October 17

Our dogs, Mr. Bojangles and Rosie, gave me an awesome shirt from Hand-Done T-Shirts in Ely, MN for my birthday, which is coming soon. The T-shirt says, "Canoed it, portaged it, camped it, loved it. BWCA - Ely, MN. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is heaven on Earth! 

I think Pat helped them select this gift. I enjoy canoeing in the BWCAW and Quetico Provincial Park with her. Little Rosie tolerates canoeing, but prefers to sit in the back yard and watch the day go bye. Mr. Bojangles thinks canoeing is an unnecessary death defying act. Just after the ice broke off the lakes last March, I took Mr. Bojangles on his first canoeing adventure. The air was 40 degrees and the water was 40 degrees, but the sky was bright blue and spring was promising. We took a little solo canoe to Finger Lakes and all was fine until a flock of geese circled once and landed a hundred yards to port. They were too tempting for a young dog with shepherding urges. We both ended up swimming until we were blue as the sky.