Happiness...

[Boggy Man]

It is nice to see others enjoying their sinks, and a good bog is definitely the essence of happiness, and Nessie, you definitely look like you are in your element!

Believe it or not, I am still waiting for my first sink. I let one nice hot day go by recently because they were forecasting to be more of them in a row, and I wanted to give things a chance to dry out from the rain and the water/mud to heat up a little. But, after that one day, it rained, and we were back to the unsettled weather that has been plaguing us since April 1'st. By this time last year, I had gone on six adventures, and the previous year, five! But, things will change, with some serious summer sunshine and heat beginning early this week (high 20's ˚C Tuesday to the low to mid 30's˚C after that, or the low 80's ˚F Tuesday to the high 80's to mid 90's ˚F later in the week), with no end in sight! If things go the way I hope they do, my first bikeride of the season just might be my first vertical submersion of the season as well! I can't wait to see the state of my bogs and start the sinking!

Nessie, perhaps you should invest in one of those pelican cases for transporting cameras through water/wet places. Then, you can reach the floating island and the camera will be safe!

[Nessie]

Do you have a back-pack arrangement with the camera and tripod that would allow you to free both your hands for such a challenging location to get to?

Actually, I have never used a backpack as I find something about them irritating. This may have to change for this particular site, though. Maybe just a little one, lightly packed, won't make me want to claw it off my back when my back sweats on it. They are cheap enough at thrift stores. It would make it easier to navigate the way in through the marsh.

It won't solve the problem of getting to the deep sedge mats, though, since if the camera's in my backpack, I'll still have to get it out and find a place to put it...and that place may not actually exist!

Guess I won't know 'til I explore more. Meanwhile, back to sumac-land to bag the sure thing...

Nessie

[Nessie]

Believe it or not, I am still waiting for my first sink.

What? YOU???

(Nessie reaches for emoticons, which she rarely uses)



I guess it's true that no one year is exactly like another. We all have bad days and even bad years.

Geesh, though, I know that you need your mudpits! I hope you get out there soon!

Nessie

[Nessie]

Now that is a picture of contentment! Thanks for the images, Nessie. I find them very soothing...

It was soothing. Very relaxing. I had all day to play out there and it was so warm and sunny that everything about it felt nice.

Thursday was better for Visit #3. Some rain and slightly cooler weather kept the deer flies away - plus it is almost the end of their season around these parts - and the mud was nice and gloppy.

It's been a bad year for bugs and flies for me. I got dive-bombed today. The mosquitoes around here love it when the sun won't come out and DEET only goes so far.

And I got the ultra-tough stuff too.

Sounds like it's rough going for you but...you're winning!

Nessie

[nachtjaeger]

Nessie, that shot of you in that filmy "goddess dress" or whatever it actually is, is awesome. The first image that popped into my mind was "The Lady of the Lake."

Now, if you should happen across a 6th century Romano-British sword in your bog, don't just toss it at the first guy that comes along. It is MINE, and I will come in person to the middle of your bogs to claim it. You just have to wear that white dress thing when you hand it to me, 'k?

[PM2K]

Lady of the Lake? Yeah, I can see that...

But considering the circumstances, perhaps Belle of the Bog or Mire Mistress would suit better...

[Boggy Man]

Believe it or not, I am still waiting for my first sink.

What? YOU???

(Nessie reaches for emoticons, which she rarely uses)



I guess it's true that no one year is exactly like another. We all have bad days and even bad years.

Geesh, though, I know that you need your mudpits! I hope you get out there soon!

Nessie

Yes, it is hard to believe! Before that, I missed out on another brief break from the unsettled weather several weeks earlier because I came down with a cold! A few weeks before that, another brief break was ruined because I came down with the flu, likely picked up in a restaurant during Mother's Day! And several weeks before that, I wasn't able to take advantage of a brief warm spell in the third week of April that lasted several days, because my 12 weeks of limited activity hadn't ended yet. I had been recovering from an operation to repair one of my tendons in my baby finger of my right hand, which had snapped back in late January while I was cleaning our raspberry patch! Healing time was 12 weeks, and the last day of the warm weather was on the last day of the 12 week healing period! So, this is definitely going to be one of my latest starts so far!

But now, all the cloudy, unsettled weather is over, and any day is fair game! But, I plan on waiting just a couple more days to let the bogs and cleanup water warm up before I go! I plan on checking out my mud lake pond and my Crescent Road pond, and if things go right and nothing is submerged, I just might be able to capture one or two sinks on video with my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 (metallic blue)!!!! But, posting the video(s) won't be immediate, since I have to think some things through regarding the best place to post them, although I am leaning towards YouTube, but making them "Unlisted" so that they will be only accessible by the links I provide, which will avoid having them featured in the related videos section on the right side of the page, where I have seen some of your videos appearing from time to time.

