Here it is the end of May already. Where do the days go?

The second season of the year is now upon us. That would be Yard Sale season. On my drive to Bancroft on the long weekend Saturday there must have been 15 yard sales just on the highway alone, never mind all the side roads. If you stopped at all of them you wouldn't get home until after dark.

The long weekend was great for the cottagers. We weren't too busy at the diner because the weather was so beautiful why would anyone want to go out to eat.

It is the first May long weekend that you could sit at a bonfire without a ski jacket!!!!

This past weekend was just as beautiful. But who ever says that a few days of good hot weather will kill off the black flies must have been smoking something and not sharing with the class. We have had really hot weather and the little buggers are still here. Not as bad as some years but here all the same. Even the deer flies are out.

I was able to sit out on my back deck on Sunday with the Star crossword for a long time and not be pestered by the flies. It was great. Then my daughter and son-in-law showed up with the granddogs and all hell broke loose. Running around in the long grass (that needs to be cut) stirring the little rascals up. Then after a trip to the pond for a swim they brought the deer flies home with them. There is nothing like a wet black dog to attract deer and horse flies. We weren't long heading inside then.

The Walmart coming soon sign on the Lodge property has created a lot of buzz. It's amazing how gullible some people are. It even caught the attention of the Bancroft Times last week. There was an article complete with a picture. It has been a lot of fun though. Kudos to Warren and Norm for the good idea and to Jeff for the sign.

Speaking of the lodge property, the logs arrived today for the new house being built on the property. It should look really good and be finished in no time.

Someone had the boat launch at Dog's Point on Lake St. Peter blocked off by the township with big boulders preventing access to the water. It only took one person to make the change with no consideration for others that do not have lake front property. You could still walk down but that was about all. It only took one day to have the situation reversed. Kudos to Ted for getting things rolling. He only had to get a memo with two signatures to have it reversed. In less than 48 hours he had at least 50 with more to follow. The little people still have a say. YEA!!!

Bark Lake still has not been filled up because of the low water levels. It is an amazing site. There are docks that are 50-100 feet away from the water. Some are 10 feet and more off the ground. It will be interesting to see if the level is ever up this year. I feel badly for the business that are on the river and are being held hostage by the weather.

Not much else to report. I'll do a black fly update later in the week or early next week.

Cheers
Nancy

It's a Feeding Frenzy

It is 28 degrees this morning as I am writing this. As far as I'm concerned it can stay like this until November. The week has been beautiful. However with the nice spring weather also come those little black buggers!!

I went out to change the letters on my sign at the Highway and WOW they were very hungry. I got quite a few bites just being out that short time.

So here begins my touching story. Last year an old guy was bitten all over his bald head when we were digging leeks. He was very itchy and he asked me to rub Whiskey all over his head. Now I thought that this was alcohol abuse buy none the less it was his rye not mine, he could do what ever he wanted with it. I poured a small bit in my hands and rubbed it all over his head and presto he wasn't itchy any more. So in my infinite wisdom I though I should try the same when I came in this morning. I got thinking that it wouldn't be a good idea to be serving customers smelling like the rye bottle so I tried a little Vodka behind my ears and on my arm. Go figure-it works!!! Again this may be alcohol abuse but it is better than being itchy when you have nothing else to fix the problem.

I wondered how a person would do in a breathalyzer if you did not drink the rye, just dabbed it on but stunk like a booze hound.

So my advice is everyone should come up north this weekend and help us feed the little critters. That sounds like a good plan. If this really hot weather keeps up hopefully they won't last too long. They were our really early this year because of the early spring.

We did our annual paddle down the Papineau Creek last weekend. A good time was had by all, drinks were served and not one canoe flipped (it's usually mine) this year for the first time in 5 years. We did have one spring a leak. God bless duct tape.

Sadly though I did not finish dry. I slipped into the creek getting out of the canoe while trying to visit mother nature. It goes without saying that after my dip in the creek there was no need to go into the bushes after all. Well what would a trip down the creek be without a few water fights and at least one dunk in the creek.

There is a new sign up at the Algonquin Lodge property advertising the new Wal Mart and Harvey's coming in 2012. It is causing a lot of buzz and has been very amusing for all the folks around the diner these last couple of weeks. I even had a nit wit from the Bancroft Times come in to ask about it. It must be a slow news week.

It's nice to see the cottagers back for another season but no ATVer's are around this year. Is it the gas thing or just too much on the go? Riders are really down this spring.

Well that's it for today. Back soon.

Cheers
Nancy

It rained on my parade-AGAIN!!!

After three months of no rain and dusty trails, when does it rain. Of course-on the day of my ATV run. I've been told that if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all.

