Monday, August 15th. 2005

This morning I had to wait for Herb to open his hardware store at 8:30 -9 AM so that I can get some nails to finish the work on the outhouse that is just behind the big teepee. With the nailed in hand, I went back to my apartment and loaded my camping gear into the canoe. The I walked the canoe to the boat ramp at the Haileybury Marina. After launching the canoe into the lake, I rolled the canoe carriage to its parking spot. The day was clear and sunny with a slight south-easterly wind. A great day to be on the water. When I got near the shore of the Island, I noticed that the lake level had dropped down fro the last time I had been here last week. The water is really shallow by the dock, for any deep V shaped boat hull, but there is plenty of water for the canoe. After unloading the camping gear from the canoe and packed it away in the tent-cabin, I began to gather suitable driftwood for the outhouse. This work took me all morning to get the right size in diameter to finish the front of the outhouse. Then it was only a matter to cut the wood to size and nail it on. By evening, the job was finished. Now only the door has to be made. That, I will tackle tomorrow. What a lovely evening it was as the sun sunk down behind the far off hills. I thing that I had noticed about this place, is that usually, there are very, very few mosquitoes around the Island. It is a good place for a picnic or to do some camping.

Tuesday, August 16th. 2005

This morning after breakfast, I went about looking for suitable driftwood to make the outhouse door. By now, it is beginning to be a challenge to find the right piece of driftwood to do the job. But undaunted, I scoured the shoreline for suitable driftwood on the mainland and loaded these into the canoe to take back to the Island. After fashioning the door frame, I nailed on the sticks to it. I finally got the job done by late evening. Now the outhouse is completed. With that job done, tomorrow I can start to paint the clan tribe symbols on the teepee.

Wednesday, August 16th. 2005

This morning it is heavily overcast. I think we are going to get some rain today. After breakfast, I gathered my paints and brushes and went over to the teepee. I started the work on the teepee door where I will paint the symbol that represent the Métis People. In fact, I had found that there are two Métis symbols. One is of a blue background that pertain to the Northwest Trading Company, with the infinity symbol at its center, and the other is with a red background that pertain to the Hudson Bay Company with the infinity symbol at its center. So which one of these symbols should I paint? C.C. the had worked for the Hudson Bay Company, but the first nation and Métis people were involved with both of these trading companies during the history of this region. To solve this problem that I was facing, I decided to paint on the door of this teepee a symbol that would represent both of the Métis symbols by painting the background half in red and the other half in blue with the infinity symbol at its center. After I had completed that task, I then painted on the teepee the clan symbols of the Algonkian people which consist of the hoof clan, the bear clan and the bird clan. While trying to paint these clan symbols on the teepee, it had rained on and off during this painting session. But I managed to get these clan symbols painted on the teepee in-between the rain showers. I will have to do some more research on the local Algonkian clans. I am finding it very difficult to get any kind of information on this particular subject matter. After I had painted the bird clan symbol, it rained continuously all through the rest of the day and night. I even had to fire up the wood stove to get the chill and dampness out of the tent-cabin. The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for more rain. I spent the rest of the day reading from books that I have on hand for such moments.

Thursday, August 17th. 2005

This morning I woke up at 5 AM and found the sky to be heavely overcast and is raining lightly. I had to start a fire going in the wood stove to get rid of the chill and dampness in the tent-cabin. I made some breakfast and waited to see if the rain would let up. The drizzle had not let up by 9 AM, so I started to pack my camping gear. By 10 AM, I had everything in the canoe and left the Island. There was no point to stay here any longer if it is raining. After reaching Haileybury, I loaded the canoe on its carriage and went home to my apartment. All in all, I was happy with the progress that I had made on the Island. Haileybury. Next year will be time enough to continue the work on the Island

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August 29th. 2005

Today I went to the Island to finish the outhouse that is behind the big teepee. I had bought a small tarp from Herb's Pro Hardware store to use to cover the roof of the outhouse. Now when it rains, it will not get wet inside the outhouse. By evening, it started to rain so I gathered up my tools and headed for the tent-cabin. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the nice, warm, comfortable tent-cabin. While listening to the weather report as I was making supper, I hear that hurricane Katrina is headed for the gulf coast. This hurricane may be a bad one given the strength of it. I listen to some classical music on our local CBC radio station.

August 30th. 2005

This morning it is raining so I will not be doing much today. As I listen to the further development of that Katrina hurricane on the weather report, we are probably getting this rainy weather system from the effects of that hurricane which had passed over Florida and is headed for New Orleans. The local news media in New Orleans is telling people to leave the city for higher ground. This hurricane is going to be a nasty one. I stayed inside the tent-cabin and read a book and then listen to a local FM station on the radio. I hear that hurricane "Katrina" is about to land on the gulf coast. It is 1:AM in the morning now and a dyke has been broken through and New Orleans is flooding. The radio broadcaster is saying that hurricane Katrina is causing a heavy toll upon the city of New Orleans and its people. The rain is coming down hard now that is drowning out the radio with the noise of the rain hitting the tent-cabin.

Sept 1st. 2005

This morning is a heavily overcast sky and a fresh breeze is blowing from the west. The weather forecast calls for strong winds in the afternoon, so I decided to get off the Island now before the strong winds come and I will not be able to leave the Island. I have to be at the Haileybury Heritage Museum tomorrow morning. When I got back to my apartment, I turned on the TV and saw the damage hurricane Katrina had done to New Orleans. What a devastation!

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Sept 17th. 2005

Went to the Island this morning to collect driftwood along the shoreline to use as firewood for the coming winter. I noticed that the beavers had cut down 16 large trees since the last time that I was here. This is not good. I collected the driftwood from along the shoreline and stack these close to the tent-cabin so that there will be plenty of dry wood in case people might need to use the tent-cabin as an emergency shelter during the winter months. There will at least be some dry wood to light up the wood stove for people to warm themselves up. I am winding down my work on the Island for this season. I feel that I have accomplished all that I had planned to do for this season, with the exception of the flower seeds I had planted, they had not materialised to bloom in a perfusion of contrasting colours as I had envisioned they would.

Sept 18th. 2005

I had planned to stay on the Island till Tuesday evening, Sept.20th, but decided to leave the Island early because the weather forecast calls for heavy rain and severe thunder showers with strong winds for the next few days. I would not be doing much work during those rainy days, so there was no point staying on the island. So I loaded my gear into the canoe and headed back to Haileybury.

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Oct.8th. 2005

On reflecting about the great amount of trees the beavers are cutting down on the Island, it is causing me to re-evaluate the validity of continuing the the Island Botanical Park project. Usually, the beavers would cut down 5-6 large, fully grown trees, as well as smaller trees, that are about the thickness of a man's wrist during any given previous months. But at the present rate the beavers are cutting down the trees on this little island, I fear that at the rate the beavers are cutting down the trees on the Island, there will not be a tree left standing in a couple of years.

Jan 12th/2006; I had spent my time during the x-mas holiday season on the Island. After I had settled in, I went over to the beaver house to deal with those tree cutting beavers. To my surprise, the beavers had abandoned their house because they were not there as I had expected. By then, they would have had their litter of little beavers and would have to stay put. The only conclusion that I can come up with, is that they must of abandoned their beaver house after I had left the Island in the late fall. That was the time when I had tried to persuade them to leave the Island and I thought that it had no effect. This spring I will be busy cutting up the 26 trees that the beavers had cut down. Some of these trees I will use to make picnic tables and the rest will be used for firewood. I am beginning to like camping out during the winter season. This is something I had not done until I came up here to Haileybury. I had found out that the big tee-pee had blew down. This must have happened during a wind storm we had a while ago. I will have to put it back up in the spring.

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April.27th. 2006

I loaded up the canoe and Buddy and I left to go to the Island. What a beautiful, warm day it is. The lake was calm and it is a good time to find out how Buddy will react being in a canoe. I stayed close along the shoreline in case Buddy got too excited or afraid and would upset the canoe in the process. I had tied Buddy to the front seat on a short leash so that he was unable to jump out of the canoe and upset it. We arrived to the Island in good form with no incident that would cause me to worry. In fact Buddy seemed to be totally board by that trip, for he just laid down with his head resting on the forward canoe seat as we went along. I was pleasantly delighted to see the dock had not shifted from its place and that it was still intact. The movement of ice had caused some damage to the central docking area at the Haileybury Marina. I let Buddy go to explore the Island as I unloaded the canoe. After In had put things away in the tent-cabin, I tidied up the tent-cabin. My main aim was to just spend some time with Buddy. I was not going to do too much else on this outing. I heard Buddy barking so I went to see what all the fuss was about. Buddy was barking at the beavers that were swimming close by. It seems like the beavers had come back to the Island after all. By the time I had got to where Buddy was, he had already jumped into the water and was going after the beaver. I called him back and he quickly headed back to shore. We went over to the beaver house and sure enough, they were in the process of repairing their beaver house. The beavers swam at a fair distance watching us as I sat on a rock, drinking coffee and smoked a cigarette. They eventually swam to the main shore and I never saw them again. I suppose that when the beavers saw a dog was on the Island, they decided it was not a good place to be and had moved on. I let Buddy roam around the beaver house so that he would leave his scent there to remind the beavers that he was there in case the beavers decided to come back to the Island. They had already caused much damage on this little island. What a wonderful time Buddy and I had today. It was nice to see Buddy really get a chance to stretch his legs without having a leash on him. At least here on this little island, I did not have to worry about letting Buddy run freely and getting hit by a car or encounter other dogs. Buddy and I walked along the trails and then had a good supper of pork chops, potatoes and veggies and settled down for the night.

