Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 21

Came through 7 locks from Lakefield to Peterborough in record time this morning!  Late getting away from the first one, but every one after that was ready and waiting for us.  We are treating ourselves on our last night out by staying at the Peterborough Marina, where we arrived shortly after noon.  It has been a strange day, looking like rain all morning, but not raining.  Since then we have been caught in downpours 3 times! 

At the top of the world-famous Peterborough Liftlock - the highest one in the world, and over 100 years old.

There were lots of police around the marina today.  Someone drowned last night in the river, and the police spent all day using sonar to try to locate the body in the muddy water (from all the rain).  They don't know how far the current may have taken the body, so it's a big area to search.  No luck by nightfall.

Another lovely heron standing on some rocks, preening.

There were cedar waxwings in this tree eating berries, but I was unable to get a shot of one.  This cute little chippy was much more co-operative!

As was this young robin.

Megan was VERY co-operative posing with statues like this cute bear......

......and these cute little kids sharing their boat.....

.......and this Mom and baby dog.......

......and these tuggers of war.

I couldn't get her stand by this one though.  It was on a little island in the river.  :-)

I'm forever chasing bees.....isn't there a song something like that?

Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 20

Long time no blog!  Between a LOT of rain, not a lot of photos, and being busy with Megan's visit.....
Saturday was a fun day, with a visit from our friends Dick and Marilyn for lunch out in Lindsay and a nice visit back at the boat, and a trip to the Academy Theatre at night, it was great

Sunday, we went to the Fairview Baptist Church, also in Lindsay, where Steve Bell (formerly of Cobourg Baptist) preached, and included at the beginning a very nice tribute to Murray Bickle.  Imagine our surprise when we saw Murray's face on the screen! After church, we had a lovely drive on very back roads to Brampton, where we spent the afternoon and evening with Paul's brother Murray and Marilyn.

 I enjoyed watching the finches at Murray and Marilyn's feeder, and learned something about finches.  They turn darker in colour as fall approaches.

How to entertain seniors - drive around cemeteries and look at tombstones!

After picking Megan up at the airport Sunday night, getting back to the boat in Lindsay after midnight, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day on Monday.  As we headed down the "bayou", we saw this lovely heron.

This little duck was having something to say!

Megan was enjoying the family of ducks.

Back in Bobcaygeon for two days, we heard and saw a lot of a family of Osprey.

Yummy!  Ice cream from Kawartha Dairy - where they actually make the ice cream, and give very generous "baby" scoops!

Another lovely heron.

A beautiful sunset at Bobcaygeon.

And a campfire to end the day - with marshmallows of course.

Megan feeding the duck family on the second beautiful day in a row!

Megan and I braved the cold water for a swim.

And yet another campfire.

Yum!  Perfection!

"Ring of fire" - Megan playing with fire!

After a lovely 2 days, we're back to rain, but at least no wind!  Today, we ventured down as far as Lakefield, and are enjoying a movie, with the generator on.

Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 15

This morning we left Fenelon Falls and went a few kms to Lindsay.  The Scugog River flows out of Lake Scugog (Port Perry) into Sturgeon Lake, and we followed the river up to Lindsay, where there is a nice park on the river, with walls to tie up, power, and nearby washroom with shower.

Ours is the only boat parked here tonight, on a wall that has power and space for LOTS of boats.  Go figure!

The river winds it's way up through marsh like this on both sides.  The locals call it the "bayou".

Isn't this the cutest little cabin - maybe a change-house or a bunkie down by the river.  Looks like it even has a fireplace in it.  Or maybe it's a sauna!

The bridge over the river, right by the lock that goes up to lake Scugog, is under construction.  We have to detour to get to the downtown.

So many pretty flowers!

And of course, where there are flowers, there are bees!

I was so disappointed that this wasn't as crisp as I hoped for.

Lilies everywhere!

We were entertained for awhile this afternoon by some boys playing with this remote boat.  Did it ever fly!

This large sculpture near us has it's petals hinged, and they open and close.

Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 14

A lot of "same old, same old" in Fenelon Falls today!  Cold - REALLY cold, rainy, windy - REALLY windy!  In other words, not a very nice day.  We were hoping to bike up the old railway path, take a picnic lunch, etc.  It didn't happen!  Most of the day was spent in the boat, keeping warm.  We did manage to walk to Tim Horton's for breakfast, then down to Canadian Tire and the farm market. Didn't take too many pics today either.

There's a house-boat rental company in the area called "Happy Days", and they have 2 luxury house-boats that sleep 12 people.  "Happy One" was behind us all night, and today, Paul got a tour of it.  It has 4 bedrooms, a really big kitchen and living/dining room, a gas fireplace (lucky them!), a bbq up top, along with a table and lots of  seating built in, and a bbq out front as well, etc, etc, etc.  This one is "Happy Too".  They rent for $6,700 per week in high season (now), and obviously they are both rented!  Then there would be taxes (13%), insurance, gas, plus whatever food you needed.  Talk about an expensive vacation!  I keep thinking of what a nice cruise you could have for WAY less than that, with all the luxuries that come with it.

 The Kawartha Voyageur came through today - a cruise boat that plies the Ontario waterways.  It is so big, it has to lift it's bow hydrolically to fit inside the locks.

As it exits the lock, it lets down the bow to the normal position.

They parked on the wall here in Fenelon for a couple of hours so the passengers could do a little shopping or sightseeing. The 3rd boat up on the wall is ours.  The passengers are on board for 5 days, then bussed back to their starting point and a new lot boarded.  It's a nice way to see the waterways.

Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 13

What a day this has been!  Rain and wind, though no t-storms, thankfully.  We headed up Sturgeon Lake from Bobcaygeon, heading west, into the very strong winds, and soon decided that we would have to take it slowly - very large waves.  We even put on our life jackets!  Sturgeon is a very long, narrow lake, but once we turned north towards Fenelon Falls, the land broke the wind, and it wasn't so bad.
We went through the lock, and tied up at the top, where the town, a few years ago, put in new docks, with power and water.  I love it!  We are staying here for 2 nights.  It has rained off and on, and blown hard all day, and tomorrow doesn't sound much better.  It's also cold.  But take heart Megan, next week is supposed to be very nice.  :-)
Very few pics taken today because of the weather, but here are a few.

 This is what greets us as we approach the lock from the bottom.

The people of Fenelon Falls fought long and hard to "keep the falls in Fenelon", and they did - at least during the days.  At night, most of the water is redirected through the power generators.

There is an island between the falls and the locks, and there used to be a fire station with tower and a bell, which was used to communicate the time, and sound the alarm for fires.  The tower was torn down in the 70's, but the bell was saved and displayed.

This is another sign that I like, depicting a sail boat, and it's right by where the boats park.

This is where I usually get amazing sunset pictures - Fenelon Falls is one of the best places for sunsets!  You can see the whitecaps on Cameron Lake, and we are still rocking and rolling to beat the band!  Oh well, maybe there will be a nice sunset tomorrow.

Boat Trip 2014 - Aug 12

Wow!  What a night of rain we had!  We were all set to move on up the system today, but encountered a delay.  With boating, you should always expect the unexpected.  We were at Burleigh Falls, and the next lock up is Lovesick, which is an island lock.  The lock workers go there by boat, and the boat is stored inside the lock at Burleigh.  But this morning, the power was off at Burleigh, so they couldn't open the power-operated gate to let the boat out until someone brought a generator to power the gate.  So we waited along with them, but eventually we got away, the rain stopped, and it has been a fairly uneventful day ever since.  So here we are at Bobcaygeon, home of Kawartha Dairy.  I strayed from my usual moose tracks ice cream cone - had a salty caramel truffle.  I won't make that mistake again.  You might say this is a blog of the "birds and the bees".

Saw some loons along the way today.  So beautiful!

When we settled into our favorite spot at Bobcaygeon, I was thrilled to discover about 2 dozen cedar waxwings flitting around in the tree right beside us!

The masked bandit!

We always see osprey in this area.  This seemed like a really big fellow.

This one had caught a fish and was up in a tree eating it.

And of course the bees....