I noticed about five days ago that the seagiulls are home again for the summer. This is a sure sign of open water somewhere as fish are a good part of their diet along with anything else they can beg, borrow or steal. I saw that Frame lake is showing lots of open water along the edges and this will rapidly grow as the water is now moving around under the ice as well as melting from above.

This evening was the last indoor Archery session for the season and we will resume indoor shooting in October. The weather is nice enough and the ground dry enough to shoot outside. Funny here as Archery is a summer sport for the mosst part but we get to busy with other things and shoot as a group very seldom until fall. Ian and I get together occassionally to pluck Yew  but I'm paddling most of the time and have other responsibilities that require spending time training and practicing swift water skills and CERT team stuff. We run out of hours in a day fast enough thats for sure, and we have about twenty daylight hours a day during summer. 

I received word last night that I passed my Search Managers test with 83 % and I can live with that . The errors I made were mainly simply enough when given four choices that were all right you had to pick the least right of all. Had I stuck to my first reponse I woiuld have nailed it but I over thought it and went the wrong way on each occassion. Thats fine as I know know where and why and have fixed this in my small but sometimes handy to have brain.

Getting all the boats ready for a season of paddling will take a day or so and working on boats I enjoy so that is grand. The Red Canoe Project is just about done with the spring wax job and I will finish the waxing tomorrow. Next is getting the sea kayaks ready, the creek boat is at the local cement pond for the roll sessions and this year we will flame paint Thumbs little white water boat and she thinks thats cool. Ted can give me some advice and them I'll give it a go. I have to  foam outfit the squirt boat when it arrives, but I need it here to try on for size.

Next week we have a double spring clean up area as we are teaming up with the Arctic Archers only makes sense as some of us are in both groups and would be at both anyway. We felt that one huge group would work get and we can knock off both areas at once.

Next will be the Olde Stope Hill clean up, this area the Paddlers adopted and clean two times sometimes three each summer. The city supplies all the garbage bags and we do the work and in exchange they have placed a sign at the bottom of the stairs going to the Pilots Momument stating that the area is Kept clean compliments of the Paddlers for Parts Association #1545, we think it is a fine trade off.

The next event will take place in July and is the long awaited "Fifth Annual Paddlers Sociable Affair."

I am now well past Hope BC and can barely see the lights behind me as I climb towards Merritt BC, I will however turn east with the trail before Merritt and head for Princeton, weeks away yet, but we are heading the right way.

Thanks folks for dropping by and hope that you all return, Greg