Seems that this morning was a repeat of early November. Whitehorse however fared much worse with a foot of heavy wet snow. I looked out the window first thing and saw the snow clouds and went yikes. However whatever fell during the night melted and this afternoon the sun broke through. I was standing with Comanda by my place in the Eye of the system and bang suns out and all is well short lived but nice.

I was planning a evening paddle but it would not have been any fun. Blowing around in the fifty feet of shoreline water isn't all that much fun. Each day the gap opens and I can get a little futher along the shore. Without a vehicle to move me to the river, best I can do for now. Once the bays and stuff open right up during the spring the wind can still blow in big chunks of ice pan in and out. It is possible to set off on a nice paddle only to find the route blocked by the ice leaving you to find another route home. On year I spent about 3 hours battling the shifting ice and everytime I got almost home the wind had shifted and blocked off the new route.

I am nine kilometers short of the 8,000 kilometer mark and will add a few tomorrow just to make sure I hit that mark I am also about 30,000 steps short of 16 million along the "Walk to the Rock." I will pass through Markstay, Ontario and am heading south of east for North Bay.

Hoping for a nice day and thats because it is spring Clean Up day for the Paddlers. I start picking up trash at noon and a cool day is fine as long as it doesn't pour with rain. I will wear my step counter as the area we have is way off my normal routes and I will need to track the step count. There will be two of us to start and a few more will join in after work if we are not finished. Personally I am  hoping for an easy day but will take whatever we get. This is a good chance for the group to earn a few bucks for itself and we have been doing it for about ten years. anyway big day and so I will sign off for now Cheers, Greg

Started the day with a bike ride as I anted to check the distance return trip to the airport from my place. This worked out to 16.330 kilometers so I will round it down to 16 klicks. Next up was the walk and that went pretty good as well. Topped it off with a great paddle between the shore and the ice pack edge. getting to be a little more rooom every day.

Trever droppped of a big box of assorted wild meat goodies as he was cleaning out his freezer. I fired up my freezer and loaded the stuff in . I kept out a nice chunk of stew meat and it is simmering away and smelling very good. I also ate a bowl or two and it taste as good as it smells.

This summer I will run he freezer as my two sets of neighbours want to use it and it is doing nothing. I need to make a cover as it leaks a bit through the lid and rain could get in. I will probably just make a nice tarp cover and see ho it does. We are supposed to be a desert with less than 250mm of rain per year and that includes snow. The winter was pretty mild and e had I think a fair amount of snow, of course the ski-doers are always asking for more snow.

I managed to bike, hike and paddle today and may yet get out to the orbital machin . But first unfortunately the Dishes. They never take all that long  but like annual filings and taxes I just never get around to it. ell they are done and so am I. It has been a good but long day and I for one have had enough. Time to brush the old choppers swallow the night time meds and retire ith a good book. Tomorrow becomes today in just 30 minutes.

The kites skiiers and stake skiers are making the most out of the last weeks of ice and the warm weather. I got some pictures this evening of the kayak in the ice and the ice pack. I will post some over the next day or so.Funny to watch folks walking on the ice only 100 feet or so from here I was paddling. Kite skiers or stake skiers zoom by. Cheers thanks for stopping by. Greg

Mornings are still hovering on the freezing point. The calm waters are skimming with ice butnit melts when the sun hits it in the morning.

I was busy yesterday started with a bike ride to the airport, followed by the daily 4 mile walk and finished it off with 20 minutes on the orbital. Now that should be enogh cardio for anyone in a day.

It was cool until the early afternoon when sun showers arrived and warmed things, Around 8PM at my place it was very nice and the sun was out just beaming away.

I must admit I am just a little tuckered out and the back is a touch sore. However the day was worth it.

Today  I will start with a paddle and then repeat yesterdays routine. Since  will need to get an early start and better start thinking about bed.

Interesting developement, mark and Vickie my next door nieghbours have a young daughter about 2 or a little older and she has decided that I am her Uncle. Funny has when I pick her up she talks to me in French and of course I have no idea what she wants. So far we have figured out that certain things are KAKA and she is not allowed to play with them. she also things wheel barrow rides are cool and really likes the remote helicopter. I will have to charge it up and bring it out for her to watch. I do the best crashes since I am a teribble pilot. Anyway I done for today and will sign off. Thanks for dropping by. Greg

Yesterday I was unable to log into my trail program and so added yesterdays count todays and added it this evening. added 28,000 steps and an on the outskirts of Sudbury, SW end of Kelly Lake.