The run went well even with a small turn out. Only about 55 entries. At least it didn't rain all day just for a short time in the afternoon.

Here's a shout out to Jim Hodder from Barrie. He won first prize in the run and donated all the money back to the ATV Club. What a nice thing to do. I wouldn't have thought of that. They were thrilled with the donation.

Another shout out goes to Norm Stringer who upon receiving is winnings for second place immediately bought the house a round of drinks. Yea Norm. I'll let him win cash more often.

Just a little bad news. The black flies are back. They are not too hungry yet just swarming and being annoying.

So far the fishing has been great for everyone that has been out, except for Norm S. He has been out a dozen times and comes home with nothing but a sore butt. Better days ahead Norm. I can say what I want about Norm, he doesn't have a computer so he will never know if I don't tell him.

Well I'm taking most of today off so I end now so that I can go and find something exciting to do.

Back soon
Cheers
Nancy

Who turned off the heat!!!!

It's been a while since I've updated and I am getting some flack. Granted I was away for a week but I have been back for quite some time now.

After a couple of weeks of really great weather the temp has dropped like a stone today. -5 this morning. Still sunny though so every one is cheerful.

DON'T FORGET OUR ATV MUD RUN ON SATURDAY, MAY 1. It should be a fun day. Good trails, good prizes, good food, good people.

It has been pretty quiet lately. There are not even ATVer's around. I wonder if it is still the gas thing or are they just not out yet? The trails are in good shape although a little dusty because of the lack of rain.

There has been a fire ban on for about 3 weeks now. No one remembers a ban starting this early. Maybe that means a hot summer. It also means those little black buggers will be around soon.

We have had a few wild turkeys in the neighbourhood this spring. They show up every couple of days cleaning up the deer feed and bird seed that was left from the winter. I'm sure my neighbour across the pond will have them all in his freezer soon. He'd shoot anything that walked near his property.

There was a real bad storm on Easter Weekend, high winds, rain etc. etc. It caused two house fires on the same day and both burned to the ground. Fortunately no one was hurt in either fire and both foundations were saved.

Our new addition for this spring is an ice cream freezer. We will be selling ice cream cones this year. I am looking forward to this because it means I'll be buying new clothes to fit me after sampling the goods trying to get things right.

There is another mud run the week after mine, May 6 in Maynooth. It is a fund raiser for the Maynooth Mud Dawgs. They are the group that put on the mud bog for trucks in September. So if you can't get up to the diner run, try for the next weekend. Better still come to both.

We are still doing the music on Saturday nights. I have some new bands booked so there will be new faces.

Well I'd better get back to work. Or at least make it look like I'm doing something.

Back when the nagging starts again.
Cheers
Nancy

Just when we thought that spring was just around the corner Mother Nature showed her crabby side and dumped some snow on us last night. Now not enough to get excited and load up the sleds but snow all the same.

It was starting to get so nice.

The good weather has brought out the ATV's and a nice weekend should get people up to the cottages this weekend. The lake was nicely breaking up when it got so cold on Thursday and Friday that it froze over again. It should start melting again now because it is only about 2 -3 degrees.

The Porterville Diner had it's 15 minutes of fame in the Toronto Sun last Friday. Mark Bonokoski did an article about us and Jane Seary, a lady with a fabulous voice that sings with two friends often on Saturday night. It was a great story that can be found at torontosun.com/colums. Click on Mark's column. In my little world that was pretty exciting.

Other than that it's still pretty quiet here. I will be away for 10 days starting this Friday so there will be no witty banter during that time on the blog.

I hope you all have a nice Easter or Passover and get to do just what you want to.

Don't forget the ATV Mud Run on May 1.

Cheers
Nancy

Spring must be just around the corner because the March Break is over. It was pretty quiet. Not much snow left so there weren't many cottagers around. Great weather though.

The snow is almost gone. Lots in the shady areas and where the plow left banks. A few buds have started and some unidentified stuff is sprouting out of the "garden".

We didn't get the big dump of freezing rain and snow predicted for yesterday. Once again the weather person gets paid for being totally off base.

It's nice to see some of the summer people heading back up north. The ice is still on the lakes but if the great weather keeps up it won't be long going.

The good news is no bugs yet. There are a few moose roaming around the village this month.

The Algonquin Lodge property finally sold. It closes this week. It will become a private residence with the cabins still being rented out. Another chapter in the book closed.

Other than that nothing new or earth shattering to report.

Don't forget the ATV Mud Run on May 1st at the diner. It's always a good day.

I'll be back next week with all the news that's fit to print.

Cheers
Nancy

Well this weekend may have been the last. There is still good snow in the bush and for the most part the rail bed is good. The problem is getting to the trail. The side roads are as clear as the highway is.

