FRIDAY!!!

Of course every day is Friday when you are retired...

Picked up my new door today in Bruce Mines - Rejean will work on getting it installed next week. It was on sale and I liked it and I don't like my existing door so I bought it - how's that for justification??? It has our water glass design in it. It doesn't need to be painted - my kind of door.

We are heading out to the 4Aces in Iron Bridge tonite for dinner - all you can eat Chinese food and it is pretty good. Anytime that I don't have to cook or wash dishes is good - and John and Linda are going with us so that should be a fun evening.

See Ya Bye

AT LAST

Tons of Tadpoles - if I was 7 I would have caught them using my mother's good strainer - she never knew, or did she?

Sucker with it's head out the hole in Rejean's net - ugly looking fish - funny mouths - but strong!!!

Another sucker

That's my bass but Rejean netted it and took it off the hook - I had the camera so I took the picture with him holding it.

Finally!!!! A had forgotten how beautiful they are and how golden - and how delicious. The ravens also feasted on the remains. Share the wealth.

Last nite after dinner Rejean asked if I wanted to go fishing - well the words were not fully out of his mouth and I was dressed and ready to go!! You don't have to ask twice. We got there about 7pm - just right if you hope to get some pickerel - which we did. I quickly had something on for a few minutes but it got off - then Rejean hooked into a rainbow and it too got off. Then I got a bass in the fast current - nice fight but it was let go as it is not in season yet. Then we both hooked into suckers!!!! In all our years up here we have never caught suckers in the Mississaugi River - and they were a good size. We figure because the water was so warm - 70 degrees - almost bath water. Rejean finally hooked into a pickerel and I netted it for him with my little net as his net, we discovered with a sucker, had a hole in it!!! We did not want to loose the pickerel. It was an adventure netting it but I did. AND we ate it today!!! Yum Yum.

See Ya Bye

MY OTHER JOB

Tools of my trade - my bike, PicStik and a garbage bag and gloves.

I don't know what this is but I picked it up anyways.

Someone actually tried to hide this bag of beer cans and bottles in the culvert - shame on you !

10 cents a can and bottle - worth my time to cash these babies in - it's like throwing dimes out the window - this picture is not staged - I found it like this

My full time job is being retired but my other job is picking garbage from Highway 129 between Kego's Camp and the gravel pit. Actually LimberLost Lodge is responsible for that section but I stole the job from Ute when I moved up here. She has enough work to do so I took over the job. About twice a month or more if need be, I hop on my four wheeler and head out on the highway, looking for garbage. I have a PicStik that I use to pick up the garbage and I have a green garbage bag in my tote on my bike. I also wear gloves. I do not pick up juice bottles with yellow liquid in them - someone told me what is in them so I throw them in the bush with my PicStik. The truckers do not stop to pee so they pee in these bottles - YUK. But it always amazes me how much garbage there is on the side of the roads. I keep my section clean but it is disgusting to see the rest of the highway. People just roll down their windows and throw things out!!!! It is not by accident - it is on purpose - they have to make a conscientious effort to litter. You would think that when they are in the Great North and see the beauty here they would think twice before they throw their water bottles, beer bottles, cigarette packages, tissues, potato chip bags etc out the window. But sometimes I find treasures - I once found a new fish net, a full roll of duck tape, a child's life jacket plus other stuff.

Today I hit the proverbial jackpot in beer cans and bottles. Someone had thrown a bunch of cans down in the ditch by a culvert and, on closer inspection, there was also a bag of cans and bottles stuffed in the culvert!!! I retrieved $2.50 worth of cans and bottles!!! I don't get rich doing this but I'll take anything I can. And when I take my bag of garbage to the dump, they don't charge me for the bag. It is usually $3/bag. Thanks Dave.

So I am asking nicely - PLEASE DO NOT LITTER - there - what part of that statement do you not understand???

