Day Twenty Three. Part I

This is the story of day 23. A sad day in the HOY7 hunting team world. With great promise, but also a certain ammount of trepidation, the two founding members of the HOY7 hunting team set out to get in some final duck slaying of the year. It was bitter cold and windy on the mighty Columbia River that morning. A layer of ice formed a ring around the water and the wind driven waves had created an icy froth that looked like snowbanks on the early morning shoreline. A full moon lit up the sky and an unusualy clear ceiling allowed us to go about the business of setting up for the day without artificial light. Fred G rebulit the blind that mother nature had broken down in the past days and I set the blocks, a morning ritual that had become as steady as the rise and fall of the tides.
After I had laid down the last block I realized what an artistic photo opportunity was in front of me so I carefully removed our trusty Olympus camera from my pocket, wraped the safety string arround my gloved hand and found the right angle for the shot. A full moon backing our decoy spread and the icy shore was going to be the right look so I removed my glove in order to operate the controls. I like to believe the sound was like a "blooonk" but it could have been a "psssssht" just as eaisily. Either way the camera was now 2 feet down in the cloudy churning waters of the Columbia. "Help" I yelled, and my trusty hunting partner came running from his morning duties. I handed him my jacket and rolled up my sleeves as far as they would go. Droping my hand into the nearly freezing waters was a shock at first but I knew that this particular model of Olympus camera could take some exposure to the bottom. I swept back and forth as long as my tollerance would allow time and time again untill my arm had turned a chilly red. It was at that moment that I realized the photos for the last day of hunting had come to an end.
I'd like to believe that this is the view our camera is now getting. Or perhaps the beavers are using it as decoration inside their loggy palace. Or, Heston willing, that some other person found it as the water cleared and enjoyed all the historical photos of the H7HTs' season contained within. At any rate, this will be the last picture for a while. Stay tuned for part II of the last day of hunting: Lunch.
GBCH