[Nessie]

Yikes. You have not had a good year at all. That's lousy to get sick off Mother's Day. I hope that Mom didn't get it too.

I've never tried to mud when I was sick, although I have had nightmares about coming down with something right before a mud trip. Every mud trip I ever took was out of state and all except one involved plane tickets.

Wonder how sick I'd have to be to actually call up a mud partner and say, "Guess I can't make it...unless you want to mud with a woman who pukes on the mud!"

I wasn't able to take advantage of a brief warm spell in the third week of April that lasted several days, because my 12 weeks of limited activity hadn't ended yet.

12 weeks?!

That explains some of it. That's a lot of time to lose. I think I'd go crazy if I had to take it easy that long.

Which is strong motivation to play in my mudpits safely. If I'm an idiot, and I damage something, after I crawl in agony to my car, I'd have to stagger into the emergency room, and then be told I can't do anything for ages. Then I won't be happy at all. Nobody'll really know why, but it WILL be because I won't be able to get at my mudpits!

Nessie

although I am leaning towards YouTube, but making them "Unlisted" so that they will be only accessible by the links I provide, which will avoid having them featured in the related videos section on the right side of the page, where I have seen some of your videos appearing from time to time.

I kinda thought mine were unlisted (they only have serial numbers, not actual names, and no tags or descriptions) but for some reason they've been picked up by the system anyway. It may be because some folks do nothing but cruise YouTube for mud and YouTube knows that I get clicked on a lot in the middle of clicks on other mud stuff, and so I end up "related" anyway.

If you want to just keep your YouTube to being viewed through links you post, perhaps you'll be stuck deleting your account and making a new one periodically. That way the unknown riffraff won't be able to keep track of you...but we will.

Nessie

[Boggy Man]

Yikes. You have not had a good year at all. That's lousy to get sick off Mother's Day. I hope that Mom didn't get it too.

I've never tried to mud when I was sick, although I have had nightmares about coming down with something right before a mud trip. Every mud trip I ever took was out of state and all except one involved plane tickets.

Wonder how sick I'd have to be to actually call up a mud partner and say, "Guess I can't make it...unless you want to mud with a woman who pukes on the mud!"

I did go hiking and sinking while suffering from a cold once while visiting relatives in Manitoba. My sore throat had gone down, and my strength was starting to return. In fact, while I was playing and immersing myself in waist-to-chest deep mud, I sometimes forgot that I even had a cold! It felt sooo gooooood to close my eyes, take a deep breath, and plunge myself completely under the soft mire, feeling its texture around me, wishing I could hold my breath longer, finally coming up for air before going under again. But, that evening, my nose started to run, and wouldn't stop! I started to go through lots of kleenex, and it might have been several days later when I started getting coughing fits which lasted for a while. But, before that day, when I had been feeling weak, there was the tempting idea running through my mind to go sinking in sticky clay beside Lake Winnipeg, since having less strength would have made it more of a challenge to get out of, which seemed rather arousing to think about, but I never did it.

12 weeks?!

That explains some of it. That's a lot of time to lose. I think I'd go crazy if I had to take it easy that long.

Which is strong motivation to play in my mudpits safely. If I'm an idiot, and I damage something, after I crawl in agony to my car, I'd have to stagger into the emergency room, and then be told I can't do anything for ages. Then I won't be happy at all. Nobody'll really know why, but it WILL be because I won't be able to get at my mudpits!

I was just glad that the 12 week wait started in the middle of winter, so that I was free to do unlimited activities starting in late April. Nothing like tugging on some dead leaves to clear them away, having your baby finger go snap, and suddenly the end of it stops working, no matter how you try! My flexor digitorum profundus snapped just before the bone, leaving a stub attached to the bone, and the surgeon did a mattress suture with a bone anchor to make the repair strong. I still don't have full movement in that end joint, but it is slowly improving, as the scar tissue, which adheres to the tendon, breaks down.

I kinda thought mine were unlisted (they only have serial numbers, not actual names, and no tags or descriptions) but for some reason they've been picked up by the system anyway. It may be because some folks do nothing but cruise YouTube for mud and YouTube knows that I get clicked on a lot in the middle of clicks on other mud stuff, and so I end up "related" anyway.

If you want to just keep your YouTube to being viewed through links you post, perhaps you'll be stuck deleting your account and making a new one periodically. That way the unknown riffraff won't be able to keep track of you...but we will.

Nessie

YouTube has an option for making your videos unlisted, such that they will be invisible to everyone that visits your channel, and won't show up anywhere else. The only way for people to access them is to provide them with direct links to each video.