After the summer's 6-day highlight of giving Dave and his stepson a guided tour of as many locations as I could fit into the first 3 days, and then becoming part of the MPV crew for the other 3 days of shooting two gorgeous models sinking into some of those bogs
, I was extremely eager to finally get back to my own sinking! 
But, I knew I would have to wait a week after MPV's visit, since I couldn't go too soon after 6 straight days of hiking in the woods, or my parents would get suspicious! 
However, while I was waiting, I was deeply worried that the record rainfall during MPV's final night here (night of Thursday, August 13'th) could have flooded all of my local places, eliminating their availability, just when I was finally ready for them! I just had to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, looking forward to the forecasted return of sunnier, drier weather over the next week, which did materialize! I just hoped that the return to drier weather would allow for at least a partial recovery from the rain, and that the mud would still be exposed. 
So, I targeted a day exactly one week later - Thursday, August 20'th! The forecast for that day was calling for sunny skies with afternoon cloudy periods, and a high of 35˚C, or 95˚F.
I got up early in the morning, and never bothered to apply sunscreen, because it was so late in the season, and I had built up a reasonably nice tan, anyways.This time, my dad wasn't able to take me, so I was on my own, leaving home some time around 7:40 am. Just when I thought that we would be finally free of smoke after the week of rainy weather, now that things were sunny again, hazy smoke was back in the air, not from Terrace Mountain fire, but from somewhere else!
As I headed up into the mountains, I could feel the humidity with the heat, and the climb felt a bit more taxing than usual. I noticed that there was less smoke in the valleys, but more up in the mountains, which I could smell! Would we ever get any sunny stretch without annoying smoke????? 
As I got closer to the turnoff to Crescent Road, I snacked on a Pizza Pop along the way some time between 11 and 12 noon.My plan was to first head up to the Crescent Road pond to saw through the dead grass in the north side of the narrow western part of my sinking spot there to open it up wider, and then transfer pailfuls of muck on top to build it up enough to become exposed earlier in the season!
I had added a bit of mud to it late in the previous season, and now I wanted to REALLY transform that spot for future sinks, revitalizing it to something that I could use much more frequently than at the usual end of the season during the odd year. I had previously chosen a bucket and found my dad's keyhole saw, placing them both into my saddlebags the night before, ready to be used for my major bog expansion/enhancement project! I wasn't holding out hope that the mud there could still be exposed, since the Okanagan had the most single-day rainfall for the entire month of August.
But, if there was a chance that it was exposed, then an underbog sink would be an excellent bonus to my planned bog revitalizing task! After working my sinking spot at the Crescent Road pond, I planned to head to the Edwin Lakes area pond, just in case the mud in my main sinking spot, or at least the thicker stuff on the north side of the main sinking spot, was still exposed after all that rain. I was dying to have a nice, enjoyable underbog sink there, breathing through a breathing tube, and wearing swim goggles to protect my eyes.
I was a bit concerned about getting leg cramps, but fortunately my legs felt fine throughout the bikeride up into the mountains.
However, after getting up into the mountains and starting up Crescent Road, suddenly my leg muscles began to feel like they were starting to tighten up, a sign that leg cramps WERE ready to appear sometime soon! When I turned off onto the sideroad that led past the ponds, I noticed that things didn't seem as wet as I had expected.
Most of the usual puddle places on the road/trail were free of water, and just muddy! The only one with some water in it was the same one that always had some water in it because of ground water seepage. That definitely looked encouraging! I parked my bike on the sidetrail north of the Crescent Road pond, and got out my pail for the mud transfer, keyhole saw for sawing through the grass to enlarge the sinking spot, junk shorts in case I felt more comfortable with them on while working with the mud, a plastic bottle of Kool-Aid, and I was off!
When I got to the north side of the pond, I was most pleasantly surprised to see that the water levels were the same as they were the last time I saw them!
Either the flooding never happened due to the record rainfall occurring in the Okanagan Valley with less occurring in this particular area to the east, or the more recent drier weather helped things recover from the rainfall!!!!! 
The mud that was exposed there a week ago was still exposed, perhaps with just a hair more water on top in places! I headed to my small sinking hole in the grass where I always sunk, midway down the west side of the pond, and lo and behold, it was also completely exposed!!!! For a reminder, here are a couple of photos of that patch, taken by Dave 10 days earlier, back on Monday, August 10'th:
Looking roughly southeastward at the Crescent Road pond, with my gooey, bottomless, sticky patch of quagmire in the foreground, on the western shoreline!
A closer view of the patch of gooey bottomless muck that can suck you under! Just a simple step forward can result in a very messy adventure, something I am extremely looking forward to!
