December 25, 2024 • 64 mins
This episode celebrates the joy and magic of Christmas through personal stories, cherished traditions, and reflections on family gatherings. With a special note from Santa, the hosts share their love for live Christmas trees, the thrill of gift exchanges, and the importance of community during the holiday season.
• Importance of real Christmas trees as a family tradition
• Discussing contrasting gift-opening customs
• Value of gatherings and community during Christmas
• Personal anecdotes about travelling during the holidays
• Reflections on fostering love, traditions, and cherished memories
Merry Christmas to everyone from the team here! We wish you all a safe and happy holiday. Give your loved ones a hug, enjoy Grammy's cookies, and cherish the magic of the season!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is
brought to you by Nordic PointLodge A luxury outdoor
experience with five-starservice.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner, stories of the North.
Well, I've got lots of storiesfrom the north, but on this
episode, steve and Will Stevehad asked me to do this for him.
(00:47):
The introductory Rudolph, canyou slow those reindeer down?
I can't think with all of thosebells ringing ringing, you guys
(01:17):
go out in the field and justget ready to go.
Okay, thank you.
Sometimes I can't think withthe reindeer ripping around here
, it's a very exciting time ofyear.
I understand Christmas iscoming and the reindeer, they're
out trying out the bells andcan't wait to get on the sleigh.
Uh, I really like the sleightoo.
(01:39):
You know those reindeer, theyget right excited.
You know those reindeer, theyget right excited and I like
feeling the power.
It's like a 69 Firebird or aCamaro some days.
But anyway, steve asked mewe're friends from the outdoor
(02:01):
journal days and he wanted me toopen up the show today because
it is Christmas and he thoughtthat I would be a good man and I
must agree I love Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all.
Now, I guess they're talkingabout Christmas.
Yes, why don't we get rightover to them Christmas?
(02:22):
Yes, why don't we get rightover to them.
Anyway, folks have a MerryChristmas.
It sounds like this recordingis going to drop on Christmas
Day, so I will have alreadyvisited all of your houses and
delivered goodies to all who aregood.
(02:43):
So be good for your parents,young children, and all will be
well.
Merry Christmas.
Oh, here they come again.
Let me get on.
Okay, rudolph, turn the nose on.
Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Welcome folks to another episode of Diaries of a
Lodge Owner Stories of the North, and it is a very, very special
edition.
As you heard off the top, santaClaus opened up the show for us
, which was very exciting.
I've got a bit of arelationship with Santa.
(03:29):
Back in my outdoor journal daysit was my job to commission
Santa to come and talk to Angeloand Peter and from those days I
kept tight ties with Santa, youknow, because, hey, to get to
(03:54):
meet Santa and to try and fostera relationship with him, well,
that's a pretty special dealright there I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I would say monumental Stephen.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Monumental, yeah, 100%.
Well, that's a pretty specialdeal right there, I'll tell you.
I would say monumental steven,monumental, yeah, 100.
And and, uh, I love people andand I love, uh, I love having a
variety of different friends anduh, there's not many people
that can say that, uh, they, uh,that they hang out with santa
every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Nice, nice yeah, yeah , yeah, yeah, you that's.
You're lucky, buddy, you'relucky.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Oh yeah, well, and it is.
By the time, folks you'relistening to this, santa has
made his rounds and theChristmas trees are all full of
wonderful presents for all ofthe youngsters out there.
(04:49):
And really I think I can speakfor Willie, but I and Willie
want to wish you all a very,very Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Absolutely Merry Christmas folks, happy New Year
and we're excited to be heretoday, talk some Christmas.
Let's tell some stories, buddy,yeah.
Well, we decided Some wickedtraditions and some stories and
some values, and I think it'ssomething that would be really
cool, eh, just to go back andtalk about Christmas to each of
(05:32):
us and what it means.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Oh, absolutely Christmas.
I love Christmas and I lovethese holidays and I am not a
happy holidays kind of guy, I ama Merry Christmas guy.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So, willie, what are some of your?
Let's start off with some greattraditions.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well in our household .
So my grandfather, as I wastelling you, he, you know, he
raised me a little bit therewhen I was a youngster.
He would go out okay, we alwayshad a real tree.
We never had a fake tree Likemy.
(06:21):
It was frowned upon in my houseto have a fake tree.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Still is in mine.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, for sure.
But when I was younger Iremember my family would just
buy them from like the OptimistClub or like the Lions Club to
help support them in Coburg,right?
But then as we got older, youknow, we got to see the movie
Christmas Vacation, which is myfucking favorite.
(06:46):
I watched that movie 20 times ayear and at Christmas time it's
probably.
You know it's ridiculous, butwhen I saw that movie I remember
seeing it and my grandfatherhe's like let's go and let's do
that, let's go cut our own tree.
And then we started doing thattree and then we started doing
(07:09):
that.
So like now, to this day still,you know, I uh, years later,
I've done it for all of thoseyears, no matter where I am.
If I was drilling out at the rigand there was a, you know we
were in the middle of northernBC me and the boys would go hard
and send the rough neck out tothe bush and go huck down a tree
and, you know, put it in frontof my shock right, and do it up.
But to this day, like, uh, lastyear me and Holton grabbed one
(07:31):
at the law.
It was the first Christmas wehad at Nordic.
So we, uh, we kind of went fullbore.
But we picked one out from theback of the lot there way back
in the bush and me and Holtondrug her out and this year we uh
, we had the girls involved.
Krista's always krista's alwaysdone this, but she'd she's only
(07:52):
been doing it for, you know, 78years here since we've been
together.
Um, but yeah, like, so thegirls get right into it.
You know, little lexi, like shegets, like she'll get down on
her hands and knees and shovelout the snow with her hands and
get real low.
So like she makes sure the buttis real good, like starts
sawing.
Like she gets, she understandsthe whole theory of the
(08:12):
Christmas tree and how it needsto stand on the stand.
But I think it's a coolexperience to go do that.
So that's one of our traditions.
Now it makes an afternoon or aday out of it, right, you know,
bringing it back to the garageand setting it up, letting it
fall, getting everything trimmedup on it, and you know we let
it sit for a day and thenfinally the next day we put it
(08:35):
out.
We usually do that around likefuck December 1st, like Chris is
like Martha Stewart on crackyou know what I mean.
Like it's crazy, you know.
Like my house is like blown.
It's like Santa Claus vomitedin here.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's crazy.
No, disrespect, santa.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
No, not at all, not at all Not at all it's all
positive.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, we do the same thing with our tree.
It's always a live tree.
Buddies of ours has a bigproperty and their kids sell
Christmas trees just a few tofriends and we always do the
Christmas tree and this year wasNovember 22nd was the day that
(09:19):
we had to go, and in my opinionthat is very, very, very early,
because for a live tree it'stough keeping them alive, uh and
and needles on them that long.
Um, but did you sustain it.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
That long is she healthy, buddy?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
um, it's, uh, it's not doing too badly, but but
she'll be hard-pressed to makeNew Year's.
Ah, yeah, you know, yeah, andyou know one of the traditions
that I've kind of held up rightthrough from when I was a kid,
(10:00):
and this one has to do withpresents.
And this one has to do withpresents.
When I first met Melissa, forwhatever reason, her family
always opened up their presentson Christmas Eve, and I think
(10:27):
it's probably because they wouldtravel Christmas morning to go
to her grandparents' place orwhatever it was.
But that always felt wrong tome and, and I always, I always,
and, and we adopted this for ourkids what my mom and dad did.
Now, obviously, you know there's, um, uh, santa brings everybody
their gift on christmas eve andwhen you're sleeping, but, um,
(10:49):
that's what happened with all ofour gifts.
Our christmas tree was alwaysjust about bare.
The only presents that, um,that went under our christmas
tree leading up to christmaswere presents that the siblings,
myself and my brothers andsisters would kind of wrap to
(11:12):
give to each other, but no otherpresents went under that
Christmas tree.
There was no shaking, there wasno looking at them, it was all
in your head, and what that didfor us was it made christmas
morning so exciting um and um,and, and santa was always good
(11:34):
enough, because you know wewaited so long.
Um, christmas tree was up andthere was there was no presents,
and and then it was always soexciting that night You'd hardly
sleep, no, exactly.
It was super exciting To wake upin the morning and to run
downstairs and see a whole likejust a massive display of gifts
(12:03):
was such a huge memory.
And Santa was a smart dude too,like I mean to keep us in our
room, he would sneak into ourroom and put one.
We would all have a littleChristmas tree.
I shared a room with my brotherfor a long time and we'd all
(12:27):
have little Christmas trees inour room.
And Santa would sneak in atnight on Christmas Eve and when
he put our present downstairs hehad a little present for us
that he would put in our room.
And that's how we do it withour, with, with, our kids.
I've never heard that one, wesave our presents till till the
(12:50):
bitter end, and on Christmas Evewe put them out.
And then Santa he comes in andhe puts his presents out there,
and uh, and then it's just, uh,it's mayhem on Christmas morning
.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Wow, that's awesome.
So the first part of what yousaid, that's actually what we do
too, because I feel the exactsame way, you know, and we do
all of the same, pretty muchproceeds, except for the little
tree and the little gift, butsuper unique, yeah, yeah, that
(13:26):
is awesome and more anticipationto the big, to the big bang oh
yeah, yeah, you're right it doescause so much like uh, uh that
you know the kids get like andand everybody at christmas,
right, they get, they get all,all the excitement.
(13:48):
Their mind can actually, youknow, wonder what's going on and
have an imagination andcreativity behind it, and that's
fun.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Oh yeah, I remember as a kid, you know, on Christmas
Eve looking out my window andstaring into the night sky
looking for Santa and a reindeer.
You know there were a couple ofnights.
I was pretty sure I saw himConvinced.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh, that's awesome, Steve.
That's awesome.
You know I just love eventalking about this right now
makes me smile and just becausesome of the best times of my
life have been at Christmas, youknow, like some of your best
memories and I know beingespecially being a Canadian you
know it's we celebrate it prettyhard here.
(14:36):
You know I've worked in a lotof different countries around
the world that celebratedifferent cultural things, but
in Canada, you know, christmasis a big thing and I think those
things should continue for manyyears and I'm glad that you do
that with your kids and yourfamily and try and keep those
(14:59):
old school traditions going.
You know they're fun.
They're fun.
We do a Christmas.
Another thing we do aroundChristmas time is a Christmas
party.
So we do like an.
We call it an open house.
So, like my parents and mygrandfather and I know Krista's
(15:22):
dad his name was Don Don Smeetand he ran the beer store here
in Kenora for, oh man, likeclose to 40 years.
You know, he was on the, youknow, the curling club board of
directors, the Legion board solike he knew everybody in town,
right, he was that guy, and youknow how it is in these small
(15:46):
towns, steve, right, so he wouldhave an open house as well at
Christmas.
So, basically, what we do is wepick a day, so ours was
actually on Friday.
So when this airs it would havebeen ours would have been the
20th.
We did it and we just me andKrista this year we did a pulled
beef, we did a, and we just meand Krista this year we did a
(16:06):
pulled beef, we did a pulledpork.
You know we had a spread out inthe bar and some wine and
drinks for everyone.
We had a cup case of beer here,uh, you know, some couple of
couple other friends broughtsome hors d'oeuvres and some
things.
You know you have the regular.
