Weather Update- May 8th

We had a very warm day yesterday with temps in the 80's.  Yahoo!!!  That's just what we need to melt down the ice and snow here.  John and I drove to Kenora yesterday to pick up some more dock materials and on the way there, we saw many lakes that were now in the black ice stage and some totally open.  They are a little ahead of us, but not by much.  With another week of warm weather, we hope to be ready for our fishermen opening weekend.

John, Joanna and I just took our first boat ride up the river to the lake this morning.  Once we got to the lake, we could see that the ice is about 6 inches thick on the closest edge, so maybe up to 12 inches further in on the lake.  

As you can see from the pictures, we are making progress.  Today we are working on another 16 foot floating dock section to add to our new longer dock system.  Then we will be repositioning the other docks to make more room for boats to park.  Things are in high gear hear and we are excited about receiving our first guests of the season.  Everyone stay hopeful and pray!

Weather Update

Folks are getting a bit nervous about opening fishing and whether or not the ice will be out on the lakes, and understandably so.  This is probably setting records for snow and ice to still be around at this late date.  However, we are seeing some positive signs of weather change which gives us great hope that indeed we will have open lakes for our guests coming for opening fishing season this year. 

Just a few days ago, we had temperatures as high as the low 70's cutting the snow and ice and then we had a day of strong rain which took it down even more.  As you can see from the pictures I posted, we are now looking at bare ground at camp.  This happened in only a few days where we previously had several feet of snow. 

The ice on the lakes is changing color too indicating it is melting.  We don't exactly know the depth of the ice, but probably around two feet at the moment, probably less on the smaller lakes.

It is predicted that we will again have some nice temps coming on next week starting Monday.  That will hasten the removal of snow and ice.  Once the snow is melted north of us on the 325 road, I will scoot around with a four wheeler and take pictures of the different lakes to keep you informed of what is happening in our neck of the woods. 

Spring Fling

Joanna and I just returned from a terrific vacation in the states which lasted almost the whole month of April.  We set out  on April 5th to Ely and a night at our daughter Cherish's place, then continued on to Minneapolis and Omaha, Nebraska all in one day.   We listened to a trilogy book on CD's by Joel Rosenburg which was so thrilling that it kept us awake and alert for the eleven hour drive to see Jonathan, Reseth and little Aaron in Omaha.  We enjoyed four fun-filled days with them taking a walk to a lovely park, visiting the fabulous Omaha zoo, eating dinner in downtown Omaha at a darling little Italian place, a quick visit to Offutt Air Force Base where Jonathan is a navigator on a jet and just hanging out together.  Everyone told me that grandparenting was absolutely wonderful and it truly is.  Jonathan and Reseth have done a tremendous job raising that precious Aaron and he is a joy to be around. 

We had planned to stay till Wednesday with Jonathan's family, but when he came home for lunch on Tuesday and pointed out a huge storm that was heading east through the middle states and on into Minnesota on Wednesday with large hail and tornado winds in Omaha and 9-12 inches of snow in Minneapolis, we made a quick decision to pack up and head out that afternoon to get back to Minneapolis.  Our daughter Cherish was to come down from Ely to Minneapolis on Wednesday as well and we were going to spend the night at a motel and fly out on Thursday together to Orlando, Florida.  I called Cherish on Tuesday and encouraged her to pack up fast and make it to Minneapolis on Tuesday night to get ahead of the storm.  She arrived in Minneapolis the same time we did at 9 pm on Tuesday night, just as a freezing rain made road conditions treacherous.  

We stayed one more night in Minneapolis and after a two hour delay at the airport to de ice our plane, we flew to Orlando, landing in 90 degree weather.  Yahooo!  What a joy to see green trees, green grass, green plants, loads of flowers, blue skies, bright sunshine....aaahhhh!  We thawed out in no time and began our exciting Florida adventure.  After spending two nights with my sister in the Orlando area, Nicki drove Cherish, Joanna, Anne ( a friend from Ely, MN) and I an hour to get to our New Smyrna Beach condo where we met up with my Dad and his personal nurse, Tammy, who drove down from North Carolina.

Dad, who is now 88 and on continuous oxygen to help him breathe, had been looking forward to this trip for months, hoping and praying he would be well enough to go.  His nurse Tammy drove them to Florida from Franklin, NC which is about a ten hour drive and all six of us women were on hand at the condo to meet his every need.  Never was a man more cared for than Dad for those seven days.  Mom passed away last August and Dad thought it would be great to gather some family together and have a stay at the beach that we have enjoyed together through the years.  He invited lots of relatives and friends over to visit while we were there and the time flew by.  We went boogie boarding in the ocean for hours each day, swimming in the pool, playing tennis, walking the beach and of course, lots of sun bathing.   The weather couldn't have been more perfect.... 80 to 90 degrees each day.  

We left New Smyrna Beach on Saturday and returned to Nicki's house in Orlando until Tuesday.  That gave us several more days to spend time with Dad, do some shopping and visit my brother Ron in Winter Park.  Cherish, Joanna and I went for a walk in Nicki's neighborhood and came across a beautiful peacock.  Apparently someone brought them into this quiet neighborhood that has lots of large oak trees.  Six female and three male peacocks roam around in the vicinity with people leaving food outside for them.  Cherish prayed that the male would open up and flout its feathers and sure enough it did.  What a sight!!

