Heading out on our new adventure......

Our Location: Walmart Front Yard, Sudbury, Ontario

The last few days have been busy as we’ve been preparing to depart on Wednesday. A number of chores including propane regulator changed, laundry done, visits with various folks, and just a number of things to accomplish. 

These are the roads to and from friend Linda's Camp in the Providence Bay area, they include Blue Side Road with it's ONE LANE bridge, as well as the Manitou River on the Government Road.

Today Wednesday May 30 found our temperatures reaching 84F/29C on the first day of our newest adventure. To say it was hot would be an understatement but the humidity is what was so difficult to handle. The morning started warm at 6 am with temperatures at 57F/14C and just continued to rise. 

Welcome to the wide spot in the road that is Tehkummah. (Tack - a - ma)

We finally pulled out of our temporary spot on the green at 9:30 am after coffee time, a walk, showers and packing up, hooking up and heading down the hill. A quick stop at Dad’s house to say our see you in a month or so and we were off to the hamlet of Manitowaning to pick up my sister Jan as she’s coming with us this time. A stop at the local Information booth/used book stop to drop off some books, then on to sister’s house to load up her necessaries before pulling out around 10:15 am, leaving her partner Rick behind to mind the house, garden and cats. 

The small town of Mindemoya, we do laundry here.

The day would be a short one for us, our destination about 2 hours away. Only one stop for a top up of the Big Dog’s water bowl at $1.29 per litre (approx 4 litres to a gallon, you do the math). 

This turtle was crossing the green where we were parked. Only one we noticed.

We passed through Sheguaindah, Little Current, Birch Island, Espanola, McKerrow and past our usual turn off at Lively (Linda and Randy are at Camp) and motored to Sudbury and Mr. Walton’s front yard. We arrived before 1 pm and were unhooked and headed out to the blood lab, bank and Cosco for a quick couple of errands. We managed to have a quick lunch at Cosco before coming back home. 

The road during part of our travels today. Included as you can see are the blossoms just now showing themselves. Also the 'other' view but this one coming down Ten Mile Point hill toward the town of Sheguaindah.

The afternoon passed with us running all the fans, having all the windows and vents open seemed to keep the heat at least manageable but a shopping excursion into Walmart for some groceries and a few little things helped us cool off a bit. Sis and I  finally retreated outside to the shade of the Igloo as the heat inside wasn’t abating much but it was much cooler outside.

The town of Little Current located on the North Channel is the only gateway that allows one to drive onto Manitoulin Island. The Channel is accessible by a swing bridge that opens during the summer months, every hour on the hour for 15 minutes as needed to allow marine traffic to pass. Riley managed to snap a picture as we crossed the bridge, a picture of the North Channel that leads out to the waters of MacGregor Bay/Kilarney area. Another picture into the North Channel shows a large cruise ship docked at the down town docks of Little Current.

Here it is 7:35 pm and outside has cooled off some, hopefully the night time air cools off as well so we can sleep. As we sat outside Darren from Winnipeg, Manitoba sat with us and chatted away for an hour or so.  Darren and his wife Joan (whom we didn't meet) are parked behind us in a Class A motorhome. Around 9:30 pm we three ladies journeyed back into Walmart to just wander around and finally came home at 10 pm when the store closed for the night. The air is cooling off but it's still pretty warm. The three of us are finding it difficult to get to sleep. 

Highway 6 North, this is part of the drive between Little Current and Espanola. This particular stretch is called the Willisville Hill.

Thanks for stopping by. Today’s pictures are just some of the views out the window as travelled over the last few days including today. 

This is an extremely steep grade which finally gets us to the top of the above mentioned hill.

Until next time….. take care, be safe,

Deb

A busy week....

Our Location: Lakeshore Rd N, near South Baymouth, ON

The last number of days have been busy with various errands, jobs, and visits. We’ve travelled a bit to place like Espanola, Little Current, Manitowaning, Mindemoya and Tehkummah but we have yet to visit the little hamlet of South Baymouth. We will though and I promise to remember to take the big camera instead of just my phone.
 

Waiting for Dad at the bank in Little Current. Ahead is a small glimpse of the water front, which is the North Channel.

