Happy Birthday, Joseph!! Excellent job on that interview, too!
Joseph has a link on his blog, to a down loadable version of the interview.



We got a little snow Saturday night. Just some light powdery stuff.



Yesterday afternoon Kita and I went down the lake to clear some,(a lot) of solar panels. The snow on my lot is only boot deep, but down here some of the drifts are thigh deep. The roof rake wouldn't clear the snow on the roof, so I climbed up and shoveled it off. While I was up there, I cleared the snow around the chimney. I was pretty sweaty by the time I was done.


I cleaned yours off too, Ron.


And yours, Steve.


-32.7 @ 6:oo am this morning. They are calling for snow or flurries for the next four days, just in time for men's weekend.

I had to switch propane tanks on Saturday. I can't remember when I switched them last. I think it was the same day that I took the truck to Frasertown, the first time. Whose job was it to remember?

I watched the ECMAs last night. Good show. I didn't recognize anybody in the crowd, though. But Shelagh has a face for radio!

Good one Berlin, you got me good. I'm still chuckling. I don't care what Richie says, you do have a sense of humour. Of course you would have to, wouldn't you.

Finally, they are calling for some snow today, but only 2cm's.


Thursday we went to Frasertown to get some coffee water. Kita and I had seen a partridge on the trail a couple of times. Something, a wolf I think, got the bird and this is all that was left.


Sunup yesterday.


Another nice day on Little Tomiko.


Yesterday Kita was watching the whiskey jacks at the bird feeder when a squirrel decided to climb up. He didn't make it. Here, I think Kita is trying CPR.


Yesterday was bread day. In between risings I made some bannock with raisins. I have never had bannock, so I don't know if it turned out properly. It's more like a pastry than a bread.


Last evening we had supper at Frasertown. Left to right; Trailerpark Dan (TPD), Cindy, Barb, Gord and Doe Lake Randy (DLR). The Fraser's must have been getting another course when I took this pic.


My son, Joseph, was interviewed by the CBC show, Quirks and Quarks, about his research on the peregrine falcon this week. He's not sure if it will be aired today or next Saturday. The show is on after the noon news.

Happy late Valentine's day. I guess that nobody nagged me to remember.

-29 this morning. Do you remember what winters used to be like in the olden days? Last Feb 17th.


Yesterday was another good solar day.


An icicle melting in the sun and freezing in the wind.


I wonder if any of those spam emails has a cure for this guy.

Being in tune with nature, yesterday I detected a change in the universe. Plus Razor told me that Dave was in, so Kita and I popped over for a visit. I think Dave is home sick already. He might go home by April. His solar panels were covered in snow, so I lent him my roof rake. I think I'll head down the lake to check the Birkby's panels.

Richie, you were right, men's weekend is next week. I was mis...misled, yeah, that's the word I was looking for. Check out this web site, it might help you out.
http://www.alibinetwork.com/index.jsp

Good morning blog bunnies. The radio said it was -26 in North Bay this morning, but it was -33.4 here. So I decided to post early, until it warmed up a couple of degrees. I actually logged on an hour ago. It has taken me this long to check emails and all the blogs. Blogger has finally forced me to convert to a new system, which was a little painful. The new password/log in didn't seem to work, but I guess it did.

Sunday was a weird weather day. Bright sun, dark clouds, snow flurries and high winds.


Yesterday morning.


Last evening.


This morning.




I decided to go to town yesterday. I didn't have to yet, except to go to the post office. Not too many idiots, except for cell phone users. At the bank, three people going in and two coming out, were on their phones. Who are they talking to, each other? Hey lady in the big Dodge dually, kinda hard to maneuver in a parking lot with one hand, eh? But the lady who !@%#!@# me off most was the lady in front of me at the grocery store. Extra large Timmie's in one hand and a cell phone between her shoulder and ear while trying to unload her cart.

Last weekend the lock on the back door broke so I picked up a new one yesterday. I decide on a handicapped, lever style. I thought it would be easier when one arm is full of fire wood and the other has a frozen glove.

Richie, maybe I'm mistaken. I was wrong ONCE. I thought I made a mistake, but I didn't.

Berlin, If you let Richie come, I'll look after him. All those stories about women at men's weekend aren't true, mostly.

Here's JocXXXXX, Jake.


Jake really wanted to go outside and play with Kita, but Kita doesn't have much patience with energetic dogs. We'll have to wait until Jake understands that "GRRR" means "You better back up you little punk, if you don't want a smack down".


