060615 Tuna = Chicken of the Sea with just 1 Flush

This morning before heading to the barnyard, I was in the Bathroom with my Pet rabbit. I was combing my hare when Tuna, the cat, was trying to crawl up the toilet tank and slipped and fell and hit the flusher handle about the same time he grabbed the lid which promptly started to close over him as he descended into the vortex.
You should have seen his eyes. Panic. All nine lives gone with just one flush.  But being a cat, he managed to extricate himself without even getting too wet… and then he strolled away as if nothing happened, as if he had done it all on purpose. Chickens aren’t known for their sense of humor, but..ha ha ha (ROFL ROFL) ha ha. That’s when Tuna looked back at me in disgust and walked away. Oooouuu, Mr Cool cat, ha ha ha. Bert

Few humans have ever been there. It seemed like back in time hundreds of years.

When you need it the most, a compass will spin crazily because of all the magnetic rocks. When you circle an island, the compass may continue to point AT the island. It’s incredibly rugged and isolated. We were there two weeks, traveled more than 100 miles through the vast desolate expanse and never saw another human or another boat. Hundreds of jagged rock islands spread out over huge distances and they all look the same. It’s so easy to get lost without a reliable compass (It was before GPS). You depend on the wind direction to get your bearings, and hope the wind direction doesn’t change. Limited food and fuel is always an issue along with the weather. Since you are the only humans around, there is no help. Even the Coast Guard doesn’t go there.

A few decades ago, a friend and I took our boats to an area in the far north of Lake Superior in Canada East of Thunder Bay. There we discovered the ancient village (1840) of Silver Islet, including the original inhabitants (Population 40?). Well, many/most were direct descendants, most of them were born there in the village. (Today it is a "Summer" village, abandoned in the Winter). The village was just like it was in the mid 1800’s, frozen in time, no electricity, no phone.


We were greeted by the residents as if they hadn’t seen anyone from the outside world since 1840. Everyone competed for us to come to visit their house for coffee. We visited with them for a while and heard many great incredible stories of times past, shipwrecks, cold Winters, and death and skeletons found.
They told us of the old outhouse on the hill (It’s still there). Some years before, one of them discovered that the outhouse was built over a 400 foot deep mine shaft. They never used the outhouse after that. The old village store was only opened by special request. They let us in and I was amazed. It truly looked like 1840. Much of the original merchandise was still on the shelves and there were only a few usable staples, mostly canned goods. There were above-ground gasoline tanks there (Too rocky to bury them) but they hadn’t been used for many decades and were rusty. I have since read that the store has now been preserved as a historic site. I suspect much has changed since I was there.
Silver Islet (The Island, not the village) is an amazing story in itself. The village is named after the island.

For a number of years, the 90 foot long island 10-12’ higher than the lake and one mile off shore, was the richest silver mine in the world, 1,250 feet deep. But that’s another subject for another blog. The following link is a relatively mild story that tells but a small portion of the tale of the island. http://www.lynximages.com/silver.htm
If I can locate the interesting articles I will post them someday… spellbinding amazing life or death stories against 40 foot waves that wiped the island clean on several occasions. (Try Goggle "Silver Islet" for a small sample).
A Canadian Lighthouse.












After leaving Silver Islet, we traveled East in gray overcast windy weather. Shortly after, we crossed the mouth of Black Bay where the waves get to build over the 36 mile length of the bay. The 10 mile trip across the mouth is very treacherous until you get near "Magnet Island" (a big rock) for shelter from the wind. By then, we were tired, cold and wet from the constant waves and cold spray. The next hundred miles or so of the inaccessible coast is uninhabited.
Way up the shore we found a few long abandoned fishing camps, one with a calendar still hanging on the wall from 1923. It appeared they left for the day but never came back. Dishes, silverware, furniture, clothing, still the way it was in 1923. It appeared that nobody but us had been there since 1923.
Fish Camps
It was a great trip, but the best trips were to Isle Royale (That’s another blog).
I suspect things

060427 "On a recent hunting trip with Cheney", Bert Chickens out.

Berts observation:
Learn by experience, - preferably other peoples. (Quote by who?)

060426 "Whoa, that spin cycle is interesting".

"Bert loves bath time".


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Someone? said "People are just about as happy as they've made up their minds to be".

Look See Quick before it melts

CAN you FIND the white pigeon in the tree? We got 7" of fresh snow last night, It's beautiful.

Kayaking in Caves

These caves are near our cabin on the S shore of Lake Superior, not the big caves. The house-sized big caves are out on the islands, hundreds of caves. They interconnect so you can go in one cave and come out somewhere else on the island. Lake Superior Kayaking can be rather unpredictable and exciting.
Karen in white hat, red kayak, ready to go.
(Note, these pics are from a cheapo disposable camera).

 The water is crystal clear and you can see the floor of the caves 20' beneath you, almost like you're suspended in space.

These are the same famous "Ice Caves" of  Bayfield (Cornucopia).

 

  The Bayfield Peninsula caves are about 1.5 miles from the launching place, around that point in the distance (There is no closer access to the caves). 

Getting closer to the "real" caves.


A different trip....
We were compressed against the ceiling. One time 20 miles out on Devil's Island exposed to the big lake it was glassy calm and we were deep deep way back into a huge cave with not much headroom left.

 Suddenly the water quickly rose a few feet and in an instant and we were being scraped and compressed against the roof of the cave 200’ in from the entrance. We pushed against the roof but of course it did no good. Then just as suddenly, the water level dropped to normal as we were swept out of the cave and the water was glassy calm again.
WHY did the lake surface rise? About 15 miles out, a large ocean freighter had passed by the island and it was the wake from that ship that nearly squished us. It's nearly impossible to see those waves coming (swells).
Note - The Indians named it Devils Island because of the odd moaning and rumbling sounds as the waves were squeezed deep into the caves and the air gushed out. It causes the whole island to tremble.

Dinty Moore Stew used AS BALLAST..

 

Pictured below is Jerry Spiess. He crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Long ago I survived on DMS (Well, actually, I still do). I would tear the paper off the can, open it and put the can on the gas stove (no dishes).  Removing the paper is important because I discovered that the paper catches on fire and certain salad dressings burn when poured on a fire.

My boss's husband was a famous World sailor in a 10 foot sailboat, I met him several times. Then one day he mentioned that he took Dinty Moore Stew with him on his famous trips across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans... as BALLAST in his boat.

Very interesting story this link.... it’s a short but fascinating read, hard to quit reading.

http://www.sailingbreezes.com/sailing_breezes_current/articles/Nov05/yankeegirl1.htm
http://www.marlinbree.com/work6.htm