Seventh Inning Stretch

It is the Seventh Inning Stretch – and everyone is pulling HARD here at Ennadai Resort.  A group of Territorial inspectors visited to inspect progress on the wind turbine, the Solar electric, the Solar domestic hot water, the heating system and the fire safety measures. There is progress, but we will be working hard to be ready for the arrival of the paying guests at the end of the month.

During the rush to get at some pipes beneath the building the other day, I grabbed a black garbage bag that was awaiting its flight to Yellowknife for disposal.  I gave it a mighty heave and thought nothing more about it. About a minute later, two squirrels emerged from a hole in the bag as I came out from beneath the building. I received a terrible dressing down... they gave me both barrels! After venting their feelings about my disrespectful behavior they took off like a couple of rabbits, dashing for the other end of the runway.

Some recently arrived help will dial the pace up. The recent Dash-7 brought carpenters to renovate the staff quarters and an electrician to sew together new electric services for all of the buildings.  A boiler tech is expected soon to get heating zones working in the rooms – and that will be a timely thing. While the rest of the country is suffering heavy rains, great heat, tornados and hailstorms, we have had sunny days in the mid-teens and then cloudy periods with single digit temperatures and brisk breezes. It already feels like October at home.

The record fish size keeps bumping up. One of the guys landed a 14 pound trout of 34” length a few days ago.

Sailor Sue is becoming an aero photographer of note in these parts. Here is a briefvideo of the landing of a turbo-otter (float) in which she is interrupted by a very handsome caribou which she photos until he exits the scene, then returning to the aircraft on final in time for the splash.  Max was calling a warning to her as she was standing right in the caribou’s path – a warning which she blew off, thinking that a DeHaviland Caribou aircraft must be next in the landing circuit. Her surprise was complete.

This was our first float plane since our arrival here, and I was surprised at how many different things are required for their proper care and feeding. The pilot , who turned out to be a distant cousin of Susan’s, was unable to get near our beach or our wharf due to the low water level in the lake. After we ferried the passengers ashore he took off to survey nearby coves, selecting one that was not too far away, from which we could pick him up using a Quad ATV. The next morning we carried barrels of jet fuel to him by skiff, a process repeated again on the second morning.

With two aircraft at a time operating yesterday, the level of activity was feeling a lot like Turnbull Field – until we saw a procession of four floatplanes passing overhead enroute to Kasba Lake Lodge about 50 km from us. Our visiting inspectors advised that Kasba was very busy, and expecting the arrival of 30 visitors when they stopped to inspect.

Our Inuit contingent, Seemee and Peter learned the location of the caribou main herd from the visitors and left by boat – bright and early this Sunday morning – to bag a good one. I thought that they must have been low on ammunition by now, but apparently not.

With the limited rainfall experienced to date, water levels are very low here. And the lake is uncharted. On lazy sunny days like this, it would be a good idea to use a chartplotter running lines on the lake to record depths and create an uploadable record of where the underwater obstructions are located.

 

There are so many reefs that, I slipped into boatbuilding mode (uh – oh!!!) in my dreams two nights back, designing  a bigger version of uncle Vernon’s ‘Gone Goose’ from the sixties (for those who would not remember that craft – it was a high speed barge with a Gypsy Major aero engine, and capable of 65 MPH ). I can still remember being aboard when he hit a sandy and rocky shore at the head of the Belleisle Bay – and simply powered over it and back into the water. He had put a replaceable layer of ¾” plywood on the bottom to mitigate damage from such groundings.

I woke up and reminded myself that I have yet to finish the Big Boat on the river in New Brunswick, not to mention the total refit of the Southern Sailboat. However, if I were to spend an off-season in a place like this then building a boat would be the perfect activity to keep in focus. I heard a story once about the widow of a guy in Newfoundland who asked the teller to please see what her spouse had been up to up in the attic in the several years prior to his passing. The teller went up (she was reluctant) and found a boat, built in the attic – complete and painted, ready to go – but with no way to get it out of the attic without demolishing the house. I think I am probably that man reincarnate.
(This is the voice of Boat Boy if you didn't guess lol -  as Sailor Sue doesn't dream of boat retrofits.)

Week four Ennadai Lake Lodge

Week Four at the Lake

sunrise Friday

Saturday night sunset

The week passed in a blur with work taking up all of our attentions during the days. Temperatures finally warmed up and as a result we had some mosquitoes, followed by a day or two of blackflies. The bites are not as irritating as southern bug-bites and increasingly we put our bug-suits and bug hats aside. The forest fires have returned. Air quality definitely suffers, but on the plus side, the bugs pack-up and go away. Because of the forest fires the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular

Sailor Sue is an absolute marvel. She is adding skills to an already impressive resume. As a budding videographer she has been filming every takeoff and landing here. She has named one of the dehaviland ’Buffalo’ supply aircraft –“Snoopy” because of its little black Radome nose and is making a film that shows the improvements to the runway as they are done.

 She has also been doing daily photos of our own work for the record.

Meanwhile her very latest skill is insulating and jacketing the hot water pipes of the solar hot water system that we are building.

While Max and I have moved to work indoors fabricating manifolds, installing the pipes up through the floor,  she is outside – polishing up the final details.

Mike flew out on Snoopy for a much needed four day R & R , after the shipment of photovoltaic solar panels and the new wind turbine were unloaded.

When Mike flies back on Wednesday he will be accompanied by the electrician and his wife who will installing the new equipment.

Meanwhile Norm, the plumber, is under the gun to complete his installation of the new boiler and all its fittings so he can go back to Yellowknife on the plane. 

Al has been busy with the construction of the battery house assisted by Peter and Seeme.

Six days of work and a much needed day of relaxation when we catch up with our correspondence, write our blog and edit our photos.
Today we took a road trip on the four wheelers, Sue's very first foray into the forest trails on her own quad. It is quite the experience and for those of you who know of her legendary tractor driving skills can understand her trepidation in driving a four wheeler

moonrise

Slow week at Ennadai lake Lodge

The two of us together

 Slow week at Ennadai

It has been a slow week here at the lake. While the rest of the country got warm, we had single digit temperatures, wind and showers.                                                   

   If we look cold in this picture, it is only because we really were cold.

  

The work moved forward, with Max and Sue teaming up to handle the pipefitting side of things.

 The bad weather abated just enough for a couple of pilots from Alaska to drop out of the sky on an overnight visit. Kodiak Air were just checking out the facilities in a whirlwind tour of the Canadian Arctic.

The work continues until late in the week but it was generally too rough to go out fishing in the evenings. One of our number is due to fly out next week and was getting a little desperate but on Thursday, the break in the weather gave Tam his chance.

He was the first of a flood of evening fishermen. By Sunday afternoon, Susan and I got our turn and opted for exploring the southern end of the lake. Susan did pull in (and release) a 2 pounder but after that we decided that we would rather just cruise around. We decided to look for the camp that we have seen canoe-ists coming from on a couple of occasions. A couple of hours later, their secret campsite still a mystery to us, we were looking at thunder clouds bearing down on the lodge, about two miles away.

 After an hour circling to the South-west we skirted the worst of them and made a dash for the lodge. The two foot chop gave the Lund a good test, and the boat passed with honours – a very dry ride even at bone-shaking speeds.

We had some serious social obligations and we were not going to be late!!

‘Sweetness’ has managed to get her paw slammed in a door and has been ‘playing-up’ the limp for everyone. It was Susan’s turn to give sweetness a good half-hour of cuddles. The pace here is really hectic !

 Susan has been looking at cruise deals online. I guess she is looking forward to a vacation.

Let us know how this format change works for you. Some have commented that the pictures will not display for them because of the way we had them imported so we are trying something different.