It is about time for me to fill you in our life. We are in the boonies of Manitoba at a fly-in fishing lodge for the summer. It is located in Little Grand Rapids, an hour north east of Winnipeg by float plane. There are two airlines that fly in to Little Grand Rapids and we constantly see a stream of float planes landing and taking off on the lake in front of us, and the airport whose runway is directly beside and behind us.
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| Our first glimpse of the lodge |
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| the dock |
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| the ice had just left the lake and the trees were still in winter mode |
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| The Lodge's official Greeter! |
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| Wiser - the camera shy dog! If he sees a camera he runs |
The community which is the side of the lake that we are on, houses the Northern Store, the airport, the RCMP garage and dock, Child and Family Services buildings and Natural Resources, a few houses, us and of course the dump!
Across the lake is the Little Grand Rapids First Nation's Reserve with approximately 1200 residents.
There is work being done on the lodge this summer. Work has to be done slowly with help of knowledgeable friends. The materials are brought up on the winter road so doors and windows won't be here until next year.
The lodge is mostly used by contractors who are working on the Reservation. It is fairly quiet this week but for the last two weeks we had a constant stream of guests. If needed we pick them up by vehicle at the airport or by boat if they arrive by float plane and then also do a 'taxi' service to and from the reserve so they can work. A couple of our guests have arrived and/or used their own 'charter' helicopters to enable them to do their work. There is a lot of preliminary work happening right now on a road that would make the northern communities reachable by vehicle all year round but it could take years before that happens.
This lake, Family Lake and the Fishing Lake directly behind us have an abundance of fish in them. Walleye and Northern Pike are caught here and we have had at least one fish fry per week, since we arrived!
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| an hour of fishing! |
The two lakes are joined together by falls that boats are unable to converse. So we taxi people and boats between the two lakes.
Al and Mike (who has been manning the lodge since December) have been working hard outside. Once the snow and ice leave there are always jobs to do. They have been busy fixing up the lodge exterior (winter is hard up here), getting the boats serviced and ready for the season, working on the dock and its jetty.
I have been baking! After being in a RV with the small kitchen facilities, I am enjoying having all of the room and equipment here. I have made cookies, Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip ones, lemon loaves, cinnamon buns (yes I remembered the cinnamon this time), buns, chocolate cakes and even english muffins. No I haven't been taking pictures. I will try to remember from now on.
Today I joined Al in a trip to the dump! He had seen a bear there on previous trips and I decided to go along to try and take some pictures. And he was there! Along with a lot of crows, ravens and vultures.
We also took a run to check out the boat at the other side of the falls and I managed to get a picture of Wiser!
Next we are waiting for the arrival of our grandson, Corry to come stay the summer with us.. Boy do we have work to keep him busy!
