Yeah, it's October alright.....

I hate the cold..... I hate it with a violent passion that, if I wasn't almost frozen, might make me all warm and tingly.... but it doesn't. Why? Oh, yeah... cause I'm cold.......

It might not be so bad if I hadn't worked the boat for the past few days and could just stay inside. I'll tell ya what though, work has been interesting.

Yesterday was the start of the cold. I got up and the temp hadn't even hit 30 yet. Ice on my car, the weatherman said it'd be windy and we'd have flurries too. Get to work, locktend and get the boat set up... I can't feel my toes...... go back to the hotel and get changed into my period clothing. Now, I love me job... but I felt like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Woman when I finally got dressed, and here's why.

I was wearing

• figure skater tights
  
• 2 cotton petticoats
• 2 pairs of knee socks
• leather shoes
• a heavy cotton dress, long sleeved
• cotton apron
• wool shawl
• wool coat
• cotton bonnet
• wool gloves

Yup, I was dressed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Even with all that, I was still cold, because I swear it didn't get over 30/35 degrees with the wind chill, and I was working outside for 4 straight hours in winds up to 30 mph.

The first 2 boat runs we did ok, just having some minor problem with steering and the wind pushing the boat around. However, on the last run, the wind was pushing us around so badly, we did a short run instead of the full length one. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem..... normally......

For those of you who have no idea what a canal boat is, allow me to sum it up for you. A canal boat is a flat bottomed boat that is about 80 feet long, ours is a little shorter at 60 feet. There are a few different kinds of canal boats, and we have what is called a State Boat, or a canal maintenance boat. Our boat looks kinda like this, just knock off the back cabin and stable, and add a catwalk between the cabins. The boat is pulled by two mules, who are attached to the boat with a very long and heavy rope, called a tow rope. Also, the boat is 12 tons empty, and moves at 4 mph. Ok? Moving on....

So, like I said, we turned the boat around early. We've done the early turn around before, each time it went just fine. This time, not so much. Between the wind pushing us, the odd angle of the boat, and the mules pulling us, the tow rope got stuck between a few loose boards in a retaining wall that had been put in too help keep the two path from eroding. When I say it got stuck, I'm not kidding... it was in there good.

As far as I know, getting stuck like that had never happened before. Since I was the senior staff member on the boat, I was standing up on the front cabin with the pike pole (10-ish foot wood pole with a metal tip on one end), talking to Jake (guy who owns/walks with our mules), and trying to get the rope undone. Molly (one of the awesome boat people ;) ) is on the outside bumper, trying to see if she cam climb onto the bank and get the rope undone.... Jake tries to pop it off by having the mules pull the way the rope was pulled in.... then the other way. Jake gets the rope loose enough to the point where I can grab it and we get it out, go to get on our merry little way, and it gets stuck again.

If we didn't have a boat full of school kids, I would have started cursing. Instead, Molly, Susan and I were explaining the situation and telling people it'd all be ok and we'd be out in a few. By this point, work had gotten out that the boat was stuck, so a small crowd was forming on the tow path as I was talking to Jake. We had the Mill curator, my boss lady, a ranger, a volunteer, a maintenance guy, and a few random people.

Now that we know how to get the rope loose, Jake goes to move the mules to pull it out, but the wind caught the boat and pushes it too far away from the tow path for me too get it out the rest of the way. I end up pushing the boat a little closer and almost getting it out (remember, the boat is 12 tons empty), but I'm still not close enough. Thankfully, Laird pulled the rope out and flipped it over the spot where it got stuck, so we could resume the boat run.

The best part? It started snowing as I was working with the pike pole. No gloves, no hat, , in a strong wind, and it's snowing.

I do have to say though, all of us working together did a great job of getting us out. Susan kept the school kids calm and entertained, Molly got us right back on with the steering once we were free, AND she was willing to try and jump off the boat if needed, and Jake..... we'll never find a better mule tender, cause he knows what he's doing and he does it well.

So, yeah. I hurt today from pushing and pulling the boat more then normal, and I'm still a bit cold from working today, which wasn't as bad as yesterday but it was still hella cold and windy.

I'm just relaxing now... got a blanket over my lap and I'm drinking a little wine.. got some candles burning in my room, giving it a nice cinnamon smell as I wait for someone to call *wink wink*.... yeah, I'll be warm in no time.

I still love my job.