New Collar for Twig - Bet and Twig

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

Twig got her FABulous new collar today, and she wanted to try it on and then surprise me.

Come on!  Can I turn around now?

She wanted me to wait until she was in the perfect position for the big reveal!  I think she's been watching too many of those fashion shows on the tv... I mean, of course I watch them, but it's only to see what the latest fashions are so I can prepare the Musher for her lectures and going out on the town, and perhaps seeing if scarves are going out of style (oh I hope they never go out of style, they are so wonderfulicious).

Are you ready to see my new collar????

Um... I was ready about 15 minutes ago, but sure, let's get a gander at it!

OOOH, wait, I have to turn the wonderful name tag around so you can see it, hang on again!

zzzzzzzz

Ok, don't look until I'm all ready and all that!!

She's just a bit over dramatic at times... I have NO idea where she gets that from!

TAH DAH!!!!!

OOH, that's very orangy!  I was thinking perhaps a Burnt Sienna or a Marigold, but that's pretty bright!!!  Very nice and it matches your furs wonderfully!

I KNOW!!!  It's very fierce, just wearing it makes me feel fiercer!!!

Ok, yes, that's pretty fierce and all, but it's a little hard for me to see it when you're gnawing on my neck

I can't help it!  This collar gives me super powers!  I'll be able to herd anything in this collar, even those cats!

Seriously?  The cats?

Um, ok, yeah, that's a bit ambitious.  I think I would need a fiercer collar for the cats, and perhaps a shark cage.

You do know that's just a growing collar, right?

How can you tell?

Um... the really long part at the end of it that will poke out my eye if you aren't careful.

I can try to chew it off!

I wouldn't if I were you... the Musher might put you into one of the stinky old Pretty Curly Tail collars until you grow into your permanent Herdy Herder Baa Baa Sheepie thing collar.

I want to go out and show the world my new collar!

Ok, let's go show the Pretty Curly Tails and Homeland Security crew.

Um... little Twig... don't get in the water...

I can do what I want because I'm fierce and have my new collar!  I need to get it a bit muddy because it looks too new!

Ok, but you know what happens when you get muddy, right?

I'm not afraid of anything!

Ok, so maybe I should have listened to her... this is horrible.  Maybe I can be fierce and clean at the same time.  It's hard to look fierce during a bath.

This "fierce" business is tiring sometimes, especially after a bath.

Grand Rapids Wilderness Adventure - Part 2

Key in the history of the Athabasca River is the Grand Rapids, a Class VI (unnavigable) rapids a bit over 150 miles down river from the town of Athabasca.

The crafty Hudson Bay Co (who at one time in history owned 6% of the world's land surface) built a mile long railroad on the island that is located in the rapids. By doing this they controlled all (except for the brave and foolish) freight traveling up and down the river.

The river from the Grand Rapids to Fort McMurray is littered with rapids, but a couple features make the Grand Rapids the most noteworthy. First the river drops 60ft over the length of the rapids and second, and most interestingly, the rapids are FILLED with concretions.

Despite these cool features, the Rapids are not easy to access (87 miles from Fort McMurray, 150 + miles from Athabasca) and, so were seen by far more eyes at the turn of the century than today! It takes a skilled boater to get close enough to the Rapids to walk into on the west side (which is the best view and access to the amazing concretions).

Lucky for us, Darcy, our guide, is a skilled boater. Due to the river being very low this year, the walk was a little longer then normal, but tbh I completely enjoyed the scramble along the edge of the river  - well except for the recent mud slide that sucked my rubber boat right off as I scrambled through it.

Gotta say, the rapids are mostly hidden as you approach them from the south (due to that big drop) and I was a bit skeptical as we walked in that they were going to be worth the work to get to them. Once we forded the last little river my skepticism was completely put to bed!

Darcy guided us along the edge of the rocks to the far north end of the rapids and told us to take our time working our way back through the rocks. We had a BLAST scrambling over the giant round rocks, sitting watching the rapids, and dangling our feet in quiet little pools.

Lunchtime!

What a great day!!!!

Because this was Zelman's last trip to the cabins for the season we scored an extra day hanging out while they got everything ready for winter, so the next 2 days were spent paddling, fishing, gold panning, kicking Mark's ass in an archery shootout and just relaxing!!! I was actually able to finish a book I've been reading FOREVER and 2 more (one was a cookbook, so not intense reading!)

No, not Mark's fish. A nice Walleye caught by Cole and eaten by us all!!! So tasty!

hehehehehehe

Ummmm.....no.....Mark did not find our fortune!

 Tuesday morning we loaded the boat and headed back to civilization!

 It wasn't ideal weather, but still a beautiful trip!

Wolf track at our lunch stop!

Can't say 'THANKS' enough to Darcy and Shirley Zelman of Grand Rapids Wilderness for a LOVELY get away in our own backyard. I'm just annoyed that it took us so long to get around to doing it!!

Hope to see you this winter Zelmans!!!! ;)

Karen

Bear track by the boat!

Beaver tracks!