A Bit of Adventure

Going out on the lake yesterday was a little different from the other three days-windy vs. calm. We started out late and so chose the bay we were on on Saturday.

First inkling that maybe we should stay on land was turning the corner at the top of the hill. A gust of wind blew the canoe off the car. Of course, the rope on the back was cut, the one on the front came loose. We stopped and put the canoe back on, my son rode on the trunk holding it in place. We unloaded at the landing, got the canoe and supplies in the water by the dock. I started to get in, reached for the pole and voila, no pole. My son had the knocking sticks in his hand, meal/drinks by his side and no pole.

I went to the car: no pole. Had to get in the car, retrace my path to where the canoe fell off. No pole. Hiac. Now what? Then I spotted it. Someone had moved it to the side of the road. Now, we could continue. I decided that we would stick as close to the Landing as possible, in case we had to make a run for it. We only had the pole.

The wind wasn't too bad once we were in the rice bed. I kept watch on the sky, the clouds and the wind. After a couple hours, I decided that we'd start in. That's when we found out that maybe we stayed a little too long. The wind didn't seem all that strong until we headed back towards Landing. {My son claims I got blown around, I maintain that I knew where I was headed at all times.}

I followed the rice out toward the middle of the lake. I didn't particularly relish the idea of muckling through the lily pads. Wrong decision. {What? I meant unwise decision.} That is where the adventure started. What should have been a 15 minute cruise turned into a 45 minute battle with the wind.

All was well for the first half of the trip, a few swings off course was all. I had my son move the rice to the front and situate himself more in the middle. Should have made him get closer to the front. I rested for a few minutes in order to make the crossing over the open water part, about 100 yards. "What are you doing?" "I'm waiting for the wind to die down." "I don't think it's gonna, Mom." "You're right." The currents were not matching with the wind waves. I had it in my mind that maybe I should have put out tobacco for the trip home. {A lady is in the water in that part of the lake. My cousin and I had an experience with her years ago. Alas, no time for that tale.}

We were almost in the home stretch when my son decides to help me steer, forgetting that poling is different from paddling. "Let go!" Too late. The back swung around and next thing, we're facing back the way we came. I kept poling, only sitting down. "Do we have to go in backwards?" "Yeah. I can't get the canoe turned back.

By now the wind is gusting pretty good, white caps were frothing over in their glee, their mad rush to the end of the lake. Finally, made it to the reeds that were only about 50 yards from shore, where we managed to get the canoe turned back around. Now, I had to crouch, at times, sit, in order to move the canoe forward. One last push, thunk, the tip hit the dock and got stuck between the tire and the webbing. Rats.

My son took the pole, pushed a little, then heaved us on shore. Surprised to find it only 1438 hours. Sure was glad we didn't cross the lake.

Rest Day

Taking the day off the lake. We have rice to parch. First, we need to find some wood. Boy am I glad it was my son who decided not to go first. I didn't want him saying that I was the first to wimp out. Staying on shore will give me some time to get a few other things done besides parching the rice.

I have been reading through the list of the First Challenge on the Campaign Trail. There are some very good entries. Glad I'm not judging these. It's hard enough to pick out the ones we're allowed to vote for. The best part is that I've read a couple other bloggers who weren't in any of my groups. So for those of you are following that side of my latest doings, there are quite a few items I have added.

On another note, I most certainly am glad I walked over the summer. Though the past two days have been ideal ricing days, no clouds meaning no wind and finding a good sized patch, it was still a workout to come back in. The open water was a little choppy which reminded me why I don't like crossing the lake to get to those beds. The first day, we came back through a really thick stand of rice using only paddles. My shoulders are sore as I knocked while my son paddled. When we can pole, I'll switch to poling. Yay.

We have enough for eating for one year when we get done with the first two days pickings. We'll move on to the extras. With all the feasts and gatherings, we'll need about another 50 pounds. Then for gifts I think another 50. So we're working on a goal of another 100 or so pounds finished. At the rate of the last two days, that'll be another 3 or so days. Might be less if we can get used to the workouts.

Ricing time. Yay.

Sunday Morning Coming Down-Johnny Cash. That just popped up on the page. So now, I'm listening to his songs. Yep, you guessed it. Memory lane. Teehee.

Watching family members switch off when we parched rice, listening to music. County music mostly, some gospel, very little rock. Having to make sure there were enough batteries until we thought to use an extension cord.

This picture is from the eighties. I'm glad the smoke moved from me. I heard the saying that smoke goes to the prettiest one. It's how we were encouraged to keep working. At this point, the rice is almost ready to take off the fire to be cooled and packed for thrashing. That's how it was-thrashing. In the old days, the rice was put in a hole in the ground lined with leather and the lightest person had to jig it. That's where the term came from. The person thrashed around to make sure the hulls were cracked. From there it was transferred to winnowing baskets made out of birchbark. Fanning was best done on windy days. Luckily, there were people in the village who made thrashing machines that halved the work for us.

Food tasted better after we were done working. Seeing people with food was the signal that we were almost done. The amount of rice harvested during the day was usually parched that day. Occasionally, it was spread out to dry when we couldn't get to it right away. There wasn't time during the season to let it sit in the bags til we were done on the lake. It had to be parched within 2-3 days. Once it's parched, it could wait days until it was thrashed.

My mom said that in the old days, they used to go get the rice even after the lake froze. I thought about walking through the snow to the rice beds. I'm glad we don't have to do that anymore. It finally dawned on me that they cleared a path and used sleds to bring it back. Duh.

Ricing starts 07 Sep 2011 from 10-4. Can only go from the Island down to Woodduck. Hope everyone's ready who's going to be ricing. I may try one or two days, if I can sweet talk my son into letting me go.