Winter = Blah | Summer = GOOD! Georgian Bay Anchorage!

First off, I wanna say to Dave (TLC) - thanks for rubbing in the whole 'I only have DAYS until retirement.' I know, your just trying to make the rest of us poor working slobs feel bad. . . . HA! Good news, man! I hope all your retirement days are sunny & filled with really good TV watching ;-) 

  Vern - good to read you are still alive! Geez, for a minute there, I thought maybe it was Mary sending me all those jokes from your email address!! 

 Finally, Sanja, I see you are a little apprehensive about the big 50 mile trip to Bobcaygeon?? Don't sweat it - it'll be a breeze for your newly learned navigating talents. And great practice for the Georgian Bay trip a few weeks later. And the best part is that if you get off track, the most you're likely to hit on the way to Bobcaygeon is weeds - unlike the sharp, unforgiving rocks of The Bay . . . . D'oh! (Maybe shouldn't have said that - Graham might be reading this).

  Good news - this coming Sunday is the first day of Winter - meaning that from then on, the days will be getting longer again!! And, speaking of The Bay, and with today being a dark, crappy day & last week being so cold and crappy, I figured it was time for another summer band-aid. So, without further adieu, here's a little something from gorgeous Georgian Bay.

 These pics were all taken at our anchorage in Beausoleil Bay, including the dusk shot at the top. Number one is Mr. Von A. casting his rod behind the boat. And he also did some fishing. This is looking towards the north east, with the top of Beausoleil Bay - and Little Dog Channel in the background.

  Looking back in the opposite direction, Scotty & Hunter enjoy a sunny day aboard the 'Maple Leaf'. The actual rock of McCabe Rock is what you see on the shore. There is also docking there for about 4 boats. When we were there, there was THREE 30' Sundancers parked on the docks - all the same as Boogaboo & Water wings. Go figure. Anchor Girl & I took a dinghy ride over to shore for a garbage run. This shot was taken from the top of McCabe Rock, overlooking the Bay. Our boats are off to the right part of this shot. Pretty, eh? Eh? Today's final shot was taken from Boogaboo, zoomed in to the north part of Beausoleil Bay. See the high rock cliffs? Nice.

Summer in Winter

Okay, so it's not actually winter yet, but with the snow and cloudy days, it seems more and more like it. Anyone liking the 'dark by 4:30' days?? Me neither. 

 There has been a bit of ice forming on Cooks Bay, but nothing too serious. If you can believe it, I actually heard a go fast boat out on the lake a couple of weeks back. Those goofy die hard boaters.

. . . . Before we get into the 'summer' part of this posting, I wanted to announce that we have another member of the Boogaboo family! On a sad note, we lost one of our two cats - Mr. Wiggles - back on Remembrance Day. Yes, it was tough, as he had been with us going on 15 years and was a real part of the family. He was also a buddy of our other cat - Fester, who has been really sad and lonely since loosing his friend. A cat, sad and lonely you ask? Absolutely. So, I'm happy to share with you all the little ball of terror we adopted this week. His name is 'Micro' and he's fitting in nicely to the Boogaboo home; Mr Wiggles? Fester? Micro?? Who the heck comes up with these silly names? Anchor Girl? Commodore Frankie? Hmmmm . . . a mystery, for sure. 

 Alrighty then, on with tonight's show. All of the photos and videos in this post (except for fuzzy little Micro) were taken on the weekend of June 14th, 2008 Here's the cast and crew trying to dodge the cork that's about to fly from Sanja's champagne bottle during the toast to the official blessing of SunAria;

Sunny Days ~ Cameron Lake + Fenelon Falls Sunset

It seems that this season the sunny days were few and far between. The same held true for the Canada Day Long Weekend, but we were fortunate enough to at least have a couple of nice sunset evenings out of the mix - one of which I'm highlighting in this posting. 

 As you may remember, the Freebird crew joined us for a trip to Fenelon Falls for the weekend. On the Sunday evening we were privileged to witness a glorious sunset over Cameron Lake. As we were staying at Fenelon Falls Marina, the view from the docks looks towards the northwest and the setting sun. Anchor Girl & I have spent more than one night here over the past few years and we've always had the good fortune of witnessing these sunsets on each journey.

