"The Girls"

 
Originally I had a post today of just one of our dogs, the little one, called Brandy. I felt kind of guilty for not including our other one who we love as much and who is more likely to accompany me on my hikes. Brandy is not a good listener which I am sure stems from my inability to properly control her. Riley the Australian Sheppard with the one blue eye in this picture, is very obedient or at the very least, has me trained well into thinking she is very obedient, either way I accept her behavior. She is quite smart and I can trust her in many circumstances. She loves to eat so that is a trait we share. This photo was after one of our hikes this past summer. It is very difficult taking them out in the winter but they have been snowshoeing on a couple occaisons.

I look forward to some new adventures in the coming months but I am getting very impatient for spring. Our retreat is coming in may. We have Bryan Smith of Pacific Horizons fame coming for that, something to look forward to. As a kayaking club we are looking at tweeking our logo. I will post the old and new eventually and see what ya all think. We have hired someone professional to help us with this. So that is exciting. As a club board member and on our safety committee we are planning some water outings and safety days so that is becoming interesting. I am also helping to put a calendar together for next year so we have a whole year to collect some neat shots, so that should be fun. I'm just about talked out of the winter blues. Oh yes we have started a Newfoundland Kayaking Club Ambassador Program whereby we hope to be able to provide kayakers new to our area, visitors, tourists or newbies a kayaking companion/contact(s) to make them aware of our focus on safety, good spots to paddle, kayakers to paddle with, access to skills training, boat rentals, boat selection, paddle selection, and whatever other info they may require, no costs involved just a sharing of a passion. Alex McGruger one of our more seasoned paddlers (I mean this in the kindest of ways Alex) will be heading the program but already we have numerous volunteers to assist. This is a very exciting project we hope to get going in the spring. We are also hoping to make available club SWAG for purchase so we can get our new logo out there and club visibility on the Island. Our central and western chapter are also planning a retreat later in the year so that is something new we are all hoping to attend and now I have talked myself out of the winter blues into a fruitful paddling season ahead.