Good morning flock, we'll keep this sermon short. I know a few of you with short attention spans, nodded off on the last one.


What a great start to another beautiful day on the Tomiko.

Thursday evening a few clouds moved in.


Woke up Friday to some virgin white snow. The old goat looks pretty good under a dusting of snow, and mud.


Kita is not adjusting very well to life on the chain gang. He's depressed and sleeps a lot. The more I think about Kita running off, the more it bugs me. I mean, how boring am I if he runs off to visit a couple of old duds who go to bed at 7:30 every night?

So, I took Kita for a walk out the driveway. Still the only snow around.


We found 19 mounds of Grouse guano. That's quite a "load" for their size


I'm, getting a few chores done. I've cleaned up all the boughs that I put over the water line. Didn't I just put them out last Tuesday? This winter was way too short.

Maharishi Hermit here, please be seated.

In the last post, I forgot to mention that George had spent the night out on the deck. In the morning, when I let Kita out, this big, fat PURRRR ball came in. He almost had intimate relations with the wood stove. Any way, I guess he got hungry, this is what's left of his snack. It looks like a liver, yuck, a stomach, and the pink thing in the middle is a paw.


That night Kita took off again. TT found him and managed to lasso him this time. So yesterday I walked across the lake to the Kelly's and drove to Frasertown to get him. I went to town to pick up a few things and decided to bring the truck home. There is hardly any snow left, EXCEPT on my 3km driveway. It took 3 or 4 tries to get up the big hill, but the Old Goat made it. This is the earliest that I have ever driven in. Here's the guilty dog, look at his ears.

It doesn't quite come across in this pic, but the ice was sparkly yesterday.


Last evening I was looking out my clean windows, contemplating the universe, when I saw Kita on the lake. How did he get off of the chain!!??!?! I go running out side and almost jump on Kita sleeping at the bottom of the steps???? Oh oh, WOLF! Run back in, get camera, take pics, wolf sees me and turns around and retreats. The wolf was walking funny, I'm not sure if there was something wrong with it, or if it didn't like walking on the ice. Kita slept through the whole thing. I guess I'll have to keep him on the chain 24/7 for awhile.


I haven't got much work done in the last couple of days, I hope it's not that fading out thing. I think it's just my internal batteries get a little drained after a few days of no sun, just like the solar batteries. I did put the Yammie to bed for the summer *&kjihh, sorry, fingers slipping on the tears on the keyboard. Some of you comment on all the work out here. Some people think that you retire to the bush and put your feet up and sip on a Merlot. I've never heard of that kind of beer, have you Razor? So here's the lesson of the day. Life is work. You either work for da man and pay someone to provide you hydro, water, gas, etc, or you work to get it for your self.

The other day, while feeling kinda low, I called Greggyboy, the hardest working programmer at Nasty Puke, ha ha ho ho ha ha ha, sometimes I break me up! Any way, listening to all their miseries brightens my day. I found out that my favorite girl there is retiring tomorrow. How can a girl named Storme, not be cool. I think that she is the original crunchy, hippy girl. Congratulations, Storme. When you leave, run, don't walk, and DO NOT LOOK BACK, (pillar of salt thing).

I was talking to TT the other day while she was mixing up some paint. She said that men have it easy 'cause we only like white and that's cause we are lazy and boring. I took that on the chin, like a man, but later on I thought, wait, white is a combination of all the colours! Not like your boring sand dollar taupe, or your mint julep green.

Michelle, don't worry about those strange men, I know a guy with bullets and a back hoe.

Tim, we don't hear from you for twenty years, and then you won't shut up.

Shalom Sheila, we are equal opportunity blabbers.

C, Yup, when we are wearing, or bib overalls. I did have a bunny, when I was young. It had heavy feet and his name was Thumper. As for the church, many people say that they like what the church stands for, but they like their money more.

Rich, Berlin says that your new boss can be a little slow, especially on that ring thing. As long as he remembers bottles, not cans, I think you'll do OK.

TPD, WOW! I almost understood what you wrote! Hint, let Cindy back up the trailer. I don't think your trailer will float. How are the shelves coming along? Your welcome for that.

That's it for today, Amen.

Wait! On the radio they just said that a suicide bomber detonated a bomb and that there was one causality. It's not clear if the victim was the bomber. ?????????? I guess that they don't have schools for reporters.

With the snow going away, Kita found his bunny. We haven't seen it since new years.