I set my things down in the grass to the west, where it was higher and drier. I was really excited!!!! I just couldn't wait to have an underbog sink there right away!
But then, I realized that I didn't have my breathing tube and swim goggles with me. I left them back at my bike! So, I had to return to my bike to retrieve them, and then returned to my sinking spot.I got undressed, and was looking forward to having that pulsating patch of sticky goo slowly suck me under! But, I noticed that my stomach seemed to be a bit bloated, since I had recently eaten lunch and had a bit of Kool-Aid to wash it down. From previous experience, I knew that a bloated stomach would make a deep sink uncomfortable.
So, I decided to delay the sink for just a bit, and get started with sawing up the mats of dead and dying grass that were on the north side of the narrow western portion of my sinking spot, which was my oldest and original sinking spot.So, I grabbed the keyhole saw and on the north side of the sinking spot, proceeded to saw the mat of dead and dying grass into sizeable chunks. But, just as I got started, something was pinching the tip of my dick!
It felt like whatever it was about to bite or sting me, so I quickly flicked whatever it was off, only to get stung in the right side of my right hand! At home, the yellowjackets had been getting rather annoying and scary, and I was hoping to get through this season without getting stung by one, only to get stung now, right beside my sinking spot! 
But, a few minutes later, I noticed that there weren't any yellowjackets buzzing around me, but BALD-FACED HORNETS, like in the picture below!
I never had any problems with them before, and this is the first time they were attracted to me!
They seemed to be buzzing around me one at a time, and so I had to start dodging them after that! I didn't see any nests nearby, but figured that there must have been one in the general area. 
However, I was surprised to see that even though the bald-faced hornet was larger than a yellowjacket, its sting wasn't as painful, with the pain dissipating rather quickly, although I did have a slight doughnut welt around the sting area which gradually disappeared. Or, perhaps the sting wasn't too bad because it stung me in the palm of my hand, where the skin was thicker and tougher, resulting in less penetration of the stinger.
I returned to the north side of my sinking spot, and continued to saw the mat of grass roots into chunks 6 inches to a foot wide/long. I had noticed that there were fresh grass seedlings sprouting on the surrounding brown dead mat where they had died away previously, a sign of the grass trying to reclaim bare exposed patches, something that I didn't like!
Once I finished getting the section of dead grass mat all nicely diced on the western part of the northern side of the sinking spot, I was ready for my underbog sink!
But first, I noticed that a large leech was slowly oozing its way across the surface of my sinking spot. I headed back to my things, took off my glasses, put my swim goggles on my forehead, grabbed my breathing tube, and returned to my sinking spot. The leech was still there. Not wanting to share the mire with a bloodsucker, I picked it up and threw it into the pond. I set the breathing tube on the northeast side of my sinking spot, and standing on the south side, I was all ready to feed myself to the gulping goop! 
I decided to ease myself in gradually, so that I could stand still and feel it suck me down on its own! So, I crouched/sat down on the edge, positioned my feet on top of the middle of the quivering mire, and stood up!
The gelatinous muck quickly rose up my legs and up to my crotch, farting swamp gas as it slowly consumed its meal!
The blackish brown undulating surface slowly rose up my stomach as I continued to struggle. I also made digging motions with my feet to help the bog swallow me easier. I pressed only lightly on the surface, so as not to break the dark brown skin and expose the rusty colored sticky stuff below. I loved feeling the undulation of the surface with my hands as I struggled slowly deeper. The mire was cracking slightly around me as I sank, continued to fart smelly swamp gas, and it felt sooooooo wonderful! The heaving surface rose up to my armpits, and then my shoulders. I slowly pressed my upper arms and elbows down into the mire, with it giving way and closing over them, my hands still above the surface. The voracious doughy ooze closed over my shoulders, and then rose up to my chin. As it slowly began to rise to my head, I finally put my swim goggles down over my eyes. With my swim goggles in place, I was finally able to plunge my hands down into the doughy softness that was slowly consuming me!
I continued to struggle, the hungry muck slowly covering over my mouth, and rising towards my nose. It felt sooo good, struggling, trying to breathe through my mouth, with the mire like a rubber membrane trying to stop me from inhaling, but easily allowing me to exhale! I struggled around nose deep, imagining that the deadly mire was trying to suffocate me, although I was able to breathe by just moving my head back. As I got deeper, I had to keep my head tilted back, feeling it's cushiony embrace rise around my head. I was trying to keep my mouth and nose clear of it, or at least partially clear of the smothering muck. Normally, this would be the time I would reach for the breathing tube, but this time, I felt like struggling under without the breathing tube just yet.
