Mother Nature....is she really a bitch?

Busy day today. Decided to close the place up instead of coming back late Sept. or early Oct.
This way coming back up in the fall is optional, not mandatory.
Got the Lund put away for the season. Used an intricate system of mirrors and pulleys to flip it over.

Sitting on the deck around 3:00 I noticed the water level was way down (north wind).
Remembering there was still one anchor bolt missing from the dock structure because the water has been too high to drill the hole, I seized the opportunity.
We grabbed every extension cord in the place, the rock drill, vice grips, hammers, wrenches, and the support strut which I had already put away. With the water rising fast I was able to drill the 2 inch deep hole to install the anchor. 
Now that the new dock is finished..................

I started thinking about what projects we might tackle in the next year or two.
Here are a few thoughts.
Replace the decking on the old dock.
Install clear vinyl roll up windscreens in the Bistro.
Re-cover the Bistro chairs.
Replace decking in front of the outhouse.
Install vinyl siding on the gennie shed.
Install a new screen door in kitchen.

OK, maybe that's 3 or 4 years worth of projects.

Being the last meal of the season up here, we planned on something special.

Surf and Turf (we split the fillet)

Mother Nature (she's usually a real bitch) had a special surprise for us too, on our last night.

Good one Mother Nature, now could you maybe tone down the 20 Knot winds for tomorrow when we head home?
See you next year................

Who Knew we had a Broiler

The last couple of days have been nasty, weather-wise. 
Windy, overcast and rainy. It cleared up this morning and turned out to be a fine day.
Took this last night when the sun came out for a few minutes.

Took the inflatable out this afternoon and visited "the Lake above the Bay".
It's a small lake a few yards from the Bay and about 15 feet higher. I found that an aging beaver dam is, at least partially, responsible for the water level in the lake.

This is the lake.

And this is the dam. It is leaking and the water flows into the the Bay through a small waterfall.

Shortly after leaving this spot the wind came up huge. I made it back to the dock but the wind was so strong it kept spinning the boat around. I finally brought it in by backing it up to the dock.

An observation: Other than a few sea gulls and a cormorant or two, we haven't seen any birds up here since we arrived on Aug 28th. Guess they've all gone south. Does this mean an early winter?

Something else I just figured out this morning, after pondering over it for about 10 years.

The propane oven has a "broil" setting, yet it doesn't have a broiler..........

Well it does. (I've also been wondering what the swing out tray behind the bottom door was for).

It's the broiler ......................who knew?     Bagels with melted cheddar!

I think we'll be closing the place up for the season this trip. Got some work to do tomorrow.

What do frogs, turtles and bear sh!t have in common?

They all got in front of my camera today!

Caught a fish yesterday afternoon. For most people not a big deal, for me, a monumental occasion.

Caught it in what Darlene calls (after a few glasses of wine) "The hallie smot spot."
Caught it on the first cast but that was it. No more.

Inflated the canoe this morning. The more I use this thing, the more I like it.
It's light, fast (10 mph with 4 hp) and gets about 30 mpg (gps verified).
We went out a couple of times, just gunk holing. The sun was in and out all day so seeing rocks was, at times, difficult. I have a few new dings in the prop.
Here are a few pictures I took, mostly of wildlife.

  

OK the last picture is not wildlife, it's bear sh!t. Where he gets blueberries this time of year is a mystery to me.

Time for a refill...........

Lumberyard Salmon

Arrived Thursday afternoon. It was a beautiful ride out from the Marina. Very warm and next to no wind.
Yesterday was warm but cloudy and some rain. 
This morning its cloudy again, windy from the NE but its supposed to clear up by this afternoon.

Found a good use for some left over lumber from the dock.

Cedar plank salmon. 
Despite numerous "experts" on the internet, warning against the use of lumberyard cedar for this purpose I decided that cedar is cedar, and paying several times more for it at a grocery store won't change that.
Boy was I wrong!!!!!................................Just kidding, they tasted great.  
Darlene insisted we do only half  the salmon on the planks and the other half in a frying pan, in the off chance that I should ruin dinner with the cheap lumber. Both had the same maple glaze.
We were then able to compare the two. The cedar added a very subtle flavour to the salmon.
Will definitely be doing this again, we have lots of scrap cedar pieces, which I will soon be removing from the firewood pile.

The water levels are down several inches with the off shore wind today. If it goes down a bit more I should be able to drill the last anchor hole for the dock. The place I have to drill has been too far under water to drill the hole.

Found a beach!

Well, we didn't make it into the French River today. We got to the new portage and it just looked like a lot of work. I didn't like the thought of having to pull a 50 lb motor off the back of the canoe with only a small rocky ledge to stand on. We'll just put that trip back on the list for another time.

The portage is very rocky and steep. The water is quite deep at the edge. It looked like a likely spot to see a rattlesnake, but we didn't.

So, instead we putted around the many bays at the mouth of the French, in the vicinity of Sabine Island.

One large inlet we have visited in the past is now off limits. This little guy decided to do something about the low water levels.

He succeeded in raising the water level about 2 feet in a bay about 60 acres in area. The size of some of the rocks and logs in the dam were impressive.

Found a beach. Not exactly miles of white sand, but about as good as you're gonna get out here. We'll be sure to bring beach chairs next time

Today was our last day up here for a while. Hope you have enjoyed coming along with us. See you soon.

Who are Marty and Larry?

Another fine day. Sunny and warm, but still windy.

Tara has finally figured out what GB cottaging is all about.

We replaced the long extinguished light at the top of the flagpole this morning. Lost mariners will be pleased.

Went to see the rainbow camp for the first time this season. Things have changed.....

The new portage is only about 20 meters long and comes out on a marshy inlet which I assume, leads to Bass Lake (which leads to the French River). We hope to take the inflatable canoe through the portage tomorrow. Stay tuned.

