That was the water temp on May 25 (opening day) when we got out and skirted the ice a bit to catch 2 trout for supper....they were sooooo good!! We baked 'em up just like we do at shore lunch! The ice is still on waaaaay down at 5 mile. Our area is now open and we are waiting for a day of nice weather (and a break in the workload) to jump in the boat and head down to check it out. I suspect the ice will be completely gone by June 1 as we have double digit temps for the next couple of days.
We have been in camp for a little over 2 weeks and we have barely had a day/night without a fire in the cabin. Yesterday we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground! We were lucky water lines didn't freeze and it warmed up to a nice 4 degrees throughout the day. With a fire in the lodge starting at 6am, a heat dish running all day, the oven and grill on for cooking...the temperature inside the building will from 4 to 18 degrees or so by the end of the day. BRING WARM CLOTHES!! lol and rain gear!
So what have we been doing the last 2 weeks??? of gosh, where to start!!
To begin with, our driveway was washed out in 3 places, so we had to get that fixed right off the hop! What a chore that was! We had it passable on our last trip in but got it fixed and smoothed out for vehicle traffic!
The transitions that happen when we arrive are all labor intensive and its a step by step process to get up and going. We start with a kitchen in our porch, cooking off a Coleman stove and a propane burner. We melt snow or gather water from the melted edges of the lake. We run on solar and a small generator to keep freezers and fridges cold before firing up the big guns. As the days go by, the transitions begin.
Water lines freeze really easily...it doesn't take much so we have to wait until decent overnight temps before gearing up our water system. Heck, we have to wait until the ice goes out before we even set our water line! We transition from heating water in a pot to filling our tank on the ridge behind the cabins, to setting our water line and opening water lines to the lodge and each cabin. Its a BIG HUGE deal to get a hot shower within a week of getting here!
We board up every door and every window when we leave. The first thing we un-board is our cabin, then the lodge. The rest of the cabins usually follow within a week. Once the cabins are open, Matt and I do a quick run-through to assess any damage, leaks, smells etc. When I get into each cabin to open in (clean and unpack) is where we find projects like a leaky faucet, funky smell, broken cupboard...things like that. So, there are always little things to fix or tweak as we go along.....it's those little things that are time consuming. It usually takes 4-5 hours for me to get a cabin open, cleaned, fixed and ready. As of today, I still have 2 left to do..hahaha!
Power...this isn't that big of a deal, except when we start moving from the porch kitchen to the lodge. We are cheap, so we don't like running the big generator until it is absolutely necessary. We run a small generator to keep our freezers cold and we have solar for the cabin to run the essentials...satellite, TV & phone. Once the water line is open to the lodge I can get in there and start assessing things and cleaning. To clean the lodge for the season open is a HUGE DEAL!!! It gets a big deep clean and then I am able to unpack everything that we put in storage. We literally put everything in a tote or it gets bagged...even the stove and the grill gets put into storage.
WOOD: we heat the cabin and the lodge with wood and it takes a lot of wood to get things warm to work in. The kids have no choice but to gear up daily and haul wood...hahaha! That is their job and they know it! Every day they haul a load of wood to the cabin and 2 loads to the lodge. If they want it warm, they will haul wood...which they do! No iPads around here except for rainy days and even then its limited. What else do they do with their time??? they play in the sand at their playground, they go quadding, we take walks, they watch the ice go out and play in the water. Both kids help with projects inside and outside...they don't get off easy that's for sure!
As of today, the lodge is open and clean, we have hauled essentials and I have stocked the fridges and cupboards. We spend the majority of our time in and out of there and are really only in the cabin to sleep. The coffee pot is in the lodge, so we def spend a lot of time in there! I have received my first grocery order of the season and have even cooked a turkey dinner for us to enjoy. We had a couple of projects in the lodge, we put in new flooring in the kitchen which looks fabulous! Then I refinished all the table tops and the bar top, which changed the lodge atmosphere so much!! I ended up painting the shelves under the bar as well.
We have some good friends arriving late today and they are part of my painting crew! The cabins are getting a fresh coat of a new colour that coincides with our new logo. Matt's dad arrived for the season a couple of days ago and brought in our load of lumber we ordered from Turtleford Co-Op. Matt, Gus and Milo were busy yesterday and will be busy again today building new steps and decks for the cabins...it was time for sure! They have 3 done and have 3 more to go. Just in time for me to get doors off and start painting them today so we are ready to get dirty painting cabins tomorrow. We are hoping for calm waters today so we can get the dock in the water this afternoon. That way, Matt and Milo can start getting boats in the water this weekend!
I can hear that Matt has already started building outside...I had better wrap this up and post some pics before he out-works me today!
Anyways, we have lots of dates open for this year, send me a message, an email, a text or give me a call on the sat line to get booked in!
Danica, Matt, Milo, Freja and of course Timber
Drive or Fly...Adventure North to Davin Lake Lodge
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