For instance, they love to ride on escalators, they love to be the one to press the button on the elevator, and they are not sure what to do when they walk on the sidewalk and come to a street corner where there is a cross walk.... (you know... press the button and wait for the little white walking man) these are the things that having grown up in the city you don't realize that was taught to you to at some point in time.... it doesn't come as a-priori knowledge.  City folk take these things for granted.... we think it is magic!

Our idea of shopping,  living in the north and such a small town, (population about 1000), is to turn on the computer and surf. We can buy just about anything that we want just by surfing around and googling specific terms.... like jeans and runners. The problem is that as the Daughters get older... (and shaplier), there is more of a need to try things on, so that is why Teapot and I think that perhaps it is time they go shopping for real. We have a few things that we are waiting on before we head off for this trip.... (if we go at all) but if we go we will make a bit of a holiday of it and stay in a real live hotel..... oooooh! aaaaah! (And the crowd goes wild!) The Daughters would be able to ride escalators to their hearts content!

Isn't it amazing what a cold night will bring....

That's Not Fair....

Oh what a beautiful morning...... it's sunny.... and to think we could be paddling and enjoying the river if we were still there. Greeeaaatttt! And we came home because the forecast was calling for rain, rain and more rain.... well, I just want to know were all that rain is!!!

I'm seriously p--sed!  : (

I'm Sure Murphy's Law Reigns Supreme

Forget moral law,  forget state law, forget law of any kind except Murphy's Law. That fellow Murphy must have had some power..... I mean his law reigns supreme.... at least in my life.... no doubt about it! Yup.... all summer I begged, pleaded, and desired rain like nothing else and I finally got it. Yup... right when I was camping....
 The grass was wet.... the fire wood was wet... the sleeping bag was wet, (because stupid here forgot to close the vent in the tent)..... my shoes were wet.... my pants were wet.... the matches were wet.... the containers we carried our food in were wet.... the toilet paper was wet.... the dogs were wet.... and muddy. And... my backside hurt from a severe case of siatica.

Murphy... you got to love him.

I'm home again after three arduous days of camping in the bush.... and I mean bush.

After packing on Tuesday... and Wednesday morning, Teapot, the Daughters and I headed off for a hopeful few days of traveling down river with the intention of camping in different spots each night when we got off the river. It didn't quite happen the way we hoped.

Our first camp site was only 20 minutes down river. we did this purposely because we had never camped with the Daughters in this rough situation before, and we thought that if there were any problems after the first night we could combat them with a quick stop at our house as we passed by on our second day. (Our starting point was upriver from our house.) I had never paddled in the steering position on a river before, so it was with trepidation that I set off with Daughter #2 in my canoe about 50 feet ahead of Teapot and Daughter #1. Teapot and Daughter #1 have way more power than Me and Daughter #2 so it was not long before they had caught up to us and we were able to chat away as we paddled along. There were loons and geese all over the place and we saw an eagle on the shore tearing a fish to bits and eating it.... It was overcast but pleasantly warm and just a very soft breeze.


Soon the island that we were going to camp on the first night (one on which we had camped before) was quickly coming up and I was getting nervous thinking about having to maneuver toward shore. one screw up and we would be finding a different island to camp on. The river was high and so it was flowing fairly quickly. There was too much room for mistakes... Teapot was trying to direct me to paddle into a back eddy however if I missed that I was going to be washed right past the whole island.... so in a panic I quit listening to him and headed for shore straight on.... anywhere.... I didn't care if I hit the rocks head on.... I just went for it.... and guess what.... I hit a back eddy that we hadn't seen just a little ways from where Teapot was directing me and made a perfect.... I mean text book... landing.  Daughter #2 and I both had such looks of surprise on our faces that you would have laughed.  I think even Teapot was surprised.... of course I acted like I knew it was going to happen like that.....

Night #1
We set up camp and settled down to making a good supper. Along about 10 p.m. it was dark and getting cool and the Daughters were tired and ready for bed so we all decided to head into the tent.... that when we discovered that one of the air mattresses was leaking.... Teapot found the leak and made an effort to fix it with the great Canadian fix-all tool.... Duct Tape... gotta love it...

After a few short hours of sleep... (ha like that really happened) I looked across to Daughter #1 who was wide awake with her iPod on.... By 5 a.m., Teapot had slept but really no one else had.... (does that say something about men?) due to a too thin mattress, an air mattress that wouldn't stay blown up, and a decrepit old lady with a back problem (ah, that would be moi). The day was cool and grey with the threat of rain.... and sure enough we had a few showers.... but none that lasted long... Everyone was wiped and my back.... ( stupid thing) had decided to seise up.... By noon, I could hardly stand up and certainly not straight.... so much for sleeping on an air bed.... aren't they supposed to be the ultimate in outdoor bedroom facilities?!

