Visitors from Home

Pete with a day's catch of walleye from Mickel Lake.

We are happy to have friends and family from back home here with us right now.  Billy Wayne Rogers and Pete VanDyken arrived last Sunday and have spent their days fishing, mowing, weed-eating, and riding the roads.  The weather is not great today, but I hope it improves before they have to leave.

BW fishing at Frog Rapids.  They caught lots of BIG fish here.

Pete brought a canoe carrier that was donated and built by
Wayne Cain, Joe Blair, Clayton Smith & Pete.

And last but not least...

    Our dear Kathryn arrived yesterday.  She is spending the week with us, and we are so happy to get to share this place we love with her.

Kinder and Gentler

When we were in Canada last year, I commented often on what a kinder, gentler person Phil was becoming.  We weren't back in Tennessee long before the old Phil Kiper showed up... the one with the smart mouth.  I was telling Will about what he had said, and Will's reply was, "I think the kinder, gentler Phil Kiper only lives in Canada."

And so he's back.  It's true.  The kinder, gentler Phil Kiper does live in Canada.  He has gone out of his way to remember people's names... he helps out all around the place... he goes out of his way to work at giving friends who come a great experience with Canadian fishing.

Phil says I'm kinder and gentler here too.  He likes that I pay more attention to him here.


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Saturday we had a work day here at camp, and many people from both Dryden and Sioux Lookout came out to help.  Phil and I worked in the kitchen all day.  Phil ran the dishwasher and I did the hand washing.  Everything in the kitchen was taken off the shelves and washed.  The walls, ceilings and shelves were all wiped down and cleaned thoroughly.  It was a big job, but a great day of fellowship too.

The day ended with a cookout for all the help.

Everyone enjoying a great evening.

Phil with Beth Ann and Cindy

The evening wasn't complete until some had taken a leap off the high dive into the icy water.

Dahlberg is first to take the plunge.

Followed by Val and Kayleigh

It was a great day of connecting with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is good to be a part of their lives and their work for the Lord.

In the Bush

Now in Canada, they call the forest "the bush."  Once you're off a path or road, you're in the bush.  There's no walking through it.  It is thick and tough and impassable.  Yesterday, Phil and I ventured into the bush to see the sucker fish in the Jackfish stream.  The boys went down there last night to do some hand-fishing, or noodling.  The youth group from Sioux Lookout are coming out tonight to give it a try.  It's Canada... what do you expect they do for fun?  Actually, they could be making their own Duck Dynasty show.

When we got back to camp we took a hike on the east loop.  Matt Gates had told us that beavers had built a dam there and we wanted to see it.  And, sure enough, there it was.

Why beavers would build a dam here, so far from the lake, is a mystery.  But once word got around camp, there was no holding them back.  The whole crew set out to take that thing down.  Little Emma was driving away with them and saying to me so sweetly, "We'll be back in a little while, Ms. Pam, after we tear down the beaver dam," as if this were an everyday occurrence. Yet another Duck Dynasty episode possibility.

We also came across these tracks.  Are they wolf or bear?  We're not sure.  

Phil came out of all this looking pretty beat up.  He had a couple of nasty encounters with "the bush," which resulted in a big scratch on his head above his eye.  He tried to blame it on me, but we all know that's not how it happened.  He wanted to tell the story as if he were scratched by a bear, but no one was buying that.

Today Phil had a better day... in a boat, not in the bush.

Stranded with Phil

The weather here has been gray and cold.  Sunday and Monday were nothing but rain (much the same as it is in Tennessee I hear).  So in the midst of this bad weather, life goes on.  You get out.  You stay busy.  And so, on Saturday morning, Phil took me out in a small boat to see the beaver dam.  He has a new motor on the boat and is learning how it works and breaking it in.

The beaver dam is a long way from camp in a remote part of the lake.  The dam controls the level of the water in the whole lake, so it's pretty important.

This is the view from the high side of the beaver dam.  To the right
you can see the stream that they have dammed up.

We saw several interesting sights.  There are two beaver lodges back there, and we saw a young eagle flying over our head.  Sometimes I think about pesky flies, "You have the whole house to fly around in, and here you are annoying me."  I wondered if the eagle had the same thoughts about us.  There are also wonderful rock formations and islands that are so different from things I'm used to seeing at home.

So we finished looking around and headed for home.

Not a minute after I snapped this picture, the motor stopped.  We were out of gas.  So I took the next picture...

He had to remove his jacket since he's working up a sweat now.  And note the sheepish grin on his face.  Fortunately we were in sight of Sundown Point.  He rowed us to shore and it was just a short hike back to camp.  Could have been much worse, but instead it was just a little adventure for us.  

Ice Out!

It's official... all the ice is off Troutfly Lake.

When we first arrived the ice was still covering most of the lake.

Every day there has been less and less ice.  The kids have taken out canoes and paddled around between the sheets to see if they could get to open water.  Yesterday evening Johnnie took the motor boat out to see how the lake looked.

Then last night the wind kicked up and we could watch the wind pushing all the ice right into our little bay.  The ice kept coming and coming until this is how it looked this morning, like blue slush.

All day the wind has blown and blown.  Mid-afternoon most of the ice was gone except close to our shoreline.

About 4:00 I took this video.  You can hear how strong the wind is.  I was hoping you could also hear the ice.  It sounds like ice tinkling in a glass.

And now it's all gone... no more ice on Troutfly Lake.  It's been amazing to watch.  Another thing I noticed yesterday was that they mark something here that we never do in Tennessee.  Yesterday was the first day we had rain (Becky said this, but Johnnie thinks there might have been a little rain a few days ago).  All the precipitation before yesterday had been frozen.

So, of course, Phil went fishing today.  Let the good times roll!

10 Things I've Learned from Phil Kiper

In honor of his birthday yesterday, I thought I’d post some of the things I’ve learned from Phil over the years.  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1.  There is a system for doing things… his system.  From loading the dishwasher to packing for a trip, there is a method to the madness.

2.  If you have car problems, call somebody else.  Enough said.

3.  The only way you can mess up a cookie is to over bake it (via Nathanael Winget).  These cookies look like they are up to Phil's standards.  The doughier the better.

4.  When taking a picture of a person and a fish, the fish is the focal point.   Learned this after many failed photos (that I didn't see anything wrong with).  

5.  Scheming and saving to get something you want is way more fun that actually getting it (most of the time).

6.  Leading people requires making lots of tough decisions – and you don’t always get it right, even when you want the best for each situation.  

7.  Beauty in nature will nourish your soul.  I have been transformed myself from a bug-fearing, indoors kind of gal, to a nature lover and outdoor-type.

8.  You can’t go back, but sometimes you get to bring your past into your present.  That's why we're at Camp of the Woods.

9.  Good questions and open dialogue lead to deeper understanding and connection.  When I stopped being afraid of questions and let them be asked and contemplated, I grew in my own life and we grew closer as a couple.

10.  Like a diamond, a good man is transformed by time and pressure.

Happy Birthday, Diamond Man!