Fishing report...

I will be adding to this pages keep checking back.

Here is a sneak peak at our Fish Wall tally sheets...

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.

Just another day at camp...

Today was just "business as usual" around here. Wake up, run into town to get supplies and be back just as the kiddos are climbing out of bed. Have breakfast with the family(brunch for me), then unload the truck and get back into 'camp mode'. We finished cleaning all of the cabins today, did some more road work, got water to the fish house and cleaned it, which also means the ice machines and minnow tank are running. Jillian cooked All Day, now that her griddle has beein lit. Looks like our guests will be eating good this year! I also squeezed in s new back deck for one of the guest cabins. Tomorrow the shower house gets water and the camp will be
"Officially" operational.

Like I said, just a normal day around here.

Now this is the way to start a day!!

After a very cold weekend, it is sure nice to walk out the door and see a scene like this...

You can see in this pic, the front moving out and the blue skies returning.

One sub-zero night down, one to go...

Well we made it through the first sub-arctic night without any issues...other than losing sleep that is. No frozen or broken pipes. Hot showers, laundry, and dishes are still in the forecast. I still have one more really bad night to make it through, then it looks like the 'real' spring temps will be back. At least the wind finally stopped blowing and the clouds have moved out. We even had a very gorgeous sunset to end a long day of cabin cleaning. That is why I have another sleepless nigh though, without the cloud cover, what little warmth we have will soon rise up and out. I am predicting low 20's again. BRRRRRR!!!!

Luckily both of our kids like to read. Lots of time for that lately.

Josie sleeps up in her "princess loft" while Jeremiah
sleep in his "cool big boy bed"

Even the kids are getting tired of the chilly temps. They thought its was great at first because we told them they could watch lots of movies and have some iPad time while hanging out in the warm cabin. But even that excitement is waring off. They would much rather play outside or help mom and dad. Just be careful what you wish for kiddies!

Groceries and snow...happy Friday the 13th

Yep, woke up this morning to a brisk NW wind and snow. While the snow was not heavy, it was enough to remind us just how cold it was outside...not that we really needed any reminders. I think the official high temp today was just above freezing, and I do mean just. At 6pm it was already back down to 30 degrees and falling. So what happens at camp when it gets this cold? Well normally we would be hunkering down inside looking for any project that we could do near the oil stove. However, just our luck, today is grocery delivery day. That means having to unload 5 full pallets of food and dry goods while trying not to freeze in the brutal weather. The truck arrived at 12:30 and 5 hours later we finally had the last box out of the yard. Needless to say, the rest of the night is going to consist of watching movies, playing games with the kids, catching up on office work, and just relaxing in our nice warm cabin.
The bad news for me...I will most likely be up all night as I will have to make sure all water continues to run. I will have to run the water pump every hour or so, then let the faucets drip, then run the pump again, and so on and so on. It stinks, but it is the surest way to prevent frozen pipes. I hate crawling under cabins trying to fix cracked water lines!

Yep...this is spring in Red Lake. 

And this is only part of our seasonal total! 

Jeremiah's rain dance worked!

We have finally received some very over-due rain! It has not been a lot of rain but it has been steadily drizzling for 2 days and more importantly no lightning. The fire nearest our camp has been put out, but the big one located in the Woodland Caribou Park is still going strong. Fortunately for us the winds have been in our favor, so the fire and the smoke are moving away from camp.

The bad news (for this weekend anyway) is that the rain is turning over to snow! Yep, a week ago we were sweating with 86 degree temps and tomorrow's high will struggle to get above freezing. Lows will be in the 20's. Not the best conditions for unloading 5 pallets of groceries, which are to be delivered tomorrow morning. But that's the way it goes sometimes, welcome to camp life.

I have held off on getting water to the fish house and shower house until the weather returns to more spring like conditions. I do not want to deal with any broken water lines. As it is, I will have to be diligent in running water throughout the night in the 2 buildings that have water, so that none of the pipes freeze up.

Luckily there is always some inside jobs that need to be done. Jillian is 90 percent done in the main lodge, we have started some cabin cleaning, and I got some repairs done to the camp road. After the groceries get unloaded, I will be spending a lot of time in the motor room. Only 29 more motors to go.

The kids enjoy rainy days the most. They play in the mud puddles, catch rain falling from the roof and overhangs, and they get to watch movies and play games in the warm cabin.

Josie drying off after coming in from playing in the rain.

Jeremiah did not want to come in...
he was having way to much fun in the puddles.

Game on!

"watch this Dad!!"

Camp chores continue.

With the continued nice weather, there has been plenty of opportunities to keep the camp work moving along. I think I have too many projects going in fact. The Main Lodge is almost completely cleaned and ready for guest, the yard has been mowed, trees have been cut, water system is up and running, our trailer is empty, our porch is cleaned of boxes and bins, and the kids even helped me put 14 boats in the water. It is starting to look like a camp again! Just need some fisherman.

This is what happens when you sit down for just a minute. Jillian thought it
would be funny to take a picture of me snoozing on the couch.
Apparently I fell asleep faster than Jeremiah did for his afternoon nap.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all of the Moms out there...especially to ours. Last night (or more correctly) this morning, we celebrated Mothers Day by attending a late show. The start performer was the Aurora Borealis. Just after midnight, the Northern Lights gave us one amazing display! For 2 straight hours Jillian, Josie and I laid in the yard and watched the lights shoot and dance across the sky. They were seen in every direction, a 360 degree epic display. The only issue we had was trying to stay warm. The temperature dipped into the 20's and it took many layers of clothes and even some sleeping bags to remain out there for a couple of hours. It was all worth it though. Unfortunately it is very hard to photograph the northern lights. But even if I could, it would never do them an justice. It is truly magical display that I wish all of our guests could experience.

You must be a little crazy to be a camp owner...

In order to keep guests and surrounding buildings safe, some of the very large Poplar tress have to be cut down. Most can be dropped safely in one cut, but some of the larger ones, that are of course leaning the wrong way, must be cut down in stages. That means someone must climb up the tree and systematically prune the to portions first. Then the rest can be dropped safely without crushing any surrounding structures. And since the kids are not quite old enough yet to be 30 feet in the air, and Jillian is afraid of heights...that means I get the nod. I guess this is where 2 decades of competitive gymnastics and rock climbing finally pays off. Sorry you had to see this Mom. For those of you who have a queasy stomach for this kind of stuff...fear not, I was completely roped in and and Jeremiah was spotting me the entire time.

Guess I need to buy a bigger ladder.

Nice view from up here.

Fallen trees make great backwoods balance beams for the kids.

Mom says, "my husband is NUTS!"
Josie says, "please don't get hurt Dad."
Jeremiah says, "Awesome! Can I help too?"