Dogs in Canada

Dogs in Canada Magazine is quickly becoming my favorite. I've just found out another of my articles, Summer Sled Dogs, has been accepted by them. Ya! They're also doing a contributor feature on me in November. Each month they do a feature with bio and picture of their writers such as a veterinarian, an award winning photographer or some other specialist. I just hope that my little paragraph won't look too much like Sesame Street's "One of these things doesn't belong here" song.

More contest news. The folks over at http://slushbusters.blogspot.com are giving away a writers notebook. Perfect for inspiring greatness.

Little secret. sshh.

I've been playing it safe and trying to stay calm about the full manuscript request I received for my middle grade novel, Dogsled Dreams. (bet you wondered what the bookjacket thing was all about - pure self-absorbed, time-wasting fun)

But safe is boring so I am going to just quickly mention it, since that's what a writer's blog is all about. Stay tuned.

Contest

Win a 10,000 Word Edit

Over at Tara McClendon's blog http://eyefeathers.blogspot.com/ she's offering an amazing contest valued at $300. She's an editor at InspirationforWriters.com which is totally awesome.

can a leopard change its spots

Meme cheater answers

Sarah's blog, A Work in Progress, http://sarah-janelehoux.blogspot.com/

has asked for a list of ten ways I know a story was written by me. There's no way I can think of ten, but I still want to play. Here's five:

1. There is an animal in it, normally a dog.

2. Some kind of outdoor adventure happens.

3. If there are dogs, they are obviously uber smart.

4. Any dogs will have suspiciously familiar personalities - sort of like some sled dog I once knew.

5. Humour, though a relative term, is smattered throughout.

Now for my own survey. Just for fun, which book jacket do ya like?

Published stories

For those who haven't seen my website, I'll include here a few links to some magazines that have come out. Nautical Mystery Quest is the 5th story in the online magazine for kids, and Mixing it up in Killarney is the adventures of my family on a canoe trip.

http://irishstoryplayhouse.com/StoryTellerTymesSample.html

http://wavelengthmagazine.com/2009/SU09/killarney.html

Sailing into Little Current

Haweater weekend on Manitoulin Island is usually a crowd-drawing event and this year was no exception. Main street was closed to traffic and the food concession stands and trinket booths lined the sidewalks. Busters, Much Music Videos, cotton candy, jumpy balloon house, cartoon characters, Indian Tacos, woodworking, windcatchers, puppies, the works. The parade of lights at dusk with the sailboats all decked out were a crowd pleaser - especially the one with the entire Manitoulin Island on a board lit up like LiteBrite. That boat had to run the length of the channel backwards on the return cruise since the lights were only on one side of the board.

It was very cool to be able to dock right on the town docks with our sailboat and have front row seats for the spectacular fireworks display. The camera's battery ran out just before the show, however, so you will have to take my word for it - they were spectacular.




We sat back on our cushioned seats and applauded ourselves for the inspired idea to dock right in the middle of the festivities. After the the fireworks, we were able to sit back stress-free and watch the giant festering grid lock of vehicles madly fleeing the scene.


And it continued to be a fantastic idea right up until 3 am. That is when the local bar closed and the party spilled out onto the docks. Apparently our particular dock is a favorite hang out in which to declare at the top of ones voice "We've got beer!" among other things. Also we truly appreciated the update on the new day when someone with an impressive set of lungs repeated three times, "GOOD MORNING LITTLE CURRENT!" You gotta love Haweater.

Post Trip Blues

News: my latest childrens' story, Nautical Mystery Quest, is being published in Storyteller Tymes Magazine, August 15, 2009.

Really cool news: Dogs in Canada asked me to send in another article!


Problem: after you've paddled around the largest freshwater Island in the World, what do you do next?

We're currently scanning the World map if anyone has suggestions.

Denis watching sunrise - Barrie Island, North Channel

In writing news, upon my return I had 7 rejections, 3 acceptances and one expression of interest in my book Dogsled Dreams. Of course my mind had me already on the plane for my book signing tour. That is why it is so much more crushing to get the "sorry, your book is awesome but not awesome enough..." email. Apparently it made it to an editorial meeting of the small press I had submitted it to.

Dust off, submit elsewhere, look ahead far into the future to your next vacation and begin to plan the next ultimate kayaking trip.

http://greenontherock.blogspot.com/

Oh yes, and if you would like to REALLY learn how to roll a kayak the correct way that actually works and is way more fun than any other method, check out Heather's instructions.

Trip food

The most asked question I've been getting about our recent kayak trip was about what food we ate. Here's a breakdown of a typical day on our journey.

Calories burned: 4,000

Breakfast: Carnation Instant Breakfast envelope with powdered milk (Denis has 2)
granola
dried apricots
prunes

Snacks: chunks of cheese
oranges, apples
GORP
granola bars
homemade bear jerky

Lunch: Bagel (Denis has 2)
avacado
PB, honey
dried fruit
Oreos

Dinner: Deer meat chilli
chicken soup
crackers
Sweedish Berries candy

Water: 2 litres per day

Weight loss: Denis - 5 pounds
Terry - 0

Kayak Manitoulin Island a success

In between naps and replenishing my fat reserves, I thought I'd take a moment to quickly say we MADE IT around Manitoulin. A few stats:

Distance: 315 km

Time: 8 days and 1 hour

Average Distance covered per day: 35 km

Greatest distance covered in one day: 58 km

Time on the water: Generally 5am - 2pm but some days went till 5pm

Highlights:

3 hour crossing by compass in complete fog

Following 6 foot seas off Greene Island - losing sight of each other in the troughs

Raccoon stealing food from the cockpit at night - made off with apples and a bag of nuts

6 Degree Celcius morning temps. 8 Degree Celcius water temps. (ensured no tipping)

Learned to pee from a kayak into a peanut butter container

The entire coastline of Wikwemikong - mini flower pots, cliffs, clear aqua waters

An intimate encounter with Giant Hogweed resulting in itchy burning horrendous rash.

