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.

A walk in the woods

I promised to tell you about some of my adventures on holiday back home in Canada, so here goes. As you might know, Canada is a very big country, full of forests and lakes, and lots of people like to go on camping trips, doing some canoeing perhaps, and some fishing. Well, I'm not sure about canoes, as they look very wobbly to me, so I just decided to go off on a fishing trip. I put on my wellies to keep my paws dry, got out my fishing rod and set off into the woods. I followed a path leading to a small lake which everybody told me was a sure-fire winner for fishing success. After about a quarter of an hour, I was in quite a deep, dense bit of the forest, when all of a sudden there was a rustling in the undergrowth just ahead, and out stepped the biggest bear I've ever seen! Of course, we have bears in Sylvania, but they're not much bigger than me, and anyway they are all very friendly and don't like to eat anything much other than honey, or perhaps condensed milk. Canadian bears are completely different, and if there's one thing they love, it's fish. And here I was in the middle of the forest, with fishing gear, probably smelling of the bear's favourite food! He didn't say anything at all, but just looked down at me from a great height, so I decided to back away very slowly. This seemed to be a good strategy, until ...I heard more rustling behind me! I just froze - what would I do if it was the bear's even fiercer big brother!! You'll have to wait to find out what happened next.

What I did on my holidays

Hello everybody! Sorry that I haven't written anything for such a long time, but I've been away on my holidays. I'm going to try to catch over the next couple of weeks and tell you all about the adventures I had. I've just got back from visiting all my friends and relations in Canada, and I had a great time there. But first let me tell you about my visit to Sweden.

I have got an aunt in Sweden -well I call her an Aunt, but she's actually a friend of my mother from when she was a sled dog for a while. She's a moose called Hälge. Aunty Hälge lives near Stockholm and she took for a day out in the city centre. Stockholm is a very beautiful city with lots of islands with bridges between them. Aunty Hälge took this picture of me standing in front of a huge sailing ship. We had a little boat ride around the harbour later on - but our boat wasn't as big as this! Pity - I rather fancy myself as a nautical pup.

We had planned to travel up North to visit the reindeers, but seems they are already busy preparing for Christmas, so I'll go and see them another time.

I'll be back soon, with news of my visit to Canada. Love Bobby xx