July 1, 2017 – Black Rapids Log to Ottawa – CANADA DAY 150
July 1, 2017 – Black Rapids Log to Ottawa – CANADA DAY 150
We got up early again and I really need to tell my humans that this is way too early for me. I can get along with it as long as I can lie down somewhere and sleep after we got up but today I did not have a chance to sleep. This was a crazy day and I think I will never forget in my life and neither will my humans.
There was a lot of excitement in the air today. Everybody was in a hurry and there was no breakfast prepared today. Instead the humans packed the trailer with all the stuff that came along on the travel. They started to separate stuff and everybody was running around like crazy.
Did I mention that there was another group of paddlers on the campground? They spoke that funny language called French. This sounds really weird to me and I cannot understand a single word. My mistress does understand something but she won’t tell me what they were talking about.
These French-speaking people were from a canoe of the south wind brigade. Our brigade leader Tim expected 14 canoes from the south wind brigade but only 1 of the canoes made it till the end. The other 13 canoes went home because of the rain.
My humans and all the others put on their sashes. Some of them had costumes on. The drivers took the cars to another place in Ottawa where they would pick them up in the evening. It was Canada Day – 150 years Canada. There was a big party in Ottawa and the humans said the roads in the city would be closed because of the fireworks. FIREWORKS???? I hate fireworks and I am really afraid of them.
Only a handful of the people of my brigade and the people of the other brigade were left. Even Max Finkelstein, the brigade leader of the south wind brigade left with the drivers. The drivers were supposed to come back to Black Rapids.
It rained and it rained very hard. Luckily we could find a dry place under the roof of the log cabin.
I started wondering how we all would fit in the car that would bring back the drivers. Some of the humans might go in the three canoes but I did not know how many.
After a while Joyce got a call from someone of the group that went with the drivers. They told us we should leave now and meet the rest of the group at another lock. Wait a minute? How should we leave without a car? Something is wrong in this picture. I looked at my mistress but she did not understand what I was concerned about.
Instead my mistress and all the others went down to the beach and started to put the canoes into the water. I did not watch what they were doing because a big toad sidetracked me. I almost stepped on it. I tried to chase it when it went away but my mistress stopped me.
You can’t imagine what happened now. When I had to sit in the cars for five days I thought it couldn’t get worse but I was wrong. My mistress went into the canoe and sat down. What am I supposed to do now? My mistress asked me to jump into the canoe. Seriously? I am a dog not a fish, or a seal or any other animal that loves water. I hate water.
I need to explain why I hate water, although my mom and my brothers love water. When I was a little puppy, about four months old, my humans went to a dog park in Frankfurt with me. There were a lot of dogs and there was a river, called Nidda. I played with another dog, not a puppy but a grown up dog. He seemed to be very nice at first. We played at the shore of the river and all of a sudden he pushed me into the water and jumped into the water next to me. Instead of helping me he jumped on me and pushed my head under the water. I could not breeze and I was scared to death. My mistress tried to help me but she could not get into the water. After I made it out of the water she pet me and took care of me. I never went into the water again, I avoided every puddle as far as I could. Some years later I sometimes walked in water but I made sure only my feet got wet.
Now you know why I hate water and my mistress now serious believed I would go into the canoe? The day before was a very short ride but this time it seemed to be different. She had a backpack and all the other paddlers had bags too. Also there was water IN the canoe. Did she really think I would sit in the canoe with my bud getting wet? She can’t be serious. My master wasn’t there to help me.
There is one thing I am more scared of than water; this is leaving my mistress alone. I just can’t do it; I need to be close to her. Sometimes she leaves me for a couple of minutes or sometimes hours but this time nobody would stay behind with me and I can’t stay there all by myself. I said to myself that I have to be brave and jump into the canoe. It’s not a big deal to jump in there but I was scared of the water.
There I was, in the canoe, wet feet and this thing was shaking. The others pushed the canoe all the way into the water and the humans started to paddle. I had a lot of space in the canoe, as there weren’t many humans in the canoe. Only five paddlers were in this canoe. The other canoes were in the water too. The humans started to paddle. Well, I need to admit it wasn’t that bad, but there was water in the canoe and it was raining. I was completely wet and cold.
