Have I got a story to tell you tonight! There really are many moments in life that I wish someone was following us around with a camera so we could perfectly capture the events that occur. Unfortunately, we have not struck up a deal with A&E or CBC or anyone else, so you will have to close your eyes (after you have read this) and picture everything I will explain.
It all began this afternoon. It was a gorgeous Carleton County, New Brunswick afternoon. The sun was shining, temperatures rising, and dogs ready to swim. It was a perfect afternoon for fishing. So, we, Father, Mother, Daughter, Great Aunt Lou (aka Stupendous Neighbour) and the dogs (Charlie and his girlfriend Angel) piled – and I mean piled…picture a train in India after the work day… into our side-by-side. Excitement was in the air, the warm breeze was slamming into our faces, smells from many different country accents wafted very quickly into our noses, bones were being jarred and dogs were slobbering. We arrived in short time to the great fishing hole. Mother was out first with the dogs as she was to keep them occupied and away from the little red and white balls with deadly hooks attached. (Objects in water aren’t always as they appear!) The other three ventured to a place down river. It was decided, however, that perhaps the deeper spot would be better and so required a move back up river. This is when the chaos started to ensue. Did you really think we were going to have a typical afternoon out on the machine and fish? That would be waaaaaaaaay too boring…snooze fest!! We like to go against the flow (pun intended). Okay, so back to where Father and Great Aunt Lou sound the alarm that the side-by-side needed some assistance getting out of the water, Daughter was dancing around teasing one of the canines with a big dead fish found on the bank and Mother oblivious to the urgency of the situation was smiling and snapping pictures of everything around her. Once Mother realized what was going on she jumped into action! Father, who was maneuvering the machine up river (in the water) didn’t realize it dropped off. The machine was leaning quite heavily on its left side and water was calf level on the driver. The time to act was now before it started to slip into the brink like the Costa Concordia cruise ship. Mother, Daughter and Great Aunt Lou used ALL their weight and stood on the right side of the machine to keep the ship aright; Father then slowly drove towards the shore. Land, ho! We were so close then…we stopped, nothing. We became fetched up on the Rock of Gibraltar. Not good! We were not within reach of any trees to assist with winching and none of us ate spinach for lunch. We tried several methods to free the beast…we must have looked like a bunch of monkeys climbing all over the thing and rocking it to and fro. The muffler and many other running parts were under water by this time and we continued to pray for ignition every time it stalled. Eventually with the aid of a trunk full of big river rocks and the raw strength of girl power, we managed to lift and push the front of the machine back to unwedge it from the granite grasp of the river. A few more hefty pushes from behind and Father had reached dry land safe and sound. Praise the Lord! By this time, we had all had some form of a swim and we took this opportunity to dry out a little.
Although, most of our afternoon was spent on playing around in the water, we did not leave until dinner was caught. Daughter and Great Aunt Lou got their lines cast and in no time worms were being nibbled and fish being reeled in. At the end of our afternoon we all piled back in the side-by-side wet, stiff, dogged-tired and happy. We also carried onboard our fresh new cargo.
