Foggy day yesterday.


Not much better today.


I'm too darn tired to argue with you non-believers. You seem to forget that I'm insensitive. Yes, I did jump in, yes there was ice in the narrows and none on my shore. If anybody wants to come over, we can do it together, but since the dock is out, it'll be much more painful getting deep enough to dive under.

Tuesday I was going to put the boat to bed for the winter, but I got a call to go to town and help my old work mate Denis move. He got parole from "the man" and is off to Manitoba. I didn't get home till 8:30. Kita stayed in the truck all day except for a couple of hydrant breaks. A bunch of moose had been playing on the road a couple of hundred meters from my gate so I had to Keep Kita in the house. He was not impressed.

Yesterday I put the boat to bed, remove batteries, winterize motor, etc. In the fog and drizzle all day. Oh yeah, I managed to repair the water heater too.

This morning I went to start the generator to charge the batteries and do laundry. The generator wouldn't start! So, off I go to the Birkby's to borrow their back up gen set. I couldn't remember the combo to the lock on their second gate, so I had to drag the gen set up their hill to the truck. I couldn't find the key, so off to the Kelly's and borrow a key from them. Get home, unload the heavy !!@@**. I go in the generator shed to pull mine out, give it a kick, and pull the engine over with frustration, and it starts! !!@!@@***#@!@#. Then I have to drag the Birkby's generator around back and into the garage. This gen set has the worst excuse for a set of wheels, very narrow and sinks in the ground and gets stuck. Oh my aching back. Any way, batteries are now charged and three loads of laundry done.

I think I'll go to town tomorrow and on Saturday I'll take the truck to Frasertown for the winter. Isolation!

Too tired to comment on your blogs, but I did check them all out.

Yes Sis, George has the mouse by the tail. He normally whacks them quickly and eats them up, but that night he had some sport.

C, I'm not sure where the "Razor" came from. Maybe it's one of those negative nick names, like when your mother calls you Jesus when you are bad??? I don't think I can be managed, been there done that. Publicist? I try to lay low. Accountant? Funny!

Michelle, I can see where you get your smarts from. Your welcome.

Up yours Razor.

Up yours Whitey.

Up your Rich.

Haven't seen much of Ron and the Pickerel Queen lately.

OK, so after our last conversation I jumped into the lake. It's hard to set up a picture with just 20 seconds on the timer with out getting kicked of the net for nudity, so this is the best I could do. I think that's a smile, not a grimace. The worst part was when I came in to get a hot shower, the shower decided not to work. After a little diagnosis, and the use of a cut off Bic pen, I was back in business. If you see a mushroom cloud on the North side of little Tomiko, it might be me.



Sunset Friday night.




No pics on Saturday. I wasn't allowed to see day light until I had a generator hooked up to a fancy dancy solar system. But I did have a really good steak and crab leg supper.

This one is for you Arch. Ya just gotta play with 'im before you get to the crunchy parts.


Fog yesterday morning.


Breaking ice on the way back from Frasertown yesterday afternoon. I guess it's time to take the boat out now.


This morning I took out the dock and boat. I started at 9 and finished at noon. About 10 minutes later it started raining. Thanks for holding off Mother Nature. The shore looks kind of empty now.

It's another nice solar day so I decided to post again, and I might be too busy this weekend to bother entertaining you.

Sunset last evening, a nice bookend to a great day.




This shot was taken in low light conditions and looks like Mother Nature was playing with her crayons, to me any way.


Sunrise this morning with a little skiff of ice on the lake. The temp dropped to -6c over night.








So, some of you don't believe I jumped in yesterday. Oh ye of little faith. If I had checked the comments, I would have done it again today. But too late for that now! If any one wants to come over, we can hold hands and jump in together.

This morning I made some more kindling. A nice no-brainer job, for which I am over qualified. Just watch the fingers, and put the brain in park. But it does give you a chance to think things over or have flash backs. I remembered making shavings every morning, the last time I was in Rencontre NFLD.

Also, not too long ago, someone said that I was the smartest person that they new. I don't if I can accept that. One good decision could be just luck. So, I'll accept that I am the luckiest guy around.

I heard a thing on the radio that said you people should always be ready to look after yourselves for a minimum of 72 hours, in case of an emergency like power failures or storms. Good luck with that!

The place looks lonely since the snow birds left.

Sun set Tuesday.


Yesterday I went to the Kelly's and helped Dan hook up his solar charger and inverters. And had a Swiss steak supper, too. Thanks Mrs K!


Sun rise today.


It's amazing the difference a few days can make. Monday I was seriously thinking about taking the boat out. On Tuesday I broke ice all the way to Frasertown. Yesterday was so so. But, today was a super day, +11c and a really good solar charging day. So, today was the day for a dip. Refreshing! But no second takes.


Sorry I missed you at Frasertown, Doc. Maybe I'll see you in the spring, although I've only seen a doctor once since 1992. To me, doctors are to be avoided like vegetables, they both can hurt your butt.

Weather channel, you suck! It's time to trade in your quarter or your ouija board. What ever you use, it ain't workin.

This is as good as it got Sunday evening.


Yesterday I split up a steamer trunk full of kindling. A weasel stuck his head out of the wood pile and watched me for about five minutes. After I got the camera, he got shy. I did manage to get this pic. The weasel is white already, so I guess that makes him an ermine. You can find him if you see his eye, almost in the center.


This is as good as it got Monday evening.


BUT!!! TADAA!! This morning we had a beautiful sun rise at 7:15.






Yup, that's ice stretching all the way to Generator Bay. The temp dropped to -10.9 over night but was -4 when I got up.


