To finish up on the Kamping thing

After I was abruptly interrupted by the weekend I have returned to post the final bits about our time away kamping. I'm just going to show you odd bits of stuff that I found interesting.

Be warned: this may be a tad boring to some.

WILDLIFE

I really like to know what kind of animals are living around me. Since I am not a big hiker or a walker of nature trails, I don't usually see much beyond the ordinary. But I like the ordinary and when I really look at them I can't help but be enchanted by them. I often wonder what it would be like to try to describe a parrot, for example, to someone who'd never seen one. How can you even imagine a creature like that? The same wonder follows me to the critters I came across around kamping kabin #3.



OMG is there anything CUTER! What an evolutionary survival strategy cuteness is!

And look, this guy's all tuckered out...

It's always strange to see an animal that is continually moving just lay down and rest. Our black squirrels do this in the backyard. They'll lie on top of the fence and stretch right out. Or sun themselves on a big rock. Very odd. I guess I never think of them as being able to let down their guard but really, these critters have it good. Lots of people around who feed them, or leave bits of food behind by accident. It must be as good as it gets.

I LOVED this bird. It's not a crow or a raven, the feathers on his neck and across his wing are iridescent, but look at those eyes! Like a predator. This bird will definitely make it onto a canvas this year.

And this is the immature version of the same blackbird. Even it's a daunting figure... the soft downy plumage does nothing to mitigate that giant claw foot or those searing eyes. yikes!


OTHER THINGS

I take a lot of pictures when we go somewhere and now that I have this handy little blog, I can actually put them somewhere. I always feel like you, gentle reader, are an unwitting participant in an old-fashioned slide show but since you've already sat through pictures of chipmunks and blackbirds, well, what's a few more?

This is a great start to a great campfire. My guy was well trained in how to build a campfire in the Boy Scouts. Never was I more impressed by this than on this trip when he created a fire that slowly burned and then as it burned down several large planks of wood fell in such a way that they dropped down into a perfect position, one-beside-the-other, to give us the even heat I was looking for to cook a pot roast! Yes, I made a roast with potatoes, carrots and celery over the campfire. It was awesome. We also made "walking tacos" on another night. This is when I was mesmerized by the possibilities of ziplock bag cooking. You take some Doritos, put them in a baggie, crush them up. Cook hamburger over the fire with taco seasoning in it. Get some taco fixin's ready: cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and then you just add all the ingredients into the baggie with the Doritos and zip the bag, shake it up, and eat out of the bag.

Wow.

I thought the baggie would melt but it didn't. I wondered what chemicals leeched from the baggie into the food, but hey, it already had smoke from the fire so ...

The baggie is like a little cooking pot. I think it'd be great to try a chili like this. It's very weird to eat out of a baggie with a fork. But I like weird.



Speaking of which, we did this for breakfast: egg on a stick.

You poke a hole in the bottom of the egg, trying not to break through the top, though we never managed that, and then you just toast the egg over the fire. You really hold it close to the fire too; "2 mississippi's" away. Then you peel it open and you have, or I had, a soft boiled egg. I really needed an egg cup but since I'd never done this before I didn't know. This is a very impressive trick. The neighbour came over to see. Try it! Amaze your friends!

As for our environs, we found this temperature gauge on a local business very amusing.

This isn't so funny,

but this is.

Their temperature tops out at 50F and starts at -40F. As you can see, on this day we were over 50F. It was closer to 90F when I took this shot... maybe that was really really rare and I didn't even know it.

Odds and Ends

I just wanted to show you the key to our cabin. My guy said it was like walking around with a gas station bathroom key in your pocket.

We drove down this one road and this was at the end of it:

a ferry!

In our house we have a little thing about the ferry. He hates it, I love it. He thinks the ferry is the most unreliable mode of transportation EVER and "why don't they just build a bridge already?!" Impatience. So he always sends me stories of ferry disasters and such and well, look at this ferry. It kind of supports his view, though I'd take a chance on it. It's more of a barge to my eyes though, not very ferry-like.

So, gentle reader, if the above wonders haven't captivated you, you may still ask yourself, why go anywhere at all?


Well, for me, it's to see new things. To just be somewhere else. Here we were, at a restaurant, sitting on the patio, right beside a marina and the full moon was rising. What a sight. I've seen the moon many times but I can count on one hand how many times I've seen it rise over a marina.

Our next trip? (and I cannot wait!!!!)

October 20th to see Wayne Newton at Casinorama!

T-57 days and counting...