 The top photo captures a bit of both Boogaboo & Freebird with the setting sun in the background. The next shot is looking directly backwards towards the marina itself. Note the bright sunshine reflecting off the glass; Here's a bit of a - forgive the pun - 'reflective' sort of pic, with me both capturing the photo and the sun itself. For some reason, this shot brings to mind the song by Jim Croce 'Time In A Bottle' Why do I always bring up the notion that our time here is limited? Reflective, I guess . . . Figure that one out you'll realize why I take so many pictures. And why I love to share them;

Hey! Graham's taking a picture of us;

 And somehow I got the picture he took. Look close & you'll see my video camera sitting on the dock at my feet. That's where the video clip came from;

 Need I say any more?;

Georgian Bay Tour - Part Uno

Hello. Today, we begin the Tour Of Georgian Bay with not one, but TWO videos of the Midland Town Docks. Plus, for the first fifty visitors only, we are giving away some bonus photos - with absolutely no extra fees. And no salesman will call . . .

 Midland is located within 30 - 45 minutes west/southwest of Lock #45 on the Trent system & right around the corner from Penatanguishine. I'm working on a detailed Google Map with the local routes & distances and will post it in the coming days, as we continue with the tour. The first bonus photo is the view entering Midland Bay from the north. Note the prominent stone piles to the east. The Town Docks are just past these mountains; In this next picture, we see 'Boogaboo' - our 1987 Sea Ray 300 Sundancer - berthed in the dock. The downtown part of Midland is seen in the distance. Similar setup to the Port of Orillia, with the docks located at the foot of the main drag; Looking back westward, one can see the large murals painted on the ADM processing plant at the water's edge. The cruise boat 'Miss Midland' is berthed right across from this spot (when in port); A northerly view captures the big piles of stone next to the docks. Central Marine is also seen in the shot; We saw a couple of neighbors there this summer, aboard the yacht 'Silver Cloud', an older Trojan cruiser. They were leaving the port & heading over to 'Squeaky Springs' beach on Beausoleil Island;

Summer In November

I know I'm probably gonna jinx it - but what a week we've had, eh? The weather this week was better than most of the summer. That & gas is back down to a reasonable price. Where the heck was THAT this summer?

Oh well, we made the most of it, despite the cool & rain and the silly fuel prices. At least beer didn't go up :-)

I was so impressed with the weather this week (mainly because the timing was perfect for an outside work project I'm involved with), that I stopped on the way home tonight to grab a picture or two and a quick video clip of the gorgeous evening twilight over Lake Simcoe.

Despite the mistaken date in the clip, this was taken today, November 6th (he wrote after the quick glance at the calendar). These were snapped right around the corner from home, at the old Keefer's Marina location on Cooks Bay.


For anyone who's visited this thing over the past week, you may have noticed that I had a 'Countdown To Relaunch Clock' posted, but it wasn't co-operating, so I took it down. I've looked for another one, but nothing (so far) that works in this 'blog' format. Maybe I'll get one posted on the main Rotten Row site, since that is where 92% of all the visitors to this blog come from . . .

This Just In

Here's a few photos that have been sent to me by the technically challenged amongst us. Seems that I've been entrusted with the task of sharing them with you. I have more, but here's a start. . . Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw the Big 'E' at the cottage on the weekend. Wevvy snapped this shot of Elvis & Dave on Graham's boat. And I thought these strange sightings only took place in Orillia. And February. These next photos/video were all submitted by the Water Wings crew. Given the fact that we saw the first SNOW of the season today up in The Wick, I figured it was a good time to reminisce about the beginning of the year when we were starting the massive renovations at the cottage; Here's the gang in Orillia, at the end of our holidays. We walked through town to look for Elvis stuff for the show at the Legion, but only found shark stuff for the Jimmy Buffet show at the park. . . . . Or was it shark on the buffet at the Elvis Restaurant? I always get those mixed up; No, it WAS shark stuff; Bringing Pugsly The Wugsly back from a tinkle run on shore. I can't remember what it was, but it appears that Wevvy & Graham were trying to make a point about something to me. Or point at me; Billie Sue forwarded these shots that were taken by someone else she knows. This was one of the water spouts that was scene on Lake Simcoe on the day we were returning from the Big Chute to Orillia. We had rain & some lightning while we were travelling, but nothing like what you guys saw around Simcoe & Couchiching; Apparently, these were taken around Beaverton; Meanwhile, back at the Big Chute, we see the Commodore & Anchor Girl taking Boogaboo over the marine railway on that very same day (Aug 7/08);

Last Weekend '08 (sniff, sniff)

This weekend marked the last weekend of our On Water boating season for 2008 :-( We spent Friday night on the boat and spent Saturday doing the last pump outs and took the stuff off the boats for the winter. I know it's a while to go until Frankie's February Follies Volume 8, but Elvis made a surprise visit to the cottage - to the great thrill of Anchor Girl! Friday night's fire. Luckily, we still have some firewood left for the start of next year; How many women does it take to move a barbecue? The girls move Sanja's BBQ over to her new slip. Now SunAria is in the same boat house as Freebird, Water Wings & Boogaboo, making one in three boats in that section a Sea Ray; Graham comes along for the last pump out trip on Boogaboo; Dave dropped by the cottage for a visit & took a ride on Freebird over to the gas dock. And back; Anchor Girl straightened up & covered the wood pile so that hopefully it doesn't walk away over the winter; Things look a little bare on the dock with the canvas removed from the gazebo;  

Pefferlaw Turkeys - Orillia, Lake Simcoe Cruise

What an absolutely beautiful weekend! From Friday afternoon, right up to Monday evening we had the best weather imaginable for the middle of October and yes, I did capture another lovely sunset at the cottage; On Saturday morning we headed up to Orillia for the day/night along with Free Bird. The lake was super calm & clear; There were quite a few boats there for the weekend. No surprise, really, given the stellar conditions; After our late breakfast at 'Bygone Days' restaurant, Graham & I took the dinghies out for a row around the Port. Guess where this shot was taken; Evening at the Port; Check the calm water over Couchiching. And the fall colours on the foliage; Leaving Orillia out on Sunday. Another clear, sunny day; The fall colours on the trees was beautiful, despite the fact that it signaled autumn upon us; Crossing the lake, coming back into Chicken Harbour. What a nice sight, eh; Sanja taking SunAria over for the last pump out of the season. Debbie & Graham went along for the ride; Ahhhhh. . . . Yet another FINAL for the season, this being the final cleanup of the dinghies for the truck ride back home for the off season. Note the shorts and bare feet on the Commodore - it's October, man! I must say that I'm sure glad Anchor Girl talked me into getting that little toy - it sure was a lot of fun; On Monday, we took Boogaboo out for one last spin to run the fuel stabilizer through and burn off some gas before the sneaky snowmobilers siphon our boats again. Graham, Debbie & Sanja also came along for the ride - and a few pointers on the limitations of chart plotters :-) On this trip we discovered the passage to Virginia Beach and the Sand Islands. We also got to see the Island ferry coming back from Georgina Island; I guess taking the gang out for the last run is getting to be a tradition. . . Another great day & a great end to the season!!!

Get Yer Roasters Out

I had to start this one with a shot I took of the SPECTACULAR sunset we had on Friday. Looking over the Pefferlaw River, this was the view we were privy to. I took some more a little while later on, when the colours changed to a purple/blue, but I'll save those for another time. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

The first annual Dock Crocs Corn Roast was received with great success this weekend at The Cottage. I want to pass along another big Thank You for everyone who attended and for all the treats that showed up, too! Man, I'm still stuffed. In fact, I bring this to you while enjoying a piece of pumpkin pie that somehow made it into my truck for the ride home ;-)

The weather wasn't 100%, but with a bit of plastic and some good timing on the cooking, we were able to make the most of it. I'm uploading a few video clips from the weekend, but they take a little longer, so I'll be posting them here over the next couple of days. . .

Speaking of well timed cooking, here's Wevvy at the Q;
'Corn's up!';


We had a little bit of a fire before the rain came;

Here's Jason, with his hands full of Oreo cookies;

And here's another little boy with his treat. This was actually taken a couple of weeks ago when the Free Bird crew finally got their very first computer!

Back to this weekend, Sanja at the helm of SunAria. She took us out for a (very) little spin on the rough waters of Lake Simcoe today;


The ladies enjoy the ride back in;