You know the veggie tray andthe meat and cheese platter and
(16:28):
all that kind of stuff.
And you know me and me andHolton did up the garage all
fancy with decorations, dollarstore decorations made it look
like a a, I don't know what itlooked like in here, but it was
crazy.
There was stuff everywhere anduh, but it was cool.
There was stuff everywhere anduh, but it was cool.
And what we do is we just haveit from like I don't know, this
(16:49):
year we just have like five toeight, but like, people stay
till like 10, 10, 30, whatever,yeah, or show up at three in the
afternoon and uh, we had, youknow, like brucey, because you
know jamie bruce stopped by fora couple beers.
There was the deucen brothers,big musky guys up here.
A lot of our staff at Nordiccame by.
You know our close friends andfamily.
(17:11):
You know we ended up havingprobably 30, 35 people here
through the night and it's fun.
You know some people can comefor 10 minutes after work
because they're busy, and somepeople can come for the whole
night and and it's just a timethat everybody can get together
and and, and you know, wish eachother a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year prior to goingwith their families and doing
(17:34):
their personal thing.
And it's a really cool thingit's.
You know we've been going on,you know, six years now doing
this.
So do you guys do anything likethat down there, stevie, any of
your friends?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Oh yeah, you guys do anything like that down there,
stevie any of your friends?
Oh yeah, we uh.
For us, um, um, well, when Iwas younger, when I was a kid,
um, there were.
There were two social events ofthe year for me and um.
First was fiddleville, and thatalways, that always took place
(18:04):
in the summertime in Shelburne,the largest open fiddle contest
on the planet.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That is the super coolest thing.
We ought to talk about thatsometime.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Oh, it was the best.
It was so awesome back in thosedays.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I love the fiddle.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, dude, and I like.
I mean, I think I went toFiddleville from about oh 1990
until it ended.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Does this thing still exist?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
No, unfortunately it doesn't.
Well, you know, like I meanit's there were.
(19:09):
In today's day and age, when asmall community tries to manage
an event like that, theliability is outrageous and you
can't.
It was very difficult tomaintain.
There were some accidents alongthroughout the years that
claimed some lives, and I'mtalking like car accidents and
things that led to the demise ofwhat I considered one of the
greatest events, and in mychildhood I guess I'll call it I
(19:29):
wasn't a child, right, but inmy young adulthood but that was
the first social event of theyear.
And the second social event ofthe year was Paul and Gina
Smith's Christmas party, andthat always no matter what
happened on the 23rd of Decemberand their son, craig Smith,
(19:56):
who's now a game warden.
Craig and I were good buddies.
We had a big group of friends,but it was one of those, and
this was a party.
Man Like this wasn't like acome at seven and leave at nine.
This was a come whenever andleave whenever, and you know.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
When the keg is done.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
While the aftermath at 10 o'clock the next morning
Holy shit.
You never knew what you weregoing to run into.
Man, like I mean, it was afull-blown, just an awesome
party.
Like there were people outthere sleeping everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Oh yeah, there was always a big bonfire going on
inside, outside, downstairs,upstairs.
It was just mayhem everywhereand I bet you, in their little
house we had.
Oh, there were some years we'dhave 80 to 100 people at any
given time and the best partabout it was it was a total
(21:04):
cross-section of ages.
You know, that's where I met myfirst bass partner, glenn Berry
, and Glenn's probably 20 yearsolder than I am and you know you
meet all of these people andyou know your buddy's parents
and that was just an amazing, anamazing party.
(21:28):
But, like all things, peoplemoved on and kids grow up and
that party doesn't happenanymore.
But we try and have some peopleover.
But really for us on theholiday season, because we've
(21:50):
done a lot of traveling sinceabout 2013.
I like to have a New Year's gettogether, but again, that's
kind of been broken up becausewe kind of took up a new
tradition in 2013.
Melissa's dad passed at thatpoint and it was.
(22:16):
We decided to go away for thatChristmas Al God rest your soul
and he had passed in Septemberof 13.
So that first Christmas it waspretty raw and we decided to go
(22:39):
to Mexico and honestly, sincethen I don't remember a
Christmas we were always homefor Christmas Day.
We didn't actually go away forChristmas other than that very
first year.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But we've always, for , like I say, the last 10 years,
we've been gone from Boxing Daythrough the new year, and this
year we're not.
This year we're staying home,and I am so excited about
(23:20):
staying home because that is a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Tell me why, stevie.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, there's nothing like and I guess I'm
lucky in a sense that I do getto travel a bit with Fish in
Canada and although it's withinCanada, that's still Canada's an
amazing place and to be able totravel is a wonderful thing.
(23:46):
But I'm I'm so excited to beable to just stay home because,
you know, especially withMelissa being a teacher and
you're going away on holidays,by the time you get back I feel
like I need a holiday from theholiday.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, Especially when you've got a ton
of kids and you're havingevents and everyone wants to do
things.
Yeah, it's not like you're justgetting on the plane and you're
going to put your feet up onthe beach and get up at 10 in
the morning and eat whenever youwant and be on your own
schedule, right?
You're a team event with thefamily, right?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
That the morning and eat whatever you want and be on
your own schedule.
Right, it's a.
You're a team event with thefamily, right?
So that's right.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Well, that's all great, it wasa great.
It was a great time to do thatwith the kids, and I feel
blessed that we were, we werelucky enough to be able to do
that travel, because there's somany people out there that, um,
that don't have that opportunity, um, but I'm one of them.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Krista doesn't fly, right, so I travel a lot.
You know that I travel a lot,yeah, but Krista don't fly and
that's something that we'reworking on and she's doing great
at and the evolution of it andhopefully one day we can, but
that sounds like an awesomething to do, once you know.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, well, I can help you with the flying thing.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Oh man, she's doing great.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Have you ever seen the A-Team the?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
A-Team, the A-Team.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You know, with Hannibal Smith and Mr T and all
the boys.
Yes, yeah, feed her a hamburgerwith a tranquilizer in it, just
like they do with Mr T.
You don't fly either, but whenthey got it going I was like
where?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
the hell, are you going with this story?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah, yeah, when they got a special assignment and
they got to get Mr T on a planethey just feed him a hamburger
with a tranquilizer in it andthey toss him on there and all
is good.
He wakes up on the other side.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Fuck, she'd fucking smash me in the face.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know what it's tough getting you through
customs.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Right, she'd be like weekend at Bernie's.
I'd be holding Christy upholding her head.
That's my wife.
Yeah, that's funny.
No, she got on the plane.
Uh, wayne clark had one, it was.
We did a fly out one day andwhen he was coming back the
guests were waiting on something.
So he was like it was like 20minutes.
He was sitting there in the bayso I went up and I was like,
(26:15):
let's get in, let's go for aride.
And she actually did.
I couldn't believe it.
She pulled the tray.
I was actually right aftermelissa went out, you guys.
So maybe she was like, oh, oh,melissa and Steve went on a
backflip.
You know, float plane, she cando it, I can freaking do it,
maybe that was.
But yeah, we taxied around thebay for like 15 minutes, 20
minutes, you know, which is kindof cool.
We were in a caravan and I waslike I was actually going to say
(26:37):
just go, and she's like Ishould have just went and I'm
like, yeah, you should have,because once you go, once you'll
be fine, yeah, so that's asuper cool tradition, man.
We uh, we usually go away inthe new year, like I'm gonna go
away.
I got my surgery January 6thand then after I kind of get a
(26:57):
little bit of a recovery and I'mgonna go.
Johnson wants to go down toCabo on the 16th or 18th or
something like that, but I thinkI'm gonna wait a little bit
longer.
I won't be fully ready by thattime.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
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(27:34):
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Speaker 4 (27:55):
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database of muskie anglingeducation material anywhere in
the world.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
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amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
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Tight lines everyone find uglypike now on spotify, apple
(28:53):
podcasts or wherever else youget your podcasts where do you
guys like to go when you go outsouth?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
you've been all over um, well, it's always warm, like
that's a requirement for themost part.
The only time we broke awayfrom that, brenda, my
mother-in-law took us out toCanmore a couple of years ago.
My brother-in-law, jamie, livesin Calgary, so we spent
(29:23):
Christmas in Canmore, which wasbeautiful, like I mean that was
outstanding.
That's where we went, that'swhere we did the skiing and I
ended up on one of the steepestslopes in Canada, and that was a
(29:44):
whole story.
I'm sure I've told that story.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
You have, you have.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, on the thing.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Calgary is a beautiful place.
In Canmore, canmore is gorgeoustoo.
We went through there on thehoneymoon, me and Krista.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, it's gorgeous and no salt, like I mean, you're
driving around on ice, I had toget used to that.
You know, the first uh stopsign and and uh, you know, touch
the brakes and all of a suddenyou're, you're just sliding.
I didn't slide through, I uh, Iuh, I'm.
I was pretty cautious up intothat point, but yeah, the
(30:16):
driving there is is, um is a lotdifferent, but oh, yeah for
sure, the requirement forMelissa is warm.
So we've done Cuba, and Cubawas a good trip.
I loved everything about Cubaother than well, and I didn't
even mind the food, but the foodis not what it is in other
(30:41):
places in the world.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
That's just a cultural thing.
I drilled there for a bit.
Eh, I drilled there for almost10 months in Veradero.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Oh, yeah, yeah Beautiful.
The cars are great.
I love the cars.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Oh, that's super cool about them yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, since they have this spat with the United
States, all of the vehiclesthere are basically from the 50s
.
So you see 56 Chev's, 57 Chev's, all these different vintage
vehicles that they've pulled theengines out and put these
little Volkswagen diesel enginesin, and that's what guys are
(31:22):
picking.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
They're the taxis.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Taxis yeah, absolutely, the taxis are like
that and with their climatethey're in beautiful shape.
I heard somebody talking onYouTube, and whether this is a
true stat or not, it wouldn'tsurprise me.
But one of their greatestresources are all of these
(31:44):
vehicles that they've got fromthe 50s right and um, um.
I can just imagine what theywould be worth if they started
selling them all.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
oh, my god, because you are.
You're right.
They're in amazing shape, likeoh, for sure, yeah, for sure,
that's one thing them cubansknow how to take care of their
cars, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, yeah, so Cuba was one.
Their beaches are stunning,like I mean white sand beaches.
Yeah, it was outstanding.
All of that, the food, like Isay, I think my mom got sick and
she spent two or three days inthe room and you know, it just
(32:23):
happened.
That can happen anywhere,though, right, yeah, it can
happen anywhere, you just needto be prepared.
The rooms were a little, were alittle on the, on the how would
I say?
Speaker 3 (32:34):
this Simple side, you know, and yeah, I think the
whole country is like that, alittle bit Like when I was down
there.
It was everything was a littlebland, like we.
I just bring my own.
When we flew in in the country,we'd bring our own ketchup and
hp sauce and and salsa andthat's pretty much it.
Right, maybe some salt, becauseeverything was kind of bland.
(32:54):
If you're, if you're looking tolose weight, that's the best
way to do it, because there's noextra shit on your stuff.
Yeah, you know, but you knowwhat we were doing there was
super cool.
So did you stay in Havana or?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Varadero, it was Havana, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So we went in and did like a we actually did like a
private kind of tour.
We didn't do one through theresort we went in and watched
where, like what's his namethere, the big author, the
novelist, oh, I can't remember.
