Yes I have been scolded enough to guilt me into starting to post again.  Sheesh!!!!

Life has been a little overwhelming the last few months and I have had a severe case of writers block.  I just didn't seem to have it under the hood.  Not that there wasn't anything going on there has been lots and lots.  But that is all old news now and most of it I can't even remember.

You will notice that there have been no Black Fly reports for two reasons.  It's either raining or the black flies are too bad to sit outside.  Training with the wine continues though just in case it ever gets nice enough to sit outside.

I opened up this morning and am now sitting looking out the window thankful that I am working and not camping in anything especially a tent as the rain is pouring down again.  Thank goodness we live in a big sand box up here or we would all be wearing that fashionable footwear called rubber boots.

It is nice to see the summer people back.  It shows that life goes on not matter what. 

Our music started up on Saturday nights on the long weekend in May so if you find yourself bored on Saturday evenings come on out and join us from 6:30 - 9:30.  There is a lot of great local talent around.

If your are up this weekend don't forget the yard/bake sale at the Community Centre in Lake St. Peter.  Lots of good stuff and for a good cause. 

Well that's all that the creative juices can come up with this early in the morning.  I will be more diligent in my duties to keep you all informed about the goings on up here.  I don't know where April went and now I'm told that it is July already.  What the heck!!!

Think summery thoughts.  See you soon.
Cheers
Nancy

When I grow up I want to be a fridge repair guy.  My fridge at the house (only two years old) and the Pepsi fridge at the diner both broke.  So I called the repair people.  Two separate repair guys showed up and told me that my fridge was broken.  No shit buddy,  that's why I called you.  They both said that I needed a new fridge.  So see what a great job that would be.  No sweat, no problem.  Now I also learned something else this week.  The fridge that you pay a lot of money for shows up at your door a lot sooner than the one that is coming for free.  It's been three weeks now and when I finally called Pepsi they were shocked and didn't even have a record of the work order.  Again what a great job, you don't even have to be responsible.

Now on to serious matters.  If you are coming up to put in your dock before the black flies are out, ooops too late.  They hadn't been too bad up until yesterday when we had that rain in the morning after that look out.  I took the dog out for a walk about 7:30 and didn't get very far before I turned around to come home.  However he did chase a deer into the woods so when he came out we went home.  He never catches up to them and wouldn't know what to do if he did.  I think he just wants someone to play with.  So no more dark clothing for me for a few weeks.

My roof is on hold until the hydro comes through with a disconnect order.  Everything was going well until Hydro One had to get involved and then the wheels fell off.  If anyone has pull with Hydro One PLEASE let me know who to call.  They want their money up front before they do anything and when you give it to them they don't do anything.  If you ran a small business in such a sloppy manner you wouldn't have a business!!!

This Saturday is our annual paddle down the Papineau Creek.  It is sure to rain, it usually does.  But the drinks taste the same whether you are wet or dry.  I usually end up wet even if it's not raining.

Oh speaking of getting wet I have had two sets of people in this week that have been in for a swim already.  Brave souls.  These are not people that live here to know that two weeks ago there was still ice on the lake.  I'll will be a while yet.

This is a great community we live in.  If you see green garbage bags along highway 127 it is all local residents doing the annual highway clean up.  They do a great job.  Most are from Mink Lake and Boulter Lake.  So my hat's off to all who have traveled their kilometer of highway cleaning up.  So people think the next time you have an empty coffee cup etc and keep it in the car until you get where you are going.

Well that's it for now.  I'm off to town blah, blah, blah so that I can get back early.

I hope that some of you can make it up for the weekend now that spring has sprung. The trees and flowers are coming out quickly and everything looks much nicer.

Back after the weekend.
Cheers
Nancy

I hate to start off whining but whine I must.  The spring peepers are back.  Bless there little hearts they can not be an endangered species.

Spring peepers are nocturnal.  And they start there wonderful little peeping sound early in the evening a sure sign of spring and it continues ALL NIGHT LONG or at least until four am.  Then you get the 5:30 wake up call from the geese.  Now all geese do is eat and poop all day is there any reason why this must start at 5:30 am!!!  To add to the situation the big guy had to leave for work at 4 am with a small dose of TSN just before leaving because you never know what may have happened overnight.

I'm not much of a morning person,  I'd like a nap in the afternoon and I'm in bed by 10 pm so I really haven't found the time of day when I shine but I know it's not the morning.  I have had to open up a number of days this week before 7 as well as a day trip to Toronto thrown in to make life interesting.

