April 30, 2025 • 63 mins
Some of life's greatest lessons emerge from weathering unexpected storms. In this deeply reflective episode, I explore how the literal thunderstorms of Northern Ontario and the metaphorical storms of major life decisions have shaped my journey as a lodge owner.
The wilderness demands respect. I share the harrowing midnight experience that taught me this truth—slipping off a boat during a violent storm and nearly falling into churning waters, dangling precariously with just my torso on the dock as lightning illuminated the sky. This near-disaster transformed my approach to guest safety and weather management forever.
Weather in the North has its own personality. I recount the memorable expedition with a proper English grandmother who, facing a wall cloud and gale-force winds that turned our 24-foot boat sideways, calmly assessed the situation with unexpected profanity: "Steve, this storm is a fucking doozy." Her composure taught me how grace under pressure reveals true character.
But our most significant storms are often internal. I bare my soul about the overwhelming buyer's remorse after purchasing Chaudière Lodge—that moment sitting alone in my truck with an internal voice screaming "what have you done?" as I contemplated the enormous financial commitment I'd made. This emotional tempest eventually led to my greatest growth.
Perhaps most poignantly, I share how my biggest regret—failing to purchase a lakefront cottage that later increased 6.5 times in value—ultimately provided the courage needed to take the life-changing risk of buying the lodge. Sometimes our apparent failures are preparing us for greater opportunities ahead.
These stories remind us that life's storms, whether literal or metaphorical, don't just test us—they reveal our resilience and often guide us toward experiences we might otherwise miss. What storms have shaped you?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Networks, diaries of a LodgeOwner, stories of the North.
Today, folks, it's just you andI, and we are going to talk
about the storms of life andthose storms.
I was looking out the windowand we have in southern Ontario
(00:28):
today, a day where they'recalling for severe thunderstorms
, and it's also a day that we'vewoken up and found who our
government is in this country,and some may say that's going to
be a storm and some may not.
But today we're going to talkabout the storms of life and I'm
(00:55):
going to start with number onehow to deal with an emotional
storm.
Right, Because I think there'sa lot of people that suffer from
those.
I for one, know that I've beenin a position where I have these
emotional storms every once ina while.
(01:16):
And you know, the Maple Leafslose a game and the outcome of
the election for some of usdoesn't turn the way that we
really want and hope it does.
But at the end of the day, Ithink these storms make us
(01:36):
stronger, and sometimes aremeant to be, and we just don't
know how things are going toturn out.
How things are going to turnout, and I, always in this
position, try to remind myselfthat I've done everything I
could, and I need to refocus andand feel good, because the
(02:01):
emotions that you feel veryeasily can lift you into
wonderful places or spiral youdown into places that you never
thought you were going to getback to, or places that you just
don't want to go because it'snegative and negative thoughts.
So, on a day with a stormcoming and the aftermath of the
(02:27):
election and a ton of storiesthat kind of flooded back in my
memory about storms over theyears, let's start back at
Chaudière and I'm going to talka little bit about weather
management when you own a lodge,and that weather management was
(02:51):
a very interesting subject forme.
I had never even considered thatI should be managing the
weather when I'm at the lodge,because you know you really
can't control the weather.
And all of you out there arethinking, well, yeah, the
weather's something that youcan't manage, can you?
(03:12):
And the answer is no.
But what you can do is you canmanage expectations in the
proper way and thoseexpectations start, and I
learned this the hard way a fewtimes because I'm one of those
people who I, as a youngster,loved severe weather.
(03:36):
You know we're in a very safespot here in Ontario and I
always felt that, you know, likereally severe weather other
than thunderstorms was just nota possibility.
So I grew up with this love forthunderstorms and I just didn't
(03:57):
think it didn't cross my mindabout managing weather at the
lodge and, you know, keepingpeople safe and this and that.
And I told one story in one ofthe previous episodes about Ty
and Sonia Powers and Mark Planteand his lovely girlfriend at
(04:19):
the time when we went out andgot caught in that ridiculous
thunderstorm.