Anyways, early 1900s guy he was, you know, we looked at his bar
(33:30):
, we went and looked at like allthe old historic buildings
where the civil wars hadhappened and all that shit.
Yeah, and you'll see, outsideof Aradero there was a bunch of
drilling rigs there and vacationwas one thing.
But I ended up going back downwith with brad nielsen, who was
in my wedding party, and uh, anddrilling down there and what we
(33:52):
were doing was we were drillinghow they, how they operate
their power plant is throughbitumen so they run.
Okay, they run half their powerplant off coal and half their
power plant off of fuel, off ofoil.
So they drill out.
(34:13):
They can't afford the country'skind of poor, so they can't
afford these big platformdrilling rigs to go out offshore
and to pump it back.
So they get right over top ofthe pool per se, let's say, but
they drill out under the oceanfrom the beach and then extract
it back to land with a pipeline.
(34:34):
So the problem is, because ofthe spat with the US, they can't
buy anything.
So I'll give you an example.
We would like a normal wellwould be like you know I just
want to put it in layman's termsfor people and so let's say two
(34:54):
miles long, you know, threekilometers long, something like
that, and that well is like atwo foot diameter at the start
and by the time you get to theend it's like 10 inches.
Let's just say that okay.
And because you stage down, thefurther out you go, you've got
to go smaller, right, because ofthe weight of everything
dragging.
(35:14):
So when you're doing all ofthis drilling in a place on an
island in the Caribbean, for oneand one that has no sanctions
with the United States or theNorth, everything's got to come
from Russia or China and that'sthe only countries they'll deal
(35:35):
with.
So like we would be out thereand we would have like like a
drill a bit would go, you knowdownhole, and that's, that's a,
that's a normal thing.
So in Canada or the UnitedStates or in Russia or wherever
in the world you were drilling,normally you know down hole and
that's a normal thing.
So in Canada or the UnitedStates or in Russia or wherever
in the world you were drilling,normally you'd trip the pipe out
of the hole to change the bit.
So I mean, if you were shallow,it would take you whatever
(35:56):
hours.
It could take up to two and ahalf days.
If you're drilling at like6,000 meters, right, yeah, so,
but there you would take theywere a little slower.
They were a little slower thannormal.
So you know, to trip out of thehole, let's say, at three
kilometers, it would take uslike three weeks.
(36:17):
I'm talking like 200 meters aday.
That's it Really.
We would normally be like 250meters an hour in here in Canada
with our machine and theequipment.
That's the other problem.
It's all old, it's like all oldtime, like the 1950s.
You know kelly's and thekellycock which is the hook, you
(36:41):
know, and the big pin thatholds the drill string and the
block shiv, right, yeah, andthese are all conventional old
dinosaurs, right?
So things are breaking.
Well, again, when things break,when you, when you, when that
drill string comes out andthings break, you got to get
those parts.
Well, if you can't get themfrom us, if you can't get them
(37:02):
from the north, it's a pain inthe ass.
Yeah, same and and it was adaily thing steve like I would
wait, and this is no bs.
I waited eight, eight weeks fora bit one time a drill bit me
and Brad and all I did.
I went.
I went back and forth to Canadathree times and I got paid
every day.
Really, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Sounds like a great job.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Because they don't know when it's it's.
It's not like here where youhave a tracking number.
That's it's a communist countryand they're dealing with black
market people in anothercommunist country.
So everybody's got to be paidoff to get the equipment.
Like when we would ship ourequipment there, you had to pay
somebody at customs, like I hada purse.
This is no bullshit.
(37:46):
When I went and drilled inRussia I had a purse.
I had a purse like an off therecord.
It was like having a secondpassport, right, and we would go
and the company man on location.
You had to pay him to get yourequipment there, because if you
didn't, you didn't have to.
You could go and work but yourequipment would never show up or
(38:07):
it would show up smashed, orthree quarters.
It will be gone and sold on theblack market.
Really, yes, oh, man, it's.
Yeah, you got to know that it'snot, that the real world is not
like it is here.
It's a nasty place, right, so?
And three quarters of the worldthat has oil are in those
(38:29):
places that don't believe in howthe West lives, right, so it's
different, you know are in thoseplaces that don't believe in
how the West lives, right, soit's different, you know and uh,
so you had a separate you had aseparate um, like, um, uh purse
.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
you say so.
Is that uh, uh, that's yourpassport, that's no.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Yeah, so they would give me a.
They would give me a tag withmy field instructions and my
credentials and and basically alittle as to why I was there,
(39:05):
like what?
I was a horizontal boringdrilling engineer or a magnetic
supervision down holes tech orsomething whatever right.
So, um, and I had they wouldgive me and I had they would
give me money.
So I had, like they'd give me40 grand US or they'd give me
right, which I'd sign out and Iwould have to do.
That's what this money was forright Now.
It was my job to get it ascheap as I can.
(39:26):
Yeah, so you're negotiating withthese guys, I'm negotiating
with that money, that's right.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
That's right.
Oh, no shit.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
That's crazy.
Oh man, it was fuckinginteresting, bud, like it was.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Did you ever get yourself in any situations where
you were like a little, alittle, oh shit.
Maybe I shouldn't have saidthat.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Lots.
I got detained once inKazakhstan for like 18 hours.
I think I told you this story.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, that was when you were going across, when I
was going back and forth.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
That was kind of the same kind of similar thing,
right, because they don't wantyou have to.
If I would have had a purse onme, that's exactly the example.
If I would have had a purse onme, I would have been fine.
They wouldn't have kept methere for 18 hours and dicked me
around right, right, gotcha,right.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
So um, so your buddy should have gave you a curse.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You go back to your vacations and and I'll hop back
in the rig stuff after.
I just want to tell you thatveronero is really a cool place.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yeah, oh, yeah yeah, no, and uh you know, uh we spent
, um.
We've spent some time in mexico, um beautiful country.
Food is outstanding.
There's some wonderful uhresorts, um, uh the lot.
The latest uh trip that uh wedid was uh last year.
And um my, um my younger son,mikey, um he's.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Mike.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yes, yes, he's got the travel bug.
Yes, yes, he's got the travelbug.
And the one thing he wanted todo and we kind of decided is
(41:11):
we're going to go see all of thenatural wonders.
The wonder like the sorrynatural isn't the right word,
it's the historic wonders, likethe pyramids are one of them,
like the seven wonders of theworld.
What's that?
Speaker 3 (41:25):
The seven wonders of the world.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yes, so the Taj.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Mahal would be one.
Yes, so I've been to the TajMahal.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yes, but it's not the um, it's ancient wonders of the
world, is what we're lookingfor.
And uh, we went to um um, acouple of different places but
uh, chichen itza is a um, is aum, a pyramid that's in mexico
and we went to see it and it wasreally cool, like I mean, there
(41:55):
were, there was.
We went to two different sitesthe one site they just
discovered it in like 1993 andthey've been uncovering it and
they're they're like thesemassive pyramids and it was so.
so it was, it was ridiculouslycool it is cool yeah, yeah, and
(42:18):
they had this uh game, um, thatthey used to play, um, and it
was called uh oh, poke poke talkor some some, some, something
like that and and they would gettogether and they would play
this game where they had to.
It was kind of like basketballbetween these two massive walls
(42:44):
and the losing team if youscored a basket, they cut your
head off.
It was something ridiculous.
What the fuck?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Those fucking crazy Mexicans.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I think it's called Poc to Poc, and the high priests
and the shaman of the tribeswere the ones that would watch
and they would sit on top ofthese big walls and the natives
(43:21):
would play this game and, yeah,if you score, you'd think that
that's a good thing, but if youscore, yeah, they cut your head
off.
That is so crazy.
So Mexico and like, I mean,their beaches are decent.
I remember all this would havebeen, maybe, oh, it was early,
(43:48):
like eight years ago, 2014, 15,13, whenever it was, I got up
early and I liked to snorkel and, um, I walked down to the beach
and it was, you know, fiveo'clock in the morning and, uh,
I, I, I like being, especiallywhen you got all them young kids
, like I had four young kids andmy mother-in-law and my wife
(44:10):
and everybody.
Yeah, you want your old old timefor it, yeah so I went to one
of the buffets breakfast buffetsbefore I left, and filled my
shorts full of Rice Krispies,right, because you got, or
whatever frosted flakes orwhatever you got.
(44:30):
So you go on, when you'resnorkeling, you throw that stuff
around and all the fish comearound you.
So you go on, when you'resnorkeling, you throw that stuff
around and all the fish comearound you.
So I walked down there and atthat time of the year I'm not
sure if it happens all the timeor what was going on, but
there's like this seaweed thatwould always wash up.
So there was a worker that wasdown there, but when I got there
(44:55):
, there was nobody there.
I went out, I started snorkeling.
I'm throwing my Rice Krispiesall over the place and there's
like wildlife everywhere.
And you know, I've got my facein the water and I hear this
muffled and I'm like what thehell?
So I pop my head up out of thewater and I look at the beach
(45:18):
and there's this fellow therelike a worker on the thing and
he's like senor.
And I noticed a flag.
There was a black flag flyingwhen I went down there, but I
thought it was for weather and Ilike I mean the ocean was like
(45:40):
near flat as piss on a plate,like there was no weather.
So I just thought they forgotto take the weather flag down.
And I'm like the guy's yellingsenor, senor and I'm like he's
got to be talking to me, like Imean, I'm the only one out here.
There is nobody out here.
(46:00):
So I finally said, yeah, yeah,he's like senor flag and he's
pointing at this flag.
And now I'm like what the fuckis he talking about?
I I said, yeah, I know theweather's good and he's like
senor, senor, it's not theweather.
(46:22):
I'm like, okay, senor, blackflag, shark, senor.
So I'm out there with a fuckingpocket full of Rice Krispies.
Fucking, baiting the horseThrowing it all over.
I got all kinds of fish.
Like I mean, it was spectacular, the show that I'm getting out
(46:46):
there and he's yelling at me.
Oh my God.
He's like get out of the water,senor, shark.
So I looked around.
I didn't see any fins, so Ijust slowly made my way back and
got out.
He's like senor black flagmeans shark.
And I'm like okay, I won't goout no more.
(47:10):
So that was it.
It.
Oh my God, that's so awesome.
Oh yeah, every resort I went toafter that and to this day I
ask the person at the front deskor the guy giving the
orientation.
I'm like, hey, you guys got ashark flag.
And then they say oh yeah, wegot a shark flag, it's black.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
I have never seen that one.
I thought honestly.
I've seen the black flags outand I've always thought and been
told they were for jellyfish,that's what I was told yeah, I
didn't know, they were forsharks.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah well, this guy told me shark.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
I could watch that.
I think that's so funny.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
I'm like oh you stupid prick Out there with two
pockets full of rice krispiesand every species of fish and
everything around you.
Oh yeah, shark could get youwith.
I'd make a good meal.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, so it's beautiful down
there, though hey, we, uh, I'vebeen down to, we did some
drilling down there too, down by, uh, campeche.
So, campeche, you were probablyover by Tulum.
Yes, south, towards the Elysianborder.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Tulum was one of the that was the other ruins, the
one that was found in 1993.
The other thing not to cut youoff that we did was a cenote,
which was very cool.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Yeah, man, they're cool.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yeah, they're just like these massive holes.