Today we said Good bye to our friend Arnie and held his celbration of Life at the Buffalo Air hanger. Anrie was the Chief Pilot instructor for Buffalo and one heck of a guy. He had many friends globally and lots locally. Never easy saying good-bye to fellas like him. In the past couple of years there has been a bad run on pilots in the North and we have been attending to many of these things. The service was short and sweet and the fly by at the end was great. Arnie's Cessna 185 was to be the last plane to fly by, but due to a flat tire it never got of the ground. Arnies last joke on us perhaps.

I caught a ride to the airport with my nieghbour and so decided to walk home. This would be roughly the same distance as my daily loop and so I still got the walk in. I also managed to check the two stores out that way for some stuff I need to finish a paddle.  I have to refinish the paddle I modifed last winter and will need it to finish the storm paddle I will start shortly.

The weather today was also some what of a joke the sun never really got out until early evening and the wind was very cool. There were alot of folks under dressed at the hanger and standing in the wind to watch the fly-by. It is unfortunately still early days here for spring.

I am putting a kayak in the lake tomorrow for sure. A paddle on the shoreline is better than nothing at all. If the ice has cleared the little point to the south I may be able to get into the bay along School Draw and from there towards Con and Cam Point. It either that or perhaps Frran or Hal can run me out to the river and I will paddle there. I am definitely paddling somewhere.

Thanks for dropping by and eddying out for awhile. Always here and your welcome back anytime. Cheers, Greg

Today I managed to get my orbital session in and then headed off for my drivers medical. That went really well up until the eye test. It seems that my eyes are no longer up to the task. I passed with each eye on it's own, but when tested together they failed to meet the mimimun. Looks like I will to get glasses now great one more expense. I have been wearing reading glasses for a few years now and actually do not mind wearing glasses at all, I think it might be easier to where them all the time. This way I will not be looking for them or taking them on and off all the time. I have booked an eye test for the 25th and will see what happens then.

From the failed eye test I headed off and did my walk and it went very well. Did not get the bike ride in but managed to finish the stuff in the berry patch. Now I need some warm weather that last so I can see if things are going to work. Anyway I am sure they well be fine and lets hope it continues. May be my lasting gift to Yellowknife a great raspberry patch in the Woodyard.

Tomorrow I will put a yak into Great Slave and see how far along the shore. I may only get as far as the end of the flats but who knows I might be able to get around and along School Draw. Busy day planned walk, bike, yak and orbital.

The wind as been blowing good most of the past few days during the day but seems to die around 17:00hrs or so.

started my day with the ride to the Airport and on the way home, I thought Canadian Tire and some gardening stuff. I stopped at the store rounded up what I wanted and got to the till No wallet. Rocket scientist I'm not. Anyway I put everything back and rode home.

Did a little yard work and then headed out for the daily Walk to the rock knocking off 13,000 steps. slowly but surely I am really in the lost ground. The uphill into the wind riding and walking really does in my back. Got home and lost interest in the orbital machine. I did try out a different one at the new second hand store and it is not near as nice as mine but it has a much more comfortable stride. The one Rejean and Cindy had was huge but was very comfortable to use. I would like to have an inversion table again that did help quite a bit. Once you got used to it I found them quite comfortable. This afternoon I have my drivers medical but I can squeeze in the walk and ride at least before then.

Thanks for the advice on the raspberries, I really needed it. I think it will come in handy this year. I like playing around with them and seeing what happens. should you know anything about thornless raspberries, feel free to send it along. I just heard about them today.

Managed to knock off 13,000 steps on my "Walk to the Rock." Another day or so and I will have reached Sudbury, ON again. Anyway it will be probably July before I reach where I was before the program changed and send me back west of Elliot Lake. Better to walk it twice just to be sure I covered it. My distance since starting today reached 7,920 kilometers and early June should put me over the 8,000 klm. mark.

Todays weather looked like fall dark. Overcast and wet but was actually warmer than it looked. The wind, rain and warm weather is all hard on the ice and that suits me fine. The lake acts like a great air conditioner. The ice really cools off the wind as it blows across the ice. You can start to feel it about half way down the old town hill. Nice and warm and then bang the temp drops about ten degrees.

All and all not a bad day and looking forwad to tomorrow. Thursday I have a drivers medical to go to. Class one license requires this every 3 years at my age and soon it will be every year. I should check that just to be sure. They send me a notice about 3 months before it expires and then I have that plus a few months leeway as appointments can be hard to get.

Anyway I have good doctor and I don't mind the check ups as it is a good idea.  Hope that you enjoyed dropping by open 24 /7 stop by whenever you like.

Today I was fairly busy, managed a 14,000 step walk a 16 kilometer bike ride and 20 minutes on the orbital machine. That should be enough for anyone as far as I am concered. Manage to get a small package mailed to a friend , she will soon be making her own arrows if she follows the DVD.