That was a lesson that Ilearned there.
You know like I should havelooked on the map and found a
boathouse to hide in rightrather than try and drive
(04:39):
through it.
But those are lessons that Ilearned.
The other lesson that I learnedas well, this was a different
storm and you know, over theyears I've lived through a
tornado.
Mind you, it didn't do anydamage to our home in particular
, but in 1985, there was atornado that went through Grand
(05:06):
Valley, which was the town thatI went to public school in at
the time and my grandparentslived there, and Orangeville and
Barrie, ontario, and that waskind of when things in my mind
flipped and that changed.
So I've seen some storms.
(05:30):
I mean, that's my point I'veseen some severe weather.
But when I bought the lodge andmoved up to the French River
part time, the weather there isvery different than it is in
Southern Ontario.
There seems to be a line, onceyou get about three hours north
of Toronto, where the weatherjust changes.
(05:52):
It can be raining and miserable.
Down south, in Shelburne and onthe upper French River, it's
sunny and bluebird skies.
There's just it's different.
It's sunny and bluebird skies.
There's just it's it'sdifferent.
But there were some really,really um, intense storms that I
(06:16):
experienced up there.
And uh, one of them, um, asidefrom uh, the uh the powers
incident incident, we'll call itum, we had a storm coming in
and we got we didn't really geta lot of advance notice with it
and it's you know, this wasprobably mid-July, in that time
frame when you just can't trustthe weather, right.
(06:38):
Well, this was at night and allof the cedar strips were parked
down on the dock and they allhad the transom or the back of
the boat facing the wind and itnever really got rough in that
part of the river, but on thisnight, man, and it was dark, it
(07:03):
was late it would have been, youknow, 11 o'clock midnight, one
o'clock in the morning-ish andthis thing blew in and it was
raging, and I mean raging.
The waves were coming over theback of the transom and I was,
you know, fairly concerned thatthe boats were going to sink.
(07:25):
And I realized later on that itis very tough to sink a cedar
strip right, like really tough,but still with that boat filled
up and the engine on the back,those engines will drop below
the water and then you're introuble.
So I got up and withoutthinking, I just run down I
(07:49):
didn't want to wake anybody up,you know whatever and I run down
to the dock and the wind wasjust ridiculous.
It was like a freakinghurricane.
I've never actually experienceda hurricane, so I'm just
talking out my ass right now.
But the water was being pickedup by the wind and over you know
(08:11):
, the stretch of a quarterkilometer, the waves had built
up to like almost two feet, likereally, really big, really big.
And I was running around downthere and I had my, my Siri dock
boy boots that I, that I Ibought because they were
(08:37):
supposed to be the best and hadhad my guys wearing them on the
dock, non-slip, this, that andthe next thing.
And I got the first boat turnedaround and it was like I mean,
it was a job in the wind to getan 18-foot cedar strip spun
around so I could put the enginein the back, like away from the
wind coming into the dock.
So the bow was taking the wavesand not filling the boat.
(08:59):
This was my whole goal becauseobviously we don't want the
boats to sink and if they'reparked ass into the wind, the
waves come over the back of theboat because it's lower and your
boat sinks.
So I'm out there struggling andI'm spinning them around by
hand because I didn't want toget into the boats.
It was too.
It take too long to get intothe boat, start it, drive it
(09:21):
around, try and park it in thewind.
So I was doing this all by hand.
I got the first one done andthen a um, something.
I looked up.
There was a cedar over on themain dock that needed um moved
right away because it was, itwas full of water and, uh, I
(09:41):
remember running over to thatmain dock and with very, there
was light, but just what wasbeing thrown by the, the, the
boathouse, and I jumped up onthe bow of this, of the cedar
strip, for whatever reason, andwith it being like varnish and
(10:04):
rain and wind, it was like ice,and I slipped off the top of the
bow of that boat and I landedon the dock, but right at the
small of my back, just so thatthe balance of my body was on
(10:25):
the dock and not in the water,but with my torso hanging off
the back to the point where theback of my head, when I fell,
hit the water, and then tryingto struggle to get back up and
not fall in.