Explain to the folks what theyare stevie hey explain to the
folks what they are well, thethese cenote are are natural, um
occurring, um massive canyons,but they're round, they're like,
they're like columns, uh, inthe ground and the and the
(48:54):
groundwater flows into thesethings.
And the one that we stopped atwould have maybe been, oh,
three-quarters of an acre around, like the footprint would have
been about three-quarters of anacre, so not big at all, and
it's like a round opening in theearth, in the rock, and then
(49:19):
from the top of it, if you wereto look over the top, it would
be probably, I don't know, 80,90 feet to the water and there's
like fresh water in the bottomof this thing and like I mean
they're deep, like they go downthey didn't even know how deep
the one that we were in was andyou can go swimming in them.
(49:42):
So you, they had a set ofstairs that went into this
cenote and you walk down thestairs down to a platform that
was about, I'm going to say, 15,20 feet off of the water, and
then you jump in and you canswim in the cenote.
And when you look up, like Imean it's, it's a beautiful
(50:05):
sight, like there's, there'swater that's, that's flowing in
and trickling over the sides incertain spots, like little
waterfalls and the vegetationhas grown down from the top and
there's like these big vinesthat are hanging down.
It's like something that youwould see in National Geographic
(50:25):
and they're just.
It was a really, really coolexperience.
The cenote.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Yeah, they are super cool that whole area.
We had a friend of mine CordellMcNarland was his name.
He was a drilling engineercross-shift guy of mine from
that's quite a handle.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (50:48):
That's quite a handle .
Speaker 3 (50:49):
Cordell McNarland.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
And yeah, but he.
So he drilled with me in Canada.
But him, him and his wife, hiskids were getting older.
They were like your kid's age,you know just leaving the nest
and he's like, fuck it, I'mgoing to go and build a house
down there.
So he went like the theystarted at, like the normal
areas down there that you would,you know, the Cancuns and
(51:14):
whatever.
And he's like I don't want tostay here, I want to go and
check in Mexico out.
So he went over through allthis area you're talking about
and then up to a place calledCampeche, which is the original
settlement of the Spanish.
That's where they originallylanded and it is one of the most
beautiful cities you will eversee in your life.
(51:34):
They actually have gold-platedstreets in some areas still, and
it was really cool.
Steve, you have to check it outsometime if you're ever down in
that area.
Oh yeah, the history there.
I spent two days there justwalking through the streets and
markets.
It was super cool, anyway.
(51:56):
So he ends up building thisplace, beautiful place, and he
had a lot right beside him andhe wanted to sell it to me for
30 grand US and this was like2010, and I was like I should
have bought it, man, and I can'tbelieve I didn't.
I still can't believe to thisday.
I didn't buy it off him, butanyways, they beautiful area
(52:18):
down there.
So I would go down and I flewinto Cancun and then I rented a
car and I drove because he'slike oh, come check out my place
, willie.
So I rented a car and I droveall the way down to Belize and
then so went through that area,went swimming with the turtles
and all that shit, and then cameback up through Tulum and all
(52:38):
and those the pyramids I onlysaw the one set and then back up
to Capetia and across and supercool place.
So when I'm there he introducesme to these local oil guys
because he's an oilman, right.
So they all oilmen are a breedlike that, right, like worldwide
, right.
So he introduces me to theselocal Mexican oilmen and we get
(53:03):
talking.
Well, I go home, sure enough.
A few weeks later doesn't myemail go off and it's one of
these guys and they're like hey,we need a directional
consultant down here and I needhim to speak in, can you come?
And I said, well, I mean I'mworking right now but I'll be
done in a few weeks.
My contract, that's the thing.
(53:26):
In the oil field you can drill10 wells.
You can drill three right andthen just tell them find someone
else for the next five.
I'll be back in two months,right.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
It depends on the relationship you have with them,
right?
So I was like screw it.
So down there I went and I wasdown there four days and the
fourth day.
So picture this like and thisis like the first time I saw
(53:58):
like high security at an oilfield site.
I never saw that Like.
You see this high security, butit's like for the protection of
the people and the staff yeah,no machine guns.
Yeah, it's not Exactly and yeah,it's not exactly, it's not sub
machine guns mounted on yourtruck, on every corner of the
lease and building, becausepirates are gonna fucking steal
(54:20):
your shit and rob your, burnyour rig down.
And I'm like this is the firsttime I'm seeing this, so it was
pretty trippy, like when you goany anywhere we go, they bomb,
check your car, right you know,like to give it a wand
underneath and they, you knowthey got a dog everywhere you go
, but it's a scent dog and uh,so like I think we're pretty
(54:41):
protected and I think this iscrazy.
I'm like this is ridiculous,like who's gonna steal oil,
right?
Yeah, well, fourth day, I wasfucking wrong.
So I was like it was uh,probably like one in the
afternoon and I go into town andall of a sudden it was.
(55:04):
I was in town for like maybe ahalf hour, 40 minutes, and I I
see all these police and allthese army vehicles just flying
by and they all got sirens onand they're going and I'm like,
well, that's a little crazy,whatever, right, but I'm
guessing it's a standardizedthing, right?
I traveled enough, but then toget used to it, but well, little
did I know they're on their wayto my rig, so my cross shift.
(55:28):
So here's what ended uphappening.
I wasn't there, so when I getback, I here's the story.
So that sometime after I hadleft the cartel and these so
which are like these, thesepirates which are run by the
cartel showed up on location,shot a guy in the shot, a guy in
the corner of the lease.
So they basically that's theirthreat, right, like don't fuck
(55:50):
around or we're gonna shoot youall.
So they shot this guy somewhere, but they didn't kill him, they
just shot him.
And then went into every shackand dumped the shacks out, took
all the money and all thejewelry and shit.
And then they want to go to therig and they want all the, they
want all the medals on the rigand they want this and they want
the equipment.
And so they tried to get asmuch as they could.
(56:11):
Well, my partner fucking heheard them coming and saw them
come in.
He jumped out his back windowand fucking ran into the
rainforest.
Man, no, yes, so he's in therainforest.
So this is going down.
They can't find him and theyknow there's a guy in charge.
(56:34):
They can't find him and theyknow there's a guy in charge.
They can't find him.
But I'm in town too.
So they end up gettingeverything and they end up
leaving.
Well, as they're leaving, Iguess some of them got busted on
the road on the way out andsome of them never got caught,
or something like that.
I don't really know the details.
I was too new and I was thegreen guy, right, so, and I
wasn't there.
So, anyways, I get back to thelocation, I figure all this shit
(56:57):
out, or I hear all this stuffand now I'm like where the fuck
is my partner right?
So Des.
So it was like, fuck man, wewere there, was people looking
for him in town, there was.
I had to call the oil companyright, company right, and be
like, listen, like this guy'sgone right, like because we were
thinking, because you have noidea, like he went back to the
jungle, they could cartel guy,could have grabbed him in a
(57:17):
minute, tied him up, right, yeah.
So we had no idea.
Anyways, he fucking, sureenough, he comes crawling out of
the woods, like right at dark.
He'd like oh shit, des, you'realive.
(57:37):
So that was my fourth day.
This is end of day five.
I was out of there day six.
I was like, okay, get me thefuck out of here.
I love crazy stuff like that,but I'm like, yeah, this is a
little too shellacked to me Ifthey can just show up here and
do that in five minutes, whenI'm like, yeah, I'm out of here.
Yeah, I didn't even take apaycheck from him.
I said I won't even invite you,just pay for my ride home.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Yeah, no doubt yeah, enough is enough.
Speaker 3 (58:03):
Yeah, that was crazy.
That was crazy Not Christmasrelated, but it was pretty crazy
.
Yeah, that that's okay, that'suh, that's how we roll.
You never know what's going tocome out buddy christmas in
three couple days.
I can't wait, man.
My, my kids are right.
I have one that's still a kid,that's still, you know, the kid,
the believer of everything andthat.
(58:24):
And, uh, you know, my otherkids, though, they've all kept
the passion of christmas andit's going to be really fun.
I'm uh, and we have this year,we have so much to be thankful
for.
You know our great relationshipand friendship with you and
Melissa and the network here andthe.
You know the lodge and all ourclose friends and our Diaries
(58:46):
family.
You know I've gotten a coupleemails here from some guests and
fans, and we love hearing fromyou guys, you know.
Send us some stuff, Wish us aMerry Christmas and a Happy New
Year.
You know we are all doing thatto you.
Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yeah, I love hearing from them.
Yeah, no, I again.
Folks, thanks for being here onChristmas morning and I hope
Santa was good to you all I'msure he was and listen.
Thanks again for listening.
(59:21):
We really appreciate it.
And we've got another greatepisode coming up in a week and
that'll be our year in review,our New Year's episode.
We've got lucky.
You know, christmas fall, wedrop on Christmas, we drop on
New Year's episode.
We've got lucky, you know,christmas fall, we drop on
Christmas, we drop on New Year'sand tune in for that.
And again, will you know anylast Christmas parting thoughts?
Speaker 3 (59:47):
You know what?
Not this time, Stevie.
Just Merry Christmas toeverybody.
We'll talk to you.
Have a safe and happy holidays.
No drinking and driving.
Love, peace, happiness.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Oh, that's a great way to do it.
And you know what folks Giveall them loved ones a hug, you
know, eat up Grammy's cookiesand everything else and just
really grab them loved ones.
That's what Christmas is.
The Christmas magic is theloved ones that you've got
(01:00:24):
around you.
And again, folks.
This brings us to a little bitof housekeeping.
You know the drill.
Go on over to fishingcanadacom,get in on the giveaways.
You never know what's there,what's special.
You can check out the otherpodcasts on the network.
(01:00:46):
And folks thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode
of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Stories of the North.
Been the hog since the day Iwas born, bending my rock,
stretching my line.
Someday I might own a lodge andthat'd be fine.
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how Working hard and
(01:01:36):
sharing the north with all of mypals.
Boy, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and lived mydream.
And now I'm here talking abouthow life can be as good as it
seems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:01:52):
As the world gets louder and louder.
Yeah, as the world gets louderand louder, the lessons of our
natural world become harder andharder to hear, but they are
still available to those whoknow where to listen.
I'm Jerry Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
(01:02:12):
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-hungry fungus known as
chaga, a tree conch withcenturies of medicinal use by
(01:02:34):
Indigenous peoples all over theglobe.
After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research
, my skepticism has faded toobsession and I now spend my
life dedicated to improving thelives of others through natural
means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
(01:02:54):
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people.
That will help you find youroutdoor passion and help you
live a life close to nature.
And under the canopy Find Underthe Canopy now on Spotify,
(01:03:19):
apple Podcasts or wherever elseyou get your podcasts.
Speaker 6 (01:03:25):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's favorite
fishing show, but now we'rehosting a podcast.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your
ears, bringing you a brand newepisode of Outdoor Journal Radio
.
Hmm, Now what are?
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
we going to talk about for two hours every week.
Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch, yeah, but it's
not just a fishing show.
Speaker 6 (01:03:53):
We're going to be talking to people from all
facets of the outdoors fromathletes.
Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth
and Turk and all the Russianswould go fishing To scientists,
but now that we're reforestingand laying things free.
Speaker 4 (01:04:08):
It's the perfect transmission environment for
life.
Speaker 6 (01:04:11):
To chefs.