Needless to say with my injured arm, peeping peepers and honking geese I may be a little crankier than normal this weekend.  Don't hide the wine!!!  At least the big guy is working away after this week so I won't have to deal with the 4 am departures all summer.

Speaking of wine I did have a little sip on the deck this week.  The black flies haven't started yet but the mosquitoes are getting quite friendly.

It is so nice to see it daylight until almost 8:30 a sure sign that spring must be here.  All the snow is gone from most places.  There is still some in the bush though.  ATV trails are all usable now.  We were out last Saturday and had a great ride.  Still lots of water.  I learned two things last week, 1-I need new rubber boots and 2-I need a firmer stopemfloppem.  My feet were soaked from leaky rubber boots and the girls were exhausted from all of the bouncing around.

I have been asked about rescheduling the ATV run.  I will probably wait until the fall.  I have a lot going on in the next few weeks.  I don't want to do it in June with the black flies and folks are too busy in summer with family things. I will post when I have a date.

You will notice the next time you are by that I am having a new roof put on the diner.  That is when Ontario Hydro shows up to do their part.  You may have noticed the leaky ceiling inside the diner, well that will be fixed along with the outside.  I am looking forward to the improvement.

Pretty quiet now for a while.   There is not much going on, but you can see the traffic increasing and lots of building has stared.  So that's it for now and probably for the weekend.

Stop by if you are in the area.
Cheers
Nancy

It was a very rude awakening this morning to wake up to snow again!!!!!  Rain most of all day yesterday then snow.  When will it ever end so that spring can arrive.  It's sunny and lovely now but there is still snow on the ground.  Grrrrr

The loons have been spotted on Mink Lake so maybe they know something that we don't know or maybe they are just as shocked as the rest of us.

Bancroft and the surrounding area is getting back to normal.  The waters are ebbing and there is less flooding.  The schools that were closed are back in today and all the business in town are back open again as is the main street.

All of the washouts on lake roads have been repaired at least temporarily so you can get to your cottage.  Your driveway might be another story but at least you can get there.

The geese have been squawking and frolicking in the pond next door for a couple of weeks now.  They start at about 5:30.  But things have been very quiet the last day or two.  Hmm.  There may have been some shinanagins going on.  There were only eight last week but there may be 38 in a few weeks!

Once again a reminder that I had to cancel the mud run for this weekend.  All those bikes would ruin the snowmobile trails and you can't get through the secondary trails well enough.  Sorry.

On a sad note the young burn victim, Austin Chapleau passed away last night after complications from his injuries.  Our small community is all very saddened by this and from all the posts on Face book everyone is feeling a little more grateful for all that we have today.  The family still has a long road ahead of them.

Nothing more to chat about today.  Lets hope that the nice weather stays as little green things are popping up in the garden. Don't know what they are but they are popping anyway.

Back soon
Cheers
Nancy

Mother nature has snapped and lost it.

We have major flooding everywhere, roads washed out and generally crappy weather.  It is still snowing off and on all day after yesterdays terrible downpour. 

Mink Lake is washed out in three places, Papineau Lake Rd is washed out on both ends.  Hwy 62 was closed all day yesterday (almost 24 hours) with a washout north of Birds Creek and Hybla Road is closed at 62 from flooding.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Thereare many, many more places.

Lake levels are higher than they have been in over 25 years.  The York River is rising 4 cms every hour today.  The parking lot at the LCBO and Legion in Bancroft is closed off because the water has risen over the break wall.

I have never seen anything like it.  Every little pond and stream is bursting over the edges.  The water at the dam in Whitney is running over top of the structure and it has taken out the bridge on the rail bed just outside of Whitney.  The little hotel in Whitney is completly flodded out.  Mckenzie Lake had the culvert flooded out at the hydro sub-station closing that road also.

So if you have waterfront property you have a much smaller front yard now. 

I guess it goes without saying that I have had to cancel the ATV mud run for next weekend.  There is still way too much snow in the bush, the water holes are far too deep and all those bikes on the snowmobile trail would really do some damage to it.  The secondary trails are not travelable.  There is too much ice and snow.  The guys went out for a little ride today just to check and were not able to get very far. 

Also with the temperatures at zero and colder it would not be fun.  I wouldn't go out in that and mark the trail and I wouldn't expect anyone else to.  It takes three people two days to mark the trail and if I was one of them I would be one whiney, unhappy camper when I got home. 

On a possitive note there are multipule fund raisers this weekend for a young man that was badly burned in a grease fire.  The Moose FM had a radioathon on Friday and raised $30,000.00 in five hours.  Pretty good for a small community with a high unemployment rate. Vance Motors raised $1,000.00 in one day cleaning cars.  A dance is being held tonight and a bingo, silent auction, bake sale Sunday.  Austin Chapleau was cooking dinner for his younger siblings when the grease started on fire.  He slipped with the flaming grease and suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to 50 % of his body.  He has had five surgeries so far in three weeks.  He is only 15 years old.  This really is a great place to live.

