WATERED DOWN

My heart pounds loudly.

Hear it? I’m almost breathless.

My life.  There you are.

Spent the weekend in Arizona.

It rained.

But not all the time.

Star Gazing

What Caught My Eye

Going According to Plan

Our friends, L and D, spent four days with us.  On Monday, lunch was Cream of Garlic Soup with salad, a recipe of L's.  The recipe calls for four heads of garlic gently cooked and pureed to which is added one stick of butter, 3 T flour, a cup and a half of cream, 1/4 cup white wine, 3 1/2 cups chicken broth and two egg yolks.  I only bought three heads of garlic so we added some scallions I had on hand.  I didn't have any white wine, but the soup was very good. 

We planned a possible kayak trip on the river for Tuesday.  Jerry wouldn't be able to say for sure if he could do it until around 2:00 or 3:00 P.M. The weather was supposed to warm up a little, and it did - a sunny 75 degrees was expected but I think it was warmer than that.  On Wednesday, I spent some time weeding the garden and after lunch L gave me a painting lesson.  I don't think you really want to see my project.  Maybe next time.  Patty joined us for lunch.  I made garlic mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini and individual glazed meatloaf in the charlotte tray from Demarle. I cook better than I paint, I guess.  The ladies all liked lunch a lot.

D likes to spend time lake-fishing and boating and L has gone kayaking with her dad a few times, so I wasn't anticipating any problems.  We dropped off the crew cab pickup at the town bridge, piled in with all our boats and equipment in the Toyota pickup and headed for the spot along the river to start the five mile trip. Jerry and our friend were going to share the orange inflatable canoe.  L and I helped pump it up but we were having some trouble with getting the cap tightened on the fill valve.  Finally I let L tackle that problem while I shared the air-pumping duties on the kayaks.  

It was hot, hard work, but we are used to it.  When all the preparations were done, we geared up in helmets and life vests before we carried our boats down hill to the water.  I remembered a past broken ankle so I felt compelled to ask Jerry not to walk too fast because it's gravely and a little steep.  At the water's edge, D was a little concerned about balance getting into the boat, but looked well prepared in her vest and helmet.   Once in the water, I took off in the lead, but kept turning my boat around to see how things were going.

Our friend, D,  was grasping the cord that loops around the boat with both hands.  The canoe looked like it was starting to fold about where she was sitting.  This bend meant that the front of the canoe was pointing up at a strange angle and the side of the canoe was not more than 4 inches above water and sinking fast.  Jerry's eyes were twinkling but with rapids ahead, this did not look promising to me.  Not only was she tipping precariously toward the bend in the boat, but even more concerning from my vantage point was the look in her eyes: round as saucers and her body stiff with tension.  She was losing the battle to stay upright.  Five miles of this would be either miserable or impossible.  She asked us to take her back where she would wait for us.  Going back upstream is not the easiest task and it would be a long wait.  Instead, I offered to have her join me in my boat, and I would sit on my knees behind her.

Fighting the current, we aimed for a shallow spot on the water's edge where we could make the switch.  We moved the seat of the one man kayak forward, and despite her trepidation, got her settled into it. I climbed in behind and taking my paddle, assured her we would steer around the rapids as much as possible.  What I found out is that a kayak meant for one but loaded with two gets swamped with water easily.  The water slid me backwards repeatedly every time we tackled the bigger rapids, and when I was forward, I had only just enough room to paddle between us.  The water was somewhat low and riding the rapids would have been great, but I was as determined to keep my promise and try to avoid them as I was uncertain of being able to handle them.

Our friend, D's fear vanished with the new seating arrangement. After repeating that this was her first and last boat ride on the Shoshone, she started having fun. Bobbing up and down over the first rapid to show her enthusiasm for the bigger rapids to come,  we took the first waves easily and were on our way.  Jerry, now in the canoe alone, had figured out that the air valve lid wasn't seated properly.  With that problem identified, it was easily solved.  With only one person in the canoe, he was doing fine, too.  He, and L in the other kayak, had more control and headed for all the rapids.

We were riding a little low in the back, so it didn't take very much whitewater to swamp the boat. The drainage holes were not keeping up with the onslaught and I was sitting several inches deep in water.  This wasn't a problem except that combining a boat full of water, an extra person and minimal space to maneuver the paddle meant that paddling was both hard work and also a constant necessity.  I could steer fairly well, but I wasn't having much luck actually propelling the boat where I wanted to.  Hard as I tried to paddle, we were sucked right into the center of the rapids.  All my efforts had to go to bringing the boat around to face them and just keeping it as straight as possible. 

We talked about basic instructions while we floated in the quiet areas. Nose and toes in the air to avoid getting stuck in rocks.  Your life-jacket will hold you.  Just float until you can get your feet under you.  If we hit a rock, lean toward it.  I told her that if I didn't stay in the boat and took the paddle overboard with me that she should just stay with the boat and someone would come to help her.  

We took a couple of sideways hits as I struggled to maintain control, and took on more water.  The little kayak is a valiant vessel, but it was a full frontal attack that threw us sideways into the next wave and I almost lost my seat on that one.  I was pretty sure that if I stayed on my knees  the water would lift me right out of the boat, so I folded my legs Indian style.  With the kayak tipping up in front (and down in back), my whoops and squeals were irrepressible.  I struggled to stay forward in the boat for balance, gasping as the water hit my face, blinding me for a few seconds, and kept paddling.  Thankfully this didn't seem to cause too much concern on D's part.

D relaxed enough to make a few glances at the beauty of the area. Red cliffs, green riversides - and she noticed deer feeding within a few feet of us.  And last of all, the sight I was quite relieved to see - the town bridge!  We did it!

Riding Legal