April 29 and the Ice has Taken a Beating...Hurray

Break-up is later than last year but it won't be long now. Craig is heading to Selkirk to bring back the Beaver probably on Wednesday. He'll park at the bridge and be able to give us an aerial report on the surrounding lakes.

Ice on Red Lake, Ontario, April 20, 2011

Hugh measured the ice today in front of our house. He was surprised to find only 10 inches of good ice with 5 inches of slush ice on top. I heard that someone put their 4 wheeler through the ice today. It seems the ice is going even thought it still feels cold and snowy around here.
Last year, Hugh and I landed on Howey Bay on the water on April 17th. I have to admit that there was just barely enough room and Hugh landed just to beat the record. However there is no sign of water at the same narrows today.

Maybe May 14th for break-up, but that's a wild guess.

Our Pilots are heading back to Red

It doesn't look much like spring yet, but this week Russ was headed to Red Lake, ready to get flying....but can he drive?
He did a complete 360' and 5 minutes later the salt truck came by.
He's here now and ready to fly...all he needs is some open water....heck, he'd fly on skis if we let him.




Here is his excuse.....pure ice on the main transCanada Highway.



Drive carefully, Tim and Amber, we're waiting for you.

Red Lake Spring Sledding

Nathan Herbert, a good friend of my kids, made this video of their Sunday entertainment. The driver, Chris, took a whole 6 seconds to make it to shore and out of the water. Amazing what you can do when you hit that cold water. He may have made it to the ice if he hadn't let up on the throttle when the goose flew in front of him. (the water comes forward and gets to the belt) With some drying out and a good mechanic the machine is none worse for wear.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday, Roseanne!

Spring is here

The days are much longer; the snow is disappearing; the ice is bare.

Hugh took off for Viking Island yesterday. He was dragging a boat with a small riding lawn mower for Viking Island. A WHAT? you ask...... Seems he used the wrong old boat. The keels dug into the ice, the broken transom scooped up wet snow. The ice, in spots, was so slippery that he got no traction. Check out his trail on the ice! However the ice was solid and there was snow on the portages. Last year at this time, the trails had no snow at all. I couldn't burn the brush piles where they sat because they were too dry. Break-up will be later than last year for sure. I figure sometime in early May; just for fun I'll say May 10. The season opens on May 21, the latest possible.

Count down to

Break-up begins.

Bald Eagles in the Nest on WebCam

Live TV : Ustream
This pair of Eagles are in Iowa somewhere, captured on a Web cam by the Raptor Porject.