And once I got myself undercontrol, I realized that that
(10:51):
situation was probably one ofthe most dangerous situations
that I put myself in, next to,you know, the couple of car
accidents I've been lucky enoughto survive in.
You know that situationresonated in my brain and in the
(11:15):
middle of that storm, you know,I learned a life lesson, and
that is you know you don't workalone and you respect mother
nature.
And that lesson, in the middleof that storm, and I stood up,
(11:37):
my back was killing me, the rainwas hitting me and in that
glorious moment I rememberlooking back towards the lodge
and this, like massive lightningstrike, lit the sky with one of
those um fork lightning boltsthat skip across through the
(11:59):
clouds three or four times andthen hit the ground in multiple
spots, like I mean it was, Icould hear it.
I could hear it, the lightning,and right after the biggest
clap of thunder that you canimagine, like it shook the place
and thinking to myself this isabsolutely beautiful.
(12:23):
And thank you for that reminderabout being safe, because I'm
not going to be the guy thatends up on the bottom of the
lake because he's being notsmart.
And it affected me in mybusiness too, because from that
(12:46):
point on, I was very diligent onreminding guests about the
weather and teaching them how tobest deal with the weather.
And through my mistakes, Icould confidently say you know,
it's probably a good idea tofind a covered boathouse if it
(13:09):
gets really rough, don't try andnavigate through really rough
water.
And if you don't have any ideaof where to go or what to do in
the area that you're fishing,let's go to the map and I can
show you on the map.
You know you're out by MarshyBay.
Well, this is a place.
These people are wonderfulpeople.
(13:30):
They don't mind if you pull upunderneath their covered dock in
a situation like that andeducate my guests on those
storms, you know, and thereweren't just.
It just wasn't that moment.
There were other lessons thatunfortunately some of my guests
(13:50):
paid the price for when it cometo that kind of thing right, I
know Fred and Deb the one daythey were out in the middle of a
thunderstorm and sometimes youjust can't avoid it because they
sneak up on you from behind andthen you've got to go through
(14:12):
it to get back home.
But again that storm, thosestorms, mother Nature, it's
always best to respect her andlimit your exposure.
In vulnerable positions, likebeing in a boat on the French
River, on Lake Nipissing, youknow, always act with caution
(14:42):
and choose the shoreline and aboathouse or somewhere safe
rather than running running themiddle of it.
Although it is, it isexperiences, you know it's.
People love those experiencesof of the force of nature, but
don't do it on the water anddon't do it in a boat of nature.
(15:06):
But don't do it on the waterand don't do it in a boat, do it
at your house, on your backdeck.
But yeah, so it's one of thosestorms of life that I love,
those lessons, and hopefully,you know, people can learn from
those lessons because, um, Ipounded my head on the on the
(15:29):
wall doing it another storm.
Um, I was, uh, there was a, afamily from England and, um, I
forget their, their names, butthey came once and the grandma
come with them and she was aprim and proper English lady,
(15:56):
you know.
She always had a nice hat onand she carried her purse and
was dressed like the queen.
She looked very proper andspoke like.
I loved listening to her talk.
She was elegant.
And this one day in particular,the family and I think there
(16:20):
was five total grandma, son,wife and kids and, um, they had
booked me for it wasn't really aguide but at that time I was
doing, um, I called them a tourto the beach and, um, I forget
what I was charging.
(16:40):
It wasn't near enough because Iwas using the old Georgia D
boat, which was a 24 foot Lundwith a like it did had a bridge
and you know it was it's a bigboat anyway Um, and the gas and
that thing was ridiculous, but Iwould take people out to the
beach.
So this one day in particular,and it was their last day, they
(17:02):
kind of planned it for theirlast day, which I never suggest
doing because you never knowwhat's going to happen.
Right, we were going to go tothe beach and the weather looked
great where we were.
We left nicely after dinner,like probably mid-morning, 10,
11 o'clock, and I knew thatthere were storms in the air and
(17:29):
we jumped on the boat and and Ikind of cautioned them on.