Yesterday was a really nice day and an awesome solar day. Theoretically, my solar panels can generate 32 amps, but my charger is only rated for 30 amps. Normally on really good days I generate about 26 amps. Yesterday, I was generating 31 amps and had to turn the panels away from the sun. I saw this last February, too. It all has to do with the angle of the dangle. Late in the afternoon, a couple of young guys stopped at the bottom of my property, looking at the "no trespassing" and "beware of dog" signs with Kita sitting at the top of the hill, in the middle of the ski doo track. It seems that they were lost, looking for the Brule Lake road. I grudgingly let them cross my property, and gave them directions.


So next weekend is men's weekend on the Little Tomiko. (No pictures allowed!) There are poker runs and card games and generally lots of burping and farting. Man stuff, you know. I wonder if Richie will be ALLOWED to come. Maybe, if he gets his HONEY DO lists done, he can get PERMISSION. I know that he doesn't smoke, but, he could use the old "I'm just going to the corner store for some smokes. I think I'll put the sled in truck in case I get stuck" trick. Good luck with that, Richie.

Sun set Wednesday.


Sun set Thursday.


It looked promising yesterday afternoon, but we barely got enough to cover up the dog pee.


Sun dog at sun rise this morning.


Today is just another one of those terrible sunny days, but don't despair, they are calling for cloud and a little snow for your weekend. This afternoon I'm heading to Frasertown to pick up some olds papers and check the mail. Maybe I'll remember to take a picture of Jocko, oops, I mean Jake. He's growing up really fast.

So, ya noticed Rocky, one of my low maintenance pets. Rocky is about 15 years old, I think. George used to attack him, when he was a kitten.


Here's Billie the blue bill duck.


Ruffy, the ruffed grouse.


Puff, the dragon fly.


Woody, the wood duck with Nutty the squirrel peeking out in the back.


Bobby, the bob cat. He was gifted. Before I had ceilings, Bobby used to live in the rafters. George would climb the walls to attack him.


And the fishies.


I used to do a little taxidermy. I haven't done any for years. The only thing I remember is the moto, "taxidermists will mount anything."

Sun set Monday.


Sun rise yesterday.


It's been like Kita and I were the only living things the past couple of days. No birds, rabbits or squirrels, then late yesterday afternoon, these Whiskey jacks came for a visit.


Sun set last night.


This morning I saw this funny shape, just to the left (from the lake) of where the dock goes.


It is an air hole in the ice. The water is about half way up my boots.


Yesterday was just a terrible day. -27 in the morning, warmed up to -12, but with a wind chill into the -30's. Thermometer in the sun reading -2. Not a cloud in the sky. I bet your glad you could spend it at work, protected from all those nasty UVA and UVB rays, huh? Yeah, just terrible.


I spent the whole day out side yesterday. Chopped more slush off of the Yammie and greased the throttle cables and adjusted the carbs. I'll have to get Razor to check them out.

Here's a lesson for you. Clean ups can be profitable. I found $30.02 this morning. OK, I wasn't cleaning up, I was looking for some keys. Anyway, $10.02 was wrapped up in a receipt from Price Choppers dated the 30th of August 2006. It looks like it was change from Tina picking up some milk for me and cat food for George. The $20 was in a receipt from the LCBO.

So, last week the ground rats said that we are going to have an early spring. Now, environment Canada say that we are going to have below normal temps for the next three months. I guess we'll find out if superstition or flipping quarters are more correct.

Very funny Email Bryan, I can always use the help to spread my buns on the internet. Give me a call the next time you and Jose are off and I'll drop by.

First three pics are heading to Frasertown Saturday morning.

My side of my blind narrows.


The other side of the blind narrows.


Crossing the "pond"


-29.4c sun rise this morning.


Sun dog.


Last week, when it was -30, I brought Kita in at midnight and noticed that his pillow was frozen to the snow. His body heat melts the snow and his pillow gets wet. I'm thinking that this can't be too comfy on 84 year old bones. So I made a little nest for him out of boughs and a couple of tarps. So here's a math question for you. If a thermometer in the shade reads -25, and you have a wind chill reading -33, and a thermometer in the sun reads -12, what temperature does a black and white dog feel?


