My July 14'th Adventure, Part 4 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix) A couple more pix of muddy areas in the pond north of Crescent Pond:
2017 07 14 1N Pond North Of Crescent.jpg
2017 07 14 1O Pond North Of Crescent.jpg
I returned to my main pond, and got all my stuff together. I also retrieved my breathing hose, in case I wanted to use it, but it took a while to locate it, because the old beaver lodge I had hidden it beside was all deteriorated and seemed smaller (perhaps a beaver dismantled it to use the material elsewhere), and I had passed by it while searching. I took another photo of my bog:
2017 07 14 1P Crescent.jpg
Then, I was finally ready to get things set up for my first sinking video since 2014!
I got my camera mounted with the tentacles of the Gorilla Pod wrapped around a long stick stuck into the floating vegetation on the southwest side of the bog, and got the location of my "landing/sinking" spot nicely framed and centered. But, just when was in the process of changing clothes, leg cramps hit me hard, causing me to be in excruciating pain!
I had to wait a while for the cramps to subside, sitting facing south in the meadow with a patch of white bog orchids to my left. When I finally started to feel better, I got ready, got the location of my sink centered again, pressed the record button, and began!
With me in position, on the east side, starting to loudly complain about the biting flies, and the camera recording, I realized I forgot to take off my glasses, which I then took off and set down on the floating vegetation on the southeast side of the bog, off camera, before taking the plunge! I used the excuse that the biting flies were driving me nuts as the reason for not looking where I was going before falling into the bog. And, in the video, you can see lots of flies around me, and the odd one was biting me while I was sinking! The fact that the mud had been simmering under the hot sun for many weeks, and hadn't been disturbed yet this season, meant that it was loaded with swamp gas which was bubbling and farting around me, which really added to the experience!
After I completed the scene and got out, I cleaned my hands and stopped the recording on the camera. I then returned to the water to clean my head, so that there wouldn't be mud in my eyes. I never bothered with the rest of my body, since it was going to be exposed to mud again. I then returned to the mud to mush up the rest of the surface, pushing down all the small clods of decaying sod under the mud, as well as the few sprigs of vegetation that were sprouting here and there. While mushing up the top layer of mud, I laid down on my stomach on the solar-heated surface skin of the quagmire on the west side and had a stimulating horizontal struggle before continuing. But, all through the mudplay, my legs were constantly on the verge of cramping, and in constant pain and discomfort.
All finished, I finally headed to the water to clean off completely, then air-dried, watched the video I had taken and was happy with it, and then got dressed. Here are some more photos of the bog after it was all mushed up:
2017 07 14 1Q Crescent.jpg
2017 07 14 1R Crescent.jpg
To be continued...