Cabin 7 gets a real, below-frost-line foundation

Our brother-in-law Ron Wink and staffer Ben Godin turned into gophers to put in a superb foundation for Cabin 7 in September.
This entailed jacking up the cabin and digging deep holes to below the frost line. Foundation pads were placed at the bottom of the holes and preserved wood foundation posts installed to the beams under the cabin. It's the same foundation system we use in all of the newer cabins. Cabin 7 was the first cabin built by my father, Don, at the camp. I think that was in about 1967.
The soil under the cabin was hardpan clay that had to be dislodged with sledge hammers and chisels, in some cases. Needless to say, it was hard work and I was only able to help with the above-ground portion due to my back problems.
Ron and Ben also removed the porch from the cabin in preparation for a much larger porch and deck to be built next spring.
Ron and wife Lynda (Brenda's sister), dropped into camp like angels from the sky in September to help us do projects like Cabin 7's foundation and new shingles on Cabin 10, as well as arduous year-end tasks like washing all of the camp's blankets and putting away absolutely everything for the winter. Lynda also helped Brenda with all of the kitchen work.
It was thanks to Ron and Lynda that Brenda and I were able to leave camp a week earlier than normal this fall.
We are sure lucky to have people like them in our lives.
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Many, many thanks to our great 2011 staff

Steph Aires, Ben Godin and Jenn Bucci were our spectacular staff in 2011.
On behalf of Brenda and myself and all of our guests I would like to thank them for all of their hard work, good humour, thoughtfulness and creativity.

Tough sledding for MNR trout team

Brenda, Sam and I are back home for the winter. We arrived in Nolalu yesterday. The 2011 summer will go down as one of the best Red Lake has ever seen. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It made for beautiful fishing too. Walleyes were numerous and aggressive. Northern pike fishing started slow but picked up as the summer progressed and was great the last month or so, especially for anglers who used the dead bait system.
Unfortunately, the warmer-than-average temperature took a toll on Ministry of Natural Resources fish and wildlife efforts to capture trout in October. Despite a valiant attempt the MNR came up short in getting enough eggs to rear at the hatchery in Dorion, near Thunder Bay. In fact they only caught about 1/4 of the fish they needed.
Myles Perchuk is seen above stripping eggs from a trout on the dock at camp.
The MNR crew is normally long gone by the time my family and I start moose hunting, usually about Oct. 6. This year they stayed until Oct. 19 and still didn't get enough fish.
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