Old Railway Line and Trestle Bridge

Thanks to Sylvie and Steve for introducing us to our new favourite dog-walking spot!!  Just off the Y-Road, the old railway line into the base.  The old trestle bridge is beautiful!!

Ah...out on the lake...

My first foray out onto Cold Lake in a kayak...did catch one little pike!!

Wild Game on the BBQ!!

The hunters at work hosted a BBQ so that they could empty out their freezers a bit before the season begins...

...here we have some elk steaks...

...and moose!!  On the BBQ, not the guy...

Discussions Around the Watercooler...

Most funny story around the watercooler this week...

''My husband had that damn moose head mounted and now he can't figure out how to get it in the house...''

I guess a moose head is quite big...too big to come in through the door...so the solution to this dilemma is that it has to come THROUGH the bay window...ohmygoddess...

Last part of this discussion pertained to the fact that they didn't HAVE a bay window...and I don't know where it went from there...

Oh my.

Officially an Albertan!!

OK, so I had to buy a permit to allow me to get a safety inspection done to allow me to register my vehicle...but it's done!!

Things there are not in Cold Lake...

It's gonna be all mine!!!

My new house (now unconditionally) in Cool Pool!!  5313 43rd St., which is in Brady Heights.  I will be approx 7 minutes from work...

5313 43rd St., Cold Lake, AB

A bit of a little (read: low-maint) garden in the front...

Living room upstairs.

Living room, different angle.

Kitchen!  Going to put in a gas stove...

Kitchen eating area.

MB - love the windows, looking out onto a great little backyard.

Spare room - this will be the futon room.

Yikes on the colour, I know, but this will my den.

Main foyer.

Stairway to basement.

Finished basement, and garage access.

Spare room downstairs.

Other spare room downstairs.

Check out this laundry room!!  There is a big stainless sink as well, perfect for the beer- and wine-making operations!

Backyard, complete with a plum tree and a bank of raspberry bushes!!!

Perfect house for me the bird-feeder girl!!

Country Livin'...

Resident horses at Hamilton House B&B

Finally went out back to have a little visit with the horses at the B&B...sorry, I don't know their names!!  But we had a little visit.

Losing the winter coat.

Debbie was saying that they are kind of muddy, because they are losing their winter coats and have been rolling in the mud.

A Storm Blows in...

A good ol' prairie storm blows in...

I was told that you need a minimum 16ft boat to go out onto Cold Lake itself, because the storms can blow in really suddenly and the lake has been know to get 8ft waves going on!!

I used to love to sit in my front porch in Winnipeg and watch the thunder storms roll in and deposit their lashing rains.  I think it will be the same thing here.  Fun!!

The Great Fish Debate

Now there's some Walleye!!  I think...

So I somewhat correctly identified these fish upon my arrival at Hamilton House B&B, but the debate is still raging on.  Because these guys look so much like Lancaster (or Yellow) Perch to me, I figured that the Walleye was in the same family.  Apparently not...Perch are Perch and Walleye are Pickeral...or are they??

Now keep in mind that I come from the great Manson fishing family.  I have a certain reputation to uphold, but I really only know St. Lawrence fishing - Lancaster Perch, Pike and the occasional Small-Mouth (or was it Large-Mouth?) Bass.  We only really ever jigged, maybe sometimes using a lure for the bass.  Part of my becoming an Albertan will be to take up fishing out here again, and learn what's going on in Cold Lake, as well as the numerous surrounding lakes stretching right into Saskatchewan.

I have one of these in my tackle box!!  Not that big tho...

Upon further discussion, there aren't Pickeral in the lake itself, but rather in the adjoining rivers.  And these aren't the Pickeral as we know them from back home (although I never did meet a Pickeral in all of my fishing travels), but rather the Sauger, a sub-species of Pickeral.  Walleye in the lake remain Walleye, and there is also an ample supply of Pike, but the eatin' kind!!  Because the lake is so cold and the Pike so predatory, they grow to quite the size and the meat on them isn't mealy like back home.  So them there's people up here filet 'em and eat 'em like we do Perch.  The meat is fresh and orange in colour.

But the real story about the fish in Cold Lake are the lake trout: some can easily be 25lbs!!  They say they eat them up to about 13lbs here, after that they have too much fat on them and they get too oily to eat.  Interesting.  And they jig for them too, at certain times of year, until such a time as they have to turn to trolling, using downriggers.  All of this will be new to me!!

The biggest lake trout ever caught in Cold Lake...by a woman!!

Disclaimer: since I've had so many discerning opinions about what is a Walleye and what isn't, none of what I've written here should really be trusted...

Size Does Matter...

Let's talk about the size of the trucks around here.  Holy crap!!  My little Ford Escape is just not going to cut it, seriously.

At the Timmies Drive-thru.  Note that it is not unusual to see a guy on horseback also in the line...

And they are not just big, they are LOUD.  There is a lot of souping up going on around here.  Height up and sound up.  I don't know how they get in and out of the things, and VAROOM!!!

I was pretty proud of my rental double-upgrade, giving me my own version of VAROOM on this trip, but it's just a little guy compared to the bulk of the vehicles around here...

My big little car in the parking lot at the bar!!

And yes, I have seen some pooches riding in the back...

Dog gone it!!

And no, there is no way the boys are ever going to do the same...

The land of Big Rock...

Pelican Rock Ale...brewed especially for Clark's General Store...

K, I'm a Big Rock fan and it is nice to say: ''I'll have a 'Trad'...'' at the pubs.

Not to mention the fan-favourite ''Grasshopper'' wheat.  Yummy.  Both are on tap at Original Joe's in town and Monday nights are Big Rock nights on special!!

There is no sushi in Cold Lake...

...except at Sobey's...enuf said.