There hasn't been many interesting sun ups or downs lately. The sky has been too clear I guess. Last evening was very pink. I call it a Richie sun set.


After we chatted on Monday, Kita and I toured this end of the lake.

The Weicker's.


Almost time for a trip up north Dave and Sharon.


Not much snow here either.


The Birkby homestead.


Haven't seen you all winter Pickeral Queen. Maybe you can drag the old man out.


Nice paint job Rob.


The Glenn's.


I didn't know that squirrels were carnivorous. This one is eating chicken fat soaked bread.


I know, I should have cleaned off your solar panels. But, it's not my fault. You know I have sometimers, so you should have reminded me. They are calling for snow for the next few days, so I'll clean them off after that, if I remember. Did I tell you that I have sometimers?

It's another good solar day. Clouds are moving in from the west, though. I think that this is the fourth posting in a row on solar power only. I have been using the generator to talk to you since I started posting every second day 'cause we weren't getting much sun and I can charge the batteries from the gen set.

I think Kita and I'll go for a run out the driveway this afternoon to pack it down. I haven't been out that way since I took the truck to Frasertown. I know that I should be working on the fire wood, but my wrist is sore. I hurt it a couple of years ago, and every time it starts to feel better, I do something to reinjure it. The last culprit was lifting Deke's dead snow machine onto his truck.

Early post today. -32.9 this morning, yeah, I know what that means. If you are eating your lunch right now, you might not want to look at the last picture.

I delivered some whole wheat bread to Frasertown yesterday. This is the ice road across the pond side of the lake.


Even Kita gets frost on his chin.


Another super solar day today. I love these temps. For those of you with oranges in your back yard, or on a salt water coast, every thing is different. The snow squeaks when you walk. Sliding patio doors are stiff and aluminum doors just slam shut. When helicopters or propeller planes fly over, you hear the air being cut. After it warms up a little this afternoon, Kita and I'll check up on some of your cabins.

As for the whole wheat bread, I did keep a loaf for myself. It tasted ok, I guess. I did have to take some Pepto, but the spicy, oven fried chicken might have had something to do with that. I don't know if I can do the whole "crunchy" life style thing. I think the Newfie half of my genes requires fat. Is there anything that isn't improved with pork fat on it?

If you are eating, now's the time to shut down the computer.....Sorry for the toque, but you have to protect the sensitive parts at these temps.

A Whiskey Jack waiting to get fed yesterday morning at -29c.


Blue sky, nothing but blue sky, do I see. Your not the only one to fit music on a blog, C. I can almost hear Willie.


Hey hidibox guys, here's your place.


The view from your deck. The tracks in the snow are rabbit, squirrel, fox and wolf!


You would probably think that with it going to -29c two nights in a row that the water on the ice would freeze. Of course you would be wrong.


We've had three great solar days in a row. Clouds moved in late yesterday, bringing a tiny bit of snow


Yesterday afternoon Kita and I put in the tree line across the other side of the lake. I swear I wasn't drinking. Maybe next year I'll use a GPS to make it straight. We dropped by and had a smoke break with Ed. There are still some slushy areas. One spot was in front of Richie's. On the way home, Kita went to check on wolf tracks in front of Richie's and I had to get him back on track. Any body flying over head would probably think that a drunk was driving a sled, but it's just me herding Kita. There is a deep slush spot between my place and the Kelly's.

Today is bread day. I'm even going to try to make whole wheat bread. I won't eat it, I don't think my innards would know how to process it. But there are some granola crunchers around here. Now, this isn't a life style choice like your family Michelle. It's a weak attempt to keep Dr. Kervorkian away after forty years of living on chocolate.

Sis, as Buddy What's His name and The Other Fella says, a Yammie is a Ski Doo with a Yamaha sticker on it.

Sun down last evening.


Yesterday was a super solar day, but today we have an ice fog thing happening.


