From Chapter 17 of "A Technicolor Lightning Storm", version 1 There didn’t seem to be much keeping it there at the edge of the bank and it didn’t look like it was buried in the dirt. Dana searched around and found a good solid pole and a large rock that she could move and proceeded to try to lever it over enough for it to start rolling down the slope. It took several tries and a longer, sturdier pole after the first one broke but she finally managed to get it moving. And when it moved, it moved! It went all the way down the bank…and into the water. Then she had to hurry to catch it before it could float too far out! At least now she knew it would float! Dana ran down the bank after it, Shadow at her heels wondering what the excitement was all about. She dropped her pack on the shore and pulled out the coil of rope she had brought along and waded out to the drifting log. Her rope was long enough to secure one end around the butt of the log and still reach back to shore with some to spare. She picked up her pack again and started “leading” the log on its leash along the shore back to her inlet. She had no idea how she would get it out of the water again once she got there but would deal with that later. After many snags and hang-ups on the sandy bottom and other things in the water, Dana finally made it back to the inlet with her prize. She continued maneuvering her log around until she had it as close to her camp as possible, albeit on the wrong side of the creek. The ground here was not very steep and she grounded the log as close to shore as she could and then got ready to try the “lever and rock” approach again to move it further up onto the shore. Since it appeared to be high tide already, if she could move it part way up the beach, it should stay there if it was blocked in place with rocks. After removing her pack and leaving it safely in a dry area, Dana started in. With a little help from Shadow, a lot of effort, a lot of swearing and getting completely soaked when she slipped and fell in the water several times; she finally had it a couple yards from the water. Shadow helped by running back and forth, whining a lot and then bringing big chunks of driftwood to drop between the log and his pack mate, effectively keeping it from rolling over the top of her. Then Dana was able to block it more securely with some large rocks and tied it to a nearby tree besides. She did not want it to escape! Dana gathered up her pack, her tools and her walking stick and headed back to camp. Shadow had gone on ahead and she found him sitting by the bridge. “Shadow, you are a rare gift indeed. I don’t think I could have done that without your help. It probably would have flattened me.” Shadow only looked up at her, his lazy ear flopping over. She could swear he winked at her; had to be just her imagination though…didn’t it? The next day, Dana started the seemingly endless chopping and hacking and burning and scraping of the log that would eventually lead to a dugout canoe. First she had to flatten one side for a stable bottom. Then turn it over and flatten the other for the top. Then chop down into the top, make small fires across the top and then scrape that out with the adze and chop some more; over and over and over again. And then burn the ends of the log and scrape and chop and burn again to shape them so they would cut smoothly through the water.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:15:43 +0000
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