Good morning all:

“Computers are the most important thing to happen to musicians since the invention of cat-gut which was a long time ago.” ~ Robert Moog

OK, it’s a little early on a sunny Saturday morning in the north woods, time for my morning coffee and time to ramble a bit. Otherwise I’d be listening to the all new (as of yesterday) Pink Floyd station on our Sirius/XM radio.

Projects – I’ve written before that cabin life means that it’s not the days that meander along – some say aimlesslessly – but it’s the projects that has one flowing along; from one project to the next.

Here is a short list of stuff. Our deck has been reset and squared. Thanks to borrowing a neighbor’s “Farmer’s Handy Jack” that became a much easier project that it would appear at first.

Currently we’re undertaking the building of a heavy-duty sled out of an old pair of snowmobile runners. Actually I am waiting for Marcia to spray a new coat of paint on them (she used the new love-of-her-life – my grinder – to remove a bunch of rust). After which I’ll build the wooden bits and do the assembly.

The Bunkie has also been squared and a new pier fixed under the one corner by the front door. With Donn, a measuring tape, and a level, we concluded that at that point the little place was down 6”. This meant that stepping into the place made people feel like entering a carnival fun-house and made walking inside akin to looking like a drunken sailor. Now – being perfectly level – sleeping there means staying in one’s own place and not having sleepers roll together like logs against the side wall. Yeah!

That led to a new and previously not even thought of project. See how it flows from one project to the next? Anyway, with our new dock we also now have an old dock. At first the plan was to knock it apart and salvage what was solid and discard (burn) the rest. Here is what a split-second moment of brilliance came up with. Keep the old dock intact, modify it here and there, and use it to build a smallish deck in front of the Bunkie. Make it a perfect place to sit in the evening and smack a few of those lovely Canadian Mosquitoes. Work has started.

Finally – the new dock is in! Yesterday the crew returned to set the dock in the lake and on the concrete pad they poured earlier in the week. It looks great!

The beauty is that at the end of the season we just remove the cedar planking sections and then using an attached cable it will hinge up out of the water and ride out the winter clear of any damaging lake ice.

Now – possibly today – we’ll launch the pontoon. I would have done it yesterday, but for most of the week the wind’s been up and whitecaps were on the water. This morning it’s calm.

Animal Planet – We’re under a No FIRE edict. Northern Ontario has 43 active forest fires going. From checking on-line the Kirkpatrick Lake area (north-east of us) had a 35,000 hectare fire raging. Timmins (straight north of us) also had problems. Yesterday the whole area was hazy from smoke. Overnight the winds have died and shifted so this morning it’s clear and crisp looking.

This week several large migratory flocks of Canadian Geese flew overhead, heading north for their summer stay. Their honking announcing the large “V” formations can be heard coming for a minute or two prior to their fly-over. Every year this spectacle is as impressive is it was the previous year. Makes me think of one of my favorite Neil Young songs, Helpless – “there is a town in north Ontario………the big birds flying across the sky, they were throwing shadows in our eyes”. My favorite rendition is the one Young sings on The Band’s “Last Waltz” album. Then, you’ve gotta love k.d. lang making wonderful music with Helpless on her Recollection Disk I album.

Make it a great week everyone. Do take a bit of time to reflect on the sacrifices made for all of us. Marcia discovered a Beet Soup to die for when we had dinner at the Red Top restaurant last weekend. Marlene has been searching for the right recipe. I suspect that my future holds much Red Beet soup samplings.

Cheers,
Dirk