Sunday August 31

Bonnie:  It was another long day but a wonderful Sabbath!  Bob gave an excellent talk on getting back to the basics. After church there was a surprise "party" for Patsy and I because of our birthdays!  Patsy's birthday was yesterday, I think, and mine is the 4th.  It totally surprised me!  Actually the primary president had brought the treats for one of the primary kids who ended up not being there. The treats were two cookies with ice cream in the middle.  They had to be eaten right away!! But somehow there was a card for both of us signed by the sisters in the Branch.  How they did that without us knowing is beyond me. Then, we visited with a brother who is in a home for the elderly. We took him for a walk and gave him some cookies to eat (some of the berry cookie bars I had made yesterday.)  He is so sweet. After that we tried to call several others, but could not make connections. The Voterro's asked us over for dinner so we ended the day there. The husband has Italian ancestry and the wife is French.  He made gnocchi from scratch. We had it with marinara. It was very good. It's always fun to talk to Sister Voterro. I love her accent. We actually got home before 8:00 tonight.

Bob: It quit raining about 7:30 this morning and hasn't rained since, but more thunder showers are scheduled for tomorrow. Tuesday through Thursday are supposed to be good though. Boat is empty of water right now, but looks like tomorrow I'll be bailing it again. Going to try fishing in the morning if the rain holds off for awhile.
Glad to get the church talk over. Have known for a while that President Jakob would have me speak before we left. Talked about the restoration of the church and priesthood. Did tell the story of Vince Lombardi and Jerry Kramer. Vince Lombardi once told his team that they needed to get back to basics. Then he held up a football and said, "Gentlemen, this is a football." Jerry Kramer immediately replied, "Coach, you're going too fast." I also took the opportunity to tell everyone about President Jakob falling out of the boat the first time he and I went fishing. They enjoyed that.

Birthday girls

Saturday - August 30

Bob: Not much happening today. Rained most of the day. When it stopped I went down and bailed out several boats for something to do. Tried fishing off the dock, but no luck. First-mate baked some delicious blueberry cookie bars. She also froze more blueberries.  We have 12 cups in the freezer, plus some for cereal and snacking in the 'frig. If we stay much longer I'll be needing some larger pants! Did watch West Virginia lose their opening football game to Alabama today. Spent the evening watching Hoosiers. Still think it is one of the best sports movies ever.

Friday - August 29

Bob: Out fishing this morning while Bonnie when to get a haircut. Got 1 pike in about 31/2 hours. Only had the one bite. Fishing is still slow. Only nice thing is the weather. Highs in the 60s, with sunshine and light breeze.
In the afternoon we went blueberry picking. Looking at the containers we used it looks like Bonnie out picked me 2 to 1. Glad I'm not picking berries for a living!
Bonnie and I went back out fishing after dinner. We went to Mountain Lake and trolled most of the way down the lake and about 3/4 of the way back up the lake and didn't get one bite. It started to sprinkle so we packed it in and headed back to camp. Cleaning blueberries now.
Once the logging company cuts all the trees out of an area the blueberries usually come back in 2 to 3 years. Pictures below show Bonnie picking and the area where we were.

Bonnie:  It's quite the job to wash and clean up the blueberries.  So far, we've got about 9 1/2 cups.  We have one more container to do and that will be done tomorrow.  I just looked up smoothie recipes and then realized we don't have a blender. Oh, well. There are lots of things I can do with them.  Just eating them plain is delicious.
Bob found out that most if not all of the perch will have worms right now.  I don't know why but we are told that it's the time of year for the perch to have them.  Some people cut them out and eat them anyway. Gross!

Bonnie looking for the perfect berry!

