Thursday evening I let Kita out around 10:00. I always check up on him because of his past wanderings. I saw him, in the moon light, on the lake. I grabbed a flash light and ran out side and almost ran over him. I shone the light on the lake in time to see the tail of a wolf disappear behind some trees and another wolf right at the shore. They both took off. Kita didn't see them, but smelled something different. I brought him right back in. Yesterday he was edgy all day, so I kept an eye on him and wouldn't let him go on his normal patrols.

Wolf tracks on the lake. As best as I could figure, there were three of them. Their tracks were going in circles and crossing over each other.


Yesterday morning was another great solar day.


In the afternoon we went for a sled ride out to the Notman road. This is a trapper shack on the Brule Lake road. Razor doesn't have his new sled yet. Maybe he should have bought a Japanese sled instead of a Mexican one.


Part of my drive way.


The oil drums that I dragged out of the bush. It's hard to believe that things that big were so well hidden that you could not see them.


Sun set last evening.


Nice pic except for the con trail. Go away civilization. Speaking of civilization, it seems that the lights from North Bay are getting brighter, ruining my star gazing. All you hear about in the news is how expensive electricity is and that Ontario doesn't have enough. DUH!


I stuck a piece of plywood up for a bird feeder the day before the wolves came. TT thinks that I should nurture nature instead of eating it. This morning the whiskey jacks found it and cleaned it out in an hour. I don't have any bird seed so I gave them old bread and some old shrimp.




Not a nice day today. The temp is zero and the wind is howling. This morning I fixed the charger for Razor's flash light if he wants to come and get it. Oh yeah, I found the splitting maul this morning.

I guess Joc, er, I mean Jake starts school today. The little guy is growing like a weed. I forgot to take a pic the last time I was over.

I hear that my mail, xmas cards, are piling up in the Frasertown post office, you would think that they could deliver.

Sun set Tuesday evening.




Yesterday was a nasty day. Winds in the high 20's with sticky snow. Come on mother nature, work with me. We can't make good ice if you keep insulating it with snow.


Sun rise this morning. Another good solar day. I can take two nice days followed by a bad day followed by two more nice days.




About half an hour ago.


Since yesterday was crappy, I stayed in most of the day. Just cleaned up and made bread. I found a new favorite food. I might even stop being a carnivore! Fried bread, or dough boys. You fry up raw bread dough and then, while still hot, dip it in butter and sugar. YUMMMMIE!!! Nana Cox used to make it foe us in Nfld. Newfies might have a different name for it, they usually do.

Today I shoveled a little snow and cleaned up the garage again. A few weeks ago I tore it up looking for a fuse block for Razor, and then tore it up looking for a twist lock plug for Mr. Slate. Then I dumped everything that was in the boat in the middle of the floor.

Then I moved four oil tanks that I found while brush cutting. I was supposed to cut them in half and take them to the dump this summer, but if you look back in the archives, you'll remember that I was a little busy. Any way, the tanks were frozen to the ground. I used a splitting maul to beat them loose, and when I was done, I couldn't find the splitter. I hope I don't find it with the snow blower. I'll drag the tanks across the lake and take them to the dump.

I walked on the lake today, not too far out. I think, in case of an emergency you could walk across if you had a long pole. I had the snow machine out today, just around the property. Tomorrow I might go out the drive way. This year I was the first to walk across the lake, first one in a canoe, first in a boat, and last one in a boat. But I think I'll let Razor be the first one on a snow machine. He doesn't have a blog, so he wouldn't be missed if he went through.

Blogger has been really slow for me today too, Jay.

Sunday night at 11:30 pm.


NO! I don't want to go inside!


Sun rise Monday morning.


The lake yesterday morning.



Gee, Frank, why would you want to live in the middle of the bush in the winter?


Sun set last evening.


Moon set this morning.


Sun rise this morning.


Today I spread evergreen bows over the water line, where ski doos will cross, to help keep the frost out. Kita found a another use.


This afternoon.


-15 yesterday morning and -20 this morning. Two beeeuuutiful days in a row. It just tickles me pink when Mondays are so nice, chuckle, chuckle. Two great solar charging days. I spent most of the last two days out side so my internal batteries are charged too. Yesterday morning I had some visitors. The guys who are brush cutting around birch trees drove up my drive way and couldn't turn around. They took down the cable across the driveway and came right in.(????) That's about it for now.

Woke up to a foot or so of snow yesterday.


The sun popped out for a couple of hours in the afternoon which gave us a sun set for the first time since I can't remember.




This morning ice had formed half way to the narrows.


This afternoon, even though the temp is -3, the ice has gotten across the lake.


I went to town again yesterday, three times in one week. I think I picked up a bug or something, you people are sick! The human race would be a lot better off with a few less humans, and a little more racing. If you can not drive 120 kph in a white out, then get off the road. And Granny in Twin Pines, just because your daughter goes grocery shopping, doesn't mean that you go with her and push two carts that only have your grand kids in them. And, same Granny, when I'm at a red light in the left lane, I'm turning left. When you are in the right lane, you DO NOT turn left in front of me!

OK, I feel better now that I got that off of my chest. I'm going to have to give up the "Luckiest Guy" title. So far this week I have repaired a water heater that wasn't broken, replaced a generator that wasn't broken. Then yesterday while driving the Notman road, with some drifts about two feet, my truck almost caught fire. Snow had piled up in the fan for the transmission cooler and stopped it from turning. Cleared the snow and all's well. Yesterday I left the truck at Frasertown for the winter. I've been dragging my heels on this because I was hoping that the two propane tanks that are in use would run out and I could fill them and have six full ones for the winter. You guessed it, they ran out while cooking supper last night. So I'm all alone, semi isolated, and sorry, I can't come and give you a hand with out a great deal of effort.

I stole this one from Garfield, but it fits.

Dear Santa,
My name is Frank. I have been good all year. My dog, Kita, has been good all year too. My cat, George, ....says "Hi".

All I want for xmas is six inches of good ice so I can spend time with the super kids when they come to North Bay. It's a lot easier to zip across the lake than it is to drive twenty kilometers to the truck. The weather channel is calling for over night temps of -9c and enviroment Canada is calling for -14c.

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.