April.28th. 2006

This morning after breakfast, I went to see about the downed tee-pee. The first thing I had noticed was that someone had taken the traps that had covered it. They had left the bottom front section and the door and the top wings of the tee-pee. So I sorted out the poles and proceeded to get the tee-pee upright again. This time I dug three holes where the three main poles would rest in. This should prevent the tee-pee from toppling over in a strong wind. When I got the tee-pee up again, I tied the top, where the poles join together and tied it with some strong rope to keep it from shifting. Now the tee-pee will be able to withstand any strong wind that will bear on it. I must say, it looks pretty good, despite the missing parts of its coverings.

Teepee, fire pit and outhouse in the background.

I can not afford to buy any more new tarps to cover the teepee again, so I will gather what old carpets people will throw out during the annual spring cleaning and use them to cover the teepee. I will tack it on, jute-back outward and that should keep the weather out for the campers who may want to use it. The rest of the day I spent with Buddy. We went for a canoe ride and then walked the trails. By that time it was late in the evening so we went to the tent-cabin and I made some supper of pork chops. For Buddy, I mixed a tin of dog food with his dry dog chow with pieces of pork chops thrown in, and he loved it. Then I settled down on the bunk and I read an old book, The Time Machine by H.G.Wells (1984), which I had gotten from our public library while Buddy slept on the carpet beside the bunk. We had a good day.

April.29th. 2006 This morning I heard the sound of honking. Buddy did not know what to make of those sound so we investigated what it was. I went to the dock and not far away were two big swans swimming towards the dock. I went back to the tent-cabin and got a good handful of wild bird seeds. I threw these to the swans and they started to feed. What a beautiful sight to see. That was the first time I had seen swans in the wild. The only time I had seen swans were in a zoo. After breakfast, I did some work on the tent-cabin. I added a shelf above the bunk for added storage space and changed the main table around so that I can sit close to the window and look out as I eat my meals. I also added another shelf above the CB radio to place items on it. These are minor changes but it makes the place more like home. I will see if I can pick up some rubberized runners that people had thrown out during the spring cleaning to cover the floor. It will make it easier to sweep the floor and keep the cabin clean. Buddy and I played a lot for the rest of the time we were on the Island. Buddy and I headed out in the canoe and paddled around the Island and along the main shore. I want Buddy to get used to being in a canoe untied. He was pretty good and had not tried to upset the canoe during all the time we were on the lake. He seemed to like it more when I use the paddle rather than the motor. But we spent enough time using both methods so that he will get used to the noise of the little outboard motor. The weather forecast calls for rain, strong winds and cold weather from May 4th, on to the end of the week, so we headed back to Haileybury on Wednesday noon, May 3rd. All in all, Buddy and I had a grand time together during our stay on the Island.

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May 14th. 2006 This morning there is a break in the weather from all the rainy days we had. The weather forecast calls for more rain tomorrow and all through the week. So today is my best chance to get that carpet to the Island. At 5:30 AM, Buddy and I went for our daily morning walk. When we got to the lake, only a short distance away, the lake was somewhat calm. There was still a slight chop on the lake because it had been blowing quite hard all through the night. When we got back to the apartment, I loaded the canoe and made our way to the boat ramp, next to the Haileybury Marina. Off we headed to the Island while Buddy laid down on the rolled-up carpet that had taken every bit of space in the canoe. Buddy seem to take the rough ride on the choppy water pretty well. He do not show any sign of nervousness. I beached the canoe at the Tee-Pee site and unloaded the canoe, while Buddy went exploring the Island. I got the needed tools together and got started on draping the carpet to the Tee-Pee. I first had to take off the piece of white tarp that covered the entrance of the Tee-Pee. After about an hour, I took a coffee-break and had some breakfast. Then I went back to work on the Tee-Pee. After I got that piece of carpet in place, I nailed it on with roofing nails because it had a broad head. After that was done, I put on the white piece of tarp over the entrance of the Tee-Pee. That one piece of carpet covered the front of the Tee-Pee. What is left to do is the sides, back and top.