I mean, everybody was in the rain but most of them had rain clothes on and my mistress at least had a rain poncho. She told me her bud was wet too and her pants too. That’s just fair for making me go in the canoe with her. I did not want to sit down and every time I moved that entire canoe started to move from one side to the other.
We paddled just for about a minute and than the canoes stopped to salute some people on the shore. They make a lot of noises when they salute. Tim said “paddles up” and they hold the paddles in the air; “one” – they hit the paddles on the canoe once; “two” – they hit the paddles on the canoe twice; “three” – they hit the paddles on the canoe three times; “Yeah” while they hold the paddles up in the air. They did this a couple of times on our tour.
After a while we came to a lock where the humans had to portage the canoes. Boona, the yellow canoe and the French canoe were portaged with a dolly
Tim decided to take the lock instead of portaging. It was still raining and I was very wet. After Tim came out of the lock and we all went back into the canoe again.
There were people on the shore on both sides of the river, shouting and waving and the paddlers saluted a couple of times. They all shouted “Happy Canada Day”.
At the next lock we met my master and the other paddlers. Shortly before we met them it stopped raining.
At this lock they cleaned the canoe so there was no water in it any more. My mistress tried to convince my master to come with us in the canoe, as he could not meet us later in Ottawa. He finally agreed to join us – seems only to be fair to me as I did not have a choice.
He was wet from the rain and my mistress gave him the rain poncho and told him that would keep him warm as the wind would not go through this. He did not believe her but put it on anyway.
Everybody went into the canoes now and down we went in the lock. Some more canoes were in the lock, students from a school in some canoes.
All the canoes stayed together and there were more and more people on the shore shouting “Happy Canada Day”. Everybody was excited and laughing, even the sun started to shine. I even started to enjoy being in the canoe. It’s a nice way of traveling, sitting in the canoe, let the humans paddle and me enjoy the sun.
I even sat down and looked at the surrounding. After a while I lied down and put my chin on the canoe, this was really peaceful.
My master was glad he came with us, as he would have missed this. The atmosphere was electrical with all the celebration and excitement. Almost everybody carried a Canadian flag or was dressed in red and white.
The humans paddled into Ottawa and had to stop in front of a lock. There were eight locks, one after the other. Taking these would have taken way too long the humans said, therefore they portaged the canoes on the dolly down to the Ottawa River. It felt funny walking on the ground again and I still had the feeling of the waves in my legs.
On the Ottawa River were a lot of canoes and boats. Tim walked away and my humans had lunch. I was reading the local newspaper by sniffing everywhere. After a while Dwight came and gave my humans a Canadian Flag pin. They put it on their sashes next to the pin of Pembroke and Arnprior.
I could feel my humans were very proud to be a part of this thing. They enjoyed paddling in the canoe and they liked everybody in the group, just like a small family. Also they very excited about what’s coming next. They said it has something to do with the First Nations. I don’t know much about this.
After a while we put the canoe in the water and everybody went back into the canoe. The sun was shining and everybody was in a good mood.
We paddled about 1 km to Asinabke (Victoria Island), which is the sacred Omàmiwinini (Algonquin) territory and has been a traditional meeting place for first nations for over 5000 years. Our canoe was the last one called the sweep, means we were responsible to take care if something happens to one of the other canoes.
When we landed on the island there were a lot of canoes and I could see some other dogs. We went on land and I had to stay close to my mistress on the leash. This newspaper was not as interesting as I thought. Not much smell there, at least no dog smell.
The Anishinaabe First Nation organized the welcome ceremony.
Let me tell you a little bit about the First Nation/First Peoples, for those of you who do not know anything about them. The First Nation/First Peoples, in the USA they call them Native Americans, other countries call them Indians. These were the people that lived in Northern America before it was discovered.
The First Nations in Canada still live in reserves and they try to keep their culture and their language.
Remember, I am just a dog and I might have picked the wrong words here. Feel free to correct me.
Tim was part of a project where First Nation children learned to build a birch bark canoe, just like their ancestors did it.
On Asinabke the humans were treaded with food and something to drink. One very nice woman gave my mistress some water to give it to me. I really felt thirsty but I was too excited to drink much as I might have missed something.