If any game isn't cookedproperly, marinated, you will
taste it, and whoever else willpick up the phone.
Wherever you are, outdoorJournal Radio seeks to answer
the questions and tell thestories of all those who enjoy
being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is
brought to you by Nordic PointLodge A luxury outdoor
experience with five-starservice.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner, stories of the North.
Well, I've got lots of storiesfrom the north, but on this
episode, steve and Will Stevehad asked me to do this for him.
(00:47):
The introductory Rudolph, canyou slow those reindeer down?
I can't think with all of thosebells ringing ringing, you guys
(01:17):
go out in the field and justget ready to go.
Okay, thank you.
Sometimes I can't think withthe reindeer ripping around here
, it's a very exciting time ofyear.
I understand Christmas iscoming and the reindeer, they're
out trying out the bells andcan't wait to get on the sleigh.
Uh, I really like the sleightoo.
(01:39):
You know those reindeer, theyget right excited.
You know those reindeer, theyget right excited and I like
feeling the power.
It's like a 69 Firebird or aCamaro some days.
But anyway, steve asked mewe're friends from the outdoor
(02:01):
journal days and he wanted me toopen up the show today because
it is Christmas and he thoughtthat I would be a good man and I
must agree I love Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all.
Now, I guess they're talkingabout Christmas.
Yes, why don't we get rightover to them Christmas?
(02:22):
Yes, why don't we get rightover to them.
Anyway, folks have a MerryChristmas.
It sounds like this recordingis going to drop on Christmas
Day, so I will have alreadyvisited all of your houses and
delivered goodies to all who aregood.
(02:43):
So be good for your parents,young children, and all will be
well.
Merry Christmas.
Oh, here they come again.
Let me get on.
Okay, rudolph, turn the nose on.
Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Welcome folks to another episode of Diaries of a
Lodge Owner Stories of the North, and it is a very, very special
edition.
As you heard off the top, santaClaus opened up the show for us
, which was very exciting.
I've got a bit of arelationship with Santa.
(03:29):
Back in my outdoor journal daysit was my job to commission
Santa to come and talk to Angeloand Peter and from those days I
kept tight ties with Santa, youknow, because, hey, to get to
(03:54):
meet Santa and to try and fostera relationship with him, well,
that's a pretty special dealright there I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I would say monumental Stephen.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Monumental, yeah, 100%.
Well, that's a pretty specialdeal right there, I'll tell you.
I would say monumental steven,monumental, yeah, 100.
And and, uh, I love people andand I love, uh, I love having a
variety of different friends anduh, there's not many people
that can say that, uh, they, uh,that they hang out with santa
every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Nice, nice yeah, yeah , yeah, yeah, you that's.
You're lucky, buddy, you'relucky.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Oh yeah, well, and it is.
By the time, folks you'relistening to this, santa has
made his rounds and theChristmas trees are all full of
wonderful presents for all ofthe youngsters out there.
(04:49):
And really I think I can speakfor Willie, but I and Willie
want to wish you all a very,very Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Absolutely Merry Christmas folks, happy New Year
and we're excited to be heretoday, talk some Christmas.
Let's tell some stories, buddy,yeah.
Well, we decided Some wickedtraditions and some stories and
some values, and I think it'ssomething that would be really
cool, eh, just to go back andtalk about Christmas to each of
(05:32):
us and what it means.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Oh, absolutely Christmas.
I love Christmas and I lovethese holidays and I am not a
happy holidays kind of guy, I ama Merry Christmas guy.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So, willie, what are some of your?
Let's start off with some greattraditions.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well in our household .
So my grandfather, as I wastelling you, he, you know, he
raised me a little bit therewhen I was a youngster.
He would go out okay, we alwayshad a real tree.
We never had a fake tree Likemy.
(06:21):
It was frowned upon in my houseto have a fake tree.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Still is in mine.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, for sure.
But when I was younger Iremember my family would just
buy them from like the OptimistClub or like the Lions Club to
help support them in Coburg,right?
But then as we got older, youknow, we got to see the movie
Christmas Vacation, which is myfucking favorite.
(06:46):
I watched that movie 20 times ayear and at Christmas time it's
probably.
You know it's ridiculous, butwhen I saw that movie I remember
seeing it and my grandfatherhe's like let's go and let's do
that, let's go cut our own tree.
And then we started doing thattree and then we started doing
(07:09):
that.
So like now, to this day still,you know, I uh, years later,
I've done it for all of thoseyears, no matter where I am.
If I was drilling out at the rigand there was a, you know we
were in the middle of northernBC me and the boys would go hard
and send the rough neck out tothe bush and go huck down a tree
and, you know, put it in frontof my shock right, and do it up.
But to this day, like, uh, lastyear me and Holton grabbed one
(07:31):
at the law.
It was the first Christmas wehad at Nordic.
So we, uh, we kind of went fullbore.
But we picked one out from theback of the lot there way back
in the bush and me and Holtondrug her out and this year we uh
, we had the girls involved.
Krista's always krista's alwaysdone this, but she'd she's only
(07:52):
been doing it for, you know, 78years here since we've been
together.
Um, but yeah, like, so thegirls get right into it.
You know, little lexi, like shegets, like she'll get down on
her hands and knees and shovelout the snow with her hands and
get real low.
So like she makes sure the buttis real good, like starts
sawing.
Like she gets, she understandsthe whole theory of the
(08:12):
Christmas tree and how it needsto stand on the stand.
But I think it's a coolexperience to go do that.
So that's one of our traditions.
Now it makes an afternoon or aday out of it, right, you know,
bringing it back to the garageand setting it up, letting it
fall, getting everything trimmedup on it, and you know we let
it sit for a day and thenfinally the next day we put it
(08:35):
out.
We usually do that around likefuck December 1st, like Chris is
like Martha Stewart on crackyou know what I mean.
Like it's crazy, you know.
Like my house is like blown.
It's like Santa Claus vomitedin here.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's crazy.
No, disrespect, santa.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
No, not at all, not at all Not at all it's all
positive.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, we do the same thing with our tree.
It's always a live tree.
Buddies of ours has a bigproperty and their kids sell
Christmas trees just a few tofriends and we always do the
Christmas tree and this year wasNovember 22nd was the day that
(09:19):
we had to go, and in my opinionthat is very, very, very early,
because for a live tree it'stough keeping them alive, uh and
and needles on them that long.
Um, but did you sustain it.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
That long is she healthy, buddy?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
um, it's, uh, it's not doing too badly, but but
she'll be hard-pressed to makeNew Year's.
Ah, yeah, you know, yeah, andyou know one of the traditions
that I've kind of held up rightthrough from when I was a kid,
(10:00):
and this one has to do withpresents.
And this one has to do withpresents.
When I first met Melissa, forwhatever reason, her family
always opened up their presentson Christmas Eve, and I think
(10:27):
it's probably because they wouldtravel Christmas morning to go
to her grandparents' place orwhatever it was.
But that always felt wrong tome and, and I always, I always,
and, and we adopted this for ourkids what my mom and dad did.
Now, obviously, you know there's, um, uh, santa brings everybody
their gift on christmas eve andwhen you're sleeping, but, um,
(10:49):
that's what happened with all ofour gifts.
Our christmas tree was alwaysjust about bare.
The only presents that, um,that went under our christmas
tree leading up to christmaswere presents that the siblings,
myself and my brothers andsisters would kind of wrap to
(11:12):
give to each other, but no otherpresents went under that
Christmas tree.
There was no shaking, there wasno looking at them, it was all
in your head, and what that didfor us was it made christmas
morning so exciting um and um,and, and santa was always good
(11:34):
enough, because you know wewaited so long.
Um, christmas tree was up andthere was there was no presents,
and and then it was always soexciting that night You'd hardly
sleep, no, exactly.
It was super exciting To wake upin the morning and to run
downstairs and see a whole likejust a massive display of gifts
(12:03):
was such a huge memory.
And Santa was a smart dude too,like I mean to keep us in our
room, he would sneak into ourroom and put one.
We would all have a littleChristmas tree.
I shared a room with my brotherfor a long time and we'd all
(12:27):
have little Christmas trees inour room.
And Santa would sneak in atnight on Christmas Eve and when
he put our present downstairs hehad a little present for us
that he would put in our room.
And that's how we do it withour, with, with, our kids.
I've never heard that one, wesave our presents till till the
(12:50):
bitter end, and on Christmas Evewe put them out.
And then Santa he comes in andhe puts his presents out there,
and uh, and then it's just, uh,it's mayhem on Christmas morning
.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Wow, that's awesome.
So the first part of what yousaid, that's actually what we do
too, because I feel the exactsame way, you know, and we do
all of the same, pretty muchproceeds, except for the little
tree and the little gift, butsuper unique, yeah, yeah, that
(13:26):
is awesome and more anticipationto the big, to the big bang oh
yeah, yeah, you're right it doescause so much like uh, uh that
you know the kids get like andand everybody at christmas,
right, they get, they get all,all the excitement.
(13:48):
Their mind can actually, youknow, wonder what's going on and
have an imagination andcreativity behind it, and that's
fun.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Oh yeah, I remember as a kid, you know, on Christmas
Eve looking out my window andstaring into the night sky
looking for Santa and a reindeer.
You know there were a couple ofnights.
I was pretty sure I saw himConvinced.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh, that's awesome, Steve.
That's awesome.
You know I just love eventalking about this right now
makes me smile and just becausesome of the best times of my
life have been at Christmas, youknow, like some of your best
memories and I know beingespecially being a Canadian you
know it's we celebrate it prettyhard here.
(14:36):
You know I've worked in a lotof different countries around
the world that celebratedifferent cultural things, but
in Canada, you know, christmasis a big thing and I think those
things should continue for manyyears and I'm glad that you do
that with your kids and yourfamily and try and keep those
(14:59):
old school traditions going.
You know they're fun.
They're fun.
We do a Christmas.
Another thing we do aroundChristmas time is a Christmas
party.
So we do like an.
We call it an open house.
So, like my parents and mygrandfather and I know Krista's
(15:22):
dad his name was Don Don Smeetand he ran the beer store here
in Kenora for, oh man, likeclose to 40 years.
You know, he was on the, youknow, the curling club board of
directors, the Legion board solike he knew everybody in town,
right, he was that guy, and youknow how it is in these small
(15:46):
towns, steve, right, so he wouldhave an open house as well at
Christmas.
So, basically, what we do is wepick a day, so ours was
actually on Friday.
So when this airs it would havebeen ours would have been the
20th.
We did it and we just me andKrista this year we did a pulled
beef, we did a, and we just meand Krista this year we did a
(16:06):
pulled beef, we did a pulledpork.
You know we had a spread out inthe bar and some wine and
drinks for everyone.
We had a cup case of beer here,uh, you know, some couple of
couple other friends broughtsome hors d'oeuvres and some
things.
You know you have the regular.
You know the veggie tray andthe meat and cheese platter and
(16:28):
all that kind of stuff.
And you know me and me andHolton did up the garage all
fancy with decorations, dollarstore decorations made it look
like a a, I don't know what itlooked like in here, but it was
crazy.
There was stuff everywhere anduh, but it was cool.
There was stuff everywhere anduh, but it was cool.
And what we do is we just haveit from like I don't know, this
(16:49):
year we just have like five toeight, but like, people stay
till like 10, 10, 30, whatever,yeah, or show up at three in the
afternoon and uh, we had, youknow, like brucey, because you
know jamie bruce stopped by fora couple beers.
