Kita didn't want to come inside at 11:00 P.M. last night.



I spent most of the day outside. It seems that a number of trees that were interfering with my solar panels fell during the winter. I dug them out of the snow and dragged them out into the open. Tomorrow I'll haul them away with the snow machine. The weather today was what you call variable. This morning we had xmas card type snow, later blowing snow, a little sun and it kept changing all day. Spring is just around the corner.

Maple Buds


Birch Buds


I found something interesting. I bet you urban suburbanites didn't know that there is such a thing as a snow spider.



The spider did not survive his photo sitting. I don't like spiders, they are third on the list behind black flies and mosquitoes.

I think I'll wait till Saturday to go to town.

Horizontal snow @ 7:00 A.M.

Thunder, lightning, high winds, and lots of rain last evening. Woke up this morning to snow going sideways. There is a 40 to 50 foot tree leaning towards the motor on my boat. I think it will miss the boat if it falls the rest of the way. Knowing my luck, if I cut it down it will do a triple gainer with a half twist and hit the boat so I'll just leave it. There's still too much snow to move the boat. It's hard to tell how much snow we got because of the wind. The wind is still blowing hard and from all directions. Peeing out side is a challenge.

Sunset now happens at supper time. Since that is the only meal I eat, no pretty sunsets for a while.

Kita and I went for a skate this morning. Every time he tried to run he would fall down. I think he decided to visit Tomiko Tina but I managed to get his attention and call him back. Another dreary day. At least on snowy days you can go out side and shovel. Yesterday I propped open the door to the deck and put Kita's pillow on the deck. He came and went as he pleased. Today he stayed in the cabin all day. I cleaned the windows today. Now I can watch the people passing by. I can read my thermometer from across the room! Some time when I'm in town I should kidnap one of those little blue cars. (Molly Maid) There are just something that ladies, er WOMEN are better at like cleaning cat puke, doggie accidents and cleaning windows. And splitting wood would be good too.

Last evening.

Today.

Kind of a dreary, rainy, sleepy day. Nothing got done today. Your probably wondering how much snow we can still have with all this rain.

Lots. The snow is funny, you can sled just about any where, you just can't walk on it. You'll take 1 step and sink, 4 steps and sink, even Kita has trouble. It must be tough for the deer and moose. The lake is in good shape early in the morning but quickly turns slushy. The weather forecast last night makes it look good for a run to town on Thursday. Today, all of a sudden, they have a winter storm warning for this area tonight. It's coming from Colorado and they couldn't see it last night? Flip your quarter dufus!

I'm back, the sun just popped out and there are waves on the lake! I had to take a picture. O.K. ripples, but it been a long time. I'm almost excited about spring. You can right click and open link in new window to better see the ripples.

6:25 A.M., yeah, I know, Kita again.
6:35 A.M., fog.

The day turned out nice and sunny. There was a pretty good breeze from the south though. I let the fire burn out and opened all the windows to freshen the cabin. George even went outside for a little while.
I started cleaning out the generator shed today. Since it is my original shed, it has some original stuff, a real archeological dig. Now, some of the stuff that I can't/won't throw out is in the clean garage.
While I was having my coffee, they were talking about a UFO on the radio. So reporter Frank snapped a couple of pics. See if you can spot it.

George found a new use for old snow shoes.

Foggy morning.

The lake after the fog lifted.

It rained all night and morning. Yesterday I emptied the composting toilet and left the wheelbarrow out. It was half full of water. Today was Molly Maid day, no they won't come out here. I defrosted the fridge and found 40 meals in the freezer. Since I only eat one meal a day, I'm ok for food for a while. I do need to make one more trip to town for smokes and cat food. I need to keep George alive cause if I do run out of food, I have a recipe for chicken chow meow. JUST KIDDING! Kita is shedding already so vacuuming is now a daily job. Last year he didn't shed till July. The sun played peek a boo later in the afternoon so I went for a walk on/in the lake.
Kita is still expecting you.

I probably could go canoeing if my canoe wasn't under 3.5 feet of snow. That poor old canoe, it doesn't know that french word "portage". If it couldn't be dragged or pushed, usually full of stuff, then it didn't go. The bottom of that canoe intimately knows most of the McConnel Lakes trails.

