April 23rd, 2011: Its been a busy winter and its only going to get more exciting as we get closer to the start of the season! Ive been busy hiring staff, arranging the freight and fuel haul and picking up miscellaneous supplies for the season.
I have chatted with some contacts in Norway House and Island Lake and they say that the ice is still a few weeks away from going out. Im not worried yet, but Im starting to really hope for nice weather for the next few weeks. Ill be at the lodge May 2nd for the first time since last October so well see for ourselves what the ice is doing. Starting in May the updates will happen much more frequently.
As was the case last year, were still getting some late bookings to fill in some holes here and there. Hopefully this trend continues so that we have a great season! We have more guests this season than the last 2 years, especially at our lodge on Bolton Lake, for whatever reason the outposts still are not as full as last season.
May is going to be busy! My schedule looks like this right now, May 2nd pick up supplies and staff, drive a couple hours north of Winnipeg to get a charter plane to take us into Bolton. Spend 4-5 days getting the runway ready for fuel and freight hauls and organize the staff to build the new dock system at the lodge. Fly back to Winnipeg on about May 7th, then pick up the freight truck on May 9th, load it with beer, pop, outboard engines, the new ice machine and all the miscellaneous supplies Ive picked up over the winter (yay my garage will be emptied out again), and then drive it all up to Norway House. On May 10th fly into Bolton on one of the freight planes, help organize all the fuel, freight and supplies coming in while maintaining the runway and making sure everything is working. After all the freight and fuel and propane are in Bolton, fly back to Norway House and drive the rental truck back to Winnipeg on about May 13th. Then drive out to Kenora to get my training done on the float plane and bring it up to the lodge on May 15th, assuming we have open water. May 17th, the first guests arrive. May 20th, most of the new staff will be arriving, train them and get ready for the season! May 25th, our first lodge guests arrive! I would list the things I have to do to get the camp opened up but this bulletin is long enough already.
This sounds like a lot of work, but I really enjoy getting the camp set up and bringing in the supplies and staff to get the season going. The only thing I dont like is getting to the lodge and seeing what damage has been done over the winter, figuring out whats missing and fighting with equipment that ran fine in the fall&the long winter takes its toll so its just part of the game.
Heres a great picture I took this morning, I counted 14 deer in the yard, our new record! The new house has been great, its really nice for visiting our friends and family on this side of town!
