Never tell a grownup that you're bored!

Well I certainly learned a lesson today. Now we're moving from Autumn into Winter, the nights are getting dark very early - in fact by the time I've got home from school and had a glass of milk, it's already too dark to play outside. I thought it was very boring - and I made the mistake of saying so to Grandpa Rabbit. He chuckled in a rather worrying way, and said "I've got just the thing for you, my lad. (By the way, "My Lad" is never a good sign when a grownup says it to you - it's almost a bad as being called "Robert Labrador").

We went upstairs, and then upstairs again, until we reached the attic. It's a dusty dark room full of boxes and old junk. There isn't a normal ceiling, just the inside of the roof, so it's like being inside a sort of wooden tent.

"Right" said Grandpa Rabbit, "Here's a whole world of lost treasure for you to explore! If you tidy it up nicely, then you can have anything you find, that you fancy playing with". Grandpa Rabbit went back down the stairs, and I stared a the mountain of old junk. "Treasures indeed!" I thought, "I'll never find anything worth playing with in this lot". Well, I was wrong about that - and you'll see why next time!

Another Fine Mess

Well, things just went from bad to worse! As Little Tail tried to pull me in over the side of the boat, the whole thing started to tip over. I slipped out of his paws, and before we knew what was happening, I went back into the water one way, he went the other way, and the boat rolled right over. For a few moments we were both a bit scared, but then we realised that our paws had touched the bottom. Little Tail's daddy is very sensible, and he had only let us go out on a lake that is just a few paw's lengths deep.

We tipped all the water out of the boat (or as much as we could) and then pulled it to the side of the lake. Then we both trudged back to the village to own up to what had happened. Little Tail was rather worried that his father would be very cross - after all he is the Chief and they can be very fierce! But it was all right, and anyway Little Tail's mummy wouldn't let anyone be cross with us - she wrapped us both up in towels to make sure we got warm and dry as soon as possible, and gave us a nice mug of hot chocolate to drink. I was most worried about losing my lovely green wellies, but Little Tail's daddy said that we will most probably be find them in the dry season when the lake's level goes down. Even better - they said that I can borrow some moccasins to wear until then. What a great souvenir from my holiday in Labrador!

Peril on the Pond!

Everything started out really well. I thought we would be going out in a traditional Canadian canoe or a kayak, but Little Tail had arranged to borrow a friend's rowing boat. It was a lovely little boat, painted yellow and white, with two oars and just enough room for two small animals to share. Well, I say "just enough" - that was true as long as everybody stayed sitting down. The problem started when I decided to try fishing over the side. After a very short time, I felt a tug on my line - I had a catch! In my excitement I stood up to get a better view and that's when the boat started to wobble. I wobbled forwards first, and thinking that the fish was going to tug me in, I let go of my rod. Unfortunately, that just made me lurch backwards, and that was too much. Splosh! I went straight into the water. Once in the water, I remembered to keep calm and do a doggie paddle to keep myself afloat. I had to kick my wellies off, as they filled up with water, and my paws feel very heavy. Little Tail also kept very calm and steered the boat to keep close to me, and very soon he was helping me back on to the boat. For a few seconds, all he had to worry about was whether I would shake off all my wet fur on him, but then the boat started to wobble all over again. Apparently ( we found this out later) it's best to help someone back into a boat over the stern - that's the back end - as it makes it less like to tip over. Would the boat tip over all over again? You'll have to wait until next time to find out what happened!

A visit to the original Canadians

Back to my Canadian break, and after my less than totally successful attempt at fishing, I asked Mr Ranger what we could do next. Mr Ranger, being a Moose himself, knows a lot about the wildlife of Canada, but also about our history and cultural heritage. He suggested that we make a visit to meet some of the original native inhabitants of North America. Well, of course I was very keen to do that and so we set off straight away. I was a bit nervous about taking Rabbie the Bear with us - I mean I know native peoples are very good at living in harmony with nature and everything, but he is extremely large! But Mr Ranger said it would be no problem as he knows the people of the Red Tail Squirrel tribe very well.

After about two hours walking through the forest we came to a clearing, where there was a small cluster of traditional tents and we were greeted by the leader of the tribe Bushtail, and his son Little Tail. They were very hospitable and explained that they live in the tents throughout the summer, hunting and enjoying the great outdoors, but in the winter nowadays they move in to ordinary houses. Sounds very sensible to me!

We got on very well, and Little Tail offered to take me out for a ride in his boat the next day. That sounded too good to miss, so we all settled down for the night. Rabbie had a tent to himself but even so, his paws stuck out all night. He didn't mind though - it's the great benefit of being so furry! Next time, I'll tell you how I got on in the boat.

Halloween Fun

I couldn't resist breaking off my tale of what happened on my holidays to show you what happened on Friday night. I always enjoy Halloween of course, but this was something really special! Everyone in the whole village dressed up in scary or magical outfits and we went from house to house collecting treats (some people say trick or treat, but I'm not the sort of pup who does tricks). We finished off with a grand Halloween party in the village hall - there was ducking for apples and sticking the tail on the donkey. Dougie the Donkey was a bit worried about that, but it was a pretend Donkey, and with his instinctive grasp of where a tail should go, he won the first prize.

Next time, I will return to telling you more about my Canadian adventures and I will tell you all about my visit to some Very Important People!

The one that got away...

Mr Ranger was as good as his word. He found us a lovely little pond to fish in. Mr Ranger and I sat on a little hill by the side of the pond and Rabbie sat nearby, just dabbling his paws in the pond. Everything went really well until I got a bite. Now, I know fishermen are renowned for exaggerating the size of the fish they caught, but this one was enormous! A beautiful big salmon, all silvery and splashing about so hard I thought I'd lose my grip on the rod. But as soon as it appeared, a certain very large bear launched himself into the water, and made the fish disappear in an instant. I wouldn't mind the fish going but Rabbie made such a splash that me and Mr Ranger were both wet through. Even my wellies were full of water!

Mr Ranger gave Rabbie a very stern telling off, but after we had dried out a bit, we couldn't stay cross with him, as he looked so sorry for himself. We went back to Mr Ranger's cabin and shared a big pot of honey. Now the only problem I've got is how to get honey out of fur. Any suggestions?

Ranger to the Rescue

Well, what a relief! I turned around to see what was causing the rustling in the bushes, and out stepped a small but definitely friendly animal in a very smart uniform. He announced that he is the National Park Ranger for the area, and asked if I needed any assistance. I thought that was a bit of a strange question to ask when a few feet to his left stood a gigantic bear. Mr Ranger saw my expression and smiled kindly. "Don't worry about old Rabbie", he said "He's just a big old softy. He probably saw your fishing rod and thought he might be in for some handouts". We got to talking, and Mr Ranger explained that normally it's a very bad idea to feed bears you meet in the woods. But Rabbie is a personal friend, and a very trustworthy. "Just don't let him hug you too tight", explained Mr Ranger, "he can get a bit too affectionate for smaller animals".
Mr Ranger offered to show me the very best fishing pond in the forest - where there would be plenty for me to catch and enough to share with Rabbie. I'll let you know how we got on in my next post.