Heat Wave!!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

We hit 35C humidex today! It was a scorcher! I put laundry out on the line and it was dry in less than 1/2 an hour - pretty darn quick! It's been pure joy this week for our children to get off the school bus daily, get their swimming stuff, and into the lake they jump!

Here's a question we alway get around this time of year - how far is Dwight (and more specifically our cottage resort) from Algonquin Provincial Park? Well, if you're driving the speed limit (and we all do, don't we?), it's about a 15 minute drive from our place to the West Gate of Algonquin Park where you'll buy your park pass. Along the way, you will see beautiful Muskoka scenery of lakes, rocks, trees, and possibly a bit of wildlife! Our guests this week saw moose every day they drove to Algonquin Park.

Another question we always get at this time of year is: how are the bugs?! This year has been very interesting in that regard! With this incredible heat early in the season, we've found that the little buggies have been sizzling nicely in the sun, thank you. In other words, they have not been a concern whatsoever!

Update on the G8 - last weekend, the official G8 Summit Centre opened in Huntsville (silly name, isn't it?). I'm sure that in no time the locals will give it a nickname a lot more interesting...one I've heard already is "The Big O" - of course, referring to the new official size hockey rink with wraparound seating. The security fencing through the wilderness is now up and doing its job - protecting one side of the forest from the other side :-) What's strange for us right now is to see the Canadian Forces and RCMP members in town in full uniform. We saw one soldier humping it up a huge hill in full fatigues and combat gear in 28C heat. So, he either was just practicing for the invasion of protestors, or he was being punished for something... I think I would have taken the strap... Have a great day!

May Long Weekend!

Friday, May 21, 2010

It's finally here! The "Unofficial" start to summer 2010!

Doing our last rounds today getting ready for our guests...it hit 28C in the shade. Whew, it's a hot one! The sun is glistening off the lake, boats are in, people are smiling!

There's nothing like summer in Muskoka!

Happy Victoria Day! Play safe!

First Swim of 2010!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Yup, the first brave souls have plunged into the frigid Lake of Bays water today! No, it was not me! Leave it to the kids to outshine the adults on this one! Of course, the swim only lasted about 1 minute...

The weather has just been spectacular! We hit 24C today and the forecast is for even warmer temperatures this weekend - the Victoria Holiday long weekend.

We've been working like crazy getting our cottage resort in tip-top shape for our guests. The grounds look great. Next week, we'll be able to plant our annuals. We always have a shorter planting season because of the late frost in May and the early frost in September. The incredibly good news this May is that the blackflies have not been an issue at all! Hooray! They started to come out in early May then we had a severe frost with some snow showers. That killed off the first batch. Round two is now - the little guys came out again and, now with our heat wave, they've been killed off again! Hooray X2! This weekend promises to be great!

Archery Tournament

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

We again hosted the Friends of the Dwight Library Outdoor 3D Archery Tournament on Sunday, May 2nd. It was a great success!! The weather behaved for the most part - except for the downpour at lunch! It was a great time to have a truck picnic! As our lunch break ended between rounds, the rain stopped and it cleared up just in time to head out for round 2. With the help of the 89 participants, we were able to raise approximately $3000.00 for our library!!! A HUGE thank you goes out to our participants, lane sponsors, prize donators, volunteers, and Friends.

Here are the division results:

Cubs Open (9 participants -youngest shooter was 8 years old!): 1st-Ryan Olmstead, 2nd-Wyatt Boothby, 3rd-Nick Lavigne

Cadets Traditional (4 participants): 1st-Cole Shields, 2nd-Will Collier, 3rd-Bryan Stone

Cadets Compound/Barebow (10 participants): 1st-Gavin McLean, 2nd-Luke Shields, 3rd-Justin Doherty

Women's Traditional (3 participants-1 scratch): 1st-Sharon Florent, 2nd-Tammy Shields

Women's Compound/Barebow (3 participants-1 scratch) - SHOOTOUT because of a tie!!! This was something to see since these two ladies had only been shooting for a short time - they did great! 1st-Leslie Stewart, 2nd-Staci Cousintine

Men's Traditional (6 participants): 1st-Joe Florent, 2nd-Bill Collier; 3rd-Boniface Percarski

Men's Compound/Barebow (35 participants): 1st-Jason Grawbarger, 2nd-Ross Hildebrandt, 3rd-Joe Martin

Crossbow (19 participants): 1st-Brent Clifford, 2nd-Clint Lawrence, 3rd-Dave Stewart

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!