While I was reheating my left over BBQ chicken I thought I might get one more shot for TTSK. I ended up walking to the narrows again. By the time I got back I had chicken jerky.







Seven degrees at seven o'clock this morning.



So what's the difference between having bad luck and being stupid? Someday I'll explain it to you Rich, I'll talk real slow so you get it the first time. Any way my "bad luck" started by being too lazy to get water yesterday. When I got up this morning there was a big black hole(blueberry bushes) in my skidoo trail to the lake. The ice is rotten so I didn't go out too far. After getting stuck a couple of months ago I have been hauling only 20 gallons per trip. Today I tried 70 gallons, that's close to 700 pounds for those of you who get their water out of a tap. Yup, I got stuck trying to avoid the black hole. Being smart I used Jack's quad to winch the sled and toboggan up the hill, thanks Jack. The next trip I hauled 70 gallons again but made it that time. Who needs blueberries any way, a dog might pee on them.

I'm officially declaring the bay in front of my house closed. There is about 2 inches of rotten ice on top of about 10 inches of water, then more ice, sometimes. There are many holes all the way through. It would be bad enough dying, but I think it would be worse to survive and have your machine on the bottom of the lake. I don't know if I'll make it to chili night (or marathon hors d'oeuvres) next week. Hopefully the snow will be gone on my driveway and I can bike it out.




P.S. Hey helicopter dudette, you better be a dudette, I'm not giving it up just for a little fly past!

Well, I didn't get any water today, no ambition. I split and stacked a little bit of fire wood and that's about it. Lots of wind, if we had water, we could go surfing. While I was working on the wood, I remembered that this was a job I was going to do during the long, cold boring winter. Winter was just too darn short, and too much fun. I think we should petition old Mother Nature for another 3 months of winter. Who's with me on this?

I got buzzed by another helicopter. I wonder what they are looking for? I heard on the radio that the MNR is protecting the white moose around the Chapleau area. May be they are looking for something else that is big and white to protect.



Quiet news day so I'll just ramble. You've probably noticed that every body here has nick names. Which is good for me because I have always had trouble remembering names.
( random thought: I read some where that people who have trouble remembering names have no sympathy for their fellow human beings. As if I care.) Nick names help because there are way too many Rons, Dons, and Dans out here. Most nick names are usually linked to where a person lives, ex. Doe Lake Randy, or their profession, ex. Minky (mink farmer). When I was over to Fraser Town the other day, I heard the nick name "Berlin". I checked the maps and couldn't find a Berlin lake, and I can't think of a job associated with Berlin, so I'll have to do more research on that one.

Two posts in one day! This morning worked good and I just decided to see if the time of day did make a difference, but it is smoking right now.

OK, you can call me lazy again. I didn't get the whole wood pile uncovered. It took about 3 hours to chip the ice off of the bottom of the tarp and there is still 5 feet of snow on the back side of the pile. I slipped off the top of the pile but I only hurt my pearly white.



I had a visit from a different helicopter today but this one just kept on trucking.



After I quit working on the wood I went for a walk on the lake. There are big cracks every where and I found this hole right through the ice. I think I'll top up my water supply early tomorrow morning.



Here's a pic of the public beach, roll up your pants and go wading.



The snow is going pretty fast and Kita found what's left of his Xmas present from the Mailmans.



P.S. Don't forget to read below.
P.P.S. Addition to thought of the day: You never know what the front will look like.

Testing, testing 1, 2. I've been having such a problem posting the blog lately, that I'm going to try to post in the morning. The only problem will be trying to remember what I did yesterday.

After I got home yesterday and put away 3 weeks of groceries, fought the blog, and couldn't win at solitaire, I didn't feel like cooking supper. So I just had bacon and eggs.



BONUS! Double Double yolks! How's that for a coincidence? Hey, if you don't like what I eat, you feed me. Just remember that I don't eat anything that a dog can pee on.

Today's plan 1) do dishes (can't wait for laundry day). 2) continue digging out wood pile. 3) continue organizing the garage.

P.S. Thought for the day: Just because you've seen someone's white bum doesn't mean you know them.

Let's see how this is going to work today.



Really slow. Oh the humanity! I went to town today. The human race would be alot better off if they got rid of the racing part, and maybe a few of the humans too. They are calling for double digit temps and rain so I'm all set to stay here for awhile.

You urban-suburbanites miss the music of nature. Every morning at sun rise the lake starts cracking and popping and it echos off of the hills. The wood peckers are going nuts again. When I got home, one pecker must have been knocking his head on a big old hollow tree, neat sound. I could do with out the ravens on the point across the lake. The cawing alllllll day gets on the nerves a bit. Here's a picture of a crack in the lake with my cigarette package stuck in it.



I have a beach!



P.S. Last night the paper boy informed me that a member of the "over the hill gang" was upset and is requesting amnesty. She/he would like to join the "over the lake gang" instead. Hmmmmm, seems like we have a deserter in our midst.

I'm not about to walk way out on to the lake for sun set shots so this is as good as it gets for a while.