I figured by the time we arrived home the end of April, all the snow would be gone and we could get started painting cabins and working on finishing up the docks and other outdoor projects.  Wrong!!
The 325 Road had just about as much snow on it when we got home as when we left.  Not a very encouraging homecoming to say the least.  However, over the weekend of April 27th the temperature rose to the 70's and stayed there for a couple of days putting a huge dent in the snow piles and weakening the ice.  We dare say there will be open water for our fishermen when they arrive on May 18th for opening fishing.  It is good to be home.  :)

Spring Hasn't Quite Sprung

We're still waiting for signs of spring this year.  I think it was at least a month earlier last year.  Of course, that was very unusual.  Just a couple of weeks ago, we were endowed with another foot of snow, wind blowing and squalling all around us.  Today is April 1st and the river is almost entirely opened up all the way to Indian Lake.  Joanna and John each took out a team of 7 sled dogs and ran up to the south end of Kukukus Lake.  They both thoroughly enjoyed the trek on such a beautiful sunny day.  On the way back they travel along the river which is now opened up.  Some of the puppies in training get a little spooked running right next to open water.   We feel so blessed to be able to live in such a gorgeous place. 

The first two pictures were taken two weeks ago.  The last four were taken today.

A Cold Day In January 2013

I was down in the states visiting our daughter Cherish and then took an unexpected flight down to Texas to help John's mother move when back at camp they were having terribly cold weather.  I almost felt guilty enjoying the warm seventy degree ABOVE weather in Texas, but that guilt only lasted a few minutes.  I thought it was wonderful timing.

Cold weather does have its beauty.  You just can't stay out in it for very long.  John was out long enough to capture some nice shots of the camp and surrounding area.  You can see the steam rising from the rapids under the bridge and almost feel the stillness of the frigid atmosphere.  Sure am glad spring is around the corner.

Abounding Adventure

Joanna and I just returned from our third and final dog sled race in the states.  The first was the 83 mile Midnight Run in Marquette, MI  in which Joanna placed 6th out of 28 and the second was the 30 mile Ely Wolf Track Classic where she also placed 6th.

 We had planned to continue on from Ely to the 150 mile Copper Dog Race in upper Michigan, but we were having some serious dog issues with a few females in heat and males that refused to eat or drink.  In addition a few of the dogs picked up a virus at the Ely race, making it impossible for them to compete.  So, we headed back home to regroup and recoup.

 Joanna was extremely disappointed in the turn of affairs because she had her heart set on running the Copper Dog race for the first time.  However, after a week of recuperation, she thought the dogs were recovered enough to run the Beargrease Mid distance 106 mile race in Duluth,MN.  So off we went to Duluth the first week of March.  The dogs had a slow start the first leg of the race but were back in form on the second leg with the third fastest time.  At that point, Joanna was in 8th place, but unfortunately, two of the eight dogs had some shoulder and wrist injuries which prevented them from going any further and when Joanna started out on the final leg of the race, she realized another dog was limping from a wrist injury that hadn't showed up at the vet check.  It was quite disappointing, but Joanna made the decision to scratch from the race rather than make the injury worse or put undue stress on the five remaining dogs in those steep hills.

At this point it was early Monday morning, so we decided to head over to Ely to spend the day and night with Cherish.  Neither Joanna or I had gotten any sleep all night and felt like we could literally pass out into sleep mode.  Joanna was talking to me to try to keep me awake and did a good job.  I could hardly move my mouth to answer her I was so exhausted.  After about 35 miles, she passed into sleepy land and I pressed on thinking it was just a little further and I could make it.  About three miles outside Ely, I too passed out, crossed the road and hit the ditch.  Joanna and I both woke with a start to find snow flying over our windshield.  I screamed, "God Help" and slammed on the brakes, seeing a large poplar tree in front of us.  Thankfully the ditch was full of heavy deep snow and it helped stop us in time.  But the snow was up to my window on the left side.  It took a tow truck quite a bit of time and lots of maneuvering to finally pull us trailer first out of the ditch.  The dogs were in the trailer, but were no worse for the wear.  I surely learned my lesson to stop and rest when I feel that tired again so as not to endanger anyone's lives.  Thank you Jesus for your protection over us.

 

Ely Wolf Track Race

Joanna did quite well at the Ely Wolf Track Dog Sled Race.  There were about 30 entrants for the race and Joanna came in 6th behind Clayton Schneider, the vet from Dryden and two other of his speedy sprint teams.
Joanna was using it more as a training run for 6 of her dogs that had not run in the Midnight Run and were going to be include in the ten dogs team for the Copper Dog 150 mile race in Michigan the following week.

Though they were not her 6 fastest dogs, they all performed well.  It was disconcerting at the finish line, however, when one of them threw up and would not drink any water.  Later, we realized that the dogs had picked up a bug at the vet check the day before and the virus began to spread through the rest of the dogs.  Joanna was so disheartened as she realized she would no longer be able to compete in the Copper Dog race, the main race she had prepared for all winter.

So, we headed back home to Canada to try to nurse all the dogs back to health, even using IV's to hydrate some of them.  She is hoping they will be well enough to compete in the Beargrease race in Duluth next weekend.  They have a week to recover and train, so it is cutting it close.  We shall see.