Dang dog woke me up with his old, weak bladder at 6:30. My old, weak bladder could have let me sleep in till 6:35. There was no temperature this morning. Warmed up to +4 c. I let the fire burn out around 9:00 and it is still 24 c in the cabin. There was a little freezing rain and snow early, and drizzle and fog all afternoon. I went snow shoeing today just because I don't think this old retired body gets enough exercise. I don't have those new fangled nylon and aluminum shoes that you guys have. I have the old fashioned wood, gut, and leather 4 foot long ones. I've had them for over 25 years, holy cow they are old. I wore them a lot when I used to hunt and snare rabbits in N.S. I've refinished them many times and they are still in good shape.

Kita says "Where are you? You know I only see the same old boring guy and stinky cat day after day after day..."

I know your out there some where.

I swear, if you won't come to me, I'll come to you.

Sorry I'm late, an old pal from the place that used to pay me called right at posting time. Nice sky last eve.


This morning was Saturday morning. What? It wasn't? Well it can be any morning I want it to be, I'm learning this retirement thing. Kita woke me up at 6:45. By the time I had a few cups of coffee, read the paper and did the dishes, it was 1:00. I thought I should haul some water because they are calling for rain tomorrow and I don't know what the rain would do to the lake. I think the lake will be OK. Once you get away from the shore there is only a few inches of snow and there is almost 3 feet of ice.

I was thinking about the new pump and water line that I'm putting in in the spring. I was wondering if there is 3 feet of ice, what happens when there is one foot of water. Will the sand freeze? Will I have to bury the water line under the sand? Have you ever tried to dig wet sand? Impossible, it keeps caving in.

That answers that. Not frozen.

We're gonna pay for this, WAIT we already did!

This is how city people go sledding, wide, flat groomed trails. And they still hit trees. Although I do know a lady who said a birch tree jumped out in front of her, but I'm not allowed to talk about that.

This is my trail across a narrow spit of land from one part of the lake to another.

Ok, you can call me lazy. I went to town around 9 this morning. I got 140 lb of propane, 6 cans of gas for Razor, 2 cans for me, 5 gal of coffee water, lots of groceries (lots of can goods) in case I get slushed in, a new bowl for making bread, cat litter. 2 loads back across the lake. By the time everything was put away, it was 1:30. So I just hopped on the sled and toured the lake checking on cabins. So no work done today. Oh yeah, I just remembered that I took a picture of smoke wafting down the lake this morning. I don't know where it came from because I'm the only one on this end of the lake right now.


P.S. Note for Rich: I really envy you being surrounded by a million people, smog, paved roads, noise etc. Maybe She'll let you come back in a year or so. Remember, you put a ring on her finger and she'll put one in your nose.

Some days you almost have to believe in a higher power. It's been like this for over a week.

I went out around 9 this morning clear the road. This is as far as I got on one tank of gas in the chain saw.

The supervisor quit half way through the tank of gas and went home to his pillow.

Roll off the last chunk and were all done here.

#2 job.

#2 all done.

While I was having palpitations today, I had a great idea. With all this naturopathy and health care issues on the go, I should give stress tests. That way I could get paid for someone else to do my work for me. And I have a kazillion hectares to bury the ones who flunk the test.

Off to town tomorrow. They are calling for rain or freezing rain on Thursday. I guess soon I'll have to plan on being isolated for a few weeks.

Spring has sprung. If we didn't have 4 feet of snow, the grass would grow. Kita says it's too hot.

Check this out, Martha would be proud.
Well, at least I can move around. I found stuff I haven't seen for a long, long time. I'll thin out some stuff in the spring when I can throw it in the back of the truck.

I went down the road to check out the nearest dead fall. It's a lot bigger than I thought. You could build a house out of that tree. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, or not. Gotta run, time to punch down the bread.

Awesome sunset last evening.
We haven't talked about the weather for a while. This past week has been just great. Super sunny, the batteries are full. Temps down to around -10 at night. Right now it is -1. My thermometer, in the sun, is reading +19, and that's about how it feels. No need for a jacket. There was a bit of wind from the north but I am protected from that. It's funny watching Kita on a day like today. He'll lay on his pillow, stretch out on the skidoo trail, move to the shade and dig a hole to lay in. Then move back to his pillow.

I didn't get around to clearing the dead falls off the road today, maybe tomorrow, or the day after. I think I'm starting to get used to this retirement thing.

Here is a pic of George for the superkids, other people just have normal grandkids. I just can't get a pic of him with his eyes open, no matter how fast I click.

Sorry I'm late. Blogger.com was broken. No time for scenic pics today, but I'll have clean briefs for tomorrow. Here's a hint of the next big job.
What a mess. If you see my #2 Phillips screw driver, let me know. I'll start the clean up tomorrow morning. If the weather is nice, I think I'll get some fallen trees off my road in the afternoon. Gotta run, chicken is done.