Hey folks. I’ve joined a Mastodon instance, so you can stalk me there now, too… 

Finally. Yes, finally. After the last few months of sitting here whining about not getting out for some fun time, I’m finally getting around to making a summer out of this nasty summer.

The weather is a bit nicer now. Not quite as hot and humid. I was making plans to go out tomorrow for a romp in the mud, but I think they expect thunderstorms now, so I’m going to wait a bit.

This past trip I made on a Sunday, which was interesting. Everything seemed quieter than usual, and although I wasted a little time going off-track, I managed to get where I needed to be. Today’s important observation: Stick with the path I usually take.

ViewRanger is doing OK as far as tracking my movements. I find it’s tracks are easier to follow. My big beef is that I can’t simply mark the current spot as a waypoint… I have to drag the marker around the map to get it just right. But, that’s not really anything worth whining about, so on we go.

I received my nice new fun suit in the mail yesterday.  I couldn’t wait to try it on, so I did. It’s nice and snug all around, which is a nice improvement. I managed, somehow, to get all my measurements pretty much right on, and so I am very happy with my purchase. Hopefully by next year I’ll have some money put aside to get one made in camo.  I think it will come in handy in the fall when the leaves fall and I am a little less well hidden. But in the meantime, I am looking sooo forward to getting this one dirty!

Next time I order, I’ll have to remember to ask if they have a heavier duty zipper, tho. The zipper in my last suit didn’t survive much past the first few outings, and this one is pretty much the same, so I expect I’ll lose it too soon enough… 

Yup. That’s me. Keeping busy. I haven’t got much into the exploring thing this year. I toured around the marsh a little bit, but for the most part that’s about all I’ve done. I was planning to go out today because the weather is relatively cooperative, but I decided that it was a better day to sit around at home catching up on some things I’ve been neglecting.

I finally decided to stop worrying about my potential inability to measure myself properly for a new fun suit. I took some measurements and had a suit custom-made. I am expecting to receive it early this week. I decided to just get another simple black spandex suit, because it is the cheapest option (still over $100 tho, after taxes and import fees and all that shit).  I’m not expecting it to be a perfect fit, but once I try it on, I will be able to tweak the measurements before buying the nice camo one that costs 50% more.

As for my current suit… It’s taken a beating over the last couple years, and I haven’t exactly gotten smaller, so it’s a bit too tight around the mid-section. I have also cut off the ends of the feet, since I got knee-high socks now. It’s a bit easier to get the suit on and off at the site because I can just pull it up over the socks.

I’ve also decided to ditch my GPS/mapping app and get something a little simpler and more stable to use. So this year we use ViewRanger. So far it’s working OK. I’m not completely satisfied with the satellite overlay options, but given that I’m too cheap to buy better maps, it’s actually doing the trick very well.

The last thing on my mind today, is working out a less intensive hike to the marsh. Right now it’s approximately 1 km from my front door, which is perfect except for having to fight dead trees and raspberry bushes the entire way. So with the help of the new GPS mapping app and Google Earth, I think I’ve figured out how to get most of the way there through nice easy-going fields.

And so, I think in the next couple days I’m going to take a hike through my newly planned route. It will most likely be the last trip with my previous fun suit, since the new one is expected to arrive this week.

The weather this summer simply refuses to cooperate!  Last month it was so hot I could barely stand being outside, and this month so far has been disgustingly humid, stormy, wet, and miserable. The sun pops out to brighten our days for a few minutes sometimes, but mostly it’s just gloomy.  Environment Canada keeps predicting various chances of thunderstorm activity, and we’ve had a few minor ones over the last few weeks… But even a small chance of storms is enough to keep me out of the bush, mostly for safety reasons…

Nevertheless, I’ve managed to encounter a nice sunny day, and used it to finally get out for another tromp through the bush. I think I’ve found myself a nice hole to play in now.  It started off not so impressive, but as is usual for this area, the more I disturbed it, the deeper it got…

Hopefully this gloomy wet shit wanders off to punish some other poor soul for wanting to spend time outdoors this summer.  The mud season is already half finished for this year and I’ve only been in the pit twice!

I finally got myself motivated and energized and bored enough to get out of the office chair for a while. It was hell, and I am back in the office chair where I belong!

This has certainly been a much less flooded spring for us. The happy fun pit I am so anxious to get back into is still well under water. The good news is that the current weather outlook suggests I will be able to get into that mud earlier than I did last year, but it’s going to be at least a few more weeks. I’m comforted by the fact that every trace of my adventures last year will once again be erased and I’ll be starting fresh… when I get started, anyway.

So my first trip through the bush this year… Was frustrating… Again, the mosquitoes are insane! We went from cold winter to hot summer in no time. It’s not even June yet and we’ve been in the 30’s (Celsius, yeah) more than once already. All the nice mud is under water. If I want to get dirty any time soon, I have to find another place to go.  I don’t see that happening, really. I’m having a much more difficult time getting motivated to exercise, which is just fucking horrible because I need it soooo bad.  But, it seems that trudging through dense bush is not going to be high on my list of enjoyable activities like it was last year. The mosquitoes, and the tree branches in the face, and the whole “trail” seems ten times harder to navigate for some reason.

Hopefully by the time the water clears up a bit more, I’ll have whipped myself into shape a little better. I’m definitely planning to clear myself a path through the worst parts so I can get to where I need to be without so many sticks in the face, and without making so much noise… And it helps to be able to move swiftly to keep the mosquitoes from piling up around me… The skitters don’t start to diminish until all that whole area dries out enough that they can’t breed as easily… But this is usually a late summer/early fall thing… And I am not interested in waiting until September and only getting 1 or 2 trips out.

So I’m frustrated. I tried to go relax in the shade with some friends, but it wasn’t happening. Too. Many. Mosquitoes. Instead, I’ll sit here and blog about stupid shit that no one reads. Today is a full moon, so maybe that has something to do with it?Related Images:

Oh yay, the big spring snow melt and runoff is finally happening. It’s a few weeks later this year… Last year at this time we were still pretty badly flooded.

2018 is bringing with it a much milder runoff. The water levels are rising, but all the snow is mostly gone already and there’s no excessive rain forecast. Whereas last year’s spring melt sent the water levels soaring a few feet higher than usual, this year we’re half way through the melt and only about 8 inches above the secret number that ensures access to the good stuff. So this has my hopes up that I will get to the Creeky Marsh nice and early this year. What’s more is that early access means a much longer season protected by green leaves and tall ferns.

Today, in particular, brought the weather that makes me most horny to get out again… Warm, with a warm breeze, a few sprinkles of rain, a little bit of sun… Oddly enough, there’s a part of me that is waiting for the ‘perfect’ day to get some dirt. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s June before I get out for this year’s first time. I definitely have lots to do in the meantime, so as long as I keep busy, I’ll probably avoid complete insanity! ;)Related Images: