Yesterday we sent Mary to the hospital here in Bancroft. Turns out the rods in her spine have both snapped. She is now in Toronto waiting to hear from her surgeon ..read more

  Winter arrived this week with  wallop. I thought you might enjoying some pictures taken yesterday.  Our chickens continue to give us six delicious eggs a day. The snow almost reaches the top of our raised garden beds which at 18 inches tall. Our wood supply is half gone but we still have more than enough to get us through until  April.  This is next year's supply and I have another 20 logs waiting to be cut split and stacked to dry. I'm never out of work. Thanks or stopping by and stay safe everyone ..read more

 Property lines are not always easy to determine back here in the bush.  Yesterday I used Owen's meatal detector to search for survey stakes on a friend's property. It has a menu that helps identify what it has found. This saves you some digging when the beeping is not for something you want. I soon found what I was looking for hidden under a blanket of leaves.  Finding these survey stakes means you are working on your own property not someone else's We still need to find a few more Stay safe and well everyone and thanks for stopping by ..read more

 This week we spent a few days back in Algonquin Park. We are ninety minutes from the park and the traffic is light, the area is gorgeous, and the hiking trails are not too demanding for these old bodies. We cooked our potatoes and vegetables wrapped in foil on hot coals in the firepit. Mary always insists we have a fire. It has been that way since our first camping trip almost 50 years ago.  Still lots of campers this late in the season. Another two weeks and this campground will be closed but for now we are enjoying warm fall temperatures and perfect camping conditions. WE u ..read more

  Yesterday was the perfect fall day; warm, sunny and no bugs. It was just too nice to stay at home so we headed out to Eagle's Nest Lookout. From this vantage point you have a panoramic view of the York River and the surrounding hills. If you look closely at the photo above you can see the Bancroft airport with the golf club in front We kept Penny on a short leash and she was well behaved. Happy  CANADIAN Thanksgiving everyone ..read more

  Fall is at its best right now which means mushroom season has arrived. Leanne wanted to collect mushrooms so she could make dyes and so off we went to explore our forest and see what we could find. They were in abundance. Every step along our trails revealed new mushrooms of different sizes, colours, shapes and texture. Leanne was delighted. By the time we got home Leanne had a bag full. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the collection but I did get a few shots of those still in the forest.  If you recognize any of the above mushrooms or fungi let me know. Lik ..read more

 It's fall and that means it's harvest time. Yesterday Leanne and Jamie helped us collect pumpkins. These were not your typical Halloween size pumpkins; these were MONSTER pumpkins. Guess they do have a "Halloween" connection. Too big to lift and carry we rolled them onto the bobcat for the trip to the house. Jamie rode "shotgun" and Penny was ready to help if needed. Up at the house we decided where they were to go and then rolled them into place. Job done and the inspector (Penny) seems happy with the arrangement. So far October has been beautiful, much warmer than usual ..read more

 Look what came out of the oven this morning. Homemade sourdough bread. So delicious and so easy to eat. It goes in looking like this .................. Comes out looking like this .................. MAGIC!!! And it disappears like MAGIC ..read more

 When you live off grid you are always aware of the weather and the seasons. Usually we are living in one season but planning for the next. In winter we start planning our gardens, in summer we are cutting wood for winter, in the fall we are getting the summer machines put away and the winter machines tuned and ready for snow plowing and the chainsaws ready for cutting down more trees.  It's a constant stream of new demands and adjustments according to the weather and the seasons.  There is one demand you can not leave forgotten or neglected even for  one season ..read more

 Fall has returned and so have we. It's been good to take a break from writing every day but now that we have family scattered around the world it's time to stay in touch and this blog helps. I won't be writing every day but I will write every week. Thanks for keeping an eye on us and for being patient. Fall is the best time to be living in Northern Ontario. The days are cooler, no bugs and the leaves are starting to show their best colours. If you are thinking of viewing the fall colours, this weekend would be  a good time to head north. Yesterday we spent the day in Algonquin Park ..read more