The day was great for walking sunny and not to hot. Not used to the warmer weather yet, it has been a long winter, still dropping below freezing at night, there was a thin skim of ice on my sump this morning and I had to clear the discharge hose of ice. The flat spots like to freeze the hose together. Life is going pretty good and soon I will be able to slip a boat in along the shore on the big lake. I paddling through he candle ice as the lake melts but you have to be careful, it would not be fun rolling up through it.

Today I changed out tires on Frans bicycle for her, studded tires off and summer tires on. I quick job with the right stuff and I even waxed her chain for her. It needed to be lubricated in the worst way. Sounds so much quieter when everything is lubed and running smoothly.

I should charge up my remote controlled Chinnook and see how many different types of crashes I can pilot myself into this year. Were this a real helicopter I would have been dead in the first five minutes of flying time. spent part of the evening BBQing my dinner and working with my flyrod and throw bags. I have a variety of throw bags and each seems to have a very distinct way in which it likes to be thrown. The throw rope in a jug is still my favorite and I have a couple of jugs now so I will make some more. Patrick is still packing the one I gave him and won't switch guess that proves he likes it. The small 15 meter ones are all pretty easy to toss but the 25 meter ones are a lot harded to throw and get full extension and be on target. I can average about a 60/65 foot toss with the big big and balance for me is still a big issue. The old saying ropes and water don't mix holds true and if your a stroke survivor like I am it can cause really issues with co-ordination. Anty  way a very actiive and healthy day and so I am happy with that. Thanks for eddying out for a while and I hope you come back often. Cheers, Greg

Today I set about fencing in my Raspberry patch. I used pld pallets that Mark and I cut in half and some 2x2 post that I pounded in for post. The fence is just meant to make the local pouch population from trampling the plants. The plants are in the second year or 3rd year for some and are just really starting to get a good grip on life. Last year we got a very small crop and the plants were all strong and healthy. I am expecting them to do well this year. Were they to grow like my indoor spider plants, I would be swamped with berries.

The area is drying out nicely and 95 % of the surrounding snow is gone. As the ground thas the water level will continue to rise but nothing my little sump can't handle. The section of gravel that I put in in front of the shack as made everyones trip through here a little drier. This scection would get very wet and slick and really quite hazzardous if you weren't careful. I would like a full load of 3/8 or 1/2 inch crush and them I could do a great path right to the lake. still cool at night and the breeze of the lake is still very cool. However things are getting better and summer is coming. We are getting some nice long days and the moon last night was incredible. Did not see any meteors but the Northern lights were out.  I missed Haleys Coment when it went by last time. I was in Auckland, New Zealand and one of the best spots to see it was in Gisborne . I just did not get there and missed it. However I have decided to live long enough to see it next time.

Tomorrow I need to get and early start as I have a lot to do. I have to get to the City and sign our contract to do the spring clean up and pick up the garbage bags and map. I missed it on Friday. That is the problem with days blending I am constantly working on the wrong one.

The walk to the rock as been on hold since Friday as I just haven't gotten around to making it. Yesterday I missed the grocery store and so ordered a pizza. I had my usualm and then decided to spice it up with Jelepinos peppers. Tasted great but the last slice I had for breakfast I remembered to remove the peppers . They are tastey but just a bit much for breakfast. All and all not a bad week-end and looking forward to a great week. Thanks for Dropping by, always a pleasure to see you have dropped by.

Today blew by and I have no idea where the time went. The day started off cold and rainy and stayed that way nmost of the day. It stopped raining and I got outside and dida few little chorses. started work ofn the raspberry plant plot and getting the fence material ready. Mark and I shall construct a fence from old pallets that we will cut in half. The plants took a bit of a beating last summer as the local dogs like walking through them for some reason.

Things take me longer to do than the used to but i managed to get my water and started removing the sod from around the raspberries. I think that removing the grass will help the plants grow and will reduce my work keeping things trimed.

The snow in our area is just about gone and a couple of really hot days would dry things up nicely. The gravel path I laid last year really helped in the one area and we may deepen and extend it this year. Looks like this year I have come out on top of Pump wars  and managed to keep the inside of the kitchen dry. A bonus that. I remember garys old place and every spring his bedroom would floood and they bult pallet walk ways so they could reachthe dry [part of the house. I laughed and he told me it as for only a couple of weeks in the spring.

Hal has agreed to run me out to the river topaddle tomorrow and if Patrick and Naomi are unavailable I will take him up on it. I ill do a little work on the yaks in the morning and be ready to rolll by noon towards open water. Things are looking up. Cheers Greg and thanks for stopping by.