May 16 was a crazy day. After I had breakfast and watered the garden, I bicycled to where I launch my kayak to check the tide level. I found the tide to be pretty low, and it was still 45 minutes before low tide (according to the tide chart). I then bicycled to the store to score some high fructose corn syrup. Well, I didn’t go for an overdose of process sugar, but the trip was for naught, anyway. I rode home, and I packed my gear to go swamping. I packed the 34 pound lead weight, and my breathing tube.
I got to the swamp at 09:20; just before low tide. The tide level was looking promising, so I set my sights on my deepest mud spot, which is only available when the tide is quite low. That spot is great for weighted sinks, because the mud is deep and sloppy. The weight can only pull me under if it’s not suspended in thick mud, itself.
I arrived at the entrance to my chosen mud hole after the tide had reached an inconveniently low level. Low water is great for exposing lots of excellent mud, but I still need some water on which to navigate my boat. The water was so shallow in the narrow channel that I decided to walk through the swamp grass the last 10 yards.
Well, let me tell you about walking on soft ground, carrying camera gear in one hand and a heavy lead weight in the other! I was sinking everywhere. It was a workout, just getting to my sinking spot. Once I arrived, I set up the camera, tied the lead weight to my genitals, and proceeded to sink over my head, with a lead weight dragging me down. I got out, and I proceeded to do it, again.
After a couple of sinks in the main pit, I moved over to the smaller pit next to it and did yet another weighted sink with my feet up on the bank. That one took a little longer, and it was pretty intense. The first two were good, also, but it was easier to slip below the surface in the large pit.
I did yet another sink with my ankles tied to my genitals and no weight. That was good, although I was getting pretty cold, by this time. I then did a final video clip of me, diving into the main pit, head first, climbing out, jumping back in, and doing a full somersault. I also made a couple attempts at finding the bottom, but I could not go deep enough to find a bottom; even though I could descend well below the surface.
I shot several clips while I was playing. I mudded for a long time, and I think I burned 3000 calories. Later that night, I finished digging an extension on my pond. The first clip that will be released from May 16 is the diving one. That one was short and easy. It’s a good clip. It will be available in my clip store before Wednesday, this week.
I love that deep, sloppy mud hole. It doesn’t hold like thicker mud, but you can do some crazy stuff, and it swallows you right up, which makes it feel more dangerous and exciting.
Last year, I collaborated with Fngibtm to make another mud movie. Fngibtm seemed to have a commercial interest in lichens which motivated him to wander around in the treacherous swamp to collect them. That provided a great segue for him to get stuck in some bottomless quickmud … and he did.