More canoes with the East Wind Brigade of Montreal arrived and after that the finally the North Wind Brigade arrived. After a while some canoes with the elder arrived. At the end there were about 400 participants on the island. My humans and the others went to attend a fire ceremony. Men usually celebrate the fire ceremony. They light a campfire and after a while one of the elder said a prayer. I could not understand a word and neither could my humans as this was in a First Nation language.
Unfortunately I saw that other dog close to me and just wanted to say hi to it, therefore I whimpered a little bit. My humans told me that I disturbed the ceremony and my master walked away with me.
My mistress later told me what happened after I had to leave. The other dog was sent away too as dogs are not allowed at the fire ceremony. I might have been able to stay as I am a service dog, but it was my fault I had to leave.
My mistress told me they put tobacco and cedar wood into the fire. Tobacco is for your prayers and cedar wood to seal the prayer. The elder prayed in all for directions North, East, South and West. Everybody of the people that were there put tobacco and cedar in the fire and said a little prayer. My mistress was very touched by that.
Nick stayed with my mistress and after it was over they looked for my master and me. We were sitting next to the big campfire.
About 36 canoes were on the island; small ones and big ones with 36 foot (Voyageur Canoes) or 24 foot (North Canoe).
A little while later the water ceremony started. Brigades brought water from their voyage. The elder told us how she became a woman that she was the keeper of the water ceremony. Again I did not behave because that other dog was close to me. My master walked away with me again and we left my mistress and Nick at the ceremony. I am so sorry I disappointed my humans but I just wanted to play with the other dog. Every time I see other dogs I am very excited. My humans told me that is my nature and it’s ok but sometimes I have to leave if I do this, just like on this day.
My mistress told me the elder and some other women sang a song. Women are responsible for the water ceremony. They mixed the water that the brigades brought with some water the elder brought to the ceremony. Everybody got a little cup of spring water. The elder said a prayer; again all for directions were part of this. At the end everybody put some tobacco into the water and said a little prayer.
My mistress seemed to have enjoyed the fire ceremony a little more than the water ceremony.
She told me it always was a dream she had to get in touch with the First Nation or Native Americans to learn more about their culture and life. For her a dream came true.
While we were in Pahrump, Nevada she always looked at the mountains and told me she can see how the Native Americans were on top of the mountains sitting on their horses and looking at the settlers that went by on their wagons. She had a strong feeling that she was a part of them once, a long, long time ago.
Dale came and said goodbye to us as he was going to his daughter’s house. We soon had to leave the island because they would close part of the Ottawa River for the firework. After we went back into the canoe we paddled to a campground.
There weren’t enough paddles for my master and he was able to enjoy the ride. I was very relaxed and even fell asleep while they were paddling.
The campground was not really a campground; everything was soaked and poison ivy everywhere. Almost everybody of the paddlers left with their cars to another place.
My mistress was really sad to say goodbye, as she felt very comfortable with everybody in the group.
Marc, Marc and Nick told us that we could go with them, as they would have a look for another campground to spend the night.
I liked the idea as I really like them and Tim too. Marc told me he has a dog too and Tim told me he has two dogs.
When they put the trailer with the canoe on the truck the lights on the trailer weren’t working and they had to fix it. It started to rain very hard and they had to wait in the car for the rain to stop.
It took a while until the lights were repaired and we took off. The humans tried to go into the city of Ottawa to see the fireworks. Unfortunately (luckily for me) they could not find a place to park the cars with the trailers.
The new plan was to drive all the way to Tim’s house. Are they serious? That would have meant 9 hours of driving and I was so tired after that exciting day.
Shortly before we passed Arnprior the other truck broke down with a flat tire. Marc’s truck was ahead and we lost the other truck with Tim and Nick. Marc stopped to wait for them but they did not come and so we went to Tim Horton’s in Arnpriar to get Internet and see if Tim has contacted him.
At Tim Horton’s the humans found out that the other truck broke down and Marc and Marc took off to pick them up.
My humans and I stayed at Tim Horton’s. All I wanted was to sleep!
After a while they all showed up and the humans decided to sleep on the parking lot on the other side of the street.
