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.

I'm sorry to report that George Weicker passed away yesterday.


Every night I have to take a flash light and search to find Kita, to bring him in. It's not too bad right now, I just look for a white spot. This was Tuesday night.




NO!, don't make me go in with that stupid cat with mouse breath!


Yesterday morning.


Last night Kita hid under the A frame.


Nope, not a repeat. This was this morning. The fog has rolled in right now and I can barely see my boat at the dock.


I was about to say that things have been pretty quiet on the Tomiko, but that's not true. I think the Kellys are drilling for oil to pay for their construction. Quite the racket. This afternoon I'm going down the lake to say "see ya" to the last snow bird.

Things I have learned lately:

I'm not the only one who waits till November to do chores that SHOULD have been done in August.
You don't have a problem if you have an excuse; and hump day is a good excuse.
You can get hurt fixing a safety hazard.

C, I didn't notice the counter, wow, there are a lot of bored people out there. I say, "GET A LIFE!" So, no prize. As for comments, either you are the only literate and witty one out there, or the others haven't figured out how to comment.

Razor, I'll put my bib on for a barley breakfast and see you Saturday.

Hello blurb bunnies.(thanks Corner Gas, that was a funny one)

Yesterday morning started out a little hazy, but turned into a great day. It must warm your heart to go back to work on Monday and have a nice day too. I kind of, sort of, almost miss that feeling. Not!





I flipped this pic up side down, hard to tell, eh?


Sun set last evening.




Kita sniffing the air, I think he can smell Mother K's cooking.


7:15 this morning.


Yesterday morning I cleaned the chimney and put away the paddle boat. When Linda brought her 4 wheeler over, she mentioned that a small ever green tree was down on the road so Kita and I went to clean it up. We found another big dead tree across the road. In the snow, you could see the tracks of some goof ball in a small truck who had to turn around on the one lane, OK, 3/4 lane road.

This morning was another nice morning, but it has started clouding over now. Yesterday it got up to 11c and today it is 10c right now. Today I'm doing laundry, four loads, I guess I got a little behind my chores while working on the chain gang. George has been getting a mouse or two every evening out on the deck. You would think that I should be saving on cat food, but I'm not. I would post pics of him munching on the mice, but TT thinks that it wouldn't be appropriate. I think that's about it for now.

Hello my little cyber snoops, I'm back. Let's see if I can remember what's happened the last few days.

OK, that didn't work, this is a sun rise, some morning.


Here's Joc....I mean JAKE the Springer spaniel. He's one smart little dude. He can sit on command and he retrieves already.


This is some morning, heading to Frasertown.


Ben's pond is frozen over.


One day we replaced a culvert on the Sand Dam road. This is the old one that the beavers had completely plugged and the bottom was rusted out.


The up stream side with a beaver cheater installed.


The other side.


Time for Razor to back fill.


Some evening, heading west through the narrows.


The Kelly's solar panels are being installed.


Their kitchen is almost done.


Razor and I have had a busy week. The lucky devil gets to go back to work next week for a rest. We made and installed snow clips for the steel roof on the big house. We took George's pontoon boat out and hauled it to town for him. We replaced a culvert. We put steel roofs on a wood shed and a crapper. Remember his name is Jake, J-A-K-E!, or you too could be put to work. Weather wise, it was an ok week with a little sun and no rain or snow. Over night we got about half an inch of wet snow and the temp is right at the freezing mark. This morning Kita sat on the dock for forty five minutes, expecting to head to Frasertown, I guess. This afternoon I'll probably head down the lake to visit the snow birds before they take flight.

We've had so much wind this year that a lot of the trees are developing a permanent lean.


7:30 this morning.


I've been working on the Frasertown chain gang this week. Remember, his name is Jake, not Jocko, or you too could be sentenced to hard labour. Yesterday we made up a solar panel mount for the Kelly's new house and delivered it. We had a quick tour but I had left the camera in the boat. They are pretty close to moving in. I got this morning off for good behavior, but this afternoon we're on to another culvert. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but you don't get any breaks on the chain gang. You do get "travelers" though. But, I must say that you are well fed. I think Jake is bringing out the mothering instinct in TT, and she has served up some fantastic meals.

Cute pictures of my my super kids in halloween costumes can be seen on my son and daughter's blogs. Links are on the right.