So, I continued to get sucked down deeper, with the muck rising around my face, and slowly closing in above. I could see the sunlight getting pinched smaller and smaller by the smothering blackness of occasionally farting softness. The daylight finally disappeared as I tilted my head far enough back to keep my mouth and nose accessing the outside air in the narrowing gap in the gulping mire. I struggled some more, with it starting to close over my mouth, forcing me to wipe the mud away to breathe again. I then pulled myself completely under briefly, totally sucked beneath the surface of the gulping ooze, before climbing back up high enough to wipe the mud away from my mouth to breathe again. I continued to struggle, with me going from just being able to breathe, to being sucked back under the suffocating ooze. I loved the feel of the tenacious goo holding onto my head when I rose slightly!
I continued to linger and struggle at and below the surface of the gooey slime, happy that it was the warmest it has been in many, many years, thanks to our hot summer! However, during my sinking and struggling, just as I had feared, leg cramps showed up, first in my right leg, and then in my left leg!
It forced me to pause periodically during my sink and struggles. I finally decided to make use of the pvc pipe breathing tube and go down deep (or at most a foot deeper)! So, I groped around for it blindly, and found it on the north side, where I had moved it during my sink. I then placed the side with the duct tape into my mouth (the duct tape eliminated sharp edges of the pvc pipe in my mouth, and also was easier on my teeth), and while holding onto it, began to work myself down deeper. But, when the sucking ooze closed over me and I was working my legs down into the thicker stuff below, I was suddenly hit with painful leg cramps!
It felt too uncomfortable, and was likely due to a combination of the greater pressure on my leg muscles and the fact that deeper down, the mud was a bit cooler. So, I then worked myself up higher so that my legs were back into the warmer muck, tossed the breathing tube onto the north side, and continued to struggle and enjoy the experience.I finally decided that it was time to work myself up, so I made climbing motions with my feet, and pushed down with my hands, feeling my head rise up. But, even though my head was above the surface, it was still engulfed in a thick coating of mire, which I had to wipe away with my hands. When I wiped it from my swim goggles, I could finally see light, and a hazy view of the undulating glistening muck that had been consuming me. I wiped it away from my hair and face. I also carefully dislodged some of the muck from my ears until I could hear properly again. I struggled a bit, before rising up a bit more, my shoulders rising up above the ooze. I continued to work myself up higher, wiping mud from my skin as I went. I may have struggled a bit to cause the mire to suck me down lower again before working myself back up higher. I finally sat back on the dead grass mat on the south side of the bottomless ooze, worked my legs and feet up, and wiped the thick muck from them. I got up, and was finally free of the bottomless patch of gooey sucking mire!
Now, it was time to clean up. I headed into the water, having to go a little ways out to get any reasonable depth. But, even then, I had to swish some of the loose bottom away from around me to make it deep enough for me to immerse my head. The sun was still in the process of warming the water, so lower down, it was cool, with a warm layer on top. I cleaned my entire head, including ears, and swim goggles. Once most of my head was cleaned, along with my shoulder areas, I removed my swim goggles and after swishing them in the water, set them on a yellow waterlily leaf. I then cleaned my face better, as well as my upper body. Then, I headed back to shore, thinking about how other people in this type of situation would panic in fear of sinking down into the soft bottom and drowning in the pond, since I was wading through a shallow pond with a loose quicksandlike muddy bottom of unknown depth!
I climbed onto the weeds, and returned to shore. I was still fairly muddy from the chest down, but that was because of the fact that I was wading through deep mud in the pond, and at the shoreline.I then decided to head to the north end of the pond, where there was some mud exposed there. I made my way into it, wading from west to east, finding it very loose and gooey, some spots with a gravelly "bottom" (probably more like a layer
) several feet down, probably deposited by the stream. I also checked out another patch on the east side, but only briefly, finding it loose, before heading past the north end, into the meadow, where there were some small open patches of muck exposed along where the seasonal stream once flowed through.I was anxious for a stimulating sink, so I first chose the first patch closer to the pond, which was where I had last September dug out muck for adding to my main sinking spot. When I stepped into it, I sunk up my legs, before hitting gravel from the stream, which I remembered I encountered last year. It was a bit too loose for a stimulating sink, so I headed over to the second one to the north of the first one.