On Sunday I filled up the wood shed. I used the snowmobile sleigh and dragged it. By the afternoon I had to shovel snow for the sleigh to slide on. Who needs a back hoe, or a husky? Working dog my ... With all the physical work that I do, why do I have a kegger and not a six pack? I'm starting to think that our cult needs a day off. I'll think on that one.


Foggy day yesterday.

A million candle power flash light couldn't cut through the fog last night.


The ice is starting to pull away from my shore. Sand is visible, so the water level isn't too high.


What to talk about today? Writing all these sermons, like Mr Dion says "You think it's easy?" I think our cult needs some rules; rule 1: gimme all your money. There are only 2 types of cult leaders, rich ones and dead ones. I prefer the first option.

I heard on the radio that there were 17 snowmobile deaths in Ontario this year, down from 40 something a couple of years ago. Do the math, the sledding season was half as long as normal, 2 X 17 = just as many idiots as normal.

Michelle, every time Ellia runs around naked, you can say "There goes my daddy's genes" I hope that makes up for the nose.

Tim, sometimes, I think I liked you better when you were invisible.

C, "an" ant? Like one ant? The spiders here are running in herds. The house flies are traveling in flocks. I lost count on all the flies I've killed. I can't remember if you cut off the nose or the tail to collect the bounty. What? Well, there ought to be a bounty.

TPD, I hear that Cindy is reading the blog to you. Maybe, if you treat her nice, she will type in a comment for you. Don't hurt yourself with the crayons.

Hey Rich, are you "retired" yet? Remember, if you want to work for an idiot, be self employed.

Friday evening, while we were on the phone. Pretty agile for an old guy, eh? I can walk, talk, and take pics at the same time.


While I was waving at the world, (washing windows) on Friday, this raven showed up. I think it was checking to see if Kita, who was sleeping about 4 feet away, was alive. The raven was pretty agile when Kita woke up.


Thermometer in the sun. Pic taken through a clean window.

Yesterday I tackled the shower. It's white too!!?? Now, the Hermit Swami has to learn you something. (You start your own Internet cult and you can pick your own name.) If you find yourself attached to your eyes and lungs, do not use 3 or 4 chemicals in an enclosed shower.


Yesterday around 1 0'clock. Doesn't it just make your heart go pitter-patter? Maybe they will cancel spring and jump right to July. I could live with that, if I had to. I'd rather go from March to October. Today they are forecasting a larva hatching temp of +13. Unlucky number.



I got a lot done this week. I cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, windows, chimney. Yesterday I also made bread and did laundry. I emptied the litter boxes, George's and mine. You are probably wondering why all the cleaning. Well, as the temp rises, our fair weather friends will start coming north, and I do get the odd visitor. Some odder than others. I don't know where all this energy is coming from. Generally I believe that you are born with "X" amount of energy, and when you use it up, you just fade away.

I think our cult needs a name. How about The Church of the Blessed Virgin White Snow?


Sis, since you probably cleaned last year, and spring cleaning occurs every 16 years, I'll pencil you in for the spring of 2022.

C, you can pop in for a coffee.

Shalom Sheila, usually I think that cleanliness is next to insanity, (did I get that cliche right, Queen?) As for the pics, ya gotta keep them wanting for more, or it just gets old, and saggy. Kita has a "bone", (that pun is for you, Tim), to pick with you. HE says that HE might not be the man HE used to be, but HE was never a girl. And, he knows HE's cute, er, handsome.

I know that lately that we have had some super intelligent people commenting, and some of you old commenter's might feel intimidated, but we can read slow, so don't be so shy.

Wednseday morning.


What do you do after you go on a tear around Little Tomiko on a Tuesday night? Take two asprins and set the alarm clock for Thursday. Who says that pets can't learn from their owners?

Waves on the ice yesterday morning.

The sun came out in the afternoon.

Last evening.


I put Kita on a chain Wednesday night. He actually looked embarrassed. Last night he came right in.

I'd like to say that I spent all day yesterday doing spring cleaning, but I found a bunch of excuses to delay it. I'm starting to think that spring cleaning should be done EVERY year??? I assumed (there's a cliche for that too" that when people said that they were "done" with spring cleaning, that they picked a spring, and never had to do it again. After I started, I thought that if I had waited another 10 or 15 years, everything would have matched the stove. Now, some of you thought that it was funny that the pencil marks and finger prints from when I installed the cabinets were still there. Ha, ha funny, I hope. I thought cleaning would be easier using "Mean Green super strength. WHAT! If it cleans grease off you car engine, it should really clean a kitchen. It will also remove silicone caulking. I didn't read part on the bottle. May be I'll do windows today, or not. OK, put your sun glasses on

Shalom Hippy Chick: finally, somebody who gets it!

