A summer day

Great day for an ATV trip. Paul Trudel and I headed for the Chown Rd. West on Highway 560 west of Gowganda. This road has been logged for several years, the last time I was on this bush road was in 2003, since then it has grown to quite a system of roads going up almost 30km.

Around the 15km. marker there is a huge hill with a vista that is well worth taking in, I'm sure you could see 25km or more if the air was clear. Today it was blue with haze.

Some of the older areas have been reforested, and others look like natural regeneration as they are thicker than hair on the proverbial dog's back.

Found and interesting trail that goes right into Shillington Lake, right where we canoed this summer and thought there was no one else around. There is a boat cache there and a site for a tent.

We logged about 85km. today. This will probably be the last ATV trip of the season. Unless....

Tower almost complete

Yesterday the last sections were hoisted to the top. The two last sections were the heaviest of the lot. They carried a trusses to relieve the stress of the cables and attachments for the hardware. The weather was very dark and getting good pics was difficult, some photo manipulation was used.

Today I went up this afternoon when the sun was out and got some good ones of the new top and the men putting up the safety rail for climbing the tower and putting the lights on. The picture of the two towers is taken from the old school property.

Mixed blog

Up to the tower this AM but the wind was to strong to lift the last two sections. They are also much heavier than the rest as they have mounts for the equipment. Will be back up tomorrow.

Coming home last week from town they were burning the slash piles right close to the road, it didn't make for very good driving as you couldn't see when you were going through the smoke.

Down the Mann Ridge Rd. for a pic session with some Tree Clubmoss or Ground Pine, Trailing Arbutus, and a scenic view of Fryingpan Lake and a bit of Hangingstone Lake.

Early to tower this AM

Went up to the tower early this AM just after the crew arrived. I didn't want to miss the raising of the sections and how it is accomplished. Much of what I wrote yesterday is exactly how it happens. This time I have pics to show you.

By tomorrow the last couple of sections will be installed.

Beautiful day for tower watching

While I was at home I could see them erecting pieces of the tower, I had to wait around until 11:00AM before I could get up there. Unfortunately the wind came up about the same time and the tower erection was shut down for safety.

I went up after lunch and had a talk with some of the men, one is actually from Earlton. If they get good weather the tower will be up in a couple or more days.

The 20 foot sections weigh around 1200 pounds each and are lifted by the ginny that travels parallel to the new tower, it pulls a section up from the ground to a point where it is above the last section, the pulley at the top rotates the new section directly over the last section and with a little man handling drops down and is attached by bolts. I will be going up early tomorrow to photograph this process. For the time being I have some pics of the tower base, the sections, and the ginny that transports the sections to the top.

The tower emerges from the forest

On my way back from town today I happened to notice something new on tower hill. Yes, the tower is above the tree line and may have got even further if the wind wasn't so bad.
The technician told me if the wind speed gets above 20km per hour then they really can't work safely.
I didn't get a chance to go up there so will try tomorrow.

Gowganda Tower Update

Late yesterday afternoon I went up to the tower to see what was going on. All the tower sections were up there, the base and platforms that go up top and the guy wire, several trucks and 4 workers.

They had just started on Monday and said they would be there maybe two weeks or more. They were just supposed to erect the tower now they may be taking the old one down too according to one of the workers. There were some more tower work in the area that Ontera wanted done too.

It's good to see that they are going to get it done this fall.

More computer probs

Well I bought a nice big screen for my computer when in Sudbury. Just the thing to see my pictures better, I thought. I installed the software turned it on and it just kept dying, couldn't even reverse what I had done. It is now have a well deserved rest in the computer hospital in New Liskeard. I am now using the laptop which I really don't like typing on the flat keys or how it changes how the software works. Hopefully I will get visiting rights by tomorrow.

Went out between snow flurries and took a few pics late this afternoon. Still flowers on the blueberry bush across the road. The green clover stood out in the light amongst the dead grasses.

Back from Sudbury

Down to see the kids for a day and take in an IMAX movie at the Science Center. Brenden, Zach, Quin and Jayden are all growing so fast. We all went to Swiss Chalet for supper and then down to the show, The Great Lakes a great picture for all showing the past Great Lakes, the present and the future. A thread through the whole show is the restocking of the Lake Sturgeon what a history this fish has. Anyway if you get a chance, see it.

I picked up a new widescreen monitor for my desktop, after trying to get it going for some time my computer packed it in. I hope it's fixable because I do all my pictures on it. Fortunately I am now using the laptop and have recovered and installed my pictures from my stand alone hard drive. Thank goodness.

Here's a few pics from across the road. I found a clump of blueberries and there were single flowers on it. Not what you'd expect this time of year.

New Gowganda Tower

Went up tower hill for a check on the construction of the new tower. Met a couple of the workers who were putting in the forms for the tower centre and the supports for the cable to the shed. They had put in anchor bolts for the guy wire anchors at three points. A rock drill from down south came up and drilled all the holes. The men were waiting for the concrete truck to arrive from New Liskeard. About 2:30 PM the truck arrived and the concrete was poured. This meant that the two workers had finished what they had come to do. The next part was up to the tower erection crew.

Found out the new tower will be 300 feet about 50 feet or more than the old tower. The old tower will be completely taken down when the new one is finished. This upgrades, the old tower by new height, and safety upgrades for the men working on it. I suspect the regular phone, cell phone and internet will all come from the new tower.

Burke and Edith Lake mystery shrub

Even back in the summer while canoeing these lakes a shrub kept appearing along the shore. I haven't seen it in this amount anywhere else. I was having a bit of trouble nailing down the species.

Started to look into it some more and even brought back lots of samples and put them in water in the house. To make a long story short it is a member of the Holly family, and it's called Black Alder or Winterberry. Winterberry because the berries stay on for such a long time into the fall, although when I went looking for it there were very few to any berries left.

Today wet and cool and expecting wet flurries to two cm. of snow by AM.

Up to Obushkong Lake

Went up to Obushkong Lake this afternoon to take my boat out for repairs. A couple of years ago I was carrying it back up the hill and a wind caught the boat and flipped it on a rock which resulted in a dent with a hole. Will fix it before spring for next summer.

Got a few pics while there, one of the falls, some Phragmites, a tall grass not too common around here. Usually seen in roadside ditches. Bunchberry in fall colour, Old Man's beard lichen, and a bracket fungus with a small birch growing through it.

Very High winds

Woke up early this AM with the carbon monoxide detector ringing telling me the power was going to fail and sure enough it did. Got up in the dark had some breakfast and curled up on the chesterfield until I heard the power come back on. A front had moved through pushing out the hot weather and the winds were very high, branches were breaking off the tall tamaracks to the west of the house and hitting the roof. The flag was straight out for some time.
Spent the rest of the day cutting wood for inside the new windows.

Edith Lake and Road

It was a great day today, a little hot but it's October will take all we can get. Sun came out late this PM so out for a short trip. Haven't been up the Edith Lake Rd for awhile and it was nice and close. The leaves are starting to rain down and it's getting easier to see through the bush. Went right up to the boat landing and scouted about for quite some time.

The moss is Juniper Moss.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just back from Dana and Wayne's annual Thanksgiving Day feast. It was a great supper, turkey with all the trimmings and a choice of many desserts. Dana along with Barb put on a great supper for all of Jim's crew, Bob, Kevin, CJ and his friend, Ron, Bryan and Leslie (great apple crisp), Charlie and myself. Thanks very much to all.

And a happy anniversary to Gert and Paul, today too.