Carson Bamford

Carson Bamford passed away yesterday in Bancroft.

Carson was a major factor in developing the cottage road and many of the lots were established and levelled for construction.

Rough Road

Several vehicles have challenged the road with varying success.  Four wheel drive with chains is probably the best, but not if you slide into the ditch.  The photo shows problems that can develop.

Have the name of a towing company before you try to come in to the island.

Road work

At present, most of the budget has been exhausted on road work.  An initiative to upgrade the road by applying limestone crush might make a difference, but standby for spring of 2019.

There are still 7 cottagers who have not made arrangements to pay their annual fee.  After Aug. 1 there is a late fee.

Bear

Linda Carter has reported a small bear on her deck and around the fire pit.

They like food, so watch how you dispose of garbage.

Turtle Time

The turtles work so hard to keep their species alive, but the racoons do not give them much support.

A gravel then limestone

The road between Young's gate and 2 gates logging road had difficult ruts.  A layer of 3/4 inch A-gravel was applied and followed by 5/8 inch limestone.  Hopefully this will pack in well like maple hill.

First gravel

5/8 inch limestone crusher run added to Clarke Rd on the hill from the bottom.  Small plastic culvert cleaned out.

Mower

Good for cars

Road drying up

Well, only a couple of difficult areas.  Mud drying up nicely, getting to be consistency of potters clay. A few days of sunshine and probably vehicles will be coming in soon.

Ruts

Well, the first 4 wheel truck has come  to the island and it faced some mud.  Deep ruts only in a small distance between maple hill and 2 gates logging road.  Depth of ruts will be given tomorrow as the truck tries to make it out.  The bottom of Clarke Rd at the 90 degree turn is not nice.  It needs some time to dry out, but unfortunately is in the shade most of the day.

 The cottages have been checked after the wind storm.  All are fine and trees  blocking the road have been removed.

But, a beer tree has appeared.  Nice touch.

Some mud

Lake is Open

                  Mark down May 2 for the total elimination of ice from the lake.

Road Updating

Neat Photo

This photo taken in front of Michelle and Tom's cottage.  It takes a few seconds to understand it.

Opening Up The Lake

At 7 am, May 1, if you look closely, you can see open water, it seems, in the centre of the lake.  The remainder of the lake is still ice bound.

Lake ice

Well, lots of requests about the amount of ice on the lake.  Hey, as of noon today, not any cracks on the lake!  This is a slow year.  I'll update this blog every day until ice is gone.

Snow and Mud

Warming

Warming

Water over road

Snow, snow, go away.

Warming up, mudding up, agony up

Lake still ice

Melting still has not started along the edges of the lake.

Yuk, Yuk, Mud

Someone tried to drive from mill hill to East Bay.  Only 30 yards of tough driving before forced to back up.  Three weeks ago it looked like an easy disappearance of snow.  Bets are off now.

Believe it or not!

It is the 17th of April and there is 10 full inches of heavy snow on the ground.  Some old time trappers in the Bancroft area say this is the worst winter they have seen.

And the trees fall down...

And the mud rolls on...

Lots of traffic into East Bay this weekend.

Mud

This is the end of the municipal road.  Parts of the municipal road are also muddy.

Melting time

Well, there is snow coverage on the road from Guest Trail to Tusk Trail.  But causeway is melting down as well as mill hill.

Early spring

Sap is pouring out of the maples trees for the last 5 days.  Weather is perfect for boiling.

Snowmobiles limited to Tusk Rd. to Island, lots of

snow for travelling.  But mill hill for ATVs and walking.

What caused this?

Unknown tracks on the lake.  Several sets that appear from nowhere.  Any guesses?

Bees

In the winter the bees leave the hive to rid their bodies of waste products.  Many never return to the hive.  Each of the 'dots' in the photo are bees that have expired.  One benefit of seeing these dead bees is knowing that the hives are still surviving.

Causeway drifting

About the only location that suffers from snow drifting in the ELCA area is the causeway.  Not much of a problem so far.

Fresh snow

About 8 inches of powder on the ground.  Waiting for snowmobiles on Family Day.

Red Spruce

Some people have asked about the orange stakes at the top of the causeway hill.  They are markers for red spruce seedlings.

Elephantlaker is a new site

New site.  New cottagers.  Go figure, eh.