Weather-wise we have had a nice week, freezing at night but nice during the day. Lots of sun but the breeze of the lake is still pretty chilly and staying that way until the ice is gone. The big lake takes a while to thaw and until the ice is way out of the bay the breeze from the lake is pretty cool.

I booked my flight to the Big Smoke for Monday morning and will return to the Knife on Tuesday evening. I have a medical to do they like to keep a close watch on the new kidneys which is a good thing. I got really lucky with the timing as my kayak shipped from Hamilton,ON  yesterday and should arrive in Edmonton on Sunday we hope. I can check when I arrive if it is there Hawk and I will move it to the areoport and send her north. Things will go well and next week after months of waiting, I can put her into the water and see how the float is and start the fine tuning. These boats are a very tight fit when set up correctly and they need to be so that you have good control. They are very touchy and you don't have the forgiving volume of playboats and creekers to give you some slack. This boat will take a while to even begin to master but will greatly improve my regular boating skills and they need all the help they can get. Should end up with Abs of steel, HaHa.

The Yellowknife river is open and I will try to get a boat there tomorrow or sometime this weekend. I spend all my money on boats and forgot that sometimes you have to haul them. That means as nice as the bicycle is at times it just dosen't cut it.

We are starting to see a little open water around the lake shore in places and if the weather stays like this it won't take much longer. I know that there is a large group of folks waiting to sink their paddles in. Tomorrow I will begin my throwbag pratice routine which helps keep that handy skill sharp. I will fire up the rope access set up this week and that should be interesting. Just a little basic ascending practice up and down the ropes , I have to improve my Croll use. Great little device that baffles me at every turn. However I know where I screwing up and will fix it this time. Greg

I'm glad to say that my new kayak has left Ontario and is I hope westbound as I type. Ed got the boat onto the bus today and we expect it in about four days. I arrive in Edmonton around 09:00 hours Monday morning and will be there until Tuesday evening. I should be able to pick the boat up with Hawk and deliver it to the air freight office for shipment home.

We had our weekly meeting with CERTNWT and all went well progress is slow but sure and thats what counts. Flash cards seem to work well and the crew is starting to remember them so I will continue to use them. I admit that it helps keep everything fresh in my mind. I find a few spelling errors and minor flaws in the cards and I will redo these cards and correct the errors, why not I made them.  Training is slow but sure and they will eventually get there I hope.

The Virtual walk program today was acting funny I was allowed to add my steps but the map of highlighted trail did not appear. I added 17,000 steps today and that puts me well on the way to Princeton but it is uphill all the way.