Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies
Dez & Eric worked hard at catching 17 crayfish on the weekend and they almost ended up like this, but instead it was catch and release.
We had a great September long weekend, heading out Thursday night to spend some time with my sister Gail and her family before they headed back to Saskatoon. Then on Saturday night Eric, Dez, Scott & Mandi were able to come down and we had a great time together.
This is the goal that I have posted on the wall in front of my desk in my home office. Somewhere back in March I decided to make a change and this series of numbers came to me. I wanted to weigh 210 lbs., have a 34 inch waist, in 10 weeks, which meant I needed to lose 3 lbs a week to make it all happen by June 1, 2006.
Well, today it was achieved! It took a little longer that expected, but then perhaps 3lbs a week was a little too aggressive. Still, it feels great and the changes have been worth it. I appear to have motivated a few other folks as well, so that’s good too.
Now for the next goal, maintain and oh yeah…
all I want for Christmas is a six-pack. 🙂
I promised more on the Pirate Ship sighting, so here is the straight goods. There are pirates roaming the bay in front of our cottage on Lake of the Woods!
Last Sunday we spotted their ship and took our own ship out for an exploratory mission. As we approached the pirate ship, which was flying a very official looking Skull & Crossbones flag, we were greeted by several young pirates on board looking quite friendly any waving at us to come closer.
As we slowly approached the excitement on their ship seemed to increase. Were they really that glad to see us? Then we could hear whispers, “wait until they get a little closer”, what could this mean? Then, with a flurry of action a towel was whipped off what looked like a turret mounted machine gun on the fordeck and the sounds of a gas powered water pump roared to life. The machine gun was actually a water canon and we were under attack! After getting quite soaked we beat a hasty retreat, obviously over powered by superior fire power. As we returned to the dock we started formulating plans for our response to the pirate ship. Perhaps as British Man of War. Hmmmmm.
Lake – Good Times – Tempus Fugit
Then there was the pirate ship sighting. Yes, that’s right a pirate ship, complete with a water canon, pirates and flying a very official looking Skull and Cross bones flag above a make shift sail with a emblazed with a Canterbury Cross. But there are no pictures.
It was a quiet day around the cottage today. After 23+ years of wood bench seats I installed these comfy deluxe seats and we took them out for a spin. It was a little choppy, so we didn’t go far. Out around the south end of Sotty’s Island, up the Second Channel and back down Kewatin Channel to home. We investigated some nice properties and some unusual constructions under a warm and sunny sky.
The day wound up with a little reading on the dock, painting one more side of the tree fort, dinner and a movie.
While we were out in the boat with Debbie & Craig this afternoon a water bomber made a low level pass over Henan Point head and then circled around to pick up a load in the bay in front of out cottage. Very shortly another plane came in and made another pickup run. It seemed like there were two planes making loops of about 5-8 minutes to fight a fire in the area. They made perhaps 5-6 passes and then they were gone.
In each pass the plane picks up 6137 litres (1621 US gallons) of water in 12 seconds! The full specs and capabilities can be seen on the Bombardier CL415 site. A great video of the CL415 fighting fires in Northern Ontario is here, and another video of forest fire fighting air traffic control with multiple planes can be found here.
UPDATE: A reliable local source told me they were bombing a fire at the intersection of the Jones Road and the railroad line. Apparently, a train triggered a small fire which was quickly contained.
We’ve been summer residents for over 23 years and this is the first time I’ve explored Tunnel Island and it’s almost in the heart of Kenora.
This is some of the best hiking and biking in the area, very similar to the Minaki trails only more technical and difficult. I rode two basic loop, one to the east of the trail head road and one to the west. I posted a route map here.
The east loop took about 1hr with lots of stops to get over fallen trees that we too big to hop, at least for me, and some un-ridable sections, again for me anyway. This photo is at a spot called the Voyageur Lookout on a high spot on the island looking over the Winnipeg River.