You know, there's they're,they're, they're, they're
calling for thunderstorms, butit looks good now.
So let's get you out to thebeach and, and you know we'll go
from there.
So we start in the old GeorgiaD and it's covered in and
grandma's sitting right besideme in the big captain's chair
(17:52):
it's almost like a bar stoolbecause it's so high.
You've got a place on thepedestal post to put your feet
and she's got both hands in herlap holding onto her purse, with
the pin, holding the hat on herhands in her lap, holding onto
her purse, with the pin holdingthe hat on her, and we're
driving out and I see thatthere's a storm and I pull off
(18:13):
plane and I explain to everybody.
I said, listen, it looks likethere's a thunderstorm there and
we've got to kind of go throughthat to get there there and, um
, we've got to kind of gothrough that to get there.
The water's calm, um, I don'twant to.
Uh, it's your last day.
There's always the stress of itbeing the last day because you
know, number one, you're eithergoing to have to, they're not
(18:35):
going to get the experiencethat's the most important part
of it and then there's thefallout.
From that, you know which iswhich is there.
There I've already basicallywasted, I've already spent my
overhead on there, because we'rethree quarters of the way
driven out there, an hour into,you know, organizing it and
(18:57):
everything else.
So I can't rightfully chargethem for the trip, although
business wise, like, like, juststrictly financially looking at
it, I should, but I never couldanyway.
So the stress of, of wanting tomake this experience happen
(19:20):
always is, is one of thosethings you have to be mindful of
when you're an owner.
Uh, because that was the.
That is really what I've beentalking about, that that um that
want to give the bestexperience possible, um, and and
, not knowing when to pull thepin, not knowing when to pull
(19:48):
the pin, and I and, and, in thiscase, um, it was, um, not the
worst case scenario in mydecision-making, but probably
not the best.
So I left it up to them and Isaid, guys, do you want to try?
Like I'm not concerned that theboat's going to sink, um, you
know.
But having said that, um, it'sa very real possibility that
we're going to get very wet andthings could get a little bit
(20:09):
rough, and you know.
So, anyway, we have a little uh, a little chat, and grandma
says, yes, let's carry on.
And I'm like, okay, perfect,because at least now when shit
gets rough, it's not a surprise,right, right.
So we start heading towards thisstorm and the water's still
(20:29):
flat, like we haven't, wehaven't hit any wind or or like
it's that calm before the storm,and the, the wall cloud is like
a massive backhanging anvil.
And you know, I come around thecorner of the island and then
it really I couldn't kind of seefrom the trees, like I knew it
(20:52):
was dark and I knew, I knew thatit was a storm.
But when you, when I finallygot a look at this wall cloud
and the back hanging anvil andthe, the, the eerie calm, I I
stopped and and I said, wow,this, this one, this is a real
(21:15):
storm.
And we had our talk and Grahamsaid, well, why don't we just go
a little bit farther and maybeit's going to miss where we need
to go.
And you know what?
It wasn't a bad idea because,you know, maybe, maybe, I don't
(21:38):
know, didn't look very good frommy vantage point, but it's hard
to tell the direction thatthose storms actually are moving
.
So I thought, yeah, okay, let'sdo that.
Well, we got up on plane and notlike, two minutes later, that
downburst of wind, that sheerwind force that goes underneath
(22:00):
these storms, from calm to galeforce, hit us Like we could see
it coming across the water.
You could see the gust of windmoving across the water and
pushing the trees as it's coming, and it's coming straight at us
.
Graham and I are watching.
(22:21):
Everybody else isn't payingattention.
And when that gust of wind hitus, I'm in a 24 foot Lund heavy,
heavy ass boat, like a sail too, to be fair.
It hit the bow of that boat andit turned me 90 degrees.
And as it turned me, I'm I andand it wasn't, it wasn't like it
(22:49):
was a snap turn, like I mean itblew the front of the boat to
the point where, when I was justgetting up onto plane, it
turned the front of the boat.