Woke up to -28 yesterday and a fresh skiff of snow. It warmed up to -11 in the afternoon. I was chipping ice off of the Yammie when I noticed the sun was doing a better job than I was, so I just tipped it over and let solar heating go to work. Bryan called and said that he and Jose were watching a wolf cross the lake and head to my Yammie trail. As soon as I hung up the phone, Kita went into high alert and wanted to go on patrol. I kept him under control and after a couple of hours he relaxed. He stayed out side 'till 11:00 PM, but I kept checking on him every few minutes.

It was -29.5 this AM, so close, but, too bad. This morning I spent 3 hours out side cleaning up some brush, then I had to come in and defrost the old beak, and have a coffee break. It is -20 with a wind chill of -39, right now. Well, break time is over, gotta go, TTYL.

Happy 1st birthday, Nova!


Monday morning.


Monday evening.


So I went to town this morning. Left the house at 8:00 and back by 1:30 with 10 stops. No idiots to report, maybe they are learning to stay out of my way. The lake is slushy again. It's not too bad unless you have to slow down to see where your dog is, or if your sleigh is full of a month's worth of groceries. The weather has been just so wierd lately. One or two days comfortable (-20 or less) and then a bunch of hot days. It is -2 right now. How can you make good ice like that? It's supposed to go back to the -20's for the next couple of days. There still isn't enough snow for the snowmobile trails to open. Well, I'm too tired to babble on. That trip just sucks all the energy out of me.

Yesterday morning.


This morning.


Later this morning. -25, dead calm with wood smoke drifting across the lake.


Yesterday I finished stacking the yellow birch. I still have about half of that tree to cut up. Last evening Kita and I went to the Kelly's for a surf and turf supper. Life is tough on the Tomiko, you make do with what you got. On the way over, we went through some slush. There was enough water that on the way back, Kita hit perfectly smooth ice and skated for a few yards. He normally likes to run on the ski doo track because it is packed down. But, after his skate, he would stop and walk carefully around the icy spots.

We have had two really great solar days. The solar controller is even in "pulse width modulation" mode. I would explain it to you, but your head really would explode. Let's just say that the batteries are as full as they can get. This hasn't happened since October, I think.

This afternoon we'll go to Frasertown to get some drinking water.

Wednesday evening.


Watery foot prints on the lake this morning. I haven't put out the other tree line yet because of the slush. It's still ok if you don't have to stop.


Kita watching Mrs. K cleaning her rink this morning. Is there any thing she can't do?


I finished hand splitting and stacking the maple and white birch that I had cut. I used the gas splitter on the yellow birch. I haven't stacked it yet 'cause I think I strained both of them lifting this chunk.


A picture of the causeway on the road to Moose Lake from Bryan.


What are we going to talk about today, C? HuH? Huh? Not that easy is it? Huh? Well, let's talk about humidity in a wood stove heated cabin. Some people have a kettle on the stove at all times. But I believe that too much humidity can be as bad, or worse than too little. So, ya gotta use a humidity sensor. The most accurate one is a cat. You see, if you pat the cat and touch his nose and nothing happens, the humidity is ok. If you pat the cat and touch his nose and get a spark, the air is a little dry. If you pat the cat and touch his nose and lose your finger, you use your good hand and put some water on the stove. That's all the learning for today, I wouldn't want your head to explode.

Happy anniversary every body. (Thanks for stealing my thunder C. Do you know how long it took me to come up with a subject for today's post? And then you go think of the same thing.) Yup, it's been a year since we have been doing this thing. I use the "we" in the "me" tense since most of you do not contribute much, unless you do some thing silly that I can report.

Sun up yesterday.


Coming back from picking up my mail yesterday. That dot on the trail is Kita.


Sun set last evening.


8:00 am this morning.


-22c yesterday morning and it dropped to -24c by the time I finished my second cup of coffee. But it warmed up to -17c by the afternoon. I had kept asking Kita if he wanted to come in all evening, but he didn't want to. At 10:30 last night it had dropped to -28. Kita was still on his pillow with his nose under his tail but his ears were exposed so I dragged him in. -27 this morning and it warmed up to -6 this afternoon with flurries on and off most of the day. My weather station said that it had dropped to -31.9 over night, butt since I didn't get to enjoy it, no "full monty" for you.