See Ya Bye

JUST A TAD OF RAIN

Well it rained for about 10 seconds the other nite - lightning and thunder - there were actually 9000 lightning strikes during the nite according to the News For The North. There is a prediction for rain tonite so we will see. We are still watering every second day here - other people around here have purchased the water pumps and the fire hoses just to be on the safe side. Regular flybys by the MNR helicopter and today I spotted the yellow fire bomber flying around. It is like tinder up here - dryer than a bone - they have pulled the loggers out of the bush for safety reasons. It is very easy to start a fire with sparks from skidders. We are ready!!
See Ya Bye

BONE DRY

A trick he learned from Bob Izumi - hold the fish close to the camera - it is an optical illusion that it is that big - it actually weighed about 1 1/2 pounds - not that we do that with every fish picture....:op

Heading into Gros Cap - you could see the water level marks on the cliffs

Camp Kuha from the water - the docks are quite a distance from the water line - but lots of sandy beaches!!!

Water levels at Hooverville Boat Launch

Looking at if we can launch the boat - high and dry!!!

MNR helicopter doing the flyby

A familiar sight - the MNR helicopter scanning for smoke and fires. It is dangerously dry up here - on the news there is a fire burning out of control near Chapleau - that is right up the highway from us. Rejean has the water pump in the water and hoses are attached just in case. We are watering the area every second day just to give the plants a bit of moisture.

We went to Gros Cap with Ron yesterday and we couldn't launch at Hooverville - we had to put in elsewhere and even then it was touch and go. The amount the water levels are down can be measured in feet, not inches!! All the good spots to fish are gone because the levels are sooooo low.

We need the rain bad and so far, there is no rain in the immediate future. But last summer it didn't stop raining - go figure...

See Ya Bye

ps - Rejean caught 2 pike yesterday - all I got was a tan.

NO PICKEREL ANYWHERE....

The guys checking things out.

Washing off the dust - it wasn't deep.

Turtle on a mission.

Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock...

We headed out after dinner to try and get some walley - we loaded up the 4 wheelers and off down the highway we went. We passed a turtle just coming off the highway - whoever said turtles are slow - this one was booting it. This is the time of year all the turtles lay their eggs and some are on the side of the highways in the gravel - turtle carnage up here sometimes. I don't know where this one was headed but I figured he knew better than I. We got to the spot and fished but nothing - we came home in the dark. Nice evening even if we didn't catch anything.

Maybe tomorrow - Ron is taking us out on his boat to Tunnel Lake - keep your fingers crossed...

See Ya Bye

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WARNING WARNING WARNING - SCENES OF VIOLENCE - NOT FOR THE SQUEEMISH

Looking for lunch

Toad Legs Anyone???

Finally got to the end

The lump is moving down his body - you could actually see it move - weird

We have a couple of garter snakes that hang around here - last year I fed them worms - remember? I have been keeping my eyes peeled for them because it has been very warm and I knew they would be out - well yesterday morning I spotted the big one around the garage. I watched him for a while and then he proceeded to position himself right under the doorway stoop. I thought that he was just getting out of the sun. I saw him make funny movements but I thought he was just shedding his skin. I decided to let him be for a while. Well, I went back and what do I see? He's eating a toad!!!!! I saw the toad's leg move and then I focused on what I was seeing. Good thing I had my camera at hand to record the event. I had trouble looking at first because I felt so bad for the toad - and if I had known that he was going after the toad, I would have rescued or scared off the toad. But I was too late. It was after I downloaded the pictures that I was able to get a better view of what he was doing. Hard to believe that the snake can actually unhinge their jaws to swallow such a big dinner. It took about 1/2 hour for him to get it down. You could see his body moving to ease the toad down. I don't know what that red thing is but it was from the toad. I kept a safe distance because I didn't want to interrupt the process - I can't imagine that snake taking off with that toad still in his mouth.

I found this fascinating and I am not afraid to say so - there was nothing I could do to save the toad and the snake has to survive so I was just there to record it - it happens all the time up here - survival of the fittest - and that snake found a smaller toad at the same spot and ate that - not to mention the 2 earthworms I threw at him. Yum Yum.

Just another day in paradise....