There was the deucen brothers,big musky guys up here.
A lot of our staff at Nordiccame by.
You know our close friends andfamily.
(17:11):
You know we ended up havingprobably 30, 35 people here
through the night and it's fun.
You know some people can comefor 10 minutes after work
because they're busy, and somepeople can come for the whole
night and and it's just a timethat everybody can get together
and and, and you know, wish eachother a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year prior to goingwith their families and doing
(17:34):
their personal thing.
And it's a really cool thingit's.
You know we've been going on,you know, six years now doing
this.
So do you guys do anything likethat down there, stevie, any of
your friends?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Oh yeah, you guys do anything like that down there,
stevie any of your friends?
Oh yeah, we uh.
For us, um, um, well, when Iwas younger, when I was a kid,
um, there were.
There were two social events ofthe year for me and um.
First was fiddleville, and thatalways, that always took place
(18:04):
in the summertime in Shelburne,the largest open fiddle contest
on the planet.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That is the super coolest thing.
We ought to talk about thatsometime.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Oh, it was the best.
It was so awesome back in thosedays.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I love the fiddle.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, dude, and I like.
I mean, I think I went toFiddleville from about oh 1990
until it ended.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Does this thing still exist?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
No, unfortunately it doesn't.
Well, you know, like I meanit's there were.
(19:09):
In today's day and age, when asmall community tries to manage
an event like that, theliability is outrageous and you
can't.
It was very difficult tomaintain.
There were some accidents alongthroughout the years that
claimed some lives, and I'mtalking like car accidents and
things that led to the demise ofwhat I considered one of the
greatest events, and in mychildhood I guess I'll call it I
(19:29):
wasn't a child, right, but inmy young adulthood but that was
the first social event of theyear.
And the second social event ofthe year was Paul and Gina
Smith's Christmas party, andthat always no matter what
happened on the 23rd of Decemberand their son, craig Smith,
(19:56):
who's now a game warden.
Craig and I were good buddies.
We had a big group of friends,but it was one of those, and
this was a party.
Man Like this wasn't like acome at seven and leave at nine.
This was a come whenever andleave whenever, and you know.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
When the keg is done.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
While the aftermath at 10 o'clock the next morning
Holy shit.
You never knew what you weregoing to run into.
Man, like I mean, it was afull-blown, just an awesome
party.
Like there were people outthere sleeping everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Oh yeah, there was always a big bonfire going on
inside, outside, downstairs,upstairs.
It was just mayhem everywhereand I bet you, in their little
house we had.
Oh, there were some years we'dhave 80 to 100 people at any
given time and the best partabout it was it was a total
(21:04):
cross-section of ages.
You know, that's where I met myfirst bass partner, glenn Berry
, and Glenn's probably 20 yearsolder than I am and you know you
meet all of these people andyou know your buddy's parents
and that was just an amazing, anamazing party.
(21:28):
But, like all things, peoplemoved on and kids grow up and
that party doesn't happenanymore.
But we try and have some peopleover.
But really for us on theholiday season, because we've
(21:50):
done a lot of traveling sinceabout 2013.
I like to have a New Year's gettogether, but again, that's
kind of been broken up becausewe kind of took up a new
tradition in 2013.
Melissa's dad passed at thatpoint and it was.
(22:16):
We decided to go away for thatChristmas Al God rest your soul
and he had passed in Septemberof 13.
So that first Christmas it waspretty raw and we decided to go
(22:39):
to Mexico and honestly, sincethen I don't remember a
Christmas we were always homefor Christmas Day.
We didn't actually go away forChristmas other than that very
first year.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But we've always, for , like I say, the last 10 years,
we've been gone from Boxing Daythrough the new year, and this
year we're not.
This year we're staying home,and I am so excited about
(23:20):
staying home because that is a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Tell me why, stevie.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, there's nothing like and I guess I'm
lucky in a sense that I do getto travel a bit with Fish in
Canada and although it's withinCanada, that's still Canada's an
amazing place and to be able totravel is a wonderful thing.
(23:46):
But I'm I'm so excited to beable to just stay home because,
you know, especially withMelissa being a teacher and
you're going away on holidays,by the time you get back I feel
like I need a holiday from theholiday.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, Especially when you've got a ton
of kids and you're havingevents and everyone wants to do
things.
Yeah, it's not like you're justgetting on the plane and you're
going to put your feet up onthe beach and get up at 10 in
the morning and eat whenever youwant and be on your own
schedule, right?
You're a team event with thefamily, right?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
That the morning and eat whatever you want and be on
your own schedule.
Right, it's a.
You're a team event with thefamily, right?
So that's right.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Well, that's all great, it wasa great.
It was a great time to do thatwith the kids, and I feel
blessed that we were, we werelucky enough to be able to do
that travel, because there's somany people out there that, um,
that don't have that opportunity, um, but I'm one of them.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Krista doesn't fly, right, so I travel a lot.
You know that I travel a lot,yeah, but Krista don't fly and
that's something that we'reworking on and she's doing great
at and the evolution of it andhopefully one day we can, but
that sounds like an awesomething to do, once you know.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, well, I can help you with the flying thing.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Oh man, she's doing great.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Have you ever seen the A-Team the?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
A-Team, the A-Team.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You know, with Hannibal Smith and Mr T and all
the boys.
Yes, yeah, feed her a hamburgerwith a tranquilizer in it, just
like they do with Mr T.
You don't fly either, but whenthey got it going I was like
where?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
the hell, are you going with this story?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah, yeah, when they got a special assignment and
they got to get Mr T on a planethey just feed him a hamburger
with a tranquilizer in it andthey toss him on there and all
is good.
He wakes up on the other side.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Fuck, she'd fucking smash me in the face.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know what it's tough getting you through
customs.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Right, she'd be like weekend at Bernie's.
I'd be holding Christy upholding her head.
That's my wife.
Yeah, that's funny.
No, she got on the plane.
Uh, wayne clark had one, it was.
We did a fly out one day andwhen he was coming back the
guests were waiting on something.
So he was like it was like 20minutes.
He was sitting there in the bayso I went up and I was like,
(26:15):
let's get in, let's go for aride.
And she actually did.
I couldn't believe it.
She pulled the tray.
I was actually right aftermelissa went out, you guys.
So maybe she was like, oh, oh,melissa and Steve went on a
backflip.
You know, float plane, she cando it, I can freaking do it,
maybe that was.
But yeah, we taxied around thebay for like 15 minutes, 20
minutes, you know, which is kindof cool.
We were in a caravan and I waslike I was actually going to say
(26:37):
just go, and she's like Ishould have just went and I'm
like, yeah, you should have,because once you go, once you'll
be fine, yeah, so that's asuper cool tradition, man.
We uh, we usually go away inthe new year, like I'm gonna go
away.
I got my surgery January 6thand then after I kind of get a
(26:57):
little bit of a recovery and I'mgonna go.
Johnson wants to go down toCabo on the 16th or 18th or
something like that, but I thinkI'm gonna wait a little bit
longer.
I won't be fully ready by thattime.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, well you got to be In every angler's heart
lives a fishing paradise Withstunning scenery and wildlife,
on a trophy, multi-speciesfishery, having outstanding
accommodation and a foodexperience to die for.
They treat you like royalty,tailor-making a package that
(27:34):
works for you.
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Back in 2016,.
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database of muskie anglingeducation material anywhere in
the world.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this
amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
like you.
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Thus, the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly
grew to become one of the topfishing podcasts in North.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
America.
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Tight lines everyone find uglypike now on spotify, apple
(28:53):
podcasts or wherever else youget your podcasts where do you
guys like to go when you go outsouth?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
you've been all over um, well, it's always warm, like
that's a requirement for themost part.
The only time we broke awayfrom that, brenda, my
mother-in-law took us out toCanmore a couple of years ago.
My brother-in-law, jamie, livesin Calgary, so we spent
(29:23):
Christmas in Canmore, which wasbeautiful, like I mean that was
outstanding.
That's where we went, that'swhere we did the skiing and I
ended up on one of the steepestslopes in Canada, and that was a
(29:44):
whole story.
I'm sure I've told that story.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
You have, you have.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, on the thing.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Calgary is a beautiful place.
In Canmore, canmore is gorgeoustoo.
We went through there on thehoneymoon, me and Krista.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, it's gorgeous and no salt, like I mean, you're
driving around on ice, I had toget used to that.
You know, the first uh stopsign and and uh, you know, touch
the brakes and all of a suddenyou're, you're just sliding.
I didn't slide through, I uh, Iuh, I'm.
I was pretty cautious up intothat point, but yeah, the
(30:16):
driving there is is, um is a lotdifferent, but oh, yeah for
sure, the requirement forMelissa is warm.
So we've done Cuba, and Cubawas a good trip.
I loved everything about Cubaother than well, and I didn't
even mind the food, but the foodis not what it is in other
(30:41):
places in the world.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
That's just a cultural thing.
I drilled there for a bit.
Eh, I drilled there for almost10 months in Veradero.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Oh, yeah, yeah Beautiful.
The cars are great.
I love the cars.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Oh, that's super cool about them yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, since they have this spat with the United
States, all of the vehiclesthere are basically from the 50s
.
So you see 56 Chev's, 57 Chev's, all these different vintage
vehicles that they've pulled theengines out and put these
little Volkswagen diesel enginesin, and that's what guys are
(31:22):
picking.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
They're the taxis.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Taxis yeah, absolutely, the taxis are like
that and with their climatethey're in beautiful shape.
I heard somebody talking onYouTube, and whether this is a
true stat or not, it wouldn'tsurprise me.
But one of their greatestresources are all of these
(31:44):
vehicles that they've got fromthe 50s right and um, um.
I can just imagine what theywould be worth if they started
selling them all.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
oh, my god, because you are.
You're right.
They're in amazing shape, likeoh, for sure, yeah, for sure,
that's one thing them cubansknow how to take care of their
cars, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, yeah, so Cuba was one.
Their beaches are stunning,like I mean white sand beaches.
Yeah, it was outstanding.
All of that, the food, like Isay, I think my mom got sick and
she spent two or three days inthe room and you know, it just
(32:23):
happened.
That can happen anywhere,though, right, yeah, it can
happen anywhere, you just needto be prepared.
The rooms were a little, were alittle on the, on the how would
I say?
Speaker 3 (32:34):
this Simple side, you know, and yeah, I think the
whole country is like that, alittle bit Like when I was down
there.
It was everything was a littlebland, like we.
I just bring my own.
When we flew in in the country,we'd bring our own ketchup and
hp sauce and and salsa andthat's pretty much it.
Right, maybe some salt, becauseeverything was kind of bland.
(32:54):
If you're, if you're looking tolose weight, that's the best
way to do it, because there's noextra shit on your stuff.
Yeah, you know, but you knowwhat we were doing there was
super cool.
So did you stay in Havana or?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Varadero, it was Havana, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So we went in and did like a we actually did like a
private kind of tour.
We didn't do one through theresort we went in and watched
where, like what's his namethere, the big author, the
novelist, oh, I can't remember.
Anyways, early 1900s guy he was, you know, we looked at his bar
(33:30):
, we went and looked at like allthe old historic buildings
where the civil wars hadhappened and all that shit.