The beautiful days have really taken the snow down. On Friday you couldn't see the parking lot for snow. By Sunday we are down to the pavement on most of it.

The stakes were taken on Lake St. Peter and Baptiste Lake this week, so the lake crossing is closed officially.

We had a few sledders in yesterday but none today.

One last sad and touching story. Brian, Jim and a buddy went on their annual trip up north. Jim had all the bus routes planned out so that when the inevitable happened he would be ready. Well you guessed it he blew up his sled AGAIN, this time between Cochrane and Smooth Rock Falls. A 50 mile tow to civilization ended in not a bus ride the the train back to New Liskard for the truck to pick up the dead sled. Now he was warned a few weeks ago to take his wife's sled as a back up. But did he NOOOOO!!!!! I think that this might be the last straw. Towed in four times in the last six or eight weeks on top of all of last years repairs. He may just retire to Skidoo and switch brands.

Not to worry Jim. It's almost time to get the ATV out you have so much better luck with that. Brian even sent me a picture of the dreaded tow to insert. If I was more computer savey I would share it with you but alas I just know enough to get myself in trouble.

The impending rain promised for the weekend may be the end of another sledding year. I will be back next week unless something earth shattering happens.

I started this on Tuesday and it is now Wednesday morning so I guess I'm finished. Thank goodness this stuff just saves itself so that I can find it later even when others have used the computer. Life is good.

If you are doing the St Paddys Day thing this weekend have a blast. If you are on the way to the cottage for March Break we will be here.

Back Monday.
Cheers
Nancy

Spring Riding At It's Best

This week has been great riding. Cool sunny days and cold nights.

On my way home from Pembroke last night I saw the groomer coming out of Barrys Bay heading into the bush to who knows where. The trail following beside Hwy 62 had been groomed the night before and there were not tracks on it yet. There were one or two bare spots on the trail to Barry's Bay but you would have no trouble going around them off the trail. There was lots of room.

I walked across the road this morning to check out the rail bed. It was freshly groomed well frozen and not a track on it.

This weekend may be rough on the trails but I don't think that we are through with snow yet.

Check in on Monday for and update after the weekend traffic. Let's hope it holds up.

We will see you if you are by.

Cheers
Nancy

The last two days have been second to none for sledding. Beautiful sunny days, cold nights to keep things frozen and well groomed trails.

It is hard to say what the weekend will bring with the warm sunny days ahead.

I just spoke to a rider that went from Lake St. Peter yesterday down as far as the Paudash Club House. He said the trails were great but some muddy spots are starting closer to Paudash.

Even though it is sunny today it is still quite cold.

The local club will continue grooming through the March Break (for those of us without school age kids that is til the 21) as long as the snow holds out. After that they will continue if it still snows.

It's still early today to know how the weekend will be, so if you need further information on conditions call us on the Hooterville Hot line at 613-338-3043. I may not get a chance to update tomorrow morning.

Let's hope things hold out for the weekend because it sure has been great this week.

Drop by if you are in the neighbourhood.

Cheers
Nancy

Another great sledding weekend up here in the wilds of Lake St. Peter. We had a substantial dumping of snow late last week that was well needed. I think that some of the locals have put a hit out on me for doing the successful snow dance. Some folks are getting tired of the snow. I am way too happy about it.

It would be nice to keep the snow through March at least the March break if we could. I must admit it was nice to see the sun out for a while today.

It is to get quite mild during the day this week but go below zero every evening. The rail bed was all groomed up nicely last night. It was well frozen before any traffic was on it.

It is pretty quiet today so conditions will stay mint. Mid week riding should be great this week.

There were a lot of long distance riders out this weekend. We had two guys that had ridden over from Gravenhurst among other places. Lots are riding from Dorset and there are many groups doing the RAP tour. You can tell that it is getting late in the season. The groups are getting smaller mostly twos and fours. Not so many large groups.

My touching story is about the guy a week ago that had just left the diner and the OPP were waiting for him on the other side of the trail. His sled was in the shop for repairs and a new windshield. He was given a new demo sled from the dealership to try out for the weekend. Sadly it didn't have a permit on it. He had all the paperwork from his own sled even the green paper from his permit. The cocky one was going to charge him with everything from trespassing to no permit and anything else in between. The final tally was reduced to $200.00. He was not too pleased. I know you should have a permit and all that. Who's responsibility should it have been, the dealer or the rider? Maybe he should have purchased a 3 day, if you can find one now. They are pretty hard to come by sometimes. None the less it was an unfortunate incident. Makes people angry at the police for possibly over reacting. Makes sledding too expensive for most people with extra expenses like that.

Well that's all the news that is fit to print. Back later in the week with the weather report.

Cheers
Nancy