I actually went to start the post at 11:00 this morning, but the generator wouldn't start. I thought that it might be too cold so I turned on a propane heater for a while. It did start after an hour or so, but didn't run right. After some trouble shooting I found that the carburetor had come loose again. I'm getting to know that gen set as well as Razor knows his grader.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow, I might mark the trail on the pond side of the lake, or I might do a tour of the lake, decisions, decisions.

Happy 84th Birthday Kita! You don't look a day over 12



Sun set two days ago.


Sun set last evening through ice crystals.




Yesterday Kita and I took the truck around the lake and spent the afternoon with Razor hanging out in the garage. What a great few days we just had, blue skies and no wind. Could be a little colder though. -11 today with flurries most of the day. That should help the trails. The past few days I've been spending an hour or two splitting fire wood. It splits real easy in these temps. Tomorrow I'm going to the Frasertown post office to pick up my mail 'cause the last two times nobody reminded me.

Hey Richie, they had a job fair in Sudbury looking for miners. They are even looking for women, so you might have a chance!

Slushy spots on the road to Frasertown yesterday.


8:00 am this morning.


It didn't come out very good, but we had a sun dog(?) completely around the sun this morning.


Finally some cold weather, -18 this morning. It's supposed to hit -30 later next week. If it does, I just might have to go for a snow tan.

Kita seemed like he needed some human contact, but we went to visit Razor instead. The ice is in good condition except for a couple of slushy spots on the pond side of the lake. Next week I'll do the tour and check on some cottages. Tomorrow we'll take the truck around and leave it at Frasertown. And that's all folks.

Sun set Tuesday.


Sun rise yesterday.


Sun set last evening.


Strange weather...-18 yesterday morning, up to -10 during the day but the thermometer in the sun read 0, a really nice solar day. -20 at midnight last night and -7 this morning and +2 right now. They are calling for rain/snow tomorrow and +4.

Today I started planting trees to mark the trail to Frasertown. I didn't take the sled because I wasn't sure about the ice. I filled up the sleigh with boughs and headed out. The ice is between 2 and 6 inches with slushy areas. We had made it to the little bay when Kita decided he was going to the Kelly's for a visit. !@#$#@!@# he is fast! I wasn't about to walk that far so I went back and got my sled and raced over and got him back. I tied Kita to the sleigh but he wouldn't pull it. I brushed out the over land trail and started walking to Frasertown but stopped when the slush got ankle deep and the ice sounded like it was cracking. The ice off of Richie's is about 2 inches thick, but not very solid. I think it is ok for a snowmobile, if you taped your thumb down on the throttle. Where's Richie when you need him? I'm not saying that he is a crash test dummy, but who would miss him?

Two evenings ago.


Kita playing lifeguard for Mr. Slates ice fishing crew yesterday. Good thing that they didn't come over here for a visit as I had open water on my shore.


The shore froze over enough so that I could replant the tree over the water pump, but not enough to ski doo on.


Pretty quiet around here. Yesterday I made little ones out of big ones(kindeling). Today just Molly Maid stuff and bread. Blogger is really slow so good bye.

Last evening.




Not a cloud in the sky at 7:30 this a.m.


A half hour later some clouds rolled in, but the morning was a pretty good solar charge.


Not much to report today. Rain again yesterday and a little skiff of snow over night. Woke up to -4c and it's +1c now. It's supposed to get a little cooler later in the week. May be I'll be able to drive the truck around and walk back before we finally get a good dump of snow.

C, you know exactly how mortal you are when you bend over and pick up your super kids. But it is worth it. I would even recommend borrowing some like Sis does.

Sis, Nova is cute, so I guess he does resemble me.

TPD, I can't forget the first time I met you, though I'll keep trying.