Teapot returned home, which was directly across the river from where we were camping, (as the crow flys about 2 1/2 km away) to get foamies and an extra tent so that we could fix the sleeping situation. With my back so bad we thought that not going further down river would be smart until the medication that I always carry for just such situations, kicked in. 

Night #2
It started to rain along about supper time and rained right through the night which would have been alright except that Jiggs in her excitement to rip around the campsite the first night, had hit one of the guy ropes on the tent and provided some permanent damage to the fly... which for you non campers is the thing that helps to keep out the rain. Also I had forgotten the vent and the rain had been pouring in on the neck of my sleeping bag and pajamas.... that meant that when I went to go to bed.... well I was wet. I didn't bother with pajamas that night opting instead for a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. The Daughters by this time were in the tent that Teapot had gotten at the house earlier in the day and  we were in the wet tent with a tarp strung over it. This was good! My sleeping bag was not as bad as I expected and proved to only be wet on the outside.... which I covered up with and extra blanket. I slept but not well, (I read a lot and even practiced Takli spinning in bed) still though it was better than the first night...

So where was I.... oh yes... all night long it poured,.... and poured,.... and poured..... when we woke it was still pouring..... but we managed to get breakfast lunch and supper in the pouring down rain.... with another tarp over our heads, that Teapot had to climb several trees to string. Along about 9 p.m. we all decided that with the rain it wasn't worth staying up and so we headed off to bed. That's when it stopped raining. It was quite a bit cooler. Teapot and I had given up our nice air bed to the Daughters so that they were able to sleep better and my back was just about gone altogether (remember, I read a lot and even practiced Takli spinning in bed)..... I had two 2 inch foamies and Teapot was sleeping on the dud air mattress with the 1 inch foamie over that... And he slept!!!! (I'm sure that says something about men....!)


The next day we enjoyed rain showers off and on with a little bit of sun for about an hour around noon. But it wasn't long before we were back to showers. We kept dry as best we could though walking through the knee high wet grass to the bathroom facilities that Teapot had built, was not helping at all. It was a lot cooler... (only 9 degrees) and my back was continuing to give problems.... that medication was just not doing the trick so I doubled it. Nope... that didn't do the trick either. Teapot tried fishing.... no fish biting with all that rain. He set up a scavenger hunt with his GPS for the Daughters and while they were off looking for his items it really poured. Finally we were all feeling pretty low so we went to bed with the hopes that there would be better weather on the next day.

Night #3
I hit the bed in complete exhaustion.... my jammies were dry.... the tent was dry.... the sleeping bag was dry..... from that short burst of sunshine around noon.... so I was a happy camper. I fell asleep right away and only woke in the middle of the night to the cry of coyotes on the next island.... (very near and quite awesome in a shiver-up-your-back kind of way). I prayed that it would be nice in the morning and promptly fell back to sleep. At 6 a.m. I woke to a light shower hitting the tent so I went back to sleep again.... an hour later I woke again and it had stopped raining.

We got up at about 9 a.m. and had breakfast and called Fadder on the cell to see what the forecast was. Rain, rain and more rain. So we figured that we should pack up while the going was good and cut our mini vacation short. It was just as we were packing that canoes when the last rain shower hit. We got drenched. Down the river to the boat launch which was not far away.... and home for showers and warm dry clothes.

Highlights of the trip???? The full moon coming out from behind the clouds on the first night. Playing finger games with a sleepless Daughter #1 in the middle of the night. Eagle on shore with a fish for its supper. a flock of Canada geese coming in for a landing on the river not far from us. A perfect landing in the canoe. paddling through standing waves perfectly for the first time. Making the decision to buy a Voyageur Canoe also known as a Big Canoe. Getting pretty good at Takli night spinning by flash light.Paddling with Daughter #2. And getting home and dry and warm. Typical trip eh?

Getting to our campsite where our canoes are pulled up.

Looking up river from our campsite.

Looking down river from our campsite.

Sunset

Look at that sunshine as the sun goes down.

Almost gone is that glorious sun. that's the last we saw of it!

Camp fire discussion of what to do about the air mattress in the background.

Roasting marshmellows.

Beautiful clouds....

All around.

Teapot (probably wishing he was fishing...)

Heading home today...

We're old pros by now.....

Off loading the canoes...

That's quite a pile of gear.

Waiting for pick up.

Helping with the canoes... this is not ours but one that we borrowed.

This is ours.

Jiggs looks happy...

Daughter #2 looks happy... well, sort of....

Daughter #1 looks happy.....

Tootsie just looks hairy and nobody can tell if he is happy.... but he probably is.

Teapot looks happy.

That smile means I'm happy....

I think we'd all do it again in a heartbeat... even in the rain!

