First Paddle of the Season...

Thought I'd do a quick update while my home connection is working and while I wait for the Northwestel tech guy to arrive. He's supposed to be able to figure out why my connection dies at random intervals and is off line more often than not lately!


Last weekend Tehya and her buddy, Popeye, were running around on the ice at Marsh Lake.

This weekend I loaded the kayaks and headed to the McClintock River. I decided to paddle the Carolina. It's much more forgiving than the Eclipse, which could be important early in the season!

There's still a bit of snow and ice on the banks. The banks show the effects of last year's flooding too.

The water level is very low and it's full of silt. Later in the year, the McClintock gets quite clear. Hopefully, the water levels won't get quite as high as last year!

What happens when you come to visit....

You get put to work!

Even if you are my Dad and you just brought me a new-to-me van! Yup, you still have to wash the ol' truck! My Dad and I generally disagree on just about everything critter related. I just ignore his ramblings now, but I have to agree with him on this one. That's Chum in the picture with him. There is nothing that Chum hates more than the pressure washer, except maybe having his nails clipped. No matter how wet he got or how annoyed Dad got, Chum kept coming back for more, leading Dad to declare him "retarded". That might be a bit harsh and certainly not politically correct, but that dog isn't all there!

Mom didn't really get put to work, but she hates a dirty kitchen almost as much as Chum hates the pressure washer. Someone how that gene skipped me, but I like to think I inherited some other good traits from her. Happy Mother's Day, Ma!

Looking for your terrier mix dogs?

Surely someone is missing these two little sweeties.


I picked them up on the highway this morning, near Wolf Creek. They hopped in my truck like we were long lost buddies. They are ridiculously sweet!

Normally, I would have just brought them home, but they are pretty little and some of the huskies aren't so good with little dogs! So they are at the city pound. I feel like a bag of crap for taking them there, but I would feel even worse if I saw their little broken bodies on the side of the road!

I'd rather not have to post their bail, so if these little sweeties are your dogs, or you know where they belong, please call Animal Control at 668-8317 and reclaim them!

Edited to add...the little punkins were very quickly reclaimed by their owner!

Playing with fire....

This is how I spend much of my non-canine time, playing with fire...safely of course!

A glass bead starts out looking something like this! I have an ever growing collection of these rods.

Then I do some of this!

And some more fire! This can take awhile!

Eventually, the bead goes in this ugly, but effective kiln. The annealing cycle takes about 12 hours.

When all that is over, pretty beads come out of the kiln!