And now, for the BIG news.
We had some visitors today. None other than Marty and Larry, the sons of the previous owner.
We gave them a tour of the place and they seemed pleased that we hadn't change things a lot.
They had some great stories to tell up about their times here, both summer and winter.
I'll try to remember a few.
The place was a summer retreat for boys and girls from a group home in Gravenhurst.
They would bring them up 10 at a time, the boys, then the girls, to learn about fishing, water skiing, boating, etc.
The utility room and spare bedroom in this building were staff quarters. The addition, built by Larry and Marty, housed the guests.
The bunkie was originally a dry boathouse with rails to help the boat inside. The shed on the next island was also a boathouse but it was moved to its present position to  be used as a storage shed.
I always thought the Bistro furniture was no stranger to spilled beer. I was right. Marty tells us these tables and chairs came from the Gilmore Hotel in Gravenhurst. How cool is that?
Larry's son Dave, learned to water ski here on the choppy waters. He says he still has difficulty skiing on water without a chop.
This just scratches the surface of the stories we heard this afternoon. If we are ever fortunate enough to have these folks drop in again, I promised them free beer.
Marty has also offered to scan some old pictures and email them to me. Marty, if you happen to read this, I'm going to hold you to it. Thanks again!

And here they are, left to right;
Marty, Dave (Larry's son), Jake (Marty and Larry's nephew), Larry.

Wings tonight, yay...

Lazy Day

A bit windy and cool today. Hung around the island. 
Cut down a few dead cedars and the dead pine beside the wood pile. Lots of ants in the pine and they weren't happy. We have lots of firewood now.

Thought I would post a few pictures taken in the past few days that I thought were kinda neat.

An inuksuk made by someone with a lot of time on his hands or a lot of crazy glue...(or a rock drill, some 1/2" rebar and epoxy anchoring cement) It's been standing for over a month now.

 Interesting rock formations 

This spider appears to be taking her family on an outing.

Last night's "surprise" rain storm 

Too Big, Too Bad

And I'm not talking about the slot size.

Large day today. Went up the Pickerel River as far as we could in the Lund.
Entered from the small craft route along the west side of Dokis Is.
Lots to see, wildlife was mostly geese, dozens of them.
Ended up at "The Cube" where the channel gets very narrow due to fallen boulders. If the channel is 4'6", the Lund is 4'7".

The gap is right above the bow  of the boat.

Too big, too bad. Thought about taking a run at it but didn't want to put a scratch on the boat.

Came back via Genesee Bay. That was an adventure in itself. About a mile and a half of lilly pads and weeds and 2 ft. depth. Had to clear the prop every 5 minutes. 

The red arrow on the following chart shows where we had to turn back.

Figured out why we're repeatedly getting hammered with thunderstorms when the weather radar doesn't show any bad weather. Seems Britt radar has been "out" all week.
Tonight the Weather Network showed a storm coming in from the North Channel which completely fizzled out before Killarney. An hour later its pissing rain and the wind is howling here and the radar is showing no rain. Lesson learned, all this technology can really screw you up when it breaks. Maybe I should buy a compass....

Mexican night tonite...Tacos and margaritas! Ole!

Scones for breakfast

Made scones for breakfast this morning.

They got a little burnt on the bottom but I'll blame that on the "bipolar" propane oven. It seems to have two settings, warm and nuclear.

Mostly sunny today and calm until about 3 PM.

Dropped in on Dave today. He was out on the dock but oddly, his boat hadn't been there all week.

Turns out he hit a rock hard near Rogers Gut, turned too close to a marker. I had to laugh.

I mean, Dave hit a rock????!!!!  Then he told me he was very ill with pneumonia and a mild case of blood poisoning.at the time. Fever of 103. Not so funny now. 

Anyways they managed to keep it afloat under tow to key Harbour. From there they airlifted him to the hospital in Sudbury.

This happened about a week and a half ago. He seems to have fully recovered, looking well and in good spirits.

Darlene just told me we were supposed to leave on the 13th, not the 12th as I had thought.

Guess I have to catch a fish now as the menu falls a day short. Or, there's always peanut butter.

What follows a grey day?

A rainy day!
Lots of thunder and lightening this morning and it's raining HARD right now.

Gave the wheelbarrow a bit of a makeover yesterday. New tire and some new boards. Need to bring up another board to finish the job.

Hope the weather improves soon. Tara doesn't seem to mind though.

It cleared up around 1 PM. Turned out to be a gorgeous day.
Too windy to go out exploring though.
Tara fell in twice, once in front of the bunkie and once by the new dock.
We're still trying to determine if she's stupid or just doesn't care. She swims just fine though.
She also tried to jump up onto the bunkie deck from the rocks below, Epic Fail!

Took the following picture of a massive cumulus cloud to the south around 6:30.
I then checked weather radar to see where it was. Turns out it was over Orillia. That's over 100 miles away. Talk about great visibility!
Update. This from The Weather Network the following morning: 
"A line of severe thunderstorms developed late Wednesday afternoon from Arthur to Orillia to Minden," Environment Canada says. "These thunderstorms tracked eastward and maintained their strength as they passed over the Haliburton area and portions of eastern Ontario." 

Ribs for supper tonight. Have to go and give them a turn.....

Grey Day

Kind of a grey day today. I was writing a few notes in the logbook and started thinking.......
About an hour later I'm typing this, the first entry in the "Island7960" blog.

I'm thinking this could complement or eventually replace the log as it is available to all of us, in real time, complete with pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I'm going to try to post a "grey day" picture (as soon as I take it) it is
OK, I took it, here it is.
Check back often, the weather is supposed to be crappy for a few days.
Paul