A quick post with a few pics....

  

Our Location: 

Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Nothing new and exciting here on the Rock. We are back to work and back to our regular weekly schedule. Some visits, some catching up and a few more to get to before long, or at least we hope. A graveside celebration of life for Marion (dad's lady friend) last week was the only real thing of note in the past few weeks.  A few pics to share, random of course, but hopefully they are of some interest to someone.

I mentioned my dad was split wood, here are a few of the wood piles/stacks around his storage space.

Before photos of Jason & Leah's property...

After photos of the property, or should I say middle? Construction is always bad before it's good.

 

The mud has dried up and the dust is here, black flies have arrived, as have the mosquitoes which are abundant. On a happy note, the hummers are also back, we have 3 that fight over the feeders! I haven't planted any type of garden as yet, we have only been having warm days for the last 3 in a row now!! Yah.... We need rain but my rain dance didn't work, hopefully someone with more experience will do the fancy foot work! 

Smoke from forest fires turns the morning sun red.

Yeah, it has been frosty a number of mornings....

But spring sprung and the heat is now turned on.

We are happy to report all of our friends made it home, although some are heading back out on the next adventure! Happy travels Jim and Barb. 

Apple blossoms are out at the old orchard.

And below the old orchard too.

A birthday wish to Aunt Shirley, who celebrates in the up coming days. She is my dad's sister. Happy Birthday Auntie!! 

Across the road from brother Rick's house.

Across the road from Dad's house, the morning sun is just getting above the trees.

A beautiful sign of spring, The Lady Slipper!

So there you have it, all caught up! I am hoping to get a few more scenic photos in the weeks to come, we will be travelling to other towns within a two hour drive and I hope to showcase some of the beauty we are fortunate enough to see on our travels. 

The Honeysuckles are also showing their colours.

The sign we had made in Mexico.

A quick glimpse after all the winter stuff was removed. Shelves and a clean up have been accomplish since the pic. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are having a fantastic summer folks!!

Until next time....

Take care, stay safe, 

Deb

A rainy Sunday......

 

 

Our Location: 

Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario

 

Yesterday morning was busy with getting The Cabin cleaned out and almost all of our things put back where they should be now that winter has passed.  Another half a day and all will be finished in the settling in process. 

A fungus growing on a tree stump.

I would say it was time for this one to come down.

 

 

Normally that is flat and green, not brush or trees, no mud and muck, just green.

Here too, a small road but usually green with no logs, mud or muck.

 

Rain last night and again today has put a damper on outdoor activities but there isn't much we can do about it. I did manage a walk this morning after coffee time and with my umbrella I managed to stay mostly dry. Things are changing a lot here in our summer spot since nephew Jason has purchased the lake front property across from the lower gates. He has been doing some serious deconstruction/demolition over there and all of the trees/stumps removed from there have made their way across the road into the pit below us. I'm sure they have a future use but for now they are just 'there', some are limbed, some are not. I have no pictures of the lakefront area but I will get some and post them in the weeks ahead.  

If you look high on the right you can just see the hint of the Igloo in the trees.

Can you see us better now? It is raining and dreary today.

That little splash of white way up there is the Igloo.

It appears as if only  a few of the bloggers I follow are still making their way homeward, everyone else seems to have arrived safely. I'm happy to know you are all safe and sound, and enjoying the home dirt. Those of you that didn't travel, well it's nice to know you are home and safe and sound as well!! 

 

 

It is usually a skinny gravel path, and lots of grass on each side.

If we were not so long we could take that road but we are too long to make the hill.

Two roads diverged......we took the one less travelled. On the left! The right was just muck.

 

The pics today are mostly for myself, they show the mess in the bottom of the pit. It usually isn't like this but oh well, it's a pit, what do you expect? 

 

It was soft but there is solid limestone under there.

It wasn't as muddy as the other road. 

We eventually  made our way to this corner, we headed up that hill to the left.  Four wheel lo gear and off we went.

 

 

Looking back at the road we didn't take due to the muck.

 

Things are picking up quickly here, Riley and I both head into the motel tomorrow for our first return day of work this season at My Friends Inn. It is a little Mom & Pop place in the town of Manitowaning ( Man-i-to-wan-ing), a mere 15 to 20 minutes from the ferry terminal. We also return this week to cleaning house for an older couple in the community. She called my dad a few times to find out just when we would be home and to have me call her as soon as we arrived. We dropped in for a visit yesterday while on an errand to pick up our mail and to visit my Uncle and his lovely Bride in the little town of Tehkummah. I see some of you shaking your head.... Tack-a- ma. Pretty easy huh? 