As always, click on any image to enlarge.

Will write a little more when the keyboard stops rocking - still have a wicked case of sea legs.

Departing for Expedition

This is what 165 pounds of gear looks like. It was a little tight in the yaks so a few things had to go. This is the weened pile. I had to resort to an old Quetico trick and purchased a pair of underwear that Tilley Hat makers sell - quick dry. I'll wash them every night and hopefully they'll be ready to go in the morning. That got rid of 14 pairs of underwear.

The marine forecast is calling for a week of gale West winds. Just in time for us heading West. Hopefully the unappreciated joke of the winds switching East as we round the Island will not happen. We're about to set out tonight to try and get a head start on the wind monster due to make an appearance sometime after midnight. At this rate, it may take until September to make it back. But two weeks is all we have. Success or failure, depends on the wind. I'm looking out the window at the trees bent over, leaves flapping and imagining what the North Channel looks like. I'm imagining my head bent forward, eyes squinted, hair blowing out behind me as I struggle to not lose the paddle. I'm imagining this being fun.

Triathalon

Competed in a triathalon on Sunday as part of an all female team. We had a runner - who came in third, beating out lots of athletic-looking men. Myself and my swimming friend, Jackie, paddled the 6 km canoe sprint - passing one canoe but just could not catch the (much younger) girls in front of us with the invisible motor. And our biker held her own coming back with white eyeballs in a sea of mud. We came in third. Considering it was pouring rain, there were lots of teams, the atmosphere was filled with laughter and screaming kids, and I had a blast. The mouth-watering aroma coming from the sausage stand attracted most everyone to gather in one area after the race. Great commraderie.

It was an interesting role-swap for my friend and I. We train together for swim meets and she is a far superior swimmer than me. But for this day, I was the expert paddler yelling advice, suggestions and orders from the stern. Looking at our time, I think it worked. But swimming season isn't far off so the order of the Universe will soon right itself.

Triathalon Results

http://www.mindemoyaclassic.com/module-resultsadmin.html?module=resultsadmin

Food packing

The packing has begun for our circumnavigation of Manitoulin Island. Here is a sample of some of the dried foods we are bringing. This does not even include the fresh produce - 2 bags of apples, 1 bag of oranges, carrots, etc. Our personal gear, safety gear and tent, stove and fuel are also ready to go. My next post will be the dress rehersal where we will attempt to stuff it all into two little hatches of our kayaks. I'm seeing in my future: no camp chair.

After a few weeks of rejections for my manuscript, Dogsled Dreams, I have finally had a little light shine down on me with an acceptance for a short article from Mushing Magazine! I can't describe how exciting that one is, since I subscribed to that awesome magazine and read it from cover to cover for ten years.

12 days till launch.

Bike training

Home from work early today and poor dog looking at me like she's just the most neglected mutt in the history of neglected mutts. So instead of my usual paddle which she watches from the sidelines, I decided to do my cardio on my bike. Here's a sample of my ride:

Cocky, 24-year-old self: Whoa, there's a tree hanging across the trail at the bottom of this enormous hill! I could totally grab it and duck my head under the branches as I whip past.

Sage, 38-year-old self: why does this bike seat feel smaller every year...whoa there's a dangerous tree ahead. Should stop and walk under. But there's the angry mob of mosquitos behind me just waiting for me to stop. Maybe I can make it...

Editor's note: Terry did indeed make it under the tree as she flew down the hill at approximately 45 miles per hour - resulting in a triumphant millisecond of exhaultation before she noticed the deep crevice that her front wheel promptly buried itself into. Terry then did indeed fly over the handlebars and land softly in a cold mud puddle. Mosquitos rejoiced. The end.

Manitoulin trip itinerary

More intense planning this week as I did some chart work and figured the bearings we'll need for each leg of our circumnavigation and the time it would take. Travelling at 3 kts. - if there is no wind - we'll be able to do the whole island in 8 days. But there will be wind. Most likely there will be a headwind in whatever direction we are going. Click on the image to enlarge.

Brilliant paddle tonight. The water was so still I could hear the "whirring" of the blades slicing through the water on each side of the kayak. The blackflies loved it. Coming through the narrows back onto our lake, I saw something swimming in the water. As I got closer I could see a distinctly ringed, puffy tail floating along behind the back of what I assumed was a beaver, but obviously not. I've never seen a raccoon swimming before and they are great swimmers! Possibly because of the density in their bodies, most of him floated. His back was half dry when he got to shore. He turned to stare at me as I glided silently past him. He was trying to figure out what I was. The house was shining as the last rays of the sunset hit it. My smile could not get any wider.

Dehydrating

The dehydrator is going full bore these days sucking the life out of meals like homemade chilli, moose meat sauce for pasta, ground deer meat to add to soups, veggies to add to each meal and stewed-fruit roll ups. Here's what a bag of dried chilli and mixed veggies looks like. 14 days of food adds up. Hoping that taking the water weight out of most meals will aid in battling 20 knots of headwind as we push a fully loaded kayak through the breaking surf.

I've returned from the Coastal Level II kayaking course held in Killarney by ORCKA. And I passed! I've got bruises in strange places - those crazy cowgirl re-entries seemed a good idea at the time - lake water is still leaking out my ears and nose, and I've made some cool new friends who also think hanging out upside down in a kayak, in the icy waters of Georgian Bay, in June, is a fine way to spend a day.
I'm still working on my kiss-the-bow party trick. Though, I don't think I'll be doing much of that in our circum nav.