Finally an update

We have been pretty busy here at Cooks Dock Rd., and on the boat as well. The days are filled. Good thing we're retired otherwise we wouldn't have had the time to do all the stuff we did.
After the champagne had been freely flowing here, we figured it was time to do some more unpacking and trying to arrange the furniture. Here some pictures of all that.

Also put the woodstove on its hearth and then started to hook the pipe up. This still has to be finished and then it will have to be inspected.

In the meantime Tim got more firewood from the forest in the morning with his beloved UTV when the weather was still reasonably cool.

Then it was time to attend the July 1 festivities in Silver Water that took place on June 30 so that it would not cause a conflict with the Gore Bay festivities. Silver Water has theme based parades followed by a ball game. This year the theme was 60s and 70s sitcoms. There was a MASH jeep, the Dukes of Hazard, Lucy, etc. Some people put quite some work into this. We did attend the parade and had a hotdog and icecream, then off to the boat we went to attend the Gore Bay festivities.

The firemen came by with a boot to collect donations and here a sample of a nice t-shirt worn by one of them.

We attended the Gore Bay fireworks right from our boat, since they were set up on the breakwall and we have a clear view of that. Stella set on the deck with us and watched the start, then she just went to sleep. It's nice to have a dog that is not afraid of fireworks and thunderstorms, 2 things we really enjoy watching.

After that we helped our friends Dave and Cheryl move from Creemore to Gore Bay. As luck had it, they moved during the heatwave at the start of July. They have a lot of stuff! 1 26' U-Haul with trailer, 1 pickup truck with trailer, one SUV with trailer and then my car. All fully loaded.

And yet another party in the marina. Every year there is a fish fry hosted by Norm and Diane Fogal, the people who take care of everything and everybody in the yard, i.e. haul outs, launching, storing, tarping, winterizing, etc. Norm is also a very gifted mechanic and you can see him working away 6 days a week. They also know how to organize a fish fry. They provide the fish, boaters provide the rest of the food, and after that there was, and this was a surprise to us, the welcoming of the new members of the Gore Bay Yacht Club and the handing out of the burgees. As you can see on the picture there were quite a few new members this year.

 All this was followed by some life music and more talking with other boaters. Good way to get to know people.

The weather was still pretty warm and we decided to take a break from the house and to go out on the boat for a few days. There was no wind, so had to motor. Went to the Benjamins where we had some very relaxing days. After that back home in no wind

and back to work. We had bought a generator and a platform for that had to be built. Also had to pick up the new stove. Then we had propane tanks installed and the gas fitter hooked it all up. Tim however had to dig the trenches for the gas line and the hydro line running from the generator to the house. They had to be 20 inches deep and the ground here is a mix of gravel and pit run gravel and dry and hard. I had to go to the neighbours (2 km. away) to borrow a pickax.

 Once the gasfitter had all the lines hooked up we put the new stove in and the fitter tested it and all is well. I now have a gas stove again.

Tim also joined the volunteer fire department here in Silver Water and had his first meeting and practice. The practice takes place right here at the dock at Cooks Dock, so I can sit on the porch and look at the old trucks coming by en route to the North Channel to fill the pumper trucks and then  emptying them to kill that imaginary fire. Tim is the youngest team member. The average age is 70 and that is a scary thought, especially with the drought we are having.


Then it was time to go sailing again. We suddenly realized that we are halfway the sailing season and we had only gone out for two extended weekends. Decided to go for 10 days, and would head west and then work our way back east. We had a nice wind to sail in be it a bit light, but hey we will take anything.

Ended up at a very nice anchorage at John Island.

When we entered the anchorage we saw already a boat anchored there and much to our joy it was Windigo, an American couple that we met some years ago and have stayed in contact with ever since. When setting the hook we managed to snag a log and after some discussion it was deemed wise to haul up the anchor before the boat would start to swing and tie the anchor chain around the log.  Took 5 tries and 2 breaker resets for the windlass, but we finally did manage to get the anchor up, going over it and sideways. Tug'n joined us for a day and we introduced them to the Windigo crew. They are all avid fishers, and sure enough in no time there was information exchanged. Windigo left after a day or 2 and so did Tug'n and we had the anchorage to ourselves until much too our surprise the SV Georgian Mist came in after a few hours. All people that we have known for years and it's always nice to see again and catch up.

                                                Tug'n and Pinnacle II anchored at John.

We were gone for a week now and it was time to get some fresh vegetables and milk, and go for a pumpout. Debated whether to go to Blind River and take a dock for the night, or go to Gore Bay and then head east from there. Decided to go to GB and this is what we saw halfway the trip home blown in in a very light east wind.

The black you see is not shoreline in the mist, it is smoke on the water. There was a major fire between Sudbury and Parry Sound, spread over 12000 hectares with quite a few fires out of control and we could smell it as well.
They are on top of it now, but a fire ban for the whole North Shore and Manitoulin has been in effect since mid July and is still active for certain areas. A few days of rain would be welcome.

After reprovisioning we headed out again and spent some time at Hotham where we stayed too long, but friends were already there and others just kept arriving. It is also a very good anchorage to be in when the wind is from the west, and that it was. with thunder and lightning followed by a day of torrential downpours. Yeah!

And now we're back and are catching up on house stuff and this blog. If even one of your daughters starts to nag you about a lack of updates ...