The view @ Little Tomiko today.

Last evening.

Yesterday we were visited by a Pine Martin in one of the bird feeders. This is one of the coolest animals around. A face like a teddy bear, a body like a fox, and it can climb as good as a squirrel.

You can see his colouring here.

And there he goes!

I cleaned solar panels again the day before yesterday. This is the after shot that I forgot the last time.

If you were going to install a roof mount then this is the way to do it so that snow that sheds off will fall to the ground and not build up to cover the panel. One thing that I would do differently is to have more space between the bottom of the panel and the roof so that snow behind the panel can slide off. Well Lee, you got one thing almost right.

Sis, I guess that if you want some bread, you'll have to come to the Center and get some.

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Happy Birthday

Super Nova!

You are 5 years old already. Time flies when you are cute.

How cold was it at Little Tomiko this morning?

Cold enough to make snow. You will have to excuse the camera person, I think that she spent too much time at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in her younger days.

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Puffed up Whiskey Jack at -25c.

One foot of fresh powder. We don't usually get that heavy wet snow that they get on the least coast. We get the kind that you could blow into your neighbour's yard, if you had a neighbour.

Where is the Hairy woodpecker?

The road.

The school yard bully. George really wanted to take a piece put of Mr. Slate last weekend. A really big piece. 

Piggy backing bunnies? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Not too much to report, just that if you were here last week, you should have been here this week. A lot colder and some snow to cover the rocks. A few more centimeters are in the forecast and night time temps into the -30's. 


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Just a short one today. Grasshopper is on her way to town again. On time too, I must say. You will notice that the sleigh is full already. Empty dinosaur juice cans and bags of garbage to go to the land fill. Nope, no pick up out here despite all the taxes we pay.

We are expecting any where from 5 to 15 Cm's of snow today, depending on who you listen to.

We have had a couple of -25, -27 nights. Nothing like Fort Simpson, NWT, where baby brother Tim lives. He reports that it warmed up to -27 for an hour or so the other day. Wind chill -51!


Well, I gotta go, real honey doo list today as it's time to empty the composting toilet again.

First, the prerequisite sun rise pics taken last Tuesday. Pretty cool, sun dogs in the A.M.

Speaking of dogs...

Happy Birthday Kita!


16 years young!

He still likes his walks around the Don Fraser Bypass, although his chasing snowmobile days are behind him. 

Hey! Keep up you young whipper snapper.

Thursday I lit a fire at "Camp full of it". So, while I was out I decided to clean some solar windows. Here are some before and after shots.

I forgot the after pic here.

The more I do this, the more I dislike roof top installations. This is the second best installation on the lake. The panels are self cleaning.

The customary sunrise shot.

Grasshopper has gone to town today. You might think that this would be a day off for me. You would be wrong. This is what happened last Wednesday when she went to town.

There she goes.

First, a load of laundry.

Then it was molasses oatmeal bread.

Then it was home made baked beans, simmered all day on the wood stove. 

Here she comes home after a day of playing around all day in town with her little friends.

I guess it's up to me to unload the sleigh. Yeah... I know... I ask myself the same question. Why? Why? Why?

Supper fit for a Grasshopper.

Did you know that if you hooked your propane up backwards that you could turn your BBQ into an ice maker? You learn to adapt on Little Tomiko and can always figure out a way to Frankenstein what ever you need. 

We put in the tree line to Bedrock on Sunday. You might wonder why we go through all that trouble for only a kilometer.  If you get a snow storm and or fog you can not see a thing out there in the dark. We do not have street or lake lights. We did get turned around one night, even with the trees. We missed the first tree and wandered around for a half hour until we found two trees in a row. We now put the trees closer together. 

No, we don't have this much snow. And no, it's not that funny, Jose.

Our friend, and my euchre partner, Al "Minky" Weiss passed away yesterday at the age of 83. Al is survived by his daughter Dana. There will be no visitation as per his request. Minky was a great guy that you were happy to spend time with. 

Once upon a time, long, long,.....looong ago, (circa 1997 a.d.), a young lad left the confines of the back woods, of the Near North to search for truth in the world of academia.

His first stop was in the land of the Golden Gaels. He stayed here until he fulfilled the quest of finding the skins of two legendary rams.

Then, in 2004 a.d., he went to the land of the Wolverines.

Here, he found the rarest ram skin of all, the Doctor of Philosophy skin.

Introducing Doctor Joseph W. Brown, in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Now, some people might say that this journey took forever, while I say that Rome wasn't built in a day, and the earth wasn't built in a week. We are all very proud of you Dr. Son.



Today, Joseph works on the Tree of Life Project at the University of Idaho in Moscow Idaho.

Dr. Brown's family, wife Rachel, daughter Calliope and son Nova.

The only thing that bothers me about these brainiac/acamaniacs is that they are always soooo damn serious.