October 12, 2020 “Happy Thanksgiving”

Canadian Thanksgiving : The first Thanksgiving Day after Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness. Seems the date bounced around a bit and eventually settled into its October slot. The date was officially set in 1957 when Parliament fixed Thanksgiving as the second Monday in October. Now you know!

Looking for grouse on a back road in the fall.
It’s a Canadian turkey! (..and yes Len, Canadians do own guns)

The end of the season…

Since most of you reading this were unable to make it up here this summer it really was a scaled down version of a normal VBL season. Since my last blog post we’ve had a few Canadian guests and continued on with finishing some projects to prepare for 2021. We are looking forward to having all of you back next year!

Ice out contest winner arrives at VBL…

If you recall the winner of this spring’s ice out contest was George from Manitoba. He happened to be our last guest of this season as well. Here he is after selecting a prize from the VBL bling counter. Congratulations George!

Rated “xxxl” Stoic George brandishing his winnings.

While George and Candace were at camp we did our usual trek back into Clearwater Lake to unleash our fury on the always cooperative trout and whitefish. Seems 2020 was unusual in many ways….

On the trail back into Clearwater lake…..via the moose pond.

It seems the fish had other plans, and while we tried, the trout were no where to be found. An early spawn? Faulty locator? The curse of Joe Moskal? Covid 19? The plan was to fry up some fish…..go to “plan B”

Not what we were looking for but they will fry up just fine!

The wood musky…

The wood musky carved by Charles Weiss on the BBQ deck.

Time has been hard on this old fellow and it was time to do some repairs…..

Getting some body work done. Epoxy wood and sandpaper.

While I’m no artist I thought I could not make things worse. Since Charles wasn’t available I decided to take the plunge. I went as far as the base coat of primer before taking a different course of action…

Structurally in better shape and ready for some artistic brilliance.

Rhonda, a local artist with some creative ideas about painting fish has taken on the final phase. What will it look like? We will just have to wait and see…stay tuned.

A Rhonda creation…..a northern lights trout.

Cabin 3 bathroom…

Some projects that were done over the summer.

Before
After
Interesting latch (with locking mechanism) on the bathroom door.
If you’re renovating the bathroom you might as well go all out…
Replacing sewer lines.
New sewer lines equals good flushing in 2021!

Looking forward to next year…

October evening.
Water levels are very low this fall.
Interesting eagle shot from Clearwater Lake, September 2020.
Hope to see all of you in 2021!

What to take away from the 2020 experience…

I would say we were very lucky to “have to” spend our time here at the lodge this season. Looks like the near future will be much of the same but with more snowshoeing and less boating. I know some of you coped with spending more time on your local waters. Judging by our bookings for next year most of you are looking forward to getting back up here. We appreciate your anticipation and look forward to a return to more normal times.

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Testimonials

Thank you very much for making my get a way week so enjoyable. Dan and I had a great time. You and Susanne should be commended on how clean and well maintained your cabins and lodge are. I will recommend you to anyone that is looking to go to Canada fishing and I look forward to the time I can come back.

Jody Hansen