Dec 24/25 - Merry Christmas all

On the 24th ... it snowed. I caught another pike -- meal-sized -- and I cleaned 1/2 of the roof over the bedroom wing ... and I went to Mass.

Oh yes, and I blew the snow out of the driveway from the day before. I have to do that again today too.

We got a fair amount of snow yesterday. It was heavy and wet and all the tree limbs are bent way down at this point. The roof over the bedroom wing is fairly close to flat and at the back it gets no sun, so I decided to do some shoveling. After an hour I had not finished the one section, since it was now almost three feet deep ! I was exhausted and soaked from exertion.

I also chipped off some of the ice that's built up on the back deck right at the stairs. Is it thick ? Yes, it gets close to 10 inches thick at its worst. That's from the snow melt right before we got up here and it has continued to accumulate. Yesterday, with the temperatures hovering around freezing, the ice was softening up so I used the ice scraper and started cutting off blocks. There is still a lot there but I've made progress. The trick, of course, is to chip away at it without hitting the deck.

I'll do some more of the roof today, since I have the ladder in place, trying to reduce the accumulation before Saturday's thaw. I'll check Jason's & Donnie's too, but their roofs are steeper than this section over the bedrooms at our place.

The snow plows are fairly efficient -- clearing the road on command, so to speak. Ernie Bain has the chore of calling for the roads to be cleared and he did so a couple of days ago, calling for a plowing the morning of the 24th. Sure enough, a little after 9am -- just after I'd cleared our driveway -- along came the plow. Actually the timing was perfect because the snow blower was still warm and I had the end of the driveway cleared before he made the return trip from the end of the road. It takes him a few minutes at the end of the road due to the large turnaround there.

On the 22nd we got about 3 inches of snow and more was predicted for the 23rd. It's not worth plowing the road for 3 inches so Ernie waited until the predicted end of the next fall and cleared that. I'm not sure how much snow is on the road at this point from yesterday's accumulation. The horizon is lightening and I'll soon find out.

In these rural areas maintenance of the roads is subcontracted. A company by the name of Belanger has the contract here, doing maintenance on 522 from highway 69 to Tornados road, which is half-way to Loring. As part of that contract they also do any maintenance on the cottage roads, like Osprey. Oversight is ceded to a Local Roads Board -- in this case the Lost Channel Roads Board -- governed by three elected trustees from property owners and funded by the Ministry. An annual budget is set that covers road maintenance, snow removal etc. ... but the Roads Board does not actually "own" the road, nor can it hire/fire the subcontractor. Money comes from the Ministry comprised of taxes paid by local property owners and from general funds. There is an annual meeting at which a new board is elected by a show of hands of those present, financials to budget are presented and any new business, eg. assuming another road or doing major maintenance are presented to the property owners present. Last year there was a long discussion regarding logging.

One of the board members has resigned ... couldn't take complaints from the cottagers any more ... and the chair has asked me if I would take the position. I had indicated my willingness before ... so yes, I'll take the position. As of January 1, I'll be one of the three trustees on the local roads board. Unlike Illinois politics, I didn't have to pay anyone to take on this position ... but I, along with the other board members, will be subject to re-election next summer. Unfortunately there is no money involved ... and usually it's a push to get people to serve on the board. The year before last I had asked the Ministry rep at the meeting what the qualifications were for being on the board ... i.e. did I have to be a resident ... and the answer was no. ps ... my re-election budget will be zero -- but anyone is welcome to contribute ! Be assured that I'll find a use for any money that comes my way !

Today ... snow clearing ... fishing ... otherwise quiet. I should take some pictures before any wind picks up because the trees are coated with snow. The temperature has dropped -- from 0C at dinner last night to -10C now. I'm getting the -10C from the internet because I'm not getting an accurate reading from my outdoor sensor. The reason that I'm not getting an accurate reading is that Sandy shoveled the outdoor sensor in its ziploc into the snow bank yesterday. I guess that we'll find it in the spring ... I need to get one like Jason has and mount it on the wall. This one, if exposed to the weather, eventually takes on moisture and stops giving readings. In a ziploc it performs well, unless it's buried under a couple of feet of snow ... in which case it gives the ambient temperature inside the snow bank !

While in town yesterday I bought some more minnows -- Emerald Shiners -- we'll see how those perform compared to the suckers (they really are suckers, I'm not kidding) that I'm using now.

That's it ...