Have a happy Sunday – this from the Boreal Forests in Northern Ontario. Since Marcia is still in the ‘Nati I have had time to catch up with the locals. That includes seeing Claire our north-woods everyman.

It’s been a hard and cold winter in these parts. Try several days consecutively at a point where Celsius and Fahrenheit intersect – right beyond minus 40.

So Claire and I stood one morning, it was 52 degrees out. I slurped my large mug of seriously hot morning coffee and watched the Gulls swoop over the lake. It was Claire who spoke up:

“Every Mile is Two in Winter”

~ I think that Claire’s six simple words captured the essence of what the locals experienced these past months here in the north-woods.

Done – other than a minor tweak here and there the old home is now in the hands of the Real Estate Agents. Actually, from my end it would appear that there is a steady stream of lookers traipsing through the place. This also means that Marcia is exposed to a wide array of inane comments uttered by these prospective buyers. Actually, the best I heard is from one of Marcia’s friends who sold her 3-story home last year. One comment stated that the place had too many stairs. Huh? Yup, that’s what we sellers have to deal with.

This evening there is an offer which we’ll have to deal with over the next couple of days. And so it goes – I’ll cheer mightily should we achieve the mystical “accepted” stage which then quickly translates into a Nirvana labeled “sold”.

Cabin Life – began smoothly. With a full tank of fuel I set out last Sunday. Snacks and water onboard and some favorite XM stations to keep me company I made it to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan NON STOP! Not only that, but when I pulled into the Admiral station near to the Canadian border my fuel count down showed 170 miles remaining in the tank – and I was carrying a hefty load.

The unpacking started minutes after my arrival; anything requiring freezing was so stored. Then, I crashed on the couch.

The next morning the water line was put in and a clean filter cartridge inserted.  All the shutters were taken down, the decking placed on the dock and the shutters stored, under cover, where the dock section had been. Then I went to town to interview a new property Insurance agent – I now think I have a new friend.

Next, the porch was emptied of all the yard furniture and the grill, the Deux Chevaux’s summer canopy set up, ATV pulled out of storage (both fired right up), and the Kayaks placed near at hand for an instant launch. Then the magic moment; the launching of the little Sea Nymph.

With mornings right near the 50-degree mark I expected the water to be a little beyond the “vigorous” mark. It’s not, it’s excellent – this verdict comes after two lake baths and a bit of a swim. If you want to envision what that would look like, imagine Putin swimming in the Baltic Sea and looking like a Pillsbury Doughboy—good thing I don’t take selfies.

Animal Planet – I have new neighbors. Past years it was the Loons which always greeted me first, this year not so. I have seen a couple nearby and heard them, but they aren’t swimming past our dock.

But, and this is a HUGE ‘but’, this year we have a pair of Tree Swallows who have turned our little bird house into a home. While one stands ‘guard’ in the doorway the other can be seen swooping over the water catching bugs. It then lunges full speed for the bird-house and zooms in. Seconds later the other is gone. Watching these two is a real treat!

A hard but absolutely perfect landing

did you see how I did that?

The Hummingbirds are back – still loving their feeder.

Then, early Thursday morning, I stepped outside. I saw a couple of large greyish backs drop over the water’s edge. My first thought was Otters. Wrong, I quickly realized that it was four adult Canadian Geese and 15 goslings which had overnighted in our yard.

Fini – Last evening Marlene, Donn, Bob, and I went to the Annual Iron Bridge Music Festival.  I had a good time and I think that the others did too. Iron Bridge, being a town of maybe 400 doesn’t draw what city folk would expect. Having said that, we did see/heard some serious local talent.

So, now I am sitting in semi darkness. I completely forgot about the power company alerting via a robo-call a couple of weeks ago that there’d be a scheduled power outage. Forgot that is until all went dark.

I know I have a thing about government run entities and the Ontario power company, Hydro-1, is a perfect example. In under four years we’ve (and everyone else around here) has had the electric meter replaced – TWICE over. Why? Some klutz sourced the wrong meters – they didn’t work! Then there is a constant array of ‘scheduled’ outages (another one in a week or so). Seems to me that if built correctly, then the grid should work just fine, but with Hydro-1 it’s just business as usual. Oh, and get folk to discuss the Hydro-1 “delivery” charges: then sit back to watch the fireworks begin.

Now I need to light the candles again. Why? Because Marcia told me so, and she is a former Realtor and they know what works and what doesn’t.

And a very Happy Fathers Day to all you dads and daddies; stay safe and be well, make it a great week.

Cheers.

Dirk