SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2013

Good Frittata morning! Lynne is in her kitchen making breakfast; Les is working his morning crossword puzzle, Mark is walking the Scotties and I'm catching up on this Blog. :-)

Sue phoned to say Gavin and Kyle are fishing on the dock and everyone's having a good visit. Macy, their deaf, blind old dog is agitated and barking. What to do?

Mark and Julie are going to the Museum of Man and Nature to visit the Nonsuch then for an afternoon visit to see Gregg at Concordia Hospital.

Tonight, Lynne has invited her cousin Carol to join us for dinner! Mark and I met Carol in Fort Lauderdale a few years ago.

Update ... The museum was the BEST ... we really enjoyed it!!! We were there 3 hours and could have stayed much longer. Gregg was feeling quite a bit better and we had a good visit. Carol Vandal, Lynne's cousin, joined us for dinner on the deck. We had a nice time ... Lynne took pictures of the setting sun; blood orange in colour. Beautiful.

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2013

Mark and Julie visited Assiniboine Park and Zoo! The Conservatory is beautiful, as is the park. The zoo is under major renovation with a 10 acre Churchill exhibit coming in 2014. The white buffalo is beautiful ! Photo below.

Lynne and Les stayed home with the Scotties and got some chores done! Tonight, Lynne is cooking ribs. ;-)

An excellent evening ... delicious ribs, good music and NO bugs! Lynne, Les, Julie and Mark played three rounds of Cribbage ... which the Stevenson's won 3 - 2.

Sue and Wayne took Penny, Ron, Gavin and Kyle for a boat ride on their Windsorcraft. Apparently there were no fish around for the Tom Sawyer event ... but a fun time anyway!

Linda and Randy are in Grand Beach with family. No photos from Randy ... too busy having fun I suppose. LOL.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2013

Good morning sunshine! Plans today include visiting Lower Fort Garry and Skinner's for lunch with Lynne and Les. !
Mark enjoyed visiting the Fort, especially the fur trade pelts. This was Mark's first visit, and many years since the rest of us had been!

Mark and Julie visited Gregg Tawns in Concordia Hospital this afternoon. He was feeling poorly today, unfortunately. :-/

Happy Hour set for Stevenson's deck at 4 o'clock ... then dinner at the one and only ... Royal Manitoba Yacht Club.

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013

Wayne and Sue are prepping for weekend guests ... son Ron, daughter in law Penny and grandchildren Gavin and Kyle! The boys are entered into "Tom Sawyer" fishing contest; with handmade fishing poles. Nana Sue is charged with getting pictures for Saturday's Blog. It sounds like a great Canada Day celebration is planned!

Mark and Julie are Winnipeg bound to stay with pals Lynne and Les Stevenson. Departure is delayed, however, as the main cottage's water pump quit. (Mark jokes that we should have gone yesterday!). LOL

Arrived 4 o'clock to meet Lily and Kylie, Stevenson's Granddaughters. Maggie loved them both but Robbie was afraid!

Linda and Randy arrived in the Firebird for a quick visit and to pick up the Indian jacket from Reddens. Lynne asked them to stay for dinner, and they did! What a fun evening we had ... drank Les' Chardonnay and merlot. Excellent batches! We've been invited to Grand Beach on Saturday ... we shall see.

Later, we watched the Bombers play their first game of the season! They lost, but it was a good game!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013

Sultana Island gold mine was the most prosperous one in Lake of the Woods during its heyday, 1891 - 1902, producing over a million dollars. Since gold mining was a poorly understood process in those days, a lot of gold was discarded in the tailings. This year, the sand beach on Sultana is underwater due to high lake water levels, but on an average year. it's sand has a golden glow!

The Kenricia Mine produced well into the 1900's and is located 100 yards from Chippy's Hollow! Mark wants to go exploring ... maybe when Rick Moir is here to visit next month!

Awoke to a drizzly 64F morning that quicy changed to clear sky. Our mission today is "test" possible new dock chairs and make two HANDMADE fishing poles. Wayne and Sue have entered grandchildren Gavin and Kyle into the Tom Sawyer event Saturday morning in Kenora. Poplar saplings were sacrificed from an area that needed thinning, corks painted red (bobbers) and line strung. Hope the kids have a blast ! Meanwhile, four fabulously green, chairs are ready for cocktail hour.