Yeah, and you'll see, outsideof Aradero there was a bunch of
drilling rigs there and vacationwas one thing.
But I ended up going back downwith with brad nielsen, who was
in my wedding party, and uh, anddrilling down there and what we
(33:52):
were doing was we were drillinghow they, how they operate
their power plant is throughbitumen so they run.
Okay, they run half their powerplant off coal and half their
power plant off of fuel, off ofoil.
So they drill out.
(34:13):
They can't afford the country'skind of poor, so they can't
afford these big platformdrilling rigs to go out offshore
and to pump it back.
So they get right over top ofthe pool per se, let's say, but
they drill out under the oceanfrom the beach and then extract
it back to land with a pipeline.
(34:34):
So the problem is, because ofthe spat with the US, they can't
buy anything.
So I'll give you an example.
We would like a normal wellwould be like you know I just
want to put it in layman's termsfor people and so let's say two
(34:54):
miles long, you know, threekilometers long, something like
that, and that well is like atwo foot diameter at the start
and by the time you get to theend it's like 10 inches.
Let's just say that okay.
And because you stage down, thefurther out you go, you've got
to go smaller, right, because ofthe weight of everything
dragging.
(35:14):
So when you're doing all ofthis drilling in a place on an
island in the Caribbean, for oneand one that has no sanctions
with the United States or theNorth, everything's got to come
from Russia or China and that'sthe only countries they'll deal
(35:35):
with.
So like we would be out thereand we would have like like a
drill a bit would go, you knowdownhole, and that's, that's a,
that's a normal thing.
So in Canada or the UnitedStates or in Russia or wherever
in the world you were drilling,normally you know down hole and
that's a normal thing.
So in Canada or the UnitedStates or in Russia or wherever
in the world you were drilling,normally you'd trip the pipe out
of the hole to change the bit.
So I mean, if you were shallow,it would take you whatever
(35:56):
hours.
It could take up to two and ahalf days.
If you're drilling at like6,000 meters, right, yeah, so,
but there you would take theywere a little slower.
They were a little slower thannormal.
So you know, to trip out of thehole, let's say, at three
kilometers, it would take uslike three weeks.
(36:17):
I'm talking like 200 meters aday.
That's it Really.
We would normally be like 250meters an hour in here in Canada
with our machine and theequipment.
That's the other problem.
It's all old, it's like all oldtime, like the 1950s.
You know kelly's and thekellycock which is the hook, you
(36:41):
know, and the big pin thatholds the drill string and the
block shiv, right, yeah, andthese are all conventional old
dinosaurs, right?
So things are breaking.
Well, again, when things break,when you, when you, when that
drill string comes out andthings break, you got to get
those parts.
Well, if you can't get themfrom us, if you can't get them
(37:02):
from the north, it's a pain inthe ass.
Yeah, same and and it was adaily thing steve like I would
wait, and this is no bs.
I waited eight, eight weeks fora bit one time a drill bit me
and Brad and all I did.
I went.
I went back and forth to Canadathree times and I got paid
every day.
Really, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Sounds like a great job.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Because they don't know when it's it's.
It's not like here where youhave a tracking number.
That's it's a communist countryand they're dealing with black
market people in anothercommunist country.
So everybody's got to be paidoff to get the equipment.
Like when we would ship ourequipment there, you had to pay
somebody at customs, like I hada purse.
This is no bullshit.
(37:46):
When I went and drilled inRussia I had a purse.
I had a purse like an off therecord.
It was like having a secondpassport, right, and we would go
and the company man on location.
You had to pay him to get yourequipment there, because if you
didn't, you didn't have to.
You could go and work but yourequipment would never show up or
(38:07):
it would show up smashed, orthree quarters.
It will be gone and sold on theblack market.
Really, yes, oh, man, it's.
Yeah, you got to know that it'snot, that the real world is not
like it is here.
It's a nasty place, right, so?
And three quarters of the worldthat has oil are in those
(38:29):
places that don't believe in howthe West lives, right, so it's
different, you know are in thoseplaces that don't believe in
how the West lives, right, soit's different, you know and uh,
so you had a separate you had aseparate um, like, um, uh purse
.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
you say so.
Is that uh, uh, that's yourpassport, that's no.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Yeah, so they would give me a.
They would give me a tag withmy field instructions and my
credentials and and basically alittle as to why I was there,
(39:05):
like what?
I was a horizontal boringdrilling engineer or a magnetic
supervision down holes tech orsomething whatever right.
So, um, and I had they wouldgive me and I had they would
give me money.
So I had, like they'd give me40 grand US or they'd give me
right, which I'd sign out and Iwould have to do.
That's what this money was forright Now.
It was my job to get it ascheap as I can.
(39:26):
Yeah, so you're negotiating withthese guys, I'm negotiating
with that money, that's right.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
That's right.
Oh, no shit.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
That's crazy.
Oh man, it was fuckinginteresting, bud, like it was.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Did you ever get yourself in any situations where
you were like a little, alittle, oh shit.
Maybe I shouldn't have saidthat.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Lots.
I got detained once inKazakhstan for like 18 hours.
I think I told you this story.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, that was when you were going across, when I
was going back and forth.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
That was kind of the same kind of similar thing,
right, because they don't wantyou have to.
If I would have had a purse onme, that's exactly the example.
If I would have had a purse onme, I would have been fine.
They wouldn't have kept methere for 18 hours and dicked me
around right, right, gotcha,right.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
So um, so your buddy should have gave you a curse.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You go back to your vacations and and I'll hop back
in the rig stuff after.
I just want to tell you thatveronero is really a cool place.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yeah, oh, yeah yeah, no, and uh you know, uh we spent
, um.
We've spent some time in mexico, um beautiful country.
Food is outstanding.
There's some wonderful uhresorts, um, uh the lot.
The latest uh trip that uh wedid was uh last year.
And um my, um my younger son,mikey, um he's.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Mike.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yes, yes, he's got the travel bug.
Yes, yes, he's got the travelbug.
And the one thing he wanted todo and we kind of decided is
(41:11):
we're going to go see all of thenatural wonders.
The wonder like the sorrynatural isn't the right word,
it's the historic wonders, likethe pyramids are one of them,
like the seven wonders of theworld.
What's that?
Speaker 3 (41:25):
The seven wonders of the world.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yes, so the Taj.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Mahal would be one.
Yes, so I've been to the TajMahal.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yes, but it's not the um, it's ancient wonders of the
world, is what we're lookingfor.
And uh, we went to um um, acouple of different places but
uh, chichen itza is a um, is aum, a pyramid that's in mexico
and we went to see it and it wasreally cool, like I mean, there
(41:55):
were, there was.
We went to two different sitesthe one site they just
discovered it in like 1993 andthey've been uncovering it and
they're they're like thesemassive pyramids and it was so.
so it was, it was ridiculouslycool it is cool yeah, yeah, and
(42:18):
they had this uh game, um, thatthey used to play, um, and it
was called uh oh, poke poke talkor some some, some, something
like that and and they would gettogether and they would play
this game where they had to.
It was kind of like basketballbetween these two massive walls
(42:44):
and the losing team if youscored a basket, they cut your
head off.
It was something ridiculous.
What the fuck?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Those fucking crazy Mexicans.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I think it's called Poc to Poc, and the high priests
and the shaman of the tribeswere the ones that would watch
and they would sit on top ofthese big walls and the natives
(43:21):
would play this game and, yeah,if you score, you'd think that
that's a good thing, but if youscore, yeah, they cut your head
off.
That is so crazy.
So Mexico and like, I mean,their beaches are decent.
I remember all this would havebeen, maybe, oh, it was early,
(43:48):
like eight years ago, 2014, 15,13, whenever it was, I got up
early and I liked to snorkel and, um, I walked down to the beach
and it was, you know, fiveo'clock in the morning and, uh,
I, I, I like being, especiallywhen you got all them young kids
, like I had four young kids andmy mother-in-law and my wife
(44:10):
and everybody.
Yeah, you want your old old timefor it, yeah so I went to one
of the buffets breakfast buffetsbefore I left, and filled my
shorts full of Rice Krispies,right, because you got, or
whatever frosted flakes orwhatever you got.
(44:30):
So you go on, when you'resnorkeling, you throw that stuff
around and all the fish comearound you.
So you go on, when you'resnorkeling, you throw that stuff
around and all the fish comearound you.
So I walked down there and atthat time of the year I'm not
sure if it happens all the timeor what was going on, but
there's like this seaweed thatwould always wash up.
So there was a worker that wasdown there, but when I got there
(44:55):
, there was nobody there.
I went out, I started snorkeling.
I'm throwing my Rice Krispiesall over the place and there's
like wildlife everywhere.
And you know, I've got my facein the water and I hear this
muffled and I'm like what thehell?
So I pop my head up out of thewater and I look at the beach
(45:18):
and there's this fellow therelike a worker on the thing and
he's like senor.
And I noticed a flag.
There was a black flag flyingwhen I went down there, but I
thought it was for weather and Ilike I mean the ocean was like
(45:40):
near flat as piss on a plate,like there was no weather.
So I just thought they forgotto take the weather flag down.
And I'm like the guy's yellingsenor, senor and I'm like he's
got to be talking to me, like Imean, I'm the only one out here.
There is nobody out here.
(46:00):
So I finally said, yeah, yeah,he's like senor flag and he's
pointing at this flag.
And now I'm like what the fuckis he talking about?
I I said, yeah, I know theweather's good and he's like
senor, senor, it's not theweather.
(46:22):
I'm like, okay, senor, blackflag, shark, senor.
So I'm out there with a fuckingpocket full of Rice Krispies.
Fucking, baiting the horseThrowing it all over.
I got all kinds of fish.
Like I mean, it was spectacular, the show that I'm getting out
(46:46):
there and he's yelling at me.
Oh my God.
He's like get out of the water,senor, shark.
So I looked around.
I didn't see any fins, so Ijust slowly made my way back and
got out.
He's like senor black flagmeans shark.
And I'm like okay, I won't goout no more.
(47:10):
So that was it.
It.
Oh my God, that's so awesome.
Oh yeah, every resort I went toafter that and to this day I
ask the person at the front deskor the guy giving the
orientation.
I'm like, hey, you guys got ashark flag.
And then they say oh yeah, wegot a shark flag, it's black.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
I have never seen that one.
I thought honestly.
I've seen the black flags outand I've always thought and been
told they were for jellyfish,that's what I was told yeah, I
didn't know, they were forsharks.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah well, this guy told me shark.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
I could watch that.
I think that's so funny.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
I'm like oh you stupid prick Out there with two
pockets full of rice krispiesand every species of fish and
everything around you.
Oh yeah, shark could get youwith.
I'd make a good meal.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, so it's beautiful down
there, though hey, we, uh, I'vebeen down to, we did some
drilling down there too, down by, uh, campeche.
So, campeche, you were probablyover by Tulum.
Yes, south, towards the Elysianborder.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Tulum was one of the that was the other ruins, the
one that was found in 1993.
The other thing not to cut youoff that we did was a cenote,
which was very cool.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Yeah, man, they're cool.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yeah, they're just like these massive holes.
Explain to the folks what theyare stevie hey explain to the
folks what they are well, thethese cenote are are natural, um
occurring, um massive canyons,but they're round, they're like,
they're like columns, uh, inthe ground and the and the
(48:54):
groundwater flows into thesethings.