First off, Kita took off again last night. I saw fresh dog tracks on the lake and followed them, but they circled back home. I put his pillow on the deck and went to bed. Around 4:30, the peach rotator called to say that Kita was at Frasertown, but wouldn't go to her. I went over, but couldn't find him. I did see more tracks and followed him past Gord & Barb's, but lost him around Jose & and Ed's place. When I got home, Kita was on the deck. You never saw such a guilty dog when I put my hands on my hips. That is the deaf dog sign for a very loud "bad dog".

Happy first day of bug season.

Monday evening we had a rain/snow mix at 0c. Tuesday morning saw -21c and every thing covered in a thin film of ice. Here's a view of the A frame through the door on the deck.

Every time we go to Frasertown, Kita has to stop at a new beaver house to see if anybody is home. This house wasn't here in August.





Sun set last evening.

Shalom Sheila, a "crunchy" person is the new hip lingo for someone who is down with mother nature, self healing, touchy-feely, kind to fellow man/woman, etc. In our day, we might say, hippy chick. I think that they get crunchy from granola, that's my best guess, any way. So, peace on Dudette!

The birthday girl, Jose, at the head of the table. I think you know everybody else, except for Sheila, a "crunchy" type person. The birthday girl cooked up the whole spread herself. Next year, somebody with the cooking gene oughta change that.




Missy wasn't impressed when Kita sneaked in, and hung out on a beam. Sometimes I think Kita abuses his handicap.


Going home Saturday evening.

The lake yesterday morning.


WATCH OUT FOR DANCING MOOSE!


The lake today, a bit of a storm on the go.



We had a good time at Jose's party. I could hardly hoist myself up on the 4 wheeler. I would have liked to help out with all the dishes, but it was decided I should leave while I could see my way home. Plus I know Jamie really loves doing dishes. I was told to report that "WE ALL LOVE RACHEL!"

Yesterday I got some coffee water from Frasertown and made a sneak delivery for TT. Oh yeah, Razor, was I supposed to tell her about the TV tables, or not to tell her?

OMG, (see, I'm down with this new texting lingo), you should have heard the lake last night. Lots of gurgling, cracking, swishing and you could here the ice moving. All I could think about was crossing it today.

So, today I did go to town and got lots of groceries and stuff. I even remembered to get a new bag of bulking material for the composting toilet, so I'm all set to "go" on that front too. It must be spring, I'm all ready to hibernate till break up.

TTSK, long time, no hear. Where have you been?

Tim, puns are for old geezers, for which I do not yet qualify. Cliches are for peeps with sharp, agile minds. Nasty Puke is a synonym,(or is that symptom?), of a company which must remain nameless. Although you are probably familiar with them. Think big golf balls spread across the arctic.

Who is going to be numero 17000?

You will have to read the post below this one for this to make sense.

Kita came back. I looked for him at 4:30 and 5:30, then at 6:30 he was sleeping on his pillow. I have no idea where he went. I checked his feet and they are OK. The ice on the lake has lots of sharp pieces and the snow in the bush is really crusty. I would think that his feet would be cut up if he was running for 5 or 6 hours. I suspect that he was sleeping under some tree and I couldn't see him. TT gave me a flashing light for his collar, but he would always turn it off??? May be time for a modification.

I forgot to mention the mechanics in the shop. They, along with the electricians manage to put things back together after the millwrongs break them. Much like Humpty Dumpty.

A funny thing happened at the grocery store on Friday. I was following an older gentleman in with our carts. The old dude was staring at a well defined pair of jeans and almost ran over his wife. Ha ha! And I almost ran over him!

There are a million, billion gazillion ( for y'alls down south, thats metric for quite a few) sparrows, tree sparrows I think, eating birch seed all over the snow. They are skittish and too small for decent pics.

I got up at 8 this morning and chugged a couple cups of coffees and went on that service call. I think Mr. Slate's batteries are cooking on the top burner now. (another one Tim). Bread is on the go but I don't know if I have the energy to rake up cat hair today. I wonder if Molly Maid have live ins? That's it for now, I'm using spell check way too much.