Saturday we went to Frasertown to install a radio in the grader. It didn't work so we went for a ride to Doe Lake and back through Moose Lake. There was some slush on the far side of Moose, not enough to trap you, but I don't think I would putt along while riding double. My machine inhaled a lot of powder and slush under the hood. Yesterday morning I got the radio working, next thing DJ Razor will want a disco ball in there. Pet Lamb and Captain V were out, so I dropped by for a visit. In the afternoon I changed the spark plugs in the Yammie. It had been running rough. Being really smart, I went for a test drive on the lake in front of the cabin with out a helmet. This is when I found out that the throttle cables were iced up from the slush under the hood. I had two speeds, wide open and stop. This is also when I figured out that the main purpose of a brain bucket is to keep your ears from freezing and falling off. WOW!,COLD!, even for me.

We got a dusting of snow the last 24 hours. The weather people can't make up their minds how much we are supposed to get. It changes every hour. At 8 this morning they promised 20 to 30 cms, and at 10 they said 2 to 4. May be we should have an open season on those guys. Speaking of open seasons, I think we should have one on ground rats. How can they say that we are going to have an early spring when winter is just starting now?

Snowing yesterday.


This is all we got, so far.


I might just babble on for a while today. I'm doing a major laundry and the generator is running. I run the gen set to pump water and run the washer and dryer. I usually charge the batteries at the same time. I've been putting the laundry off, waiting for a string of bad solar days. But I'm out of underwear. I still haven't figured out how Richie gets more than four days out of one pair, especially his pink thongs. If you are wondering how I know about the thongs, it's his normal dress, trolling in the sauna.

Kita and I just got back from Frasertown. We went over to get some newspapers. TT saves them for me, usually before the budgies reads them. The snow is pretty deep in places and it's powdery, causing the snow to plow over the wind shield. There is still slush in places, not bad enough to get stuck in, yet. Poor old Kita is passed out under the A frame. He beat me to the pond side of the lake. On the way back, I decided to run back to Frasertown to pack down the trail. By this time, Kita was half way across. He then followed me almost all the way back to Frasertown when I turned around to go back home. We did the same thing on this side of the lake. So he probably ran about 7kms altogether, flat out. Not bad for an 84 year old. I know a 52 year old who couldn't do it.

So, some of you have been wondering if I get lonely out in the middle of no where, and what I do for entertainment. First, I'm not in the middle of no where. If you take hwy 11N out of North Bay and drive for about 20 minutes, you are in the middle of no where. Then turn right and go another 15 kms. If I went any deeper into the bush, I'd be coming out. Summers are busy, lots of BBQs and pot lucks. Lots of people needing an extra hand. Ol' Jacko usually goes to town every day and gets me the papers. Things slow down a bit in the fall and winter, but there are snow mobile trips and the odd cocktail to go to. There is always something to do outside. Fire wood, cleaning up brush, etc. I spend most days outside. I usually have the radio on CBC radio one. Some people call this the old man radio but I can't see that. Since there's only been about 5 or 6 good songs written since 1975, what's the use of listening to main stream radio? Gee, I sound like my dad. "There hasn't been any good music since Patty Page". They have a great blues music show on Saturday nights. There is a good comedy show on Saturday morning. It's about family life from the father's point of view. The Vinyl Cafe on Sundays is good too. During the week day afternoons, they have call in shows on all kinds of subjects where you can get free help on stuff like lawyers, decorating, wines etc. They even have one with a veterinarian. That's where I found out that George is obese. (If you don't like the way I feed George, you come here and NOT feed him. I dare you.) They also said that cats can get Alzheimer's. If your cat sleeps a lot, or stares at walls, it might have Alzheimer's. (???) As for TV, I haven't felt the need to go to a dish yet. I get CBC, CTV, TVO really good. Global is pretty good most nights. I sometimes get the A channel from Barrie, but not very often. There are a couple of French channels, but since I don't parlez vous, they aren't any good to me.

Some people wonder if I miss having a woman around the house. Not really, except for the usual reasons... Like someone to clean up cat puke, or to chop wood or do laundry. One thing that's good about not having a woman around, is that when I put something down, it stays there, which is a big help when you have sometimer's. Like my snowmobile boots. I brought them in from the garage back in December. It hasn't been cold enough to wear them yet, but they are exactly where I left them. How about that, Razor?



Google Earth view of Little Tomiko.


Razor, I've had better offers, but not for a while. I'd do it, but I don't think that you can handle the competition. You don't want to move down to #4, do you?

"14,500", the prize depends on who you are, and if you can catch me.

Sis, I'm not sure your normal clientele is ready for me, but any thing to help you out.

Last load of laundry is done, see ya.