Sue and Wayne are going to a dinner party tonight at Mary and Monty Flom's. Mark and Julie are busy packing for a trip to Winnipeg for the Canada Day long weekend.

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Awoke to blue skies, sunshine and bacon sizzling! Great start to a day on the lake.

Mark and Wayne are driving to Falcon Lake in Manitoba for fuel this morning. Gas is 40 cents a liter cheaper so it's well worth the half hour drive. They will haul 40 gallons of fuel for the boats and 20 gallons of diesel (spare tank) for our Dodge. Another reason for the drive is ... wait for it ... Rockeries store sells licorice pipes! Yummy; can't seem to buy them anywhere else. LOL

Sue and Julie went to lunch in Kenora then shopping at McTaggart's meanwhile Wayne and Mark went to Bob's Burgers in Falcon after buying fuel.

It's such a beautiful day we'll convene on the dock at 4 for happy hour.

Cooked Shrimp Scampi tonight at Chippy's Hollow! Mark and Wayne watched the sixth hockey game, Boston Bruins against Chicago Black Hawks ... Black Hawks WIN!

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013

Mark's sister, Pam, is coming to visit in early July! Yay!!! She will be here for Mark's 56th birthday. ;-)))

Early drive to Yesterday's for breakfast, then Canadian Tire for household items and home to the cottages for a relaxing afternoon. Shorty likes to ride shotgun with Wayne but slid off the console on a corner. Undeterred, he maintained his dignity. LOL.

Mark got some dockside fishing in and caught 2 walleye and 2 northern pike before the rainy afternoon set in.

Sue and Wayne are fending for themselves with leftovers tonight while Mark is planning perogies for us. :-)

Meanwhile, Julie got her oil paints out of storage and finished a painting! It was a perfect day for it.

SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013

Don and Helen Stefanik hosted this week's dock party on their large deck overlooking the lake. The sun made an appearance on the first fay of summer about 6 o'clock following a rather dreary day.

The party carried over to their cottage in grand style with about 35 staying for fried chicken and salads. Wayne and Mark took the Tahoe and went home to walk the dogs at 9 o'clock and arrived back with more liquid reinforcements. We partied on, finally arriving safely back at our dock about 11 pm.

The Stefanik's cottage is setup for entertaining large crowds! A couple of pics follow.

Today started cloudy and cool. Kurian's took Macy for grooming and 'the boys' for an outing. Mark knocked an item off the "To Do" list and repaired a couple of dining room chairs. Julie puttered around, tidying up Chippy's Hollow and planning dinner. BUT, turns out Sue and Wayne are cooking pork chops tonight, so there's time to read today!!!

Maggie and Robbie spent the afternoon with Mark at the dock, fishing, or so I thought. About 1:30 I took Milkbones for the Scotties and discovered Mark asleep in the zero gravity chair. LOL. No fish today.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2013

Forecast last night had us scurrying to close boathouse doors and put flower baskets under cover. The stormy weather went south of our area and this morning is cloudy and cooler than last night.

An old tree stump near the dock serves as a seat for Buckwheat, a statue. Over the years, the old stump rotted and fell apart this spring. Sue has a "To Do" list and the tree stump made the list. No, not to finally be rid of it, but to inject it with epoxy to preserve it!!! Lots of laughs at happy hour over that decision!!! Mark has complied with a wire around the stump for support. LOL

Sue and Julie drove into town for retail therapy while Mark did chores and Wayne paid bills! There's a dock party tonight so we must prepare our horde oeuvres.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

On the way home from dinner, we visited "The Keewatin Potholes", a natural phenomenon of four spiral holes, formed when the Laurentide Glacier that covered Canada in the Ice Age, melted. These four holes range in size from 30 inches to several feet wide.

A beautiful summer's day; a breezy, sunny 23C, preceding a rainy day tomorrow.

Mark came back from a bike ride and announced a wolf is about - scat on the road containing deer hair!

Tonight's menu is asian salad, teriyaki chicken, potato salad and wild raspberry pie. Happy hour was extended as Wayne arrived with the repowered Tahoe about 4:45 ... so dinner may be a little haphazard! You never know your luck!

