Sorry for the delay...

Yep, if you can believe it, we have been quite busy around here lately. We are still busy but, I finally am sitting down long enough to update all of you faithful bloggers.

So here is a not so quick summary of the last 7 days or so...

Saturday was the official start of our season as our first groups arrived just after noon. It was also the opening day of walleye season or as we call it around here, opening day of "cheezer" season. (I did not get to have one on the first day, but I am quickly making up for that).

First shore lunch of the year for us. Fresh northern pike, YUM!
I may eat 50+ cheezers every summer, but I love eating
just about every kind of fish that swims in Red Lake.
You just can not beat the traditional shore lunch.

Weather:
 So last Saturday I was up all night running water so the pipes would not freeze. This  Saturday my kids spent the entire day in their blow up swimming pool. No kidding, we went from a high of 30 to a high of 80+ in just 7 days. That' what is so nice about early season in Red Lake, you can experience all four seasons in one week. The warm weather continued for a couple of days and then the wind finally shifted from the south to the northeast which brought in the cooler temps, clouds, and she much needed rain. The weather has pretty much remained like that since. No signs of 80 degrees for quite a while...so it seems anyway.

Fire:
As many of you probably already know, much of Ontario has been extremely dry this spring. We have had a few fires in the Red Lake region already, but there is one that is of real concern. Red Lake 003 is the fire that is burning in the  Woodland Caribou Provincial Park. The fire has grown to over 200,000 acres and stretches into Manitoba. The east end of the fire reached within 25 miles of our camp. The smoke and glow from the fire was visible from camp. Our friends from a nearby camp were even asked to leave Sunday night when the Southwest winds refused to let up and the fire escaped the control of the fire crews on the ground. The owners and guests from that camp spent the night with us at our camp and waited anxiously for a call to see if/when they could return. Fortunately  for them (and us) the weather cooperated and the fire crews were able to make some progress on the southeast side of the fire. They went back to their camp around 4pm. As mentioned earlier, the cooler, wetter weather along with the consistent northeast winds, has allowed us to relax a bit. 
The fire is still listed as not under control, but it is not as serious of a threat to our camp.The logging road just past our camp remains closed. 

That is not a storm, it is the smoke from the fire just to the southeast of our camp.

Notice the heavy white smoke just above the cabin. Scary!

The perspective is a bit off, but this panorama gives a great feel for how surreal it looked.
(try clicking on the pic to make it bigger)

Notice how dark it got!

This is what it would have looked like if you were driving to camp.

Family:
The kids are doing great! They are having a great summer so far. They are great at entertaining us and the guests. They make us laugh and smile all of the time, which is great for keeping down the stress levels. Josie is turning into a such a big girl. I can not believe how much she as matured this past year. She loves helping us out around camp and being a great big sister to Jeremiah. 
Jeremiah is all boy! He loves to be outside and helping me with any and all tools he can get his hands on. He also has an amazing imagination. At any moment he can be a ninja, a spaceman, a workman, a bobcat operator, or just a brave 3 year old flying down a pretend zip-line. I should give everyone a heads up though, he is not shy about peeing outdoors. He even has his own favorite "peeing tree". So I will apologize now for any times you may be walking through camp and look up to see a naked 3 year old singing to himself and peeing at his favorite tree. It is cute as hell though.

Fish: 
Fishing last week started off slow when the weather was hot and sunny. But as soon as the weather shifted, the fish really turned on. Lots of big pike(30-40 inches) and walleyes (14-24 inches). There was also a few lake trout,  a smallmouth and a burbot. Most of the groups were fishing with minnows or dead bait. I will be posting more detailed info along with 2016 leaders and a bunch of pics soon.