Now I just need to find some more carpet that people are throwing out to finish the job on the Tee-Pee. I think that I will also cover the Tent-Cabin with carpet so that during the hot summer days, it will be cool inside and warm during the winter months. I can give the carpet a coat of paint on the exterior side, where the jute-back is exposed, to protect it from the weather. I can also paint the exposed jute-back on the Tee-Pee after I have completely covered it. Then I will consider that job finished .

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May 25th. 2006 During spring clean-up, I managed to get a good supply of carpets that people had thrown out. Also I managed to obtain quite a few cans of old paint that people had discarded. This I will mix it all together and apply it on the jute-back carpet to give it added protection from rainy weather. This morning it was heavily overcast with dark thunder storm clouds scattered here and there, but the lake was calm. So I loaded the canoe and took the first load to the Island. There I stored the items until I can get back to finish the job on the Tee-Pee. By the time I got back from the Island, 9:30 AM, and re-loaded the canoe, the clouds had become darker, and it looked like it was going to rain soon. So I unload the canoe because I did not want to take a chance to make a second trip least the wind will pick up to its expected 30 MPH. But by 1PM, the sky had cleared and the sun shone brightly. What a change from just a few hours ago. The lake was calm with no wind about, so I once again loaded the canoe. This load was a very large one because I still expected that it will rain according to the weather forecast. I wanted to get the rest of the gear in the canoe and make only one trip. Arrived on the Island and I unloaded the canoe and put the carpets and paints away. I will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday before I start work on the Tee-Pee. But I am pleased at the progress that I had made today. Hopefully, I will have enough carpets to cover the Tee-Pee. Most of the carpets I got had covered small rooms. But then again, I might have some left over to cover the roof of the Tent-Cabin. That alone should keep the Tent-cabin cool in the heat of the day. Will see. I have been greatly helped by Charles (Bud) Shaver, Chris Oslund, Patricia Wilson, Allan Bellaire, Jack Perry and others who have become good friends to me. These people are the people who are the main driving force and have helped a great deal to establish the Heritage Museum in Haileybury, which Haileybury is now part of the City of Temiskaming Shores.

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June 2nd. 2006; After I had finished my volunteer work at the Haileybury Heritage Museum, I loaded my canoe and left for the Island. The weather was clear and warm with a slight breeze coming from the south-east. Buddy did not mind the hot sun shining down because he had wedged himself between two large bags loaded with camping gear, providing him with some shade. By the time I had unloaded the gear and put things away, and made some supper for Buddy and myself, it was too late to do anything else but to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet of the late evening.

June 3rd. 2006; Woke up this morning at about 5 AM and made breakfast for Buddy and myself. I wanted to get an early morning start during the cool of the day to get the carpets nailed onto the Tee-Pee. Today was going to be another one of those hot days. While I was working on the Tee-Pee and Buddy was fast asleep in the shade inside of the Tee-Pee, a couple of young boys made their appearance. They had come over to the Island in their 14 ft. red Scout canoe. I stopped work and chatted with the boys. By now I was ready for a coffee break anyway. During the walking tour of the Island on the trails I had already made, the impression I got while talking with the boys was that they were planning to stay overnight in the Tent-Cabin, even though they could plainly see that I had all my personal gear installed. I told the boys that they can use the Tee-Pee this evening and make camp there, but they had no camping gear with them. I told them that they were not going to bunk with me in the Tent-Cabin and that I would be willing to tow them back to Haileybury with my canoe with its outboard motor when the wind would die down some. The wind by now had shifted to the north-east and the lake was getting choppy. I told the boys to think it over and left them at the Tent-Cabin while I went back to work on the Tee-Pee. By Evening, Mike, my landlord at McCool Restaurant, stopped by with his pontoon boat with the girls and little Mickey. The wind had died down somewhat but the lake was still a bit choppy. I showed the troop the Tee-Pee and they got a great thrill out of it. I told Mike about the boys who had come to the Island by canoe and that the boys would need a tow to get back to Haileybury. It would be just too hard to paddle back against a stiff breeze and choppy water. Mike offered to tow the boys back since he was heading back to Haileybury anyway. I told the boys that Mike will tow them back to Haileybury with his pontoon boat when they were ready to leave the Island. The boys accepted the offer. After they had left, I went to the Tent-Cabin to make myself a cup of coffee and I noticed that my ultra-slim, chrome pocket watch with matching chain was missing. I had hung it on a nail next to the bunk. I have a good idea who stole that pocket watch. After I had my coffee, I went back to work on the Tee-Pee until I had the job done. I had a late supper which must have been about 9 PM or so. I was satisfied that I had enough carpet to do the job. I even had some left over to cover the roof of the Tent-Cabin. What a difference that made. During the mid-day heat, it was cool inside the Tent-Cabin. The only drawback I found in all of this is that the Tent-Cabin is somewhat dark inside, like in a cave, now that the sunlight can not penetrate through it. At least the Tent- Cabin is no longer a hot-house with its 120 degree temperature during mid-day. What a relief that is!