The Patch

Thursday - August 28

Bonnie:  It's 10:52PM and we've been home maybe 10 minutes.  We've been to see a Sister in Haileybury who is 93 years old.  So sweet.  Then we helped out another widow.  Bob did lots of work outside her house cutting down overgrown trees and bushes.  She wouldn't let me do much--just fold some clothes for her.  But we had a nice visit.  We were invited to dinner to Wiwchar's tonight.  They served moose spaghetti!  It wasn't bad at all! Another couple that was there come up every summer to moose hunt.  He brought moose steaks for us to try.  It was a little tough but the flavor was good.  I never thought I'd like it. We ended the evening playing Mexican Train, although not everyone joined in. What a nice way to end the evening.

Bob: Cleaned the fish before we left this morning. One of the perch was okay and one had worms. But we have enough fish for a dinner. Will try to get some more tomorrow morning.
Have to go back to Sister Craig's home with a borrowed trailer now and haul away two piles of tree trimmings. Hope I can get it all in one load.
Weather was in the 60s today with bright sunshine and a light breeze. It was as Chris described it earlier, "Drop dead beautiful!"

Wednesday - August 27

Bob: Went fishing about 9:00 while Bonnie did the wash. Fishing still slow, but caught 2 walleye, 1 perch and 1 pike that was too small to keep. Took about 3 1/2 hours to catch them.
In the afternoon we went for a drive on Mountain Lake Road. About 16 kilometers down the road beavers have built a dam that has flooded the road. Turned around and took Bonnie to Cooke Lake instead.
This evening Bonnie went to New Liskeard with Patsy, her daughter and 2 grand daughters. They were going to go to the movies. I went fishing again. Got on the water about 6:30. Did not get a bite until about 8:30. Caught one perch tonight. All the fish are in the holder at the dock. Will have to clean them in the morning.

Bonnie:  I had fun tonight--a "Girl's Night Out"!  The movie we watched was "Into the Storm".  It was full of action, that's for sure, and had a good story line, too.  Tomorrow we will be going back to town to do some service and make a visit or two.

Tuesday - August 26

Bob: Went home teaching with Karl today. We went to Thornloe, then Haileybury, Larder Lake, Dobie, Virginiatown and finally Kirkland Lake. I know we traveled well over 120 miles and visited 5 families. A couple other families were not home. I left just past 8:30 this morning and got home about 8:40 this evening.

Bonnie:  Bob came home very tired, with shorter hair and a belly full of fish and chips!  He and Karl got their hair cut at Karl's favorite barber along with everything else they did.  I had a good day as well.  I went to town to do the shopping, which is always interesting.  This Walmart is not laid out quite like the ones I'm familiar with in the States.  At least everyone is polite when I ask them where to find things.  When I got home I worked on my personal history.  Then, after dinner I indulged myself with a chick-flick:  "Sense and Sensibility".  All in all a very good day!

Monday - August 25

Bob: Got up early and went fishing. Tried North of the camp, but only got a couple of bites. Landed one 11 inch perch. When I filleted the fish it looked like it had worms and wasn't any good. Will check with Karl in the morning about this. Turned around and went all the way to Mt. Chutes. Fished several places and one place we're going back to this evening. Put a picture of the chutes below.
Passed the patience test on putting the car jack away. Went back in place without much hassle.

Mountain Chutes

The other day Bonnie talked about the road being gone and water on both sides of us. She didn't want to drive through the washout. Here is a picture of the 'missing road'.

Bob: Went fishing about 5:00 tonight for a change. Went to the mouth of Mountain Lake. Nice hole of water and fish on the fish finder, but nothing biting except 1 clam and 1 crayfish. Did go up a stream that enters the river right after the mouth of Mountain Lake. Beavers have built a tremendous dam. Look carefully at the picture below and you can see the dam and water above it. Could not get up to it because of brush in the creek.

Came back to our favorite spot just above camp. Caught one walleye that was too small to keep. Caught a rock bass that is not worth anything. We are supposed to kill them because they are bad for the environment. Bonnie had a couple of bites and I had a fish on twice, but I think both times it was the rock bass that I finally caught.