My humans and I slept in Marc’s truck and the other slept either in the other truck or in the trailer with the bunk beds.
We got up early again and I really need to tell my humans that this is way too early for me. I can get along with it as long as I can lie down somewhere and sleep after we got up but today I did not have a chance to sleep. This was a crazy day and I think I will never forget in my life and neither will my humans.
There was a lot of excitement in the air today. Everybody was in a hurry and there was no breakfast prepared today. Instead the humans packed the trailer with all the stuff that came along on the travel. They started to separate stuff and everybody was running around like crazy.
Did I mention that there was another group of paddlers on the campground? They spoke that funny language called French. This sounds really weird to me and I cannot understand a single word. My mistress does understand something but she won’t tell me what they were talking about.
These French-speaking people were from a canoe of the south wind brigade. Our brigade leader Tim expected 14 canoes from the south wind brigade but only 1 of the canoes made it till the end. The other 13 canoes went home because of the rain.
My humans and all the others put on their sashes. Some of them had costumes on. The drivers took the cars to another place in Ottawa where they would pick them up in the evening. It was Canada Day – 150 years Canada. There was a big party in Ottawa and the humans said the roads in the city would be closed because of the fireworks. FIREWORKS???? I hate fireworks and I am really afraid of them.
Only a handful of the people of my brigade and the people of the other brigade were left. Even Max Finkelstein, the brigade leader of the south wind brigade left with the drivers. The drivers were supposed to come back to Black Rapids.
It rained and it rained very hard. Luckily we could find a dry place under the roof of the log cabin.
I started wondering how we all would fit in the car that would bring back the drivers. Some of the humans might go in the three canoes but I did not know how many.
After a while Joyce got a call from someone of the group that went with the drivers. They told us we should leave now and meet the rest of the group at another lock. Wait a minute? How should we leave without a car? Something is wrong in this picture. I looked at my mistress but she did not understand what I was concerned about.
Instead my mistress and all the others went down to the beach and started to put the canoes into the water. I did not watch what they were doing because a big toad sidetracked me. I almost stepped on it. I tried to chase it when it went away but my mistress stopped me.
You can’t imagine what happened now. When I had to sit in the cars for five days I thought it couldn’t get worse but I was wrong. My mistress went into the canoe and sat down. What am I supposed to do now? My mistress asked me to jump into the canoe. Seriously? I am a dog not a fish, or a seal or any other animal that loves water. I hate water.
I need to explain why I hate water, although my mom and my brothers love water. When I was a little puppy, about four months old, my humans went to a dog park in Frankfurt with me. There were a lot of dogs and there was a river, called Nidda. I played with another dog, not a puppy but a grown up dog. He seemed to be very nice at first. We played at the shore of the river and all of a sudden he pushed me into the water and jumped into the water next to me. Instead of helping me he jumped on me and pushed my head under the water. I could not breeze and I was scared to death. My mistress tried to help me but she could not get into the water. After I made it out of the water she pet me and took care of me. I never went into the water again, I avoided every puddle as far as I could. Some years later I sometimes walked in water but I made sure only my feet got wet.
Now you know why I hate water and my mistress now serious believed I would go into the canoe? The day before was a very short ride but this time it seemed to be different. She had a backpack and all the other paddlers had bags too. Also there was water IN the canoe. Did she really think I would sit in the canoe with my bud getting wet? She can’t be serious. My master wasn’t there to help me.
There is one thing I am more scared of than water; this is leaving my mistress alone. I just can’t do it; I need to be close to her. Sometimes she leaves me for a couple of minutes or sometimes hours but this time nobody would stay behind with me and I can’t stay there all by myself. I said to myself that I have to be brave and jump into the canoe. It’s not a big deal to jump in there but I was scared of the water.
There I was, in the canoe, wet feet and this thing was shaking. The others pushed the canoe all the way into the water and the humans started to paddle. I had a lot of space in the canoe, as there weren’t many humans in the canoe. Only five paddlers were in this canoe. The other canoes were in the water too. The humans started to paddle. Well, I need to admit it wasn’t that bad, but there was water in the canoe and it was raining. I was completely wet and cold.