Sunday, June 4th. 2006; This morning after breakfast, I opened up all of the 13 paint cans I had collected during Spring Cleanup. Out of the 13 cans I managed to get 4 full gallons of paint. All the paint was white, the right color to paint the Tee-Pee. I put some paint in the tray and used a roller for the first coat. That jute-back carpet sure sucks up that paint! I managed to cover the front half of the Tee-Pee with the three gallons of paint. By then, it was getting really hot and I was sweating like mad, sapping all the strength that was in me. I decided to take a break and wait until late afternoon, when it would be cooler. I waded into the cool water and Buddy and I had fun playing tag in the water. That was a refreshing dip. Now I was ready to tackle that Tee-Pee paint job again. With only one gallon of paint left, I used a brush for the second coat.

Half-Painted Teepee.

After I had used-up all of the paint, I went inside the Tee-Pee and leveled the ground so that it will make a smooth place to lay ground sheets and sleeping bags. There is room for six sleeping bags, but it would be ideal for only four sleeping bags with enough room for camping gear. It will be a nice place for people to camp in. This evening, as I was listening to the news on my radio, I heard that our police force had rounded-up 17 Moslems who were part of a terror cell who were planning to bomb our Parliament building in Ottawa and some news media establishments like the CBC. I notice that Moslem clerics are coming out giving all kinds of excuses about their perverted religion as to what has taken place. I remember saying that Islam is one of the most dangerous religion to any society. I recall what had taken place when some caricature cartoons of Mohammed was published and the destructive reaction by many Moslems which had ensued because those silly cartoons happen to offend the sensitivity of these people. Now you have Moslems in Canada ready to blow-up people because of their perverted religious views.

Monday, June 5th. 2006; I had decided to take the day off and relax but I ended up fixing the dock. Some of the logs were loose because they had not been nailed down because of lack of long nails. Now I had some long nails on hand to do the job. I notice that I had lost the two car tires during the spring thaw. The two tires was attached to the dock that had been used as boat fenders. This year we had very high water level on the lake which had prevented me to use the dock because it was under water. Now I will have to scrounge around for two more car tires for the dock fenders. I installed a two burner camp stove in the Tent-Cabin so that people can use this, instead of burning wood in the wood stove to heat up their food or drinks. I had found this camp stove that people had thrown out during Spring clean-up and fixed it up. It still looks a bit grungy, but it works well. I also installed on the floor some rubber runner I had picked-up during the spring clean-up. I hope to find some more rubber runner during next year spring clean-up to cover the entire floor. This will make it easier to keep the floor clean. Then I spent the rest of the day relaxing, as I had at first intended.

Tuesday, June 6th. 2006; After breakfast, I spent the morning cleaning-up the tent-cabin and packing my camping gear. I spent the rest of the morning just loafing around, walking around the island. There is still a lot of work to do to make this into a Botanical Garden Park. By 10 or 11 o'clock, I loaded the canoe and headed back to Haileybury. I am content of what I had accomplished during my stay on the Island.