The east loop took about 1.5 hrs and was even more challenging. This must be where all the local hard core riders come out to play. Part way around this loop I fell and whacked the camera pretty hard, but it still seems to be working OK.
The trail provides some excellent views of the Norman Dam, a railway bridge and the Winnipeg River system. There are also bald eagles nesting on the island which are visible from the trails.
It was a great ride on a very hot day. It definitely rates a return visit.
Your wondering what this picture has to do with wildlife, and I’ll get to that in a minute.
While we’ve been at the lake this week we’ve seen quite a bit of wildlife. There have been the usual deer, chipmunks, squirrels, loons, bald eagles etc. and then some more unusual critters like otters, beavers, wild turkeys and turkey vultures.
Today, I was working on fixing up the second of our “free” docks that were recovered a couple of weeks ago. Earlier in the week we were in Kenora at a store that specializes in dock systems and learned that replacing the flotation in this dock and getting a ramp and hinge system to connect it to the main dock would run in excess of $2,000. It seemed to me that there should be a less expensive option as a Phase 1 approach. So, the excess Styrofoam from dock #1 was used to bolster up dock #2 and the tires re-installed and then I tied the floating dock to the fixed dock. So far, so good. This dock will come in quite handy since the water level is currently 4′ below the top of our fixed dock.
Back to the wildlife. In the process of getting ready to push the extra bits of Styrofoam under the dock I needed to get into the water and push the dock forward to get it off a rock. While doing this I feel something by my right foot in the water and I kick it out of the way. Then I think, “Hey, there’s only rocks down there and you don’t just kick them out of the way”. That’s when I decided to have a look only to see a very large turtle cruising around my foot. Everybody out of the pool! This thing was at least 12″ across and the head and neck were the size of my wrist! (Sorry. no picture).
Yesterday, we went by boat to Timber Island in Whitefish Bay on Lake of the Woods to track down the geocache called Kanchenjunga placed by my friend Adam. It was a sunny day with near calm winds, which made the 58.6 km boat trip quite enjoyable. You can read about more about that part of the adventure here.
The photo is the new bridge construction in downtown Sioux Narrows which is replacing a rather historic old wooden bridge which was the world’s longest single span wooden bridge. Click the photo for a few more details on my Flickr site.
After checking out the various gift shops in town and gassing up the boat for the return trip we headed out to find one more cache. Then it was up Long Bay to the main track for the trip back home. Our friends Ken & Linda retired to Sioux Narrows several years ago and we’d been to their place just once by car. So, as were heading up Long Bay I’m on the lookout for what I can remember about the front of their house. The main feature I remembered was the large double doors on the lower level that opened onto Ken’s enormous and well equipped workshop. As we boat by house that fits the description and notice two folks sitting on the dock we decide to turn around and check it out. Sure enough, this was the right place and we spent a little time catching up on what had been happening in each other’s lives.
After the visit, it was 6:30pm and a 2hr trip to get back home. The weather was still good and the trip back always seems longer that going out and our rear ends were a little sore from all the sitting. Probably why today we broke down and bought boat seats with back rests for the boat.
It was a great day on the lake as always and the tan is a little deeper after all the wind and sun.
We’re at the lake for a couple of weeks of vacation and today was picture perfect weather. clear and calm at at 25-27C with a very light breeze.
Yesterday, as we drove out, the temperature fell from 28C to 15C as it clouded over and rained a little bit. This made it nice and cool to sleep and quickly cooled off the cottage as we opened up.
This morning, after some reading and a couple of cups of coffee at the dock I pressure washed our “new” floating dock. I hefted a near by rock (150+ lbs) onto the dock an secured it with a line to be used as an anchor. We’ll see how well this holds up in rougher weather as the week goes by. some adjustments may be required.
Tomorrow I’ll probably build a ladder as some folks would like a little assistance in getting out of the water and onto the dock.