Your probably wondering why I'm posting at 3 in the morning. It's a sad story. First, I tried to post earlier in the evening, but Blogger was sick. Then, around 11:30, I did the normal routine of getting Kita off of his pillow and bring it inside to dry out. Normally by the time I finish brushing my teeth, Kita has finished his business and his patrol around the property. But, he's still not back yet. There could be a number of possibilities. He could have gone visiting, but he hasn't done that in a year. He might be chasing a moose or something. Or, he could be sleeping in a different spot. It's hard to call a deaf dog. We'll try not to think about wolves, ok?

I'll try and give you the Reader's Digest up date on the past week. Things might be a little out of sequence 'cause I'm starting to fade out, 5 am was a loong time ago.

First, I have to respond to the Newbie. You can't bake a blog with out cracking a few cliches.


Water on the lake, Wednesday, I think.





This morning at -16.

Sun rise on the New Notman road.


Sun rising through what's left of the Black Forest after that storm last year.


Sun coming up over the Psych hospital, right next to the salt mine. Nasty Puke is the other fenced in institution on the other hill.

The result of nine days of work. It might not seem like much, but there are lots of little parts and those coils on each side were hand wrapped, I hadn't done that before. I would say that I haven't seen that kind of production since the early days of Nasty Puke, before apathy and bad management set in.

Hole in the lake in my snowmobile track.

Let's see, I saw an eagle on the ice at supper time, half way out to the narrows. He boogied as soon as I stepped out the door. Lots and lots of grouse on the dirt roads, now that they are bare.

The lake has been booming, and cracking, and burping all night. Some of the booms shake the cabin.

I learned a lot the past two weeks. Your never too old to learn, just too old to remember. Vacations should be no longer than two weeks or you might forget your purpose in life. I learned that millwrights are highly over rated. Aren't they, Berlin? (I think you could do better, at least a couple of rungs up the evolutionary ladder). All they do all day is beat the crap out of things, and then let out a HAR HAR HAR, when it finally breaks. Yup, the electricians are the heroes in that shop, using their finely tuned skill sets to complete their tasks, despite the chaos at the other end of the shop. Basically the guys there are good shts in the long run, if you like long runny shts.(another cliche Tim)

Busy day tomorrow. A service call to Mr. Slates solar system. Gotta bake bread, rake up George's hair balls and Jose's birthday party tomorrow evening. Gotta go, brain is fuzzy, eyes are blurry, and I can't find the letters i want on the key board.

3:30 and Kita is still not back yet. I'll prop the door open to the deck and leave his pillow out there.

I published this on Saturday, but it didn't take for some reason.

Well, hello you peeping Toms and Judys. I hear some of you have the DTs from no updates. Get a life of your own. And, I think there might be a twelve step program for that, too. Of course, some of you need a ten day week to fit in all your programs.

I forget when most of these pics were taken.


This one was taken out the side window of the truck while doing 90k on hwy 11.

Sun rise over the salt mine.


I know that this was last evening.


Tuesday, the first day at the salt mines was a chilly one, -32 with a wind chill deep into the -40's. It was weird, the lake was really slushy. Wednesday morning, the lake was worse. Then the temp rose to -7 in the afternoon and the lake hardened up good.(???) That evening I had supper with Mr. and Mrs. K.. Caesar salad with homemade croutons, French onion soup, shrimp, prime roast beef, and lemon meringue pie. Shirley, ya better get back soon, I don't know how long I can hold out! Kita enjoys spending the day with Mrs. K.

Being on vacation from retirement is ok, except for being on the go so early. Speaking of early, which one of you was supposed to remind me to turn off all of the alarm clocks last night? They are a pretty good bunch of guys at the shop. And speaking of work, you guys at Nasty Puke, ( that's the place that used to pay me),do you know that there are people out there that actually work for a living and make contributions to society? Stop your whining. Another problem is the house work piles up. I usually HAVE to vacuum every second day to get rid of George's hair, so the place is pretty dirty. I wonder if Molly Maid have dog sleds? But, since I got up at 5:30 this am, vacuuming and 3 loads of laundry are done already. George has some really bad knots on his back legs and other areas that he can't reach while grooming 'cause he's so fat, where he REALLY doesn't like being touched. He has let me start trimming and he looks full of holes. He says, no pics, or he'll slice and dice and Julian fry me.

So, thanks to George Dub Ya, we have to put our clocks ahead tonight. (DON"T FORGET TO CHANGE THE BATTERIES IN YOUR SMOKE AND CO DETECTORS)That means I'll have to cross the lake in the morning, in the dark. The temp is going up to PLUS 8 for the next couple of days. Hopefully the lake stays good till I'm done my vacation.

There, I think your all caught up now, I'll get back to you, whenever.