It was not as soft, with a mat of dead grass covered with some muck. But, it wasn't that thick a mat, and I found that I was able to break through it. So, I kneeled down on the north side facing south, my bent legs against a submerged log or large stick behind me, the ground slowly giving way beneath them. I laid my arms down and they were slowly being sucked down by the peaty muck on the peaty layer of dead grass roots. I struggled, the mire slowly sucking my legs and chest down, closing over my arms and hands, feeling it slowly licking my rear. I worked my hands down deeper and struggled vigorously, imagining that I was slowly sinking to my death in the deadly mire, the feel of it under me, slowly threatening to suck me deeper and eventually close over me, raised my stimulation to the exploding point!
After getting up and smoothing out my impressions, it was time for me to clean myself a little bit better. I decided to try the area on the east side, by a beaver lodge. I had tried it before, but had found that I had a problem with leeches there.
That was years ago, and so I hoped that things would be better this time. I headed over to the water there, finding solid ground where there was gravel under the water. I cleaned myself a bit better than before, finding the odd leech. Once I was finished, I then decided to head to my bike to snack on a Pizza Pop. But, wouldn't you know it, I kept on finding leeches on me, which I had to scrape off with my fingernail and toss back into the water!
I headed to the bike, but felt something pinching me, only to find yet another leech on my left foot! I returned to the water, threw it back in, and inspected myself for more leeches, finding some more, which I removed and threw back into the water. I returned to the bike again, only to find two more leeches on my right foot, one of which was full of my blood! I returned to the water and tossed them back in, before returning to my bike for a Pizza Pop. It looked like that spot beside the beaver lodge was still "Leech Central"! 
After the snack and air-drying myself off a bit, especially my head, I was ready to begin the next phase of my business there, the removal of the chunks of dead grass roots that I had cut earlier. Earlier, I had realized that due to the amount of time I had already spent here, the plans for going to the Edwin Lakes area pond were going to be scrapped, and that I would spend the entire afternoon at the Crescent Road pond.
I returned to my sinking area, and then got into the gooey muck. I then proceeded to work each chunk free, reaching under some chunks to loosen the roots around the mud, and then moving the chunks to the east side. I would work my legs into the newly exposed thicker mud to break the network of roots that would have kept the mud rigid there. Then I would work my way back to the east side, where I would submerge the clods of dead grass roots, and then use my hands and feet to push them underneath the grass to the east of the sinking spot (mud was much softer there, allowing for an easier job of "sweeping the clods under the mat"), noticing some bare ground just beyond there bulging (actually that spot could easily be opened into another sinking spot, or an extension to the present one, but would be flooded more frequently). I knew that, even with me keeping the grass clods in the mud and just pushing them under the sides, this work would still be lowering the mud level.
But, once I was finished, I would transfer pails of new mud to the area, to build it back up. 
While I was working my legs into the newly exposed thick stuff, I then found myself beginning to feel stimulated!
So, I just couldn't resist struggling right where I was standing, facing east or southeast, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the thick, sticky, undulating ooze, imagining that I was stuck and unable to move, with the gulping mire slowly sucking me down deeper and deeper, soon to swallow me whole, the pulsating surface rising up my chest, raising my stimulation up to convulsions of ecstasy! That was the first time in many, many years that the mud in this sinking spot had that fully intense effect on me!
This was definitely the best year for sinking in a long time, with the mud being the warmest it has ever been in many years as well! I then got back to removing chunks of grass roots, sending them to the east end, loosening the newly-exposed mud, and then pushing the chunks of grass roots under the grass on the east and northeast side, making the new area just as wide as the main area. I just loved the feel of the mire, with it feeling soooo comfortable!
But, at one point I had to quickly get out when, from out of nowhere, I started to hear a helicopter in the distance!
It was getting louder surprisingly fast, and by the time I got out and ran into the nearby alders to the west, it was already passing by to the east of me, flying so low that whoever was in there could have easily seen me if I was in the open! It was scary how things went from being totally quiet to having a helicopter flying low very close by! After it passed by, I returned to the bog, hoping it wouldn't double back. I think I remember a plane also passing by, but it wasn't as bad. Since it was getting later, part of the bog was starting to get a shadow from a coniferous tree to the southwest sweeping past it from west to east. The sun started going behind some small cumulus clouds as well. But, at least I had managed to finish up the elimination of the chunks of grass roots, and before I left, tried struggling for stimulation again. But, while it felt gooooooooooood, I just couldn't achieve full stimulation. I then called it quits for the day, wishing I had more time for more dirty work!
Earlier in the day, while passing through the part of the grassy area on the north side of the pond, I had encountered something left behind from the third day of MPV shooting that took place exactly one week earlier.