Well, guess what. Yeah, around 11:00 it clouded over again. So no swimming today. Thursday is supposed to be really nice, don't bet on it, so maybe I'll sun bathe then. The boat is still in the water, one more water taxi job to do. Gotta give #3 a ride so he can walk his hoe home. That's a back hoe, Jason! Who raised you any way?

Here's a pic of another "fair weather" cottage, or as we locals like to call them, WOOSIES

I know it's been more than two days, but it's hard to keep track when day after day after day the weather is exactly the same. Grey and depressing. If it wasn't for my sunny disposition, it would be really depressing around here. The sun tried really hard to come out today, but evil Mrs. Cloud wouldn't let it. The weather channel shows partly sunny for the next five days and environment Canada shows snow tomorrow and partly sunny for the next few days. If it ever does get sunny, I promise to get a tan.

Ice and snow on the shore line this morning after sun rise, yeah, right.


I dropped by the Kelly's today. Here is a pic of their solar power stuff getting installed.


This is their domestic hot water and in floor heating system.


I might take the boat out tomorrow so I took a final spin around the lake and took some pictures of properties where less hardy people live when the weather is sunnier. Just a couple for today, I'll save some for future posts. Sorry for the quality, I had to digitally brighten the pics because, did I tell you we've had no sun for ever?

Girlieman (and woman) #1


You're missing the best part of the year, Dave and Sharon.


Let's see, I think it was yesterday that I went to Frasertown to do some more wiring. It seems that Razor doesn't think that an electric fireplace has the right ambiance for a grader. TPDan and Cindy dropped by the Lube and Grill for a visit.

Last night I heard a wolf howl in behind Fennell's Bay and today while running around the lake I talked to Fred and Ross. They saw a huge wolf on the road and watched it for twenty minutes. I've also been hearing the owl toward Richie's again. That's it for now, TTYL

Happy 5th anniversary tomorrow, Joseph and Rachel. (card is in the mail)

























Yesterday morning, Kita thought we were going for a boat ride, but we went to town again.


I think it's been over three weeks since they lit the slash piles on the New Notman road, and even with all the rain we've had, they are still smoking.


Yesterday afternoon.


Woke up to a fresh snow fall this am. It's been warm enough for it to rain all day, but cold enough that the snow is still on the ground. Just rain and or snow in the forecast with a chance of a little sun on Saturday.


The trip to town was pretty uneventfull, except one of two institutions owes me some money and can't decide who will give it to me. Maybe next time I should take Mr. Remington to help convince someone to pay up.

Hi Frankie, I think we are catching up to you with the rain. It seems that it has rained every day since September. The pictures of your storm, on the news last night, was impressive. Maybe Donnie should send you a boat.

If you are traveling the Sand Dam road, watch out for the logging trucks. One of them was stuck in the middle of the road on the hill by Ben's pond. It was the second time that he got stuck because he had bald tires. I had to put the truck in 4WD and take the scenic route around him.

First off, a public safety message. Hey you! Yeah you in the white van, I'm talking to you. The guy who passed me and cut right in front and put slush on my wind shield when there was no traffic for miles. You are on my list.

Other than that, and the bank being closed for a stat holiday, the trip to town went ok. I did run over a guy in Canadian tire with my cart, but it wasn't his, or my fault. They have changed everything around and you can't find any thing, and there is less room to move than Walmart. The grocery store didn't have George's cocktail shrimp, again. He only likes one brand. I got a ton of food to last till freeze up. Let's see if I got all the food groups covered. I got chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chunk brownie cookies, raisin butter tarts and five different kind of potato chips. All the sin taxes are paid up for at least five weeks. I didn't get any of those red, yellow and green thingies cause there wasn't any body in that department to identify that stuff. At least I didn't have to cook supper last night, thanks Colonel. But I can't stray too far from the composter today. I guess I'll have to go back to town tomorrow or the next day to go to the bank. Still no sun, both the solar and internal batteries need a good charge.

Duchensnay Falls in North Bay.




Rocks on the New Notman Rd.


A dark and gloomy morning this morning.


Anonymous, (names, nick names or initials are nice so I know who I'm talking too is nice) I think it's a Champion, but I've heard the Mayor refer to it as a Jamboni (?).

Steve, thanks for the sympathy, I can tell it's really heart felt.

The loggers missed this one on the Birkby's road. (Thursday evening)


Friday morning, the first sunrise in weeks, and weeks, and weeks. But the sun left after an hour.


Friday evening.


Saturday morning, heading through the narrows to Frasertown. We got 2-3 inches of snow over night and I had to shovel out the boat.


Some ice on my shore this morning. Maybe I'll think about taking the boat out some time.


A view of the old homestead, coming back from Frasertowwn this afternoon.


I'm still alive and kicking. I know I should have posted yesterday, but I was helping Razor and Chris with the grader. (Doesn't August come to mind?) You might say "Gee Frank, you spend quite a bit of time working in Frasertown". And I would have to say "Have you seen the fines for parking a Dodge in Frasertown?" Other than that it's been pretty quiet. Now that the last summer resident has left, Jose, Ed, Donnie, Tina, Brian, Gord, Barb and I have the whole lake to our selves again. Oh yeah, we got those new immigrants too.

On a depressing note, I gotta go to town tomorrow. I have to start bulking up on essentials to last through freeze up. So, I mean it, stay out of North Bay tomorrow or you might be looking up at the bottom of a Dodge.

C, it's a seasonal thing. He hides when it snows, rains, it's too hot, it's too cold, or when the bugs are bad.