Tuesday found Riley and I securing a new family doctor in Mindemoya as our Hamilton family doctor retired and we don’t care for the new fellow. We’ve slowly been switching things to the north and have now joined with Dr. Maryna Harelnkava at the Manitoulin Health Clinic.

This is the local OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) building. No town cops, just provincial and Native ones on the Island.

Wednesday we travelled to Espanola with Dad as he wanted to do some grocery shopping, and we too managed to find a few items we could use. Isn’t that always the way though? You don’t need anything and $50 later you leave the store. The ride is about an hour and a half from where we’re located, we must cross the swing bridge in Little Current and continue along Highway 6 north bound through a couple of reserves.  We travelled through Birch Island Reserve, Whitefish Falls Reserve and weaved our way through the rocky outcroppings of Willisville and passed into Espanola just before 10 am. We managed to pass the time at a few stores, lunch and before we knew it we were home by 2:30 pm. Not a long trip but a nice slow pace and a few laughs along the way. 

My view of the morning sun as it greets the day.

Thursday  had Dad and I travelling to Mindemoya to have his 2 week old hearing aid back at the hearing clinic there. Seems they have to send it out to be repaired, and it’s only 2 weeks old. I’m not sure what to think about this little issue but we’ll see how long it lasts when it comes back. We did a few little errands while there in Mindemoya as well. 

This fella and his partner (she's in the ditch among the weeds) may be nesting in this location. Lots of marshy areas here.

Friday has us visiting Aunt Shirley during the morning and sister Jan on our way back home.  We also stopped at the local body shop where my long time friend Blaine did his magic on a stone chip we picked up over the winter travels. 

One of my morning walks, I walk up to the bend in the road which is where our gateway is located.

Taking a few minutes most days I’m also working on the oxidization issue on the nose cone and hopefully will have it finished by Monday and be able to apply some wax to bring the shine back. We shall see how that goes though. I’ve been walking a bit more now that we are back, although the mornings are pretty crisp still but I’m sure they will get warmer soon. The snow and ice are now all gone, with no signs of lingering any where. A walk over the back trail to the Sugar Shack didn’t find any Morrels in the spots I noted them last year and I think it’s too dry. Hard to believe with all the snow they had here but the ground is dry and crunchy in places. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow so hopefully we get a nice gentle rain over the evening and night. It would be most helpful. 

This is taken from our regular parking spot, as you can see we're quite a bit lower down.

Our Canadian long weekend is about over with today being Monday. Rain on Saturday had us doing some inside chores and reading. Sunday found me finishing up not quite all of the nose cone, about 15 more minutes should complete the oxidization removal and then I can apply a couple of coats of wax and be finished with that particular job. We have a few things planned for the week and hopefully a bit of warmth finds the wind/breezes that are constant here on the rock. Things are starting to show their spring colours more and more with daffs, tulips, crocus, and hyacinths showing their bright spring colours. 

We normally park right back there along those rocks and trees on the right. In fact you can see the outline of the out door mat we use toward the left of the picture.

With the long weekend comes the cattle into our little piece of real estate. They should arrive today and be here for summer pasture. All of the gates are now closed, and we will start being more aware of the things we leave outside. Cows will chew anything, we’ve been fortunate enough to only lose the occasional solar light to their destructive ways over the years so we can’t complain. 

You can see the lake from here, but we don't park this high. That's our fire pit down there below on the rock.

So there you have it folks. Nothing exciting but we’ve been busy. I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Quite the view from up here but we can't get this high with the Igloo.

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Walking across the old orchard you can see the back of my brother's house, my dad lives to the right behind that tall pine tree. You can barely see the David Brown Tractor on the extreme right but Dad's there splitting wood for next winter's heat.

 


Deb



(A note: I've found that posting a daily blog right now just isn't possible as my mornings are too full and the internet speed at night is disgusting so I'll be posting when I can, I'll try for once a week but who knows. I'll be catching up with everyone's posts at some point but I can't tell you when. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!!!!)



 

Getting caught up.....

Our Location: Lakeshore Rd N, near South Baymouth, Ontario

I know I've been a bit of a sluggard but oh well, that happens from time to time. We've been busy doing a number of things and are almost all caught up to where we should be now. 

This is the gate way to our summer location. If you look you can see the Igloo right in the middle of the picture. It's not our regular spot but it's a nice one for a few weeks.

