{"id":6247,"date":"2020-10-25T10:37:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T14:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6247"},"modified":"2020-10-25T10:38:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T14:38:35","slug":"episode-150-lake-of-the-woods-daisy-and-sonny-nearly-lost-nearly-a-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6247","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 150 LAKE OF THE WOODS…”Daisy and Sonny nearly lost…nearly a tragedy”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE  150   LAKE  OF THE WOODS\u2026\u201dDaisy and Sonny nearly lost\u2026nearly a tragedy!”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Lake of the Woods  is sprinkled with thousands of small islands.  We lived on one of the islands for a week or two.<\/div>\n
 A tragedy nearly happened.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
My good friend Terry Wickstrom owns a small island on Lake of the Woods, near the Manitoba \/ Ontario border.<\/div>\n
We spent a few weeks with him long, long ago when our boys were small and before Terry was married and<\/div>\n
had his own kids.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
To a person who does not know Lake  of the Woods my previous  comment might sound like a typical cottager <\/div>\n
comment.  So let\u2019s get one ting straight.  The Lake of the Woods is one vast wilderness,  36th largest lake<\/div>\n
in the world.  Only a few people have been  granted cottage land on the lake.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Most of the Lake of the Woods remains a pristine wilderness\u2026sort of a place that time forgot.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Wick\u2019s cabin sits rather hidden on his small island\u2026perhaps an acre in size.  Almost attached is a smaller<\/div>\n
island like the one below where we watched  a  family of mink go fishing every morning before we had<\/div>\n
our spartan breakfast of oatmeal  and powdered milk and coffee.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s up today, Wick?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA few miles west of here there are some friends\u2026thought we would go there.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLeave our dogs here\u2026they should be fine.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot too much room in the boat anyway.\u201d (I forget whether we were taking<\/div>\n
a canoe or the small rowboat with the 6 hp motor.  Wish I could remember<\/div>\n
because the type of boat is important to the story.}<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Marjorie,  Wick, our boys Kevin and Andrew (then about 10 and  12) wedged  ourselves<\/div>\n
in the boat and pushed  off.  Lake of the Woods  is immense.  It is the 36th largest lake in the world<\/div>\n
with thousands\u2026yes, thousands\u2026of small islands sprinkled here and there like stepping stones<\/div>\n
for giants.   There always seems  to be a  light wind blowing so the lake gets choppy<\/div>\n
and  can get more than choppy in big winds.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We kept our eyes forward.  Unfortunately.   If we had looked  back at Wick\u2019s island then <\/div>\n
we would  have noticed something was wrong.  But we did  not.  We just kept going<\/div>\n
until one of the boys turned  around.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat are those two logs back there?  We did not see them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLogs? \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, something way back behind us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe a bear swimming from one island to another\u2026they do that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTwo objects back there\u2026floating\u2026or swimming.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWant to check them out?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCould be a pair of moose too\u2026big looking\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s  check it out.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So we turned the boat around and headed back towards Wick\u2019s<\/div>\n
island which  was now very distant.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cSomething alive by the looks of it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTwo things.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLogs or bears\u2026?\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cHoly Samoley\u2026those are our dogs\u2026Daisy and  Sonny\u2026following us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey must have been swimming for a long time\u2026Quick, get close to them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGrab Daisy by the collar \u2026  pull her into the boat\u2026careful\u2026don\u2019t tip.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI got Sonny\u2026got him in.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The dogs had  seen us  take off, perhaps  half an hour or an hour ago. <\/div>\n
Both Labradors\u2026mother and son.  They loved water and they loved<\/div>\n
us so they decided to follow.  By the time we got them they were a <\/div>\n
long distance from Wick\u2019s island.  Lucky they were spotted.  But, at a distance,<\/div>\n
they did not look like dogs.   More like logs.   We could have continued<\/div>\n
forward and left them swimming.  Could a Labrador dog swim for miles<\/div>\n
in an open lake?   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Better not to think about that.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n


<\/div>\n
Terry Wickstrom\u2019s island is smaller than the distant island in this picture.  Attached by a spit of rock is a  second island almost exactly like this<\/div>\n
island in the foreground.    <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Some of the islands  are large but most are very small.  Most are empty and willing to be explored.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This picture is the closest to our situation with the dogs.   Imagine being twice this distance from Wick\u2019s island<\/div>\n
and  noticing two blackish dots in the distance behind our boat.  Pure chance that the dogs were spotted.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
It is  difficult to spot swimming creatures like this coyote or wolf swimming to an island on Lake of the Woods.<\/div>\n
Almost invisible.  I bet you saw the big  rock before you saw the wolf or coyote.    Our dogs were a long<\/div>\n
way behind  our boat when spotted.  Pure luck.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Imagine the relief we felt when we rescued our dogs.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Do not imagine what could have happened.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE  150   LAKE  OF THE WOODS\u2026\u201dDaisy and Sonny nearly lost\u2026nearly a tragedy!” Lake of the Woods  is sprinkled with thousands of small islands.  We lived on one of the islands for a week or two.  A tragedy nearly happened. alan skeoch Oct. 2020 My good friend Terry Wickstrom owns a small island on Lake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}