Happy New Year

A Very Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Marsh Bay Resort welcomed Wes' family to celebrate Christmas. We had a marvelous time with the parents, siblings, niece and nephews. The weather was fantastic and there was snow aplenty for sledding, snowmobiling and snow ball fights.

We were also happy to have our sons, Mark (in green) and Dennis (in black) visiting over the holidays.

We are ringing in a warm wet New Year's at Marsh Bay Resort. But we are hoping that the melting snow will be replaced in the new year and then we'll be ready for the snowmobile season the end of January.

Hope to see you in the new year!

9000 Litre Tank Installed

As you can tell from the pictures, we had some snow before Roger was able to return to install the 9000 litre septic tank. the snow has since melted and the septic system installation is complete. A big thanks to Roger Lacroix. Wes is now working with Hydro One to figure out the best way to provide the new sites with power. Depending on the time frame for that project Wes will shortly begin the trenching for the water, sewer and power lines. If it takes as long to sort out things with Hydro One as it did to get a permit from the Ministry of Environment, we may not begin the trenching until spring.

Ground Breaking

Work on the septic system for the new RV sites is moving ahead. The eco-flo units were being installed on Wednesday. We have two small mountains of sand that will need to be relocated.

For those of you trying to get a visual of where the septic is being installed - the large pile of sand in the left of the top picture is on the location where the baseball back stop used to sit. We have removed the baseball back stop and may build a soccer pitch once the septic is installed. We could call it "Septic Field" but that might not give quite the right impression.

Cutting the Grass

With all the lawn at the resort cutting the grass is a part time job. Currently we use a John Deere tractor with a mid-mount mower. I spent a lot of hours on that tractor this past summer. Once I took a friend along for the ride. D's mom took a picture of D & I on the tractor. She just provided the picture by email and I'll share it with you.

D was a big fan of the tractor and the 4-wheeler. He'll be happy to see the 4-wheeler is still in place when he comes back next summer - but he might be sad to not see the big green tractor. I'll have to explain that we traded in the green for orange. I hope to spend a lot fewer hours cutting grass on the Kobota zero turn riding mower and Wes is hoping to do a lot of digging with the used Kobota tractor with the backhoe. I might actually get to work on my tan on the beach rather than on the tractor seat.

New Addition at the Resort

We welcomed Tika to the resort the beginning of the week. Tika is a medium sized dog of questionable pedigree - but there appears to be some collie and hound present. She is a personable and friendly dog about 5-7 months old - exact age is unknown as she was left tied to Colleen Belanger's fence. We are all getting used to each other. Tika has had some training, but we will need to see about training classes. We would like to train this girl before she trains us.

On other fronts fall has arrived and we are expecting the hunters to arrive later this week. Wes spent part of today removing some of the docks. After Thanksgiving we'll be removing the rest of the docks and shutting down the seasonal well for the winter. It's a little sad around the resort right now with all the RV's winterized and closed up. Hopefully the winter will not be long and cold - of course it can't possibly be as long or cold as winters in Yellowknife - but maybe we have become acclimatized already so we'll be complaining right along with the locals.

Fall has arrived

RV's have been winterized, seasonal guests have headed home for the winter. Thankfully they all plan to return next summer or I would really miss them. I suppose I will get used to the cycles of a resort but for now I have nothing with which to compare. It seemed like a really good summer - the summer was fantastic - the resort guests were all wonderful. Fall seems really sad - unless you are a hunter and them I'm sure you are looking forward to moose hunting season with anticipation and rather than seeing melancholy in the dying leaves you only see the opening up of the horizon to make it easier to see the elusive moose.

The end of August Wes & I were able to find the trail to the waterfall. The waterfall is located up river towards Latchford. There is a trail up from the river - but the trail wasn't obvious until we had bushwhacked our way up the creek and were able to follow the trail back down. We tried to make the trail a little more obvious so that those who follow behind will be able to find the waterfall. I imagine it would be a lot more impressive if there was more water coming down, but the beaver was doing his best to ensure that the water didn't make it down the creek. There are more pictures of the waterfall on the photos page of the website.

August Already!!

It's hard to believe that we are in to the second week of August already. The summer has been flying along. Weather wise it has been an amazing summer. The locals tell me that this is not usual, but I'm hoping that summers like this one are the norm into the future. The resort has been busy with campers and cottagers. Despite the increased population the resort remains an incredibly quiet and relaxing place.

Skip had some visitors this week. This afternoon they informed me they had gone bear fishing. I was sure they meant "bare" fishing until they passed along the following pictures.

4-Wheeling

July has been a busy month at Marsh Bay Resort, but I took some time on Tuesday morning to go 4-wheeling with Tom & Gloria. Not being from this area I don't have much idea where any of the ATV trails are so I was glad of a chance to go check out some of the area around Cobalt with experienced ATV riders!

Prolific Robins

The robins in our area appear to be very prolific this year. There are several robin's nests in various stages of development. Last week I went into the shed to get the 4-wheeler and was met by a nest full of young robins waiting for food. The same day I found a nest of eggs waiting to hatch. It appears that the eggs stay in the nest unhatched a lot longer than the hatched babies stay in the nest. A week later the eggs are unchanged but the babies have flown the coop.





There were alligators on the beach last week, thanks to a very creative mom staying in Cottage #5. I felt like I was in Florida or the Caribbean to walk down to the beach and find these guys. Great fun! They may not last long as we had a downpour this afternoon and there is more rain in the forecast.

Happy Canada Day

It was a busy weekend at Marsh Bay Resort. On July 1 the seasonal RV guests gathered for a pot-luck BBQ. The food was amazing, the Texas horseshoe matches were competitive and the evening closed out with a campfire and fireworks. A good time was had by all. Wes' brother and his family were able to join us for this event. The 4 nephews had a fantastic time catching fish, swimming and canoeing.

More picture of the BBQ can be found on the photo page.




Friday marked the start of the annual Biker's Reunion in New Liskeard. The Yamaha reps were staying in one of our cottages but unfortunately didn't bring a WaveRunner to the site so we weren't able to test this product in the Montreal River. There were a few motorcycles on site for the weekend. Wes enjoyed listening to the rumble of the bikes as they pulled into the resort.

More photos of the Freedom Ride can be found on the photo page.

Earthquake!!

I was visiting with Marline at her RV, and commented "The wind really makes your trailer move." Ten minutes later Marline got a call from her daughter telling us there had been an earthquake in this area and wondering if we had felt it. It was good to know that the wind wasn't moving Marline's RV as it wasn't blowing as hard as is has in the past. Just as well we were sitting outside at the RV or I might never have known that we had an earthquake.

Monday night I went into the bay in the kayak. The last guests in Cottage #1 mentioned they had seen a cow moose and calf in the bay while they were fishing. I went looking for the moose. I heard some rustling in the bushes by the shore but it turned out to only be a beaver bringing a poplar branch into the water.



It's hard to tell in the picture but when I was heading back to the resort out of the bay - the sun was reflecting off the bugs flying over the water. It looked like the whole surface of the river was lighted up with sparkles.

Thunderstorms

The rain arrived today - at least in small amounts. Probably not enough to water the garden, but enough to raise the humidity and extinguish the sun for a time. This is not a bad thing as it has been very hot here this past week. Too hot for the fish - they had all sunk to the depths and were not being tempted by baited hooks. Maybe the cooler, humid conditions will encourage the fish to rise once again and we can catch some pickerel for dinner.

Spring is Sprung

This morning I discovered a pair of geese in the garden plot and a pair of common mergansers on the docks. The ducks seem to be in the right place, but I would have thought the geese should be a little further north at this time of year. They all seem to be quite at home - I wonder if the geese will stay for the whole summer.

The docks are in - let the fishing begin!

Since fishing season doesn't officially open until the 3rd Saturday in May, I guess we could wait until then. At least we are ready. The boats will be hitting the water soon, once they are finished being painted and refurbished.

For our returning friends, the Killdeer has returned and is nesting in her usual spot next to RV site F. Can you spot her in the picture below?

Spring has sprung on Marsh Bay Resort! Camping season will be starting soon, we are hoping to turn on the water next week in preparation for a May 1 start up.

This particular camping site (with no RV hookups) is on the edge of the river and looking lovely and green. We may have to mow this part of the grass next week. As much as I am looking forward to the summer, I still have mixed feelings about the amount of grass that will need to be mowed. Maybe I'll like driving the tractor so much I'll be happy to watch the grass get taller. :)

If you haven't been out to check out our location, come on down!!

Evening Paddles

The snow has melted and the sun is shining once again. I am waiting for my in-laws to arrive. They have been stuck in Temagami for the past 5 hours. They are waiting for the emergency personnel to clear the highway of the debris from the 2 transport accident just south of Latchford. A sad accident involving at least one fatality.

While I was waiting I got the kayak out and went exploring in Marsh Bay. Marsh Bay is across the river and doesn't look like much from the resort, but as soon as you get around the point it opens right up and is beautiful. I paddled alongside a pair of ducks - the male was green headed (Mallard?) - the female was brown, more plain but more vocal. I saw a beaver - don't know if it was the same beaver that has been chewing up trees on the resort. I tried to catch up with the beaver but he wasn't impressed with that idea, slapping his tail and diving every time I got too close. Next time I'll remember to take my camera so I can share some of the beauty. Better yet book a cottage and see it for yourself.

Cobalt?

I'm beginning to think that I moved to Calgary, not Northern Ontario. One day it's 25 degrees, the next day it's crazy windy and this morning it's snowing! Is this normal for this time of year?

It has been really windy in this area over the weekend. On Sunday I watched the wind push the remaining ice down river. The river is now ice free. It won't be long before we are putting the docks in place.

Happy Easter!

Marsh Bay Resort is welcoming spring this Easter weekend. The ice is quickly leaving the river and the weather has been absolutely beautiful. The locals tell me that this weather is not usual, and normally there is still 3 feet of snow at this time of the year. I won't worry about that but will just enjoy learning how to kayak on the river and wait impatiently for the new leaves to show up.