The weather has been very nice, a bit cool and hovering around the freezing mark in the mornings but it reminds me of the southwest with it's vast change in temperatures, so in my mind, it doesn't seem as cold in the mornings as it would if we'd spent the winter in the southeast where the overnight temps don't dip too much from the day time highs. 

South Bay/The Narrows as this stretch of water is referred to. The far shore is the reservation known as Wikemikong or Wiky.

The ice has finally disappeared in the bay and the air is starting to heat up a bit more each day. We're happy to say that the leaves are popping, the flowers are starting to show themselves and the daffs are out in full bloom. The grass is greening up, the Manitoulin Flamigos (sand hill cranes) are squawking and strutting around and I've seen a robin as well. Spring is here. 

That is snow there folks, still a bit here and there where the sun can't really get at it to melt it yet. That driveway you see leads down to the view of the water in the picture above.

Managed to get a quick visit in with nephew Jason and his lovely bride Leah. It's always a treat to visit with them, they are adventurous young people and enjoy every season to the fullest but Jason's love is winter and his sledding adventures. Leah also enjoys them but quite to the same degree as Jason. They are currently planning a trip to BC in January which will see them hauling their sleds out there for a month. They plan on driving through the upper states to reach BC. Not a drive I would want to make in January but then again, being young has it's advantages I guess.

The Lion rock is just down the way from our gateway, and yes that is snow on the other side of the lion.

A few more aches and pains than I've had over the winter has slowed me down a bit but with the warmer weather I'm hoping they subside some as they usually do. Sometimes typing is not pleasant on the fingers/hands joints but I guess that's why they make the good drugs I just need to convince myself to take more of them I guess. Oh well, it is what it is and tomorrow is a new day. 

That is straight snowfall, not plowed or heaped.

Friday found us heading out to the little hamlet of Mindemoya, a very busy little place even in the winter. Mindemoya has a small hospital, numerous dr's, a grocery store, a laundromat, a Service Ontario (where we can get things like drivers licence, plates/sticker for vehicles, health card updates, etc. like a government one stop shop), a library, pharmacy, and a few other little shops and restaurants. We arrived with a lot of laundry, the renewal papers for the Dogsled's plates, and of course a list of a few groceries for us as well as Dad. I will say within 2 hours we were finished all of those chores and heading home. Not a bad morning at all. 

We usually park in the area in the middle of the picture where you can see that gravel like patch but instead are parked off to the right side of the picture on what we call the green, which is actually quite a bit lower than our usual spot.

We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday puttering around doing a few little chores and just enjoying the 'home' feeling. A bit of visiting, morning coffee time, and getting in a few little strolls as well. 

We're parked here for a couple of weeks instead of going to our usual spot, it was pretty soft further up the hill in a couple of spots.

So as you can see nothing exciting but quite relaxing and enjoyable for us. We are hoping to get another project in the works before too long but we'll need a carpenter for this particular job but I'll keep you posted as to how that goes. 

The birds catch the up drafts that seems to always be here and they coast for a long time. There are usually two or more but today only one was floating along. At the bottom middle of the picture is the road we take to get to our summer spot.

Today's pictures were all taken with my phone as I have been strolling along and revisiting some of my favourite spots. I promise more in the days ahead. Our summer location is located very close to the shore of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay in what we refer to as the pit. It was once a large and booming gravel pit but hasn't been used as such for about 40 years now and so no longer looks like a barren waste land of rock and mud. The views while not spectacular from this spot are still very nice in our opinion. 

We take the road  to the left that is tucked up behind that row of cedar trees in the middle of the picture to get to our location. The road straight up the middle of the picture is the interior farm road to Dad's house. This is the height we are currently parked at, not too high up but it's a pretty good view.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the visit. I still couldn't load pictures to the previous post of our trip through the Parry Sound/Sudbury area, so perhaps I'll just add them to an upcoming post. I will also be getting caught up with you my friends in the up coming few days.

From the dining room window you can see our usual spot which is about the middle of the picture. That road  in the foreground is actually quite steep and is also quite a bit lower than it looks. We can't come up that road with anything but an off road vehicle.

Until next time..... take care, be safe, 

For now this is our view from the steps facing north.

Deb