Lovely B and I are experiencing some wonderful days. Yesterday was an example of how effortless life can be at times.
I woke up to the rain pounding on the roof above our bedroom. Every morning looks the same in Buford-and-I-Land: Snuggles and sighs. It couldn't be better. He's a gentleman, too - he seems to adapt his sleeping hours to my needs. And he can be up in a heart beat... no matter if it's 3:14am or 11am! Truly, a wonder dog.
Anyways, yesterday I got up shortly after 7 as I had plans to go look for Inez (runnaway preggo moose) of Mr. Moose's. In the process, I was also going to meet A, a friend of Mr. Moose's. She was going to bring her älghund (moose dog; hunting dog) for support. In other words: This was going to be serious moose tracking business and Beefy needed to stay home.
My awkward feeling walking over to the farm without B on my side was immediately confirmed by Mr. Moose: "Wow, you look like you're missing something! I have never seen you walk somewhere without B on your side...". Oh so true.
A showed up a little while later. We first took one last look inside the fence (without the dog), in case that Inez had unbeknownst to Mr. Moose hang out in the back part of it. During that walk, the remaining moose Isa and Ivan ran, trotted, and walked next to us. Isa currently bullies Ivan (apparently a normal behavior during the pregnancy), which led to some slightly scary moments. A moose that's moving quickly when bullied is not something you want to be too close to. Just saying.
Anyways, we didn't find Inez. As we started on our way back though, Ivan suddenly seemed to have enough of being bullied and decided to start playing with us. Eeeeeeek! At one point he held his stubbles (his horns are growing massively, but are still only about 10 centimeters long at this point) in my direction and seemed to get ready to figure out who of the two of us is stronger. Holy moly! I suddenly didn't wanted to be inside the fence anymore. Mr. Moose directed A and me to always have a tree between Ivan and us... Needless to say: We made it back out fine. But, hello adrenaline! And, hello tree huggers! Good times.
Have I mentioned that it was raining througout this episode?
Next we got the dog to do some tracking. In the process we marched through the forest surrounding the farm, following the cute canine through brush, water-logged areas, over meadows, and the forest. She appeared to smell things once in a while - at one point leading us back to the fence and then barking like crazy at Isa who was intending to walk with us - but all in all wasn't able to bring us Inez back. Mr. Moose has mostly given up on her. He's not excited for the moose hunt to start this year. He calls the three his "kids"...
I returned home to a happy, dry, warm B who looked at my wetness all funny. "Yes, buddy... let me dry up a little... you're next."
The thing is: Mr. Moose had invited us to come along on a canoe trip in the afternoon. Knowing that canoeing is mostly sitting still for B, I wanted to make sure that he got an adequate walk in prior. Which is why I warmed up just a little, then grabbed my next pair of hiking boots, another pair of rain pants and a jacket. Optimisticially I hung all the gear from the morning jaunt. Who knows, maybe some of them will be dry in time for the canoeing trip?
That, obviously was not the case. But thanks to my diligent preparation (read: brainstorming gear and clothing for the 3rd wet outdoor adventure of the day) B and I were ready at 14:00 when Mr. Moose arrived to pick us up for the canoe adventure. We were going to travel with two other (business) friends of Mr. Moose, one of which I already knew.
On the way to the meeting place Mr. Moose suggested to check on a bridge on the Vemhån (our river)... with all the rain in the recent time it seemed to be better to check. Ahem, yup. That bridge could have - you know - decapitated us. We decided to carry the canoes in that section.
I got a little bit more nervous about having B with us for the adventure. Due to the recent precipitation the Vemhån was full to the brim - and.... fast. However, thanks to Mr. Moose's experience on the stretch as well as my own raftguiding past I decided to give it a try. Worst case scenario would have been for B and I to walk out to the road and then to town. Mr. Moose promised to stick with us in case of trouble. "We're in this together. So, we'll stay together no matter what." OK then. Have I ever mentioned that he calls the little one "Liten Gubben" and Pluten (spelling?) all the time? Yup, they get along.
The time on the river ended up being magical. It rained, there was a misty fog over the water, the flora was colorful, and the ride swift. I was positioned in front (meaning Mr. Moose got to do all the hard work) with B in front of me, sitting on a pad. He is such a trooper! Despite being rained on and having a healthy respect of gliding on water he jumped into the canoe on command and sat still while curiously watching the wonderland pass by us. I caught myself whistling and humming in delight.
And then we passed what we later called "The Björk". There were quite a few trees hanging over the water beforehand... and some laying in the river bed. But all in all: Nothing to worry about. "The Björk" was a thick branch that hung horizontally over the river... right in the area where the current was strongest. At first we attempted to paddle away from it; however, upon recognizing that we were not going to clear it to the left, Mr. Moose decided (rightfully so) that we just had to bust into it, head first. Now, "head" of our canoe was B... and I. Instinctively I wrapped my arms around him and bent down in an attempt to safe him from being knocked out of his wits (or the canoe). And, guess what...?! The Björk had to give and it gave by letting us plow right over it. Puahhh...! I was all giggles.
Mr. Moose, B, and I proceeded. At one point I said: "For the record. This is beautiful. We should do this all the time!" And then.. we heard them screaming. Looking back I caught a glimpse of an empty canoe, floating sideways in the river as well as a swimmer near it. The other person seemed to have made it to the landstretch on the other side. Shut! Mr. Moose and I directed our canoe to a safe spot to figure out what to do next... Luckily we were able to see that both swimmers made it to the bank before heading around the next bend - meaning, other than likely being cold (and probably rapidly getting colder) they were safe.
It took us quite a bit of work and lots of wading to get our canoe to actual land. We made it eventually though and headed up the road to find at least the person that we saw ending up on our side of the river. About fifteen minutes later we found him, another 5 minutes later a friend arrived by car. Thanks to cell phones and connections and rational thinking we all got back together (and the wet souls into hot showers) within an hour or so. Pssst: There may or may not have some whiskey flowed in the process.
Once the swimmers were taken care of, Mr. Moose, the called-upon "car friend", Beefy and I returned to where we saw the canoe last. From what we observed we had some hope that it had gotten stuck on a tree... One of the swimmers had his work cell phone in a dry bag that was attached to the canoe - and really wanted it back. He had 250 business numbers safed on the SIM card and was decidedly anxious about the loss.
It turned out that he had unbelievable luck (for the second time if you ask me). The canoe was indeed stuck underneath the tree - unfortunately it had also been bent out of shape due to the forces that kept it there. However, Mr. Moose was able to untie the drybag from it, while tiptoeing on top of it, holding on to some branches of the tree that kept it in place. The called-upon "car friend" secured the canoe and took photos of the rescue. Fun, fun!
We wrapped our rainy day up with quite a bit more whiskey and beer. I made it home around midnight, feeling warm and fuzzy, as well as satisfied with yet another adventurous day Up North.
That is one crazy full day of adventure! I'm exhausted just thinking about it...
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