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Sat. June 17th. 2006; Left to go to the Island around noon to make that picnic and camping spot at the northern end of the Island. What a nice sunny day it turned out to be. This morning, the wind was strong and it looked like it was going to rain all day. It is so nice to get back into warm days again. Last week we had cold temperature that hovered around 3 Celsius. When Buddy and I had reached the Island, I put the camping gear away and made a pot of coffee. After awhile, I went along Lookout Trail to have a look what needed to be done at that new camping site. What I want to do here is to provide a place where people can set-up their own tent. Some people may not want to use the tent-cabin or the Tee-Pee, but would rather camp in their own tent. The ground is level here but it is heavily wooded with brush. This will all have to be cleared away and burned. I went back to the tent-cabin and made a drawing plan for this new camp site. It will have an outhouse at the back of the camping site and a picnic table for people to use. From here, one can see the lights of Haileybury twinkling at night. It is open to the west wind where it should provide a cool breeze and keep any mosquitoes at bay. This will be a great place for a camping site. I spent the rest of the day in quiet meditation and just relaxing and enjoy the serenity. Around 9:30 PM, Mike, of McCool's Restaurant, along with his wife Sandra and the girls, and a friend came to the dock in their pontoon boat. They were going to have a wiener-roast at the fire-pit next to the big Tee-Pee. Mike invited me to join them by I declined because I did not want to impose on their outing. It was quite dark by the time the campfire was blazing. I had told Mike that there were very few mosquitoes on the Island, but this evening, there were plenty around. It was that bad this evening that the girls asked if they could stay in the tent-cabin to get away from those pesky mosquitoes. Mosquitoes is one insect I and a great many animals would not mind if humanity made them extinct. Especially now that there is a great risk of getting that West-Nile Virus one hears so much about these days. There seem to be a heck of a lot more mosquitoes this year than I have ever seen or rather felt, here on the Island. That may be due to all the rain we had lately. Mike's friend came by to have a good look at the tent-cabin. He was quite impressed at my handiwork. Mike and the gang left earlier than they had expected because of the mosquitoes. I had no bug spray with me and these pesky mosquitoes kept me awake all night.

Sunday. June 18th. 2006; I managed to get a little sleep at dawn when it was the coolest part of the day. I woke up this morning around 9:AM and noticed that I had quiet a lot of mosquitoes bites on my body. I applied some After-Bite lotion to take away the itching. After breakfast, I gathered my tools and went to work on clearing that camping area. I had to cut most of the brush with the ax and dig-up the roots and piled these on a campfire I had made to burn the brush. I kept the fire low and made sure not to create any sparks by chopping up the brush into little pieces. There was a strong wind blowing from the west that would have carried sparks into the dense trees. I had a large bucket of water handy, if I needed it. The work progressed between my coffee-breaks rest. It was hot, hard work getting at those roots. At least the fire and smoke kept the pesky mosquitoes away. By mid-day, I stopped and had some lunch and continued to work until 5:PM when I had the area cleared. I had to stay around until the fire had burned-up all of the brush I had chopped away. I doused the ashes down good and went back to the tent-cabin. A half hour later, it rained quite heavily. I had finished the work just in time. It continued to rain, on and off all night.

Monday. June 19th. 2006; After another sleepless night fighting those pesky mosquitoes, I managed to get some shut-eye during dawn. These mosquitoes must find their way into the tent-cabin during the day and lie in wait until night time when they make their presence known. Next time I come to the Island I will bring some bug and garden insecticide to spray into the tent-cabin an hour before I turn in for the night. I was very curious about the condition inside the Big Tee-Pee after that heavy downpour. I went over to the Tee-Pee to check out how it had stood up to that heavy rain storm. I felt around inside the big Tee-Pee and the ground was dry. This Tee-Pee will keep people dry during a heavy rain storm. I returned to the tent-cabin and made breakfast for Buddy and me. After breakfast, I went over to the new camp site with a rake and spread the ashes level around the ground. When that was done, I gathered wood litter and covered the ashes that I had spread around the ground so that the tent floor will not get marked-up with ashes and get it dirty. When that job was done, I headed back to the tent-cabin and had a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. I was listening to the radio when the weather forecast called for thunder showers in the afternoon. Having so little sleep and now more rain was on its way, I decided to pack-up my gear and head back to Haileybury. Next time I come back to the Island, I will be armed to the teeth with bug spray to deal with those pesky mosquitoes. An hour after I got back to Haileybury, the thunder storm came with a vengeance. The wind was quite strong and lightening flashed across the lake. Buddy is not very keen about thunder storms. He hid himself under the bed with his nose just sticking out. As for myself, I got into bed to catch-up on much needed sleep.