I mean, everybody was in the rain but most of them had rain clothes on and my mistress at least had a rain poncho. She told me her bud was wet too and her pants too. That’s just fair for making me go in the canoe with her. I did not want to sit down and every time I moved that entire canoe started to move from one side to the other.
We paddled just for about a minute and than the canoes stopped to salute some people on the shore. They make a lot of noises when they salute. Tim said “paddles up” and they hold the paddles in the air; “one” – they hit the paddles on the canoe once; “two” – they hit the paddles on the canoe twice; “three” – they hit the paddles on the canoe three times; “Yeah” while they hold the paddles up in the air. They did this a couple of times on our tour.
After a while we came to a lock where the humans had to portage the canoes. Boona, the yellow canoe and the French canoe were portaged with a dolly
Tim decided to take the lock instead of portaging. It was still raining and I was very wet. After Tim came out of the lock and we all went back into the canoe again.
There were people on the shore on both sides of the river, shouting and waving and the paddlers saluted a couple of times. They all shouted “Happy Canada Day”.
At the next lock we met my master and the other paddlers. Shortly before we met them it stopped raining.
At this lock they cleaned the canoe so there was no water in it any more. My mistress tried to convince my master to come with us in the canoe, as he could not meet us later in Ottawa. He finally agreed to join us – seems only to be fair to me as I did not have a choice.
He was wet from the rain and my mistress gave him the rain poncho and told him that would keep him warm as the wind would not go through this. He did not believe her but put it on anyway.
Everybody went into the canoes now and down we went in the lock. Some more canoes were in the lock, students from a school in some canoes.
All the canoes stayed together and there were more and more people on the shore shouting “Happy Canada Day”. Everybody was excited and laughing, even the sun started to shine. I even started to enjoy being in the canoe. It’s a nice way of traveling, sitting in the canoe, let the humans paddle and me enjoy the sun.
I even sat down and looked at the surrounding. After a while I lied down and put my chin on the canoe, this was really peaceful.
My master was glad he came with us, as he would have missed this. The atmosphere was electrical with all the celebration and excitement. Almost everybody carried a Canadian flag or was dressed in red and white.
The humans paddled into Ottawa and had to stop in front of a lock. There were eight locks, one after the other. Taking these would have taken way too long the humans said, therefore they portaged the canoes on the dolly down to the Ottawa River. It felt funny walking on the ground again and I still had the feeling of the waves in my legs.
On the Ottawa River were a lot of canoes and boats. Tim walked away and my humans had lunch. I was reading the local newspaper by sniffing everywhere. After a while Dwight came and gave my humans a Canadian Flag pin. They put it on their sashes next to the pin of Pembroke and Arnprior.
I could feel my humans were very proud to be a part of this thing. They enjoyed paddling in the canoe and they liked everybody in the group, just like a small family. Also they very excited about what’s coming next. They said it has something to do with the First Nations. I don’t know much about this.
After a while we put the canoe in the water and everybody went back into the canoe. The sun was shining and everybody was in a good mood.
We paddled about 1 km to Asinabke (Victoria Island), which is the sacred Omàmiwinini (Algonquin) territory and has been a traditional meeting place for first nations for over 5000 years. Our canoe was the last one called the sweep, means we were responsible to take care if something happens to one of the other canoes.
When we landed on the island there were a lot of canoes and I could see some other dogs. We went on land and I had to stay close to my mistress on the leash. This newspaper was not as interesting as I thought. Not much smell there, at least no dog smell.
The Anishinaabe First Nation organized the welcome ceremony.
Let me tell you a little bit about the First Nation/First Peoples, for those of you who do not know anything about them. The First Nation/First Peoples, in the USA they call them Native Americans, other countries call them Indians. These were the people that lived in Northern America before it was discovered.
The First Nations in Canada still live in reserves and they try to keep their culture and their language.
Remember, I am just a dog and I might have picked the wrong words here. Feel free to correct me.
Tim was part of a project where First Nation children learned to build a birch bark canoe, just like their ancestors did it.
On Asinabke the humans were treaded with food and something to drink. One very nice woman gave my mistress some water to give it to me. I really felt thirsty but I was too excited to drink much as I might have missed something.