Linda and Randy are expected at the lake tomorrow!

MORE LAUGHS THAT MISSED THE BLOG!

Setup: Mark and Wayne discussing how divorce played a role in their sons attitudes toward Father's Day. Neither expected a phone call the next day. :-/ ...
Julie to Mark "Mark, there's a text on my phone for you ... "Happy Father's Day". Mark, strutting around, "Who's the man!!!". Mark to Julie, "Send Skeeter (Matt) a thanks and hope he has a great day too.". TWO MINUTES LATER ANOTHER TEXT COMES THROUGH ... "This is Dennis.". Lots of laughs!!! It was a wrong number text!!!

Setup: Grandpa Wayne taking his grandsons for a boat ride a year or two ago. Gavin to Grandpa, "Could this boat sink Grandpa?". Super Granddad's reply ... "All boats can sink!". LOL. (Way to instill confidence Wayne!)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013

Farmer's Market, the first of summer season, in Kenora, was our event this morning. Mark bought perogies, after Wayne questioned "Baba" about dough thickness. Wayne is making a good Ukrainian of Mark. Yummy potato and cheese! Sue bought a wild raspberry pie and cinnamon buns, freshly baked. All this good fresh food and we're eating out tonight!!!

Lilac fragrance continues to waft in the air from numerous "bush height" plants. Julie wants some to line the cottage path. The leaves are thumb-nail sized with a profusion of blooms.

Happy hour on the dock created a kerfuffle when dear Shorty accidentally knocked Wayne's beer bottle and it toppled onto Julie's wine glass. SMASH!!! Sue gave us all hell for having glass on the dock, and rightly so. Wayne broke the ice with, "Julie, you owe Susan 27 cents for that wine glass! That was a set of 3!" Lots of laughs ... then broom and dustpan duty.

Tonight we are going to Ristorante Italiano for dinner! No cooking tonight!

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013

Awoke to Maggie shaking her head in obvious distress. Mix of vinegar and alcohol, swabbed her ear and all was well. Such a simple fix ... which took us years to discover and pricey vet visits!

Yesterday, Robbie chewed a favorite latex toy ... so he is being dosed with olive oil on his food. Hope that does the trick for him! Jim Gauthier says the local vets love it when the Kurian and Rogers families arrive ... with 5 dogs, there's always some major expense.

Wayne has taken his Tahoe for upgrade, meanwhile Mark and Julie took the Crestliner fishing. Mark caught a large walleye, which he released. No fish fry tonight.

Just heard we're having perogies tonight! A yummy treat supplied by Wayne's family.

Played 4 handed cribbage this evening ... the girls won 2 of the 3 games! Wayne said he didn't have a good partner. Mark countered by stating this was his 2nd day of cribbage playing. True enough. LOL

MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013

Busy busy busy morning! Sue took an early morning pic of a bunny having breakfast; Wayne arranged a boat test ride for after lunch; Mark cooked spaghetti sauce while Julie did online banking.

Two Bears Marina was our meeting site to test the 4 stroke engine Wayne is buying. All went well ... with 5 people in the boat it was quiet and powerful.

We saw our late friend Klaus Moeller's Luhrs boat at a Keewatin marina. He bought the boat in Key Largo, Florida around 1989 and lived on it in Pompano Beach, Florida for a few years. When Klaus was forced to move to Canada due to illness, he shipped the Luhrs to Winnipeg. It was great to see it proudly bobbing at the dock in beautiful Ontario.

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful men in our lives!

Rat Portage weather forecast is overcast and rainy today with a high of 66. No, we haven't moved to a new city, Kenora was originally known as Rat Portage!

Kenora was derived from the first two letters of the three original towns that made up the area. KEewatin, NOrman and RAt Portage. There was much opposition to changing the name of Rat Portage, an Ojibwa name meaning 'portage to the land of the muskrats'. Eventually, Kenora won out in the early 1900's.

Mark made a large batch of vegetable soup but asked Julie 7 times if she'd bake today. Sue thought this hilarious ... diet soup followed by cake!!!

Kurian's are cooking chicken for tonight's dinner to be followed by Julie's banana cake and a round of Cribbage. Meanwhile, Chippy was dining at the jail bird cafe. LOL