The River's Course: February 2023

Between time spent on the river in New Brunswick and at home here in southern Vermont, 2022 was a busy, fulfilling year. Thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective of my time on the river in 2022, mostly for myself - this blog acts as kind of a personal journal for me, which I do enjoy sharing with other, hopefully like-minded, folks. On to Spring, Summer and Fall on the Miramichi. It was fun to watch Spring happen from the same spot every morning down by the river in front of our place!

The big project for me on the river was a shed for our stuff! It was fun to build (except when the temp hit the 90's and there's no shade!); always like to work with my good friend Vin.

In June, the Miramichi Salmon Association was finally (after 2 years of you-know-what) able to hold its Icebreaker fundraiser. My friend Pat Simpson Price had recently gotten into laser engraving on her woodworking projects. She made me this special "gavel" for my auctioneering duties at the event:

True story: After the event was over, I remembered I forgot the gavel up at the podium, so went up to retrieve it. There were still plenty of folks milling around. As I was heading out with the gavel, a very nice middle-aged lady stood up as I walked by, kind of turned her back to me, and, turning her head to look at me said, "I've been a VERY bad girl." Yikes! With a nice smile for her, I was outa there! Of course, like many others at that event, I neglected to wear a mask. A week later...positive:

I was actually supposed to head back to Vermont for a bit right about then. Nope, got an extra ten days of Miramichi. Very solitary Miramichi. Fortunately, good friends drop off essentials on my truck tailgate. Essentials like Moose Light, especially! I did fun things like count mosquitos on the scree door, watch old movies, and a nice summer rain.

My new Camp Chef double grill was a good addition to the camp. Cooking breakfast outside is great, and those shishkabobs...I ate them like three per week!

The good news is there is plenty of room to walk along the river and not risk infecting anyone. When I felt a little better, Brodie and I would start back to ourearly morning walks. I believe the geese were not happy to see us again!

Speaking of Brodie, he wears a Garmin Alpha when we're out and about. The GPS thingy is incredible; I know right where he is at all times...within 9 miles in flat country! The red is Brodie's track, the blue is me.

You have to admit that if you gotta be sick, be sick here to help keep things in perspective

It was also fun to keep tabs on this little female Hairy Woodpecker in her nest cavity. It was maybe twelve feet up in that aspen, and it almost looks like she has a roof over her spot. Eventually I could even hear her babies screaming for lunch.

Then there were these guys showing up evenings to partake of last years bumper acorn crop:

Brodie and I took every effort to sit back and enjoy the view as often as possible:

Once covid had passed, we'd even have company!

And different kinds of company!

Note to self: Don't keep trash in truck unless I want bear prints all over it.

Bears were everywhere. From right where I was cutting firewood:

to a crab apple tree at the Swazey homestead. They broke that big limb then pooped all over it!!

I love being in camp the last several years for the first frost. Made it again this year! (about that ASF decal; they have not been helpful with some of MSA's most important efforts, so they're lucky the decal is still there.)

Bridget came up in September, and we actually did a little fishing. Well, I was practicing my casting...she was landing salmon.

Have I mentioned lately that September sunsets on the Miramichi can be quite awe inspiring?

This has become one of my favorite photos of time spent on the river. It's September and our guide, Erdy Price, is poling us back to camp in late evening.