Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Category: The Lake

  • Busy Weekend

    This weekend was a little busier that most, and we had a great time.

    Friday night was a wedding with friends, then Saturday morning we had a birthday brunch with Mandi.

    Saturday after noon was a funeral for the parents of friends who were tragically killed in a car accident. The funeral was a wonderful celebration of their lives and the impact and legacy they have left on all their family and friends. They will be missed.

    Afterwards we drove to the lake for a visit with my sister Gail, husband Gord, their son Craig (Happy 21st) and girlfriend Kim. They treated us to several wonderful meals,and good conversation. Thanks, we love you.

    While we were at the lake we got a closer look at the pirate ship and it’s crew that is marauding around the bay. Still no pictures, but more on that later.

    In one hour we will be at Cirque du Soleil and we’re looking forward to that.

  • Update: Lake – Good Times

    The reason there were no photos is that the camera was off earing a living and generating income for Eric. You can see some of the results of his photo shoots in the Hardscapes Gallery

    Lake – Good Times – Tempus Fugit

    Technorati Tags: photo, camera, hardscapes.ca, Method Media

  • Lake – Good Times

    We had a great weekend at the lake with Gail, Gord, Crag & Kim, a very relaxing time of enjoying the lake atmosphere, chatting and even dreaming a bit about some new plans for the cottage.

    You may have noticed that most posts are accompanied by a thematic photograph of some recent event, but not this one. There were several opportunities for a great picture. There was the Friday night sunset which was one of the most spectacular ones in recent memory, perhaps ever. There were pinks and purples, reds and oranges scattered across the vastness of the sky both in the suns direction and also in the east. It was a virtual whole sky sunset. But there are no pictures.

    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.

    Today was quite windy and there were several big sailboats out in the area. But there are no pictures.

    Why where there no pictures? Well, the family camera was otherwise occupied. 🙂

    Technorati Tags: pirates photography lake sunset

  • The End

    I’m sad. Vacation has come to an end and it’s back to working for The Man.

  • Water Bombers


    Bombardier CL415
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    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.

  • Tunnel Island Adventure


    View from the chair
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    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.

  • It was a dark and stormy night…

    Last night there was a fairly strong storm. Lots of wind, quite a bit of rain, and many hours of lightening. In the morning the floating dock was gone!

    I’d wondered how it would fair in some extended rough weather, and now I had my answer. Fortunately, it was waiting for me at the neighbors dock which is in a bay just next to us. Unfortunately my new 8′ swim ladder was now only 4′ long after grounding in the shallow water. Still usable, but not quite as nice.

  • Wild Life


    Floating Dock #2
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    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).

  • I smell smoke

    This is never a really good sign at the lake especially when there is a severe forest fire hazard and all burning is restricted.

    We had been outside from about 7-9pm and had walked up the road and out to the point on the trail I’ve been working on and enjoyed watching the sun go down. I’d taken a few photos, watched a beaver swim around the point and then we headed back to the cottage on the east side of the trail. We’d just settled in to watch a movie when I noticed a strong smoke smell. Not the fireplace kind of smell, but something much bigger. We had a look around but couldn’t see anything. The wind from the west had picked up and I guess smoke from one of the may forest fires had blown in. A couple of hours later, it was like nothing had ever happened.

    Experiences like this  makes me  think about what might have been and appreciate my surroundings even more.

  • Geocaching in the Sioux Narrows Area

    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.