Let's hope that the weather smartens up and we finally get some spring.  I am getting tired of winter.

As ever the optimist I wonder if this cold spring will mean less black flies or will they just hang on until August because they will be getting a late start. Something to ponder over a glass of wine I think.

That's it for now.  Back next week with better news I hope.

Cheers
Nancy

Here I go lying again. I said that I would be back on Thursday and here it is Saturday all ready. 

The restaurant hasn't been that busy but I have been and I don't know what I have accomplished yet.

The rail bed is under about a foot of water in most places but believe it or not there are still sledders out there.  There is a group meeting at the Ripples on Baptiste today for some late season fun.

The sun is beautiful and the days are great.  Some of the snow is melting away but not all.  We went out to visit a neighbour on the ATV last night and had a little trouble getting through the snow in the front yard but got stuck in the same tracks when we got home.  Oh well at least you know no one will steal the bike when it is stuck in the snow.  That's a job for later today.  My ATV is still safely tucked away in it's shed with three feet of snow piled up in front of the door, so it may be a long time before it gets out.

At great personal risk to myself I have decided to do a black fly report early this year.  I will be digging a couple of lawn chairs out of the garage and  I can be found on the back deck with a glass of wine this afternoon to see how long it takes before the black flies send me in the house.  I am inviting a friend over for moral support because you can't risk some of these challenges alone.  I will report back.

Oh by the way Hi Dave!!!

It's nice to see some of the summer people brave the snow and trek into the cottage.  That is as sure a sign of spring as the first robin.

That's it for now.

Back later.Cheers
Nancy

OK so they have officially stopped grooming but they have not stopped riding.

We had two sledders in today that had ridden up from Benoir Lake. Now they left their sleds over on the other side of the road to come in for lunch but they still came in. Trails are still good but so is the weather.  It hasn't snowed much this week and even if it does it will not improve things much.

So it may be all over but the crying.  If you are coming up for the weekend you can still putter around the neighbourhood and play.  The days are great and there is still lots of snow.  Great for keeping the drinks cold in "the big fridge".  There is nothing like a snowbank outside the back door to keep the frosty beverages cold.

Here's a shout out to Doug and Pete (the old fart).  I just wanted to let you know that Rod was in today.  I opened a brand new bottle of red wine for him and there is still lots left for you two.  Good thing I drink white or you might be out of luck again!!!

I will be back with a weather report for the weekend on Thursday.  We will be open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday with music on Saturday night from 6:30 to 9:30.

Hope you can make it in.

Going home for dinner in a bit, just finishing up with the last customers.  What kind of an idiot can burn dinner in a crock pot-Oh wait that was me.  So now for plan B for dinner.  I'm thinking Doritos and wine but hoping it's something better when I get home in a little while.

Back later
Cheers
Nancy

I just got home and its STILL snowing.  There is at least an inch and is still coming down

The groomers are out again and the stakes are still on the lakes.

The daytime temps are awesome. Cold enough to keep the snow good mild enough to be nice.  Since it doesn't get dark until after7:00 you can ride forever.

I'm doing this on my iPad and its a pain in the butt so that's it for tonight  My Internet at the house sucks.

Hope you can make it up for one last ride.

Cheers
Nancy

No time to dally I have snooker in an hour.

I can't say more about the trails and the grooming.  We had so many riders in today and they were happy, happy, happy.

All of the trails in the MLSS system were groomed by this morning.  We had two guys in that had ridden to Pembroke yesterday and stopped in on their way home.  They said it just kept getting better all the way.  We had riders in from Haliburton also.

It just won't stop snowing.  You look out one minute and it's snowing like crazy, stops for a little while then back again.  It's nuts. 

We also had a few people playing hokey from work.  You know who you are!!!!!

So pack up, load em up and get on up and ride.

Cheers
Nancy

We were crazy busy with sledders today.  Poor Shelly was here by herself.  Thank you everyone for being kind to her.

I was told that the groomers have gone out and it is still snowing and fricking freezing.  So there are still riding days ahead.

If you lost a camera today call me and let me know what it was and I might give it back.  It looks pretty nice.  Phone 613-338-3043.  It was found at the end of Lake St. Peter on the trail heading to Snowasis.

That's it for now.  I just got back from an appointment out of town but I though I should bring on the news.

Cheers
Nancy