Well I guess it's not even going to be that good, blogger.com must be having problems again and I can't up load pictures.

I shoveled snow for a couple of hours this morning. No, we didn't get any more. I was trying to find the pile of wood that I bought last fall so I can stack it.

I had a helecopter fly low 2 times over the cabin this morning. Before I thought "this isn't something you see every day" and went to get the camera, it was gone. Maybe it's more than the weather that's slow.

Going to town tomorrow.

I managed to get one pic up, but that's all for today.

Sorry Tomiko Tina's sister, (insert name here), (sometimers disease again), I didn't get a picture of last nights sunset. I thought my BBQ steak was more important. The sun is now setting more to the north and is blocked out by trees unless I go out on the lake. The sunrise this morning had no color because it was so clear, I guess. In this pic, the sun is hitting Dan's sauna I think.



We had visitors yesterday! Kita was pretty excited. I was trying to think of a name for them and "the over the hill gang" came to mind first. I'm not sure if it is appropriate, although one individual used his machine as a fouton. Here they are leaving, picture dark to protect their anonymity .



Kita has been a little edgy lately so we went for a ride, run today. It was such a nice day that I almost went out in shorts. Bryan and Gord must have seen us coming but we did manage to trap Ed. I haven't seen Ed for a couple of years and thought I might have to drop the pants so that he would know who I was, but he recognized Kita. Kita didn't think that he liked Gypsy, the 150 lb Newfie dog. He gave one little growl and they agreed to ignore each other. We then went to check out Gord's maple sap line.



I did my income tax this morning. You would think that the Canadian Revenue Agency would provide vaseline, I bet it's not even tax deductible.

Another dull, grey day.


Well, there goes the neighborhood! I got a call from North Bay Dan last evening. He is going to change his name to Tomiko Dan. They are going to start building a new house in about 4 weeks and sell their house in town and move out here permanently. They own the middle cabin straight across the lake from me. They are usually the first cottagers in the spring and the last to go in the fall. They also have a flock of alarm clocks, I mean chickens. I don't know if I can stand this population explosion. Maybe I'll have to move to Nunavut.

So Rich says he is comming for a visit in April. What year Rich? You were just here, she's not going to let you go away so soon. Do you have to pay for an extra seat for that ball and chain around your ankle? A wise old man once told me that it's cheaper to rent than to buy. I think he was talking about cars, but I'm not so sure now.

Morning.



Afternoon.



I missed a gorgeous sunrise this morning. The snow on the lake was pink and orange. But since I sleep in the nude, and I have to be careful of those fancy telescopes, it was gone by the time I got dressed.

I'm calling today the first day of spring. We're a little slower in the north. I mean the weather is. I saw a pair of pileated woodpeckers, and the ravens on the point across the lake are cawing all day long. I heard seagulls, although I didn't see them. And I have mud in my yard. I still have 3 feet of snow but the paths I shoveled are mostly bare.

I finally got the deck cleaned up, now I have to clean up the garage again, again.

Pretty darn nice day today, considering that they were calling for flurries, freezing drizzle and or rain.




It's amazing what happens when you embarrass people on the world wide web! Emails and phone calls apologizing for hiding behind their curtains. They are even threatening to come visit me. Tomiko Tina has been threatening all winter. But any body who knows her knows that she likes to take souvenirs from her visits. And were not just talking about spoons, although she might take them too, and your forks and knives. So I'll have to set some rules. She can't have my lamp, or crib table, or the post holding up my roof. And she can't have my stuffed animals. Not that kind of stuffed animal! Real, formerly live animals. Remember our motto, taxidermist will mount anything.

blogger.com had major problems. I was getting upset till I remembered this is all free!

Pretty quiet on the northern front. I did manage to clean my work bench, I mean kitchen table. I hadn't seen the top since January. I started cleaning up the deck too. I replaced the wheels on the BBQ, I broke them off when I moved out here last May. It's snowing very lightly right now. Last night Kita was wondering about this spring thing that he keeps hearing about, and he still wouldn't come in until I dumped him off of the pillow.





It must be almost time for Jack to come back, George asked to go outside today.

Well, that's the last time I warn you that I'm coming to visit. That way you won't have a chance to go away, right Gord and Barb and Jose and Bryan? The next time it will be a maritime-ninja visit. You won't see me coming til I'm there. At least Tomiko Tina let me in. Gee, that makes me wonder if everybody else was at home? Any way, with all the wasted time running around you don't get any pictures. OK, here's a photo of Frasertown where the beer is always cold and the women are, better ask Razor about that one.



Here's one more recycled from last summer when half of the superkids visited, just to prove that white bums are in the gene pool.

I had good intentions of going visiting today but hauling 120 gallons of water, laundry and other house work took longer than I expected. Most people do their dishes and laundry on the same day, don't they? Of course, if I hadn't kept putting off getting started, I would have finished a lot sooner. The ice is still close to 3 feet thick. The ice is in four layers, a result of all the freeze-thaws and tons of snow I guess. In this photo the top layer is about 8 inches and there is a 2 inch gap that the ice scoop is stuck into.