 

It is a fairly steep climb but it's pretty dry up here.

We refer to this as the green. It is about 2/3rds of the way up to the our level. 

We end up on the same level as the brown crest of the hill ahead.

And now you can see us up there. It's much drier up here than down below. Lots of rain over the last few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate all the wonderful comments in the last post. It's nice to be back and we are looking forward to the summer!! Again, I will try to post a few times over the summer but no promises. Take care everyone. 

 

Until next time...

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb

 

 

We are home.....

 

 

Our Location: 

Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Our time at the farm was wonderful, time spent getting to know Judi and time playing with Winnie, and before we knew it, it was time to head out. We left Buttercup Ridge on Thursday morning around 9:30 am. We were on two lane roads for over half of our travels, lots of hills, winding, humpy and bumpy. We passed through a number of smaller towns before finally popping out at Orillia, Ontario where we climbed onto the ON 400 North. A nice big highway with very little traffic for the size of the road. We enjoyed the drive. Although I will say it rained off and on the entire day, a few sunny breaks, temps up and down, so typical Northern Ontario spring day. We ended our night about 20 minutes south of Sudbury, still on ON 400 N at the MTO Truck Inspection pull off. We arrived around 3 pm, levelled up a bit and called it a day. 

 

Small towns are pretty much the same everywhere.

ON 400 North near Orillia, Ontario.

Spring is not quite here yet but you can see the hint of it.

 

We are now on Hwy 6 south, no sign of spring on this stretch at all.

 

This morning we climbed into the Dogsled and started running at 7:45 am, I know because I looked. Within a short time we were around the city of Sudbury and heading west along the Trans Canada Highway. Within the hour we were stopped at the mall in Espanola, where we purchased a few last minute things, managed to chat with an old friend for a few minutes and empty the Igloo's tanks. 

 

Hwy 6 is pretty twisty in places, lots of hills too.

Our piece of the north has lots of rocks and evergreens!

There are a lot of little lakes, some with some decent fishing.

There is a beauty here.

 

We were back on the road by 11:30 am, this time heading south. Within a short time we could see the Rock ahead and soon rolled across the bridge that spans the North Channel. We touched down on the Rock just before the noon hour. I know that too because I looked. From there we just let the Big Dog have his way and he rolled along toward home dirt with a big grin on his grill. 

 

One of the many little inland lakes.

Once we cross that bridge we are on the Rock.

We are getting closer.

 

 

The town docks at the  harbour in Little Current.

 

The North Channel.

 

A stop at Dad's, he wasn't home but not to worry we knew he wouldn't be. He has been very worried about the mud and water in the bottom of the quarry and whether or not we could get through. It had drained and dried up considerably in the last few days but we wanted to check it out before pulling in the gate.  We left the Dogsled and Igloo in his driveway, climbed on his quad and headed down to the inside road to our spot. Well it was muddy, and there was a lot of water but we weren't too worried. We slipped across the road to see the renovation in progress at Jason's and just lucked out, he was there working. We chatted for a bit and soon Riley and I were headed off once again. A spin up the hill insured it wasn't washed out and soon we were back at Dad's. The quad away, he still wasn't home and so we headed off to give it a try. We managed to get through the mud in 4 wheel drive and stopped at the bottom of the hill to engage 4 wheel lo and before long we were up the hill and getting turned around. I managed to get us turned on the first try. It took a few more to get backed in right where I wanted, the rock is just in the wrong place and we can't move it. 

 

We call this Ten Mile Point hill. The look out is at the top. I'll show pics from there another tim.

We turned off Hwy 6, and we are now about 2 miles from our end destination.

My dad and brother live on this road.

Our bare summer spot. It's a bit tight but we manage to turn up here.

 

We had feet down, and truck backed into it's parking place, lunch heated and dished up by shortly after 2 pm. A very good day for us!! We will be here until further notice. I promise to try to blog more than I usually do during our summers here but I can't promise. Today's pics were taken yesterday and today. Take care ALL. 

 

Perhaps this summer we will get our little cabin sided.

The Dogsled and Igloo have made it to the top of the hill. We need to turn around now.

We are parked and level here at home. In a couple of days we will start unpacking our summer things.

 

Thanks for stopping by, we wish you all a very good summer. 

 

Until next time....

 

Take care, stay safe, 

 

Deb