More canoes with the East Wind Brigade of Montreal arrived and after that the finally the North Wind Brigade arrived. After a while some canoes with the elder arrived. At the end there were about 400 participants on the island. My humans and the others went to attend a fire ceremony. Men usually celebrate the fire ceremony. They light a campfire and after a while one of the elder said a prayer. I could not understand a word and neither could my humans as this was in a First Nation language.
Unfortunately I saw that other dog close to me and just wanted to say hi to it, therefore I whimpered a little bit. My humans told me that I disturbed the ceremony and my master walked away with me.
My mistress later told me what happened after I had to leave. The other dog was sent away too as dogs are not allowed at the fire ceremony. I might have been able to stay as I am a service dog, but it was my fault I had to leave.
My mistress told me they put tobacco and cedar wood into the fire. Tobacco is for your prayers and cedar wood to seal the prayer. The elder prayed in all for directions North, East, South and West. Everybody of the people that were there put tobacco and cedar in the fire and said a little prayer. My mistress was very touched by that.
Nick stayed with my mistress and after it was over they looked for my master and me. We were sitting next to the big campfire.
About 36 canoes were on the island; small ones and big ones with 36 foot (Voyageur Canoes) or 24 foot (North Canoe).
A little while later the water ceremony started. Brigades brought water from their voyage. The elder told us how she became a woman that she was the keeper of the water ceremony. Again I did not behave because that other dog was close to me. My master walked away with me again and we left my mistress and Nick at the ceremony. I am so sorry I disappointed my humans but I just wanted to play with the other dog. Every time I see other dogs I am very excited. My humans told me that is my nature and it’s ok but sometimes I have to leave if I do this, just like on this day.
My mistress told me the elder and some other women sang a song. Women are responsible for the water ceremony. They mixed the water that the brigades brought with some water the elder brought to the ceremony. Everybody got a little cup of spring water. The elder said a prayer; again all for directions were part of this. At the end everybody put some tobacco into the water and said a little prayer.
My mistress seemed to have enjoyed the fire ceremony a little more than the water ceremony.
She told me it always was a dream she had to get in touch with the First Nation or Native Americans to learn more about their culture and life. For her a dream came true.
While we were in Pahrump, Nevada she always looked at the mountains and told me she can see how the Native Americans were on top of the mountains sitting on their horses and looking at the settlers that went by on their wagons. She had a strong feeling that she was a part of them once, a long, long time ago.
Dale came and said goodbye to us as he was going to his daughter’s house. We soon had to leave the island because they would close part of the Ottawa River for the firework. After we went back into the canoe we paddled to a campground.
There weren’t enough paddles for my master and he was able to enjoy the ride. I was very relaxed and even fell asleep while they were paddling.
The campground was not really a campground; everything was soaked and poison ivy everywhere. Almost everybody of the paddlers left with their cars to another place.
My mistress was really sad to say goodbye, as she felt very comfortable with everybody in the group.
Marc, Marc and Nick told us that we could go with them, as they would have a look for another campground to spend the night.
I liked the idea as I really like them and Tim too. Marc told me he has a dog too and Tim told me he has two dogs.
When they put the trailer with the canoe on the truck the lights on the trailer weren’t working and they had to fix it. It started to rain very hard and they had to wait in the car for the rain to stop.
It took a while until the lights were repaired and we took off. The humans tried to go into the city of Ottawa to see the fireworks. Unfortunately (luckily for me) they could not find a place to park the cars with the trailers.
The new plan was to drive all the way to Tim’s house. Are they serious? That would have meant 9 hours of driving and I was so tired after that exciting day.
Shortly before we passed Arnprior the other truck broke down with a flat tire. Marc’s truck was ahead and we lost the other truck with Tim and Nick. Marc stopped to wait for them but they did not come and so we went to Tim Horton’s in Arnpriar to get Internet and see if Tim has contacted him.
At Tim Horton’s the humans found out that the other truck broke down and Marc and Marc took off to pick them up.
My humans and I stayed at Tim Horton’s. All I wanted was to sleep!
After a while they all showed up and the humans decided to sleep on the parking lot on the other side of the street.
My humans and I slept in Marc’s truck and the other slept either in the other truck or in the trailer with the bunk beds.
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