Thursday, August 18, 2011

OOOPS!

Long time no see....

Been very busy lately...and it feels so damned good!  Walked in the Deary Walk Saturday, met up with Sue, Katy and Ruthie, Wallie and Bill....all of whom left me in the dust as soon as the walk started, except for Susie...we walked together, bringing up the rear of the 8am walk group...and we finished the whole thing!

We were very pleased with ourselves and rightfully so.  I'm a little over a year away from chemo and am recovering from a major anemia problem and she is a recent pacemaker recipient...we are doing great!

After the walk I went up to Bob and Wini's...who had forgotten all about the Schultzberg family gathering.  No matter, I couldn't make it up there anyway.  We visited for awhile and then I drove a bit up the road to Katy's, where there was a cookout...I got to visit and recuperate with old friends.

I have been getting up with Sandy in the AM and taking my iron pill with OJ on an empty stomach and I think it's working to help my anemia.  I also have been downing loads of spinach. 

All this has enabled me to get to the gym more frequently (I'm going tomorrow, which will be the third time this week) and to get a lot of stuff done at home--cleaning, weeding, walking the dogs, and I got to go kayaking yesterday!

The kayaking was a real trip...I hooked up the trailer and loaded Bubbles in the car and off we went, just down the road to the Pachaug River, to the put-in just below the dam.  The water was running so high and so fast, we got swept downstream before I could even decide whether that was the direction I wanted to go in or not!

A bit downstream we saw some guys in a fishing boat, motoring their way back upstream.  They said there was no use fishing because the current was too strong, it was carrying their lines to places they didn't want to go. 

I should have turned around and asked them to tow us back right then and there.  Instead, we kept going the other way.   Until we met up with the TREE....the tree that was blown down across most of the stream.  The current turned us sideways and pushed us up against the tree.  I tried paddling to get past the end of the tree so we could continue downstream and couldn't manage to progress more than a few inches before we were pinned again.

Just when I thought I was going to have to call Sandy (my iPhone was in my new waterproof pouch around my neck), I got the bright idea to haul us hand over hand by pulling on branches on the tree.  Doing this I was able to pull us free of the tree and I managed to maneuver us in a quiet eddy on the other side of the stream.

That's when I decided it would be prudent to haul ass back up the river.  I have never seen the river this high and the current moving like this.  It's usually a slow float downstream and a mild effort to paddle back upstream.

Well, not on THIS trip!   I had to keep zig zagging across the current to be able to keep moving forward...and sometimes I wasn't successful at that 100% of the time.  Going under the Rte 138 bridge, we were forced backwards three times, before I finally got pissed.  I told Bubbles to hunker down in the bottom of the kayak (which she did....her nose sticking out) and I said, "Mommy has to be stronger than the river, Bub" and started paddling with all my strength. 

All I can say is I'm glad I've been working out and working the machines at the gym!  I dug deep and slowly but surely was able to fight the current and get us back to our launch spot.  Then I decided to keep going upstream to the dam.  Interesting enough, the closer we got to the dam, the easier it was to paddle...the stream is wider there and so the force of the water is not as concentrated as further downstream. 

I pulled over to the side, we got out and went for a swim up by the dam.  Bub loved it and I found it refreshing.  Then we floated downstream, put out and I loaded the kayak back on the trailer and off we went to home. 

It felt good to be out on the water in the kayak.  First time this year!  And this is after we bought the trailer for me to use to go kayaking more often!   Well, we have plans to go out on a pond somewhere this Sunday with Deanna and Lorraine.

Bubbles loved her "special time with Mommy"...she was prancing all day after we got home.  And this morning she rewarded me by killing two of my garden pond frogs!  The little crud!  Oh well, later on in the evening she finished off a mouse that Murphy had hauled up from the cellar and was just toying with...I had Sandy bring Bubbie down from upstairs to finish the deed.. Thanks Killer!

Tomorrow I'm off to the gym and then to shop for New Balance sneakers (Sue recommends them) and some cheap looking accessories for the "Trailer Trash Pool Party" we are going to at Sandy's bosses' house.  Well...his trailer.  His house burned down and they are living in a trailer...hence the Trailer Trash theme.

I'm going to wear one of my Survivor buffs as a tank top...leaving my heavily scarred and rather large belly hanging out, skimpy shorts to show off my ample thighs, and I'm going to be searching for cheap plastic sandals (hopefully with ugly flowers) and fake tattoos to apply.  Her bosses name is Mike, I wish I could find a fake tattoo that says "Mike".....I'm also going to "rat up" my hair and apply makeup liberally and then some. 

We are looking for fake cigarettes to use too.  Sandy is going to wear fleecy pj pants and a tank top...with fake BIG BOOBS....and a baseball cap. 

Oh...and the TEETH!   We will be sporting the "Billy Bob" teeth.

Are we missing anything?

Later!

PS...I'll take pics and post them here