Predator safety

Today we headed out in the truck down a dirt road through the woods to a clearing that was used for gravel extraction. Dave told me which predators Canada has and how and why they might be aggressive. We talked about flares, bear spray and bear bangers then tried them out. Then we set up a table and chairs and put tin cans on a sand embankment to shoot at.

First I shot a .22 rifle and got to be pretty good at aiming, pinging Guinness cans all over the place. Then I tried a few other guns, including a big pump action shotgun that blasted itself painfully into my shoulder - two shots of that were quite enough! But it was fun trying out the different weapons.

In the afternoon we came back to the house to switch gear over then headed to Winnipeg on an errand. On the way, we pulled into a pizza place and Dave locked his keys in the truck. Doh! The window was open a tiny bit and after a variety of failed rescue attempts, we managed to use snare wire from the survival kit to open the window by hooking it over the window handle. So that survival stuff does come in handy!

Then we ate a ton of pizza, met Trevor to take him his kit and then started the long drive back. The sky was beautiful today. You see a lot of sky here because the land is so flat. It seems like you could drive a mile down the road and reach up to touch the clouds, they seem so close! In the morning, the sky had been so many shades of grey you couldn't even count. The sun peeped out in the late morning and patches of blue emerged as the billowing grey coat frayed into wisps and puffs of white on a background of the clearest blue. By evening, the clouds were vanishing into long strips on the horizon and the setting sun turned the sky from blue to orange and pink and lilac. Then the night came, and the land became shadow. The expanse of sky was deep orange and purple, colours blending seamlessly; their beauty reflected in the still floodwater.

So now I'm back and it's late. Tomorrow, navigation and shelter building. Oh, and clearly the pictures I took don't do the landscape justice, but here's a sunset from the car window for you...