Kita was all excited when I started the sled, but then did his teenager imitation when he found out there was work involved.



For those of you from "away", as we say down home, we haven't talked about the weather for a while. It drops down to about -10 at night and up to zero during the day. The sun feels a lot warmer than that, if you get out of the wind. It seems that we've had a wind chill for about a week. The snow is slowly going away. In this pic, there is an umbrella type patio table (free to a good home with a wire brush and a can of paint) that was buried all winter.



About a week ago the snow was real soft and you would sink up to your knees. The snow now is like concrete and the foot holes are leg breaker traps.



Maybe tomorrow I'll go out visiting, I promise to keep my pants up.

I know I'm a little early, 2 reasons. 1) What else do you do while your bread is rising? 2) I've been getting nasty emails when I'm late. Jeez, get a life! It's not always my fault, the internet connection out here is sketchy at best, often dies when I'm online. But I noticed that there were no offers to the dried doodoo.

Another moon over Little Tomiko.



I went to Jack and Linda's at 8:30 to water proof their leaning chimney. The good thing about steel roofs is that they self clear snow. The bad thing about steel roofs is that they self clear snow.



While I was on the roof, somebody went through Ron's yard and hit the lake doing Mach 2.5, yup, Kita followed him. By the time I slid off the roof, disconnected the toboggan and caught up to him he was at Dan Kelly's, about 1.5 kilometers. He wouldn't take a ride so he ran back. We had a coffee with Ron and then we dropped in to see Dave. While I was inside, Kita must have gotten tired and went home, which is good to know.

By the time I got home, the fire had gone out. George helped start it up.



George adjusts the damper.



Thanks big guy! I couldn't survive another minute in that cold, cold 22 degrees.



Do I resemble somebody whose initials are Jack?



PPS. No Tina, you can't have my buoy.

No time today for fancy photos.




I went to town this morning. I went to 9 different places. Back at Tomiko parking lot by noon. The next time I go to town I should put a notice in the North Bay Nugget and warn people to stay out of my way. I find it amazing how well little blue haired ladies can block. They should play football. You try to pass them on the left, they move left. You try to pass them on the right, and they move right. You make a fake to the left and they don't go for it. What's up with that?

Homemade cholesterol pie for supper. Double cheese, triple pepperoni, triple hot Italian sausage, casalingo salami. And mushrooms for the veggie(?) serving. I you don't hear from me tomorrow, come down and give me an oil change. I know it's not good for me and I'll be eating Tums all day tomorrow, but it tastes sooooo goooood. Actually tomorrow I 'm going down to Jack and Linda's place and see if I can make the bottom of their chimney waterproof.

Here's a pic of Kita running flat out, looking back and saying "What's the hold up old man?"



P.S. I'll accept photos of axes and atvs, but the response has been so good that I might try another nudie and find out if someone is willing to remove the dried doodoo from the south end of George. That would be true love!

I know I said no sun set pics for a while but as I was sitting down for supper I couldn't resist. So I slipped on my sneakers and went out to take "one". Before I knew it I was out to the narrows and took over 1 hundred pics. By the time I got back I was frozen solid and my pork chops were cold.







Did any of you Tomiko residents hear the lake the lake popping, cracking and booming last evening? It started at sun down and was still going on when I went to bed around midnight. I also saw a huge snow devil yesterday, it must have been a hundred feet high and a hundred feet across the top. I wasn't fast enough to get a pic of it. It hauled ass down the lake on my side of the narrows and crossed over land. I could see the top of it on the east side of the narrows and it stayed there for about 10 minutes.

Today I got down to business and finished cleaning up the generator shed. I'm getting pretty good at cleaning up, ok I'm pretty good at moving stuff around. The next clean up job is the deck, you never know when I might get some visitors. After that comes the A frame, I'm really embarrassed over that one. As soon as I can find my fire pit I'll have a bonfire.

Now it's time to get serious. It seems that Tomiko Jose has one of those new fangled super high power telescopes that can look around corners. And here I thought I was safe taking my snow showers. Now I have to share with everybody so that no one feels left out.



I'm off to town tomorrow, stupid, stupid me. I forgot that it will be Saturday. More of humanity to deal with. Kita the people person will be happy though.

I know, I lost everything the first time when I pressed the publish button.

What a great day to be alive,....and retired! HaHaHa!!!



After I dragged off those poor trees I did, NOTHING! I just tooled around the lake checking cabins and visiting. Jack's chimney has tipped over. As you saw from Tina's comments, Kita went visiting last night. The good thing was that Don got Kita up on his snow machine. I tried today with no luck. But after a couple hours of running I finally coaxed him aboard. Here's some pics of him running full out. Do you know how hard it is to drive a snow machine with no hands at 30 Kph? The things I do to try and get original pics for my peeps.




Last night around 10:00 I climbed up on the slippery shed roof, in my T shirt, to get these moon shots just for you.