Madison's First Paddle!

We went for a great paddle today, down from Lake Kushaqua to the Rainbow Lake Narrows...

It felt great to get back into our boats, and we brought Madison along, hoping that she would like boating more than Miles and Cedar...she does...



She started out the day in Gail's kayak, but felt a little claustrophobic inside it, so soon switched to my canoe...


Here's an early pic of her in Gail's boat...


She was very alert the whole time, but especially when we paddled by the mostly empty state campground...there was a dog barking...Maddie did not back bark, but soon settled down to chew a milk-bone and take a nap on my feet

She helped with navigation as well



I like playing with my camera's macro mode, and did so a bit at our lunch spot


The lady's slippers were out in abundance...they always remind me of triffids (not the actual flowers, but the movie)...

It was a great day to paddle, and we enjoyed the solitude of the empty water...



Thanks to the gorilla-pod, I was able to take a nice family picnic pic


Gail and Ben clinking tootsie-pops before heading off on the rest of the paddle...


There's a great tunnel that we pass through, and we like to yodel as we go through...


Ben raced ahead of us to enjoy passing through first...


out of order art-shot...I refuse to apologize!

Gail and Ben enjoying the sun and bobbing on the water in the paddler's playground that we live in...



Gail took my camera once we got below the tunnel, and she got some nice pics of Maddie and me...


She did a pretty good job, for her first paddle...


Every once in a while she would get nervous and stand up and crane her head back to give me a quick 25-30 kisses...then lay back down again...


Ben and Gail cruising...if you click on the pic to enlarge it, you can see the matching lollipop sticks...


Ben loves the freedom of paddling his own boat...


It took him a while to get his mojo back, but by the end of the trip, he was confident and moving well in the water...


a nice reach-around pic


he had a fun trip


It's a pretty area to explore...

After the paddle, we stopped off at Donnelly's for a soft-serve...



Maddie offered to help Ben...

But we got her her own cone...of course...



She's a good girl with a cone...


She looked so sad when she dropped her cone at the end, but was happy again when she figured out that the grass caught it, and she could eat the last bit laying down...

It was a nice trip, and the first of many this summer!

Madison!

We brought Madison home from the North Country Animal Shelter yesterday. We had found out that a litter of Labradors had been dropped off with them, and by the time we got there, only 2 were left, only 1 a female (which we had decided that we wanted for our next dog, to somewhat level the playing field in our home)...


She is a cutie pie, and loves paying with all of us...


Especially Ben...


We gave her a bath/shower shortly after arriving home, to get the smell of shelter off of her...


She was very well behaved in the bath, and even leaned over to give me a kiss during the process...


She seemed to settle in quite nicely to our home and routine...


She gets along quite well with Cedar, but...


...but she really has a thing for her new big brother Miles, who she deeply admires...


Not having had a puppy in the house for a while, we are getting reacquainted her rapid mania & napping cycles...


When not exploring her new home, she always has to be touching one of us (or one of her brothers)



Sometimes, however, they move away while she's sleeping, and leave her alone on the couch or floor, gently (sweetly) snoring...


During one of her naps last evening, I caught this tip of tongue sticking out...


She and Ben are working out what I imagine will be a wonderful relationship...


She loves her newly adopted Mom...


Gail and Ben took her on a nice walk in the early morning...so far she has been flawless in making it outside to take care of business...


She and Miles have matching collars (for reasons beyond the cuteness), and the way that they dote on each other makes it seem like Miles and a mini-Miles...


We're downstairs now, enjoying woodheat and sleeping dogs while watching the new version of "Alice in Wonderland"...

February Happenings

I've had a fun February, but been remiss about posting any pics in the blog...here are a couple...

The first weekend of the month was the 4th Annual Northern New York Winter Camping Trip, an annual event by and for the New York Chapter of Zombie Squad. We had 10 people come this year, and everyone had a great time!


We try to focus on a local charity each year, and this year we collected goods for the Tri-Lakes Humane Society, and were able to deliver them on Saturday...we played with the bunnies and cats living at the shelter, and walked and/or played with every single dog in the place...it was wonderful!



My friend Rick and I were brave/stupid enough to snowshoe across somewhat slushy Polliwogg Pond, to spend one of the nights hammock-camping on an island in the middle of the pond...in this picture you can see us trekking across the ice and snow, me with a pulk behind me.



My sorta-pulk design was perfect in the snow on the pond, but a little problematic negotiating the twists and turns and trees and topography on the island...not to worry, Ben and I have plans to modify the design this long weekend...


We set up our hammocks on the spine of the island...the snowshoes were useful in packing down the snow in our camp.




We enjoyed the rest of the day with everyone else, and then trudged out to the island after dark, during a whiteout blizzard, which ended up dumping most of a foot of new snow on, under, around us overnight...the huge trees overhead would gather snow in their branches for a while, and then dump huge snowbombs on us...we could hear them falling through the lesser branches on their way down, and then crashing onto our tarps, or in one case the ground right next to my hammock, which blasted me with wind and then coated me with snow...it was awesome!

The pic above shows me in my hammock the next morning...about 10-11 inches of snow fell overnight, filled in our footprints, and even drifted up under my hammock until is was even with my butt.


This is the entire NNY2011WCT-ZSNY Crew


Ben loves the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, and this year they went all out, building a huge and elaborate castle.


The theme this year was Medieval Times, and Ben loved it!


As always, the fireworks were incredible



I also got to enjoy a day of cross-country skiing with my students from Lake Placid. It was a fun way to celebrate the Winter Carnival, get out of the classroom for a day, and enjoy the people that we see and teach and work with everyday in a different setting and a different way.