It Is Really Going To Happen

Everything is just about packed. Teapot came home with two heaping bales of hay from the family that we are buying the 12 bales from. So we are set for hay. The food is packed. The tent is packed. The sleeping bags are almost packed..... I was up till quite late last night repairing a rip in one of the Daughters bags, so that will get packed this morning. The life jackets are ready as are the paddles and the two canoes just need to be loaded....

This is my first time paddling solo.... well not completely solo.... but in the steering seat. While Daughter #2 paddles in the front, I will be in the back keeping the canoe on the straight and narrow.  The first camp spot is not far so I won't have to worry about anything out of the ordinary.... I will just have to make sure that when Teapot pulls into a bay for a landing in his canoe with Daughter #1, that I am right behind him. the first camping spot is only 20 mins down river...so not too far. We will even still get cell coverage there. We will be staying in that camp site for two nights. then after that it gets a little hairier!

Teapot and I have decided to camp at another site for the next two nights that is about 3 hours or 25 km away. We have to pass through a place called the gates. This scares the heck out of me because I know that there can be, depending on how much water is running, a fearsome roll in the water. It is certainly not white water but if you don't hit it right you can get quite wet with the bow plowing under some pretty good rolling waves. We've taken on water there before and it means a good soaking and having to stop and unload the canoe and turning the canoe over and dumping out any water that we have taken on. I really hate that. Once we get past that it is pretty much smooth sailing except for a few spots where there are sand bars that protrude out into the river and if you don't hit the deeper water going around them you can bottom out pretty bad.

Ok... all hell has just broken loose.... we can't find Jiggs......

Later:

Ok... Jiggs came back but not without Teapot having to drive around our area looking for her.... it took a while but she is back... just goes to show that when your back is turned and you're not watching her she will take off. Argh!

Right have managed to finish the other sleeping bag and we are just having a quick lunch and then we are off.... I think we have pack ed everything and all is ready... except for the corn on the cob... which is sitting on the couch... now where in the h--- am I going to put that?!!!

We're off.... see ya!

Conversations Come To An End

Too much of a good thing can get.... well.... let's just say too much of a good thing!  While I've had a hoot writing the last few blog posts, there comes a time when having conversations like that is one step away from a straight jacket and I just don't want to go there. : )

Ok so all summer I was desperate for rain..... we didn't get much... at all.  This week we were planning a trip camping down river... and we are still going to go... but it really ticks me off that the weather is not co-operating. It is raining every day.... not much but enough that it is making going camping.... well not so desirable.  Teapot is off today to haul hay for the animals and then we are going to pack for a trip down river with the girls. We have two canoes we have our list of gear and we are starting to gather everything and prepare... we were supposed to leave today but we are having a hard time finding hay to tide us through till our big shipment arrives.  We have 12 bales ordered from a family who live not too far away from here and another 12 bales ordered from a farm that is a three hour drive away. We are down to 14 sheep now which means that we have rid ourselves of ten.... which also means that they are eating a whole lot less. Still, we are down to the last little bit of hay, and if we want to go away for a few days then we need to have enough to get the people who are going to feed our animals through till we get back.  Meanwhile it is threatening rain. I just had a look on the forecast and it is calling for rain right through the next week.  This is the last little bit of summer vacation and we are down to the wire for a trip down river so we really want to go... after this it just won't happen.

Teapot and the girls go back to school on the 7th. I can't believe that summer has come and gone, yet when I look out the window and see the trees turning yellow and orange then it hits me that the North wind is coming and all those frozen days of winter. The fall birds are back and they are telling us to prepare for those long days of winter too. the sheep are starting to look fluffy again. The dog has stopped shedding. I wore pants the other day and I actually considered socks! In the evening I'm sitting outside still but with a warm poncho thrown around my shoulders. Yep winter isn't far away. When I think that it is only 4 months till Christmas eve... oooh, that's a scary thought.

I have been busily working on my level 3 homework and have made some good inroads into it. I have just finished the 12 t.p.i. question and am hoping that I can get it into the book today. Mind you I slept in till 10 a.m. which is virtually unheard of and that makes for a very short day.  I only have one week to meat my deadline.... well it is my deadline... nobody gave me a solid deadline but I did want to be finished by the 1st of September. I don't think that is going to happen but it is so close I can almost taste it. I never thought it would take me so long to get those t.p.i. questions done and done right.
I have one t.p.i. question left to do and two sections... one on count and the other on commercial yarns and then I'm finished.... not much left to do but enough that I'm chomping at the bit....and now I am going away... that will seriously cut into my time remaining to get this finished. Oh well.... when do I ever meat deadlines on time..... rarely..... as the Big j.c. was an indication!

Just so you know... I will be off line for the next few days as we travel with our girls.... wish us luck... the river is drawing us to it.... as it always does. Canoeing and exploring the water world of this beautiful valley.