There were muddy bikini pieces (including camouflage) laying in the grass, in the area where all the various supplies had been set down during that day of shooting. The bikini pieces were obviously missed when we packed up and left the area the week before. On this day, I found one piece when I first got there, and the rest nearby during another one of my earlier trips between my sinking area and my bike. I picked them up as I found them, and took them with me to set down with my things near my sinking spot, to be later cleaned up a bit in the pond, taken home and hidden.During the day, I had come to realize that the bog needed more widening on the north and south sides to make those edges further away, more out-of-reach for the bog's victim(s)!
It was also more important than ever to add more mud to the surface of the bog, since removing the grass root mat chunks were leaving spaces that, when filled up with mud, would lower the level of the exposed bog. But, keeping the chunks in the mud and pushing them under the sides helped compensate for it a bit, but the act of pushing them under the grass on the east edge had the effect of also sweeping more mud under the grass to the east of the open mud as well, making the surface bulge behind the grass with the extra mud pushed under with the grass. So, I still had to widen the pit more, and then refill it as high as I could to increase its chances of being exposed at a decent time next season. That would be done on the next bikeride. I got cleaned up by kneeling and/or sitting on top of the floating mat of weeds/small rushes by the water's edge, causing it to sag down under my weight, allowing warmer water from the adjacent pond to pour over top. I laid down and rubbed my back and front on the weeds, and then sat up and cleaned from my shoulders down. I cleaned my pvc pipe breathing tube, as well as the bikini pieces, got dressed, and hid the unused bucket amongst grass beside a large rotten log in the alders north of the pond, to be used next time. I put everything away in my saddlebags on my bike, and was on my way shortly after 5:30 pm.
As I started back, a rabbit was posing on the sideroad, making me wish that I had a working camera.
Of all the years for its lens mechanism to fail! As I continued on, I noticed how my clothing felt itchy on my skin, something that I noticed about my sinks at this place, but wasn't certain if it was the mud (sucked away all oil and moisture from my skin), or the cleanup water that caused it. On the main road in the mountains, I stopped to look at a large garter snake on the road. When I touched its tail, it flinched. When I moved closer, it began to move off, flicking its tongue before slithering off the road. I always chase snakes off the road, because I don't want them to become "snake pancakes". In fact, further down the road, I saw one dead garter snake on the road that was all shrivelled up. As I got down into lower elevations, I had two large plastic bottles in one of my saddlebags, one of which was empty. When I was down in the valley, I had one plastic bottle with Kool-Aid in that saddlebag! I was surprised to have lost the other empty one, and wondered when it happened! I got back home some time around 8:29 pm.At home, I had a look around, and discovered yet another small bird in my bog garden!
I had to lift up one side of the bird netting to let it out, but it was too dark for me to see if it had done any damage. And to think that during that morning, I had discovered evidence that a bird got in and pulled another sundew out, same one that got pulled out before, and left it in the same place as before, before exiting, some time over the past day! I had already searched for holes in the netting and closed them up with twist-ties before I had left on this bikeride, and now another bird found its way in! I would have to wait until the next day before finding the breach in my defences!I had thought that it was getting so late in the season, that the sun wouldn't be strong enough for me to get a sunburn anymore.
While that may have been the case with my arms and legs, which had developed a tan over the summer, I discovered that because I had spent so much time in the sun without a shirt, I wound up with a sunburn on my shoulders, which didn't have a tan because they were usually covered with a t-shirt! Because I had sustained painful leg cramps during my sink, it was no surprise that my legs were sore for several days afterward. I was happy that the pain from the hornet sting dissipated so quickly! In fact, within an hour of the sting, I would have never guessed that I had been stung at all, since the pain was gone, as well as the welt! In fact, I was starting to wonder whether I was remembering correctly where the sting occurred! I was happy about my progress in making my sinking spot larger, although my work wasn't finished. I hoped that the removal of the grass wouldn't drop the mud level enough for water to flood over top of it!
I would have to wait until next time and remedy that situation, after doing further bog enlargement. But, I was a getting a bit concerned about the increased potential for cattle getting stuck in my sinking spot, since it was now a larger "target". But, since it was getting so late in the season and I hadn't seen too much cattle activity in the area, I felt that my bog enhancement project wouldn't be too much of a concern. The temperature in Vernon hit 36˚C, or 97˚F, quite a hot day, and at the Elkhart Lodge, a high elevation place far to the west between the Okanagan valley and the coast, hit 29˚C, or 84˚F, indicating how hot it was, even in the high elevations!
It looked like the stretch of sunny, dry weather was going to continue for a while longer, making me extremely anxious to return to continue my bog enhancement/expansion work as soon as I was able to! I just couldn't wait! 