Today is the first warm and sunny day since the start of the immersion. I’m sitting in my canoe, basking in the sunlight and paddling down a river.
I’ve already forgotten what day of the week it is, and I don’t care to remember. Other things are important. For example: When will the ice be off the lakes?
I’m planning to work on a skin canoe for some upcoming trips, and need to gather saplings for the frame. The next good growth of saplings is a few miles away, and instead of taking several trips back and forth to transport materials, I’m thinking of accomplishing that task by canoe. With that in mind, I set off today by canoe only to realize that the creeks and rivers were open all night, but the lakes were still iced over…
Otherwise, we just started settling in in camp, getting firewood, making comfortable beds. Mashkodens will be our base camp for the coming Moons, and from here it is that we’ll venture forth for seasonal camps and exploration trips.
I’m excited to be here, the sadness of leaving familiar people and places behind is nearly gone.
Every once in a while I hear geese flying overhead, heading north. They seem excited too about the changes in the season.
Oh, before I forget–here’s the first part of the skin boat:
A carved paddle.
The material is white ash, a leftover plank from the logs that a friend and I gathered last fall for a toboggan.
White ash log and tomahawk.
I used a tomahawk for the rough work–a heavy axe would be a lot of faster, but the tomahawk is the most specialized tool I have for that purpose here at camp.
Partially carved paddle, crooked knife, and tomahawk.
Almost finished.
Thinking of it, I’ll probably apply a second coat with some pitch mixed in before some critters get the idea of chewing on the fatty paddle.
Ok, off for some more paddling.