And the one that we stopped atwould have maybe been, oh,
three-quarters of an acre around, like the footprint would have
been about three-quarters of anacre, so not big at all, and
it's like a round opening in theearth, in the rock, and then
(49:19):
from the top of it, if you wereto look over the top, it would
be probably, I don't know, 80,90 feet to the water and there's
like fresh water in the bottomof this thing and like I mean
they're deep, like they go downthey didn't even know how deep
the one that we were in was andyou can go swimming in them.
(49:42):
So you, they had a set ofstairs that went into this
cenote and you walk down thestairs down to a platform that
was about, I'm going to say, 15,20 feet off of the water, and
then you jump in and you canswim in the cenote.
And when you look up, like Imean it's, it's a beautiful
(50:05):
sight, like there's, there'swater that's, that's flowing in
and trickling over the sides incertain spots, like little
waterfalls and the vegetationhas grown down from the top and
there's like these big vinesthat are hanging down.
It's like something that youwould see in National Geographic
(50:25):
and they're just.
It was a really, really coolexperience.
The cenote.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Yeah, they are super cool that whole area.
We had a friend of mine CordellMcNarland was his name.
He was a drilling engineercross-shift guy of mine from
that's quite a handle.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (50:48):
That's quite a handle .
Speaker 3 (50:49):
Cordell McNarland.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
And yeah, but he.
So he drilled with me in Canada.
But him, him and his wife, hiskids were getting older.
They were like your kid's age,you know just leaving the nest
and he's like, fuck it, I'mgoing to go and build a house
down there.
So he went like the theystarted at, like the normal
areas down there that you would,you know, the Cancuns and
(51:14):
whatever.
And he's like I don't want tostay here, I want to go and
check in Mexico out.
So he went over through allthis area you're talking about
and then up to a place calledCampeche, which is the original
settlement of the Spanish.
That's where they originallylanded and it is one of the most
beautiful cities you will eversee in your life.
(51:34):
They actually have gold-platedstreets in some areas still, and
it was really cool.
Steve, you have to check it outsometime if you're ever down in
that area.
Oh yeah, the history there.
I spent two days there justwalking through the streets and
markets.
It was super cool, anyway.
(51:56):
So he ends up building thisplace, beautiful place, and he
had a lot right beside him andhe wanted to sell it to me for
30 grand US and this was like2010, and I was like I should
have bought it, man, and I can'tbelieve I didn't.
I still can't believe to thisday.
I didn't buy it off him, butanyways, they beautiful area
(52:18):
down there.
So I would go down and I flewinto Cancun and then I rented a
car and I drove because he'slike oh, come check out my place
, willie.
So I rented a car and I droveall the way down to Belize and
then so went through that area,went swimming with the turtles
and all that shit, and then cameback up through Tulum and all
(52:38):
and those the pyramids I onlysaw the one set and then back up
to Capetia and across and supercool place.
So when I'm there he introducesme to these local oil guys
because he's an oilman, right.
So they all oilmen are a breedlike that, right, like worldwide
, right.
So he introduces me to theselocal Mexican oilmen and we get
(53:03):
talking.
Well, I go home, sure enough.
A few weeks later doesn't myemail go off and it's one of
these guys and they're like hey,we need a directional
consultant down here and I needhim to speak in, can you come?
And I said, well, I mean I'mworking right now but I'll be
done in a few weeks.
My contract, that's the thing.
(53:26):
In the oil field you can drill10 wells.
You can drill three right andthen just tell them find someone
else for the next five.
I'll be back in two months,right.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
It depends on the relationship you have with them,
right?
So I was like screw it.
So down there I went and I wasdown there four days and the
fourth day.
So picture this like and thisis like the first time I saw
(53:58):
like high security at an oilfield site.
I never saw that Like.
You see this high security, butit's like for the protection of
the people and the staff yeah,no machine guns.
Yeah, it's not Exactly and yeah,it's not exactly, it's not sub
machine guns mounted on yourtruck, on every corner of the
lease and building, becausepirates are gonna fucking steal
(54:20):
your shit and rob your, burnyour rig down.
And I'm like this is the firsttime I'm seeing this, so it was
pretty trippy, like when you goany anywhere we go, they bomb,
check your car, right you know,like to give it a wand
underneath and they, you knowthey got a dog everywhere you go
, but it's a scent dog and uh,so like I think we're pretty
(54:41):
protected and I think this iscrazy.
I'm like this is ridiculous,like who's gonna steal oil,
right?
Yeah, well, fourth day, I wasfucking wrong.
So I was like it was uh,probably like one in the
afternoon and I go into town andall of a sudden it was.
(55:04):
I was in town for like maybe ahalf hour, 40 minutes, and I I
see all these police and allthese army vehicles just flying
by and they all got sirens onand they're going and I'm like,
well, that's a little crazy,whatever, right, but I'm
guessing it's a standardizedthing, right?
I traveled enough, but then toget used to it, but well, little
did I know they're on their wayto my rig, so my cross shift.
(55:28):
So here's what ended uphappening.
I wasn't there, so when I getback, I here's the story.
So that sometime after I hadleft the cartel and these so
which are like these, thesepirates which are run by the
cartel showed up on location,shot a guy in the shot, a guy in
the corner of the lease.
So they basically that's theirthreat, right, like don't fuck
(55:50):
around or we're gonna shoot youall.
So they shot this guy somewhere, but they didn't kill him, they
just shot him.
And then went into every shackand dumped the shacks out, took
all the money and all thejewelry and shit.
And then they want to go to therig and they want all the, they
want all the medals on the rigand they want this and they want
the equipment.
And so they tried to get asmuch as they could.
(56:11):
Well, my partner fucking heheard them coming and saw them
come in.
He jumped out his back windowand fucking ran into the
rainforest.
Man, no, yes, so he's in therainforest.
So this is going down.
They can't find him and theyknow there's a guy in charge.
(56:34):
They can't find him and theyknow there's a guy in charge.
They can't find him.
But I'm in town too.
So they end up gettingeverything and they end up
leaving.
Well, as they're leaving, Iguess some of them got busted on
the road on the way out andsome of them never got caught,
or something like that.
I don't really know the details.
I was too new and I was thegreen guy, right, so, and I
wasn't there.
So, anyways, I get back to thelocation, I figure all this shit
(56:57):
out, or I hear all this stuffand now I'm like where the fuck
is my partner right?
So Des.
So it was like, fuck man, wewere there, was people looking
for him in town, there was.
I had to call the oil companyright, company right, and be
like, listen, like this guy'sgone right, like because we were
thinking, because you have noidea, like he went back to the
jungle, they could cartel guy,could have grabbed him in a
(57:17):
minute, tied him up, right, yeah.
So we had no idea.
Anyways, he fucking, sureenough, he comes crawling out of
the woods, like right at dark.
He'd like oh shit, des, you'realive.
(57:37):
So that was my fourth day.
This is end of day five.
I was out of there day six.
I was like, okay, get me thefuck out of here.
I love crazy stuff like that,but I'm like, yeah, this is a
little too shellacked to me Ifthey can just show up here and
do that in five minutes, whenI'm like, yeah, I'm out of here.
Yeah, I didn't even take apaycheck from him.
I said I won't even invite you,just pay for my ride home.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Yeah, no doubt yeah, enough is enough.
Speaker 3 (58:03):
Yeah, that was crazy.
That was crazy Not Christmasrelated, but it was pretty crazy
.
Yeah, that that's okay, that'suh, that's how we roll.
You never know what's going tocome out buddy christmas in
three couple days.
I can't wait, man.
My, my kids are right.
I have one that's still a kid,that's still, you know, the kid,
the believer of everything andthat.
(58:24):
And, uh, you know, my otherkids, though, they've all kept
the passion of christmas andit's going to be really fun.
I'm uh, and we have this year,we have so much to be thankful
for.
You know our great relationshipand friendship with you and
Melissa and the network here andthe.
You know the lodge and all ourclose friends and our Diaries
(58:46):
family.
You know I've gotten a coupleemails here from some guests and
fans, and we love hearing fromyou guys, you know.
Send us some stuff, Wish us aMerry Christmas and a Happy New
Year.
You know we are all doing thatto you.
Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yeah, I love hearing from them.
Yeah, no, I again.
Folks, thanks for being here onChristmas morning and I hope
Santa was good to you all I'msure he was and listen.
Thanks again for listening.
(59:21):
We really appreciate it.
And we've got another greatepisode coming up in a week and
that'll be our year in review,our New Year's episode.
We've got lucky.
You know, christmas fall, wedrop on Christmas, we drop on
New Year's episode.
We've got lucky, you know,christmas fall, we drop on
Christmas, we drop on New Year'sand tune in for that.
And again, will you know anylast Christmas parting thoughts?
Speaker 3 (59:47):
You know what?
Not this time, Stevie.
Just Merry Christmas toeverybody.
We'll talk to you.
Have a safe and happy holidays.
No drinking and driving.
Love, peace, happiness.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Oh, that's a great way to do it.
And you know what folks Giveall them loved ones a hug, you
know, eat up Grammy's cookiesand everything else and just
really grab them loved ones.
That's what Christmas is.
The Christmas magic is theloved ones that you've got
(01:00:24):
around you.
And again, folks.
This brings us to a little bitof housekeeping.
You know the drill.
Go on over to fishingcanadacom,get in on the giveaways.
You never know what's there,what's special.
You can check out the otherpodcasts on the network.
(01:00:46):
And folks thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode
of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Stories of the North.
Been the hog since the day Iwas born, bending my rock,
stretching my line.
Someday I might own a lodge andthat'd be fine.
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how Working hard and
(01:01:36):
sharing the north with all of mypals.
Boy, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and lived mydream.
And now I'm here talking abouthow life can be as good as it
seems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:01:52):
As the world gets louder and louder.
Yeah, as the world gets louderand louder, the lessons of our
natural world become harder andharder to hear, but they are
still available to those whoknow where to listen.
I'm Jerry Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
(01:02:12):
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-hungry fungus known as
chaga, a tree conch withcenturies of medicinal use by
(01:02:34):
Indigenous peoples all over theglobe.
After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research
, my skepticism has faded toobsession and I now spend my
life dedicated to improving thelives of others through natural
means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
(01:02:54):
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people.
That will help you find youroutdoor passion and help you
live a life close to nature.
And under the canopy Find Underthe Canopy now on Spotify,
(01:03:19):
apple Podcasts or wherever elseyou get your podcasts.
Speaker 6 (01:03:25):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's favorite
fishing show, but now we'rehosting a podcast.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your
ears, bringing you a brand newepisode of Outdoor Journal Radio
.
Hmm, Now what are?
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
we going to talk about for two hours every week.
Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch, yeah, but it's
not just a fishing show.
Speaker 6 (01:03:53):
We're going to be talking to people from all
facets of the outdoors fromathletes.
Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth
and Turk and all the Russianswould go fishing To scientists,
but now that we're reforestingand laying things free.
Speaker 4 (01:04:08):
It's the perfect transmission environment for
life.
Speaker 6 (01:04:11):
To chefs.
If any game isn't cookedproperly, marinated, you will
taste it, and whoever else willpick up the phone.
Wherever you are, outdoorJournal Radio seeks to answer
the questions and tell thestories of all those who enjoy
being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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