So I had to correct and steerdirectly into the wind.
And then, once I got it intothe wind and settled down a
(23:11):
little bit, we could see thewall of rain.
So I pulled it off.
I looked at grandma and I willnever forget this.
She she looks at me calm, as asa cucumber, like I mean, shit's
just got real rough in the boat.
And she's up there and she'sgot her hat pinned on and her
(23:34):
purse in her lap with both handsthere.
And she looks at me and shesays in this beautiful calm
voice Steve, do you know what wecall this back home?
And I'm thinking I have no idea.
And she looks at me and shesaid Steve, this storm is a
(23:58):
fucking doozy.
And I looked at her and I saidyou're goddamn right, it is.
What do you think?
I think we should probably,before it gets like bad.
Bad.
I think we're up close andpersonal with this beast.
(24:18):
I think we're close enough.
And she said yes, I do, I thinkthat we're close enough, but
she wanted me to.
We turned around and we justcruised with them, looking out
the back of the boat, watchingthis big storm, like I didn't
hammer it or anything.
We just nicely drove back andit was weird because we drove
(24:43):
out of the wind and you knowwhat it did hit us, um it.
But we, we did make it back intime and um the, that that ride
back, uh, with everybodywatching that storm come in, um,
that memory for them, uh, wasthe was a memory that they uh,
(25:07):
that they told me they wouldnever forget, and it is one of
those.
That was a great tour, you know, we didn't even make it to the
beach, but to be in a somewhatsafe zone, like I mean, whenever
you're out and there's athunderstorm like that, you're
never in a safe zone.
(25:28):
There's always a small minutechance that you could get hit by
lightning, I guess.
But we were far enough awaythat you could watch the
lightning in the storm and justto see the wind come across the
water in that sheer force andthen being able to avoid getting
(25:48):
too wet and watch that allunfold was a good time.
It was a good time.
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Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yes, the storms of life and managing expectations
and dealing with those things.
The other one that I always Ihad I struggled with was when to
call a guide trip, like when isit not good to go out?
And then you know, do you lookat the weather forecast and plan
with the weather forecast?
(28:22):
And those are two totallydifferent things.
Right, and in my experiencewith this one and in my
experience with this one, youreally got it wrong more often
if you went with the weatherforecast and as much as it
(28:47):
sucked, the best way that Icould manage it was to make a
game time decision and um, um,those are tough because you've
got guests standing there and,um, trying to, they, they want
to go and and you're you're kindof saying, well, it, it could
get rough.
And it boiled down in thatsituation for me to defer to the
(29:08):
guide and get their comfortlevel on it, because I know,
like a guide like Pat, forinstance, or Billy, know the
river so so well that even ifthey end up where you're in a
situation where a storm iscoming and you've got to take
(29:31):
cover, they know where cover is.
That was my biggest issue too.
I wasn't on the river as muchand didn't have the intimate
knowledge of every little nookand cranny and bay and sheltered
shoreline and boathouse with aroof.
I didn't have those tools in mytool belt where they do Like.
(29:56):
I mean, they know, and that waspart of it, right.
And then you know the guestcomfort.
But again, it's all of theselittle daily calls that you have
to make and what you have tokeep in mind and public safety
(30:25):
or the safety of my guests andstaff, that's always something
that is in the forefront of yourmind and you really have to
balance that when you're makingthese decisions, because you
just don't know how they couldturn out and always err on the
side of safety and caution andtraining.
Training is huge too, you know,because if we did it the other
(30:52):
way nine times out of 10, andthe other way I'm talking is
looking at the forecast andtrying to pick a day which
guests would do nine times outof 10, the weather isn't the way
that it says it's going to beanyway, like if they're calling
for rain on unless on Tuesdayand you're trying to book your
(31:14):
guide on Saturday unless it's90% and there's rain in three
days, that it moves around, it'sso difficult to try and plan
your trip on something like that.
So it's one of those thingswhere you really have to, you
know, use common sense and inthat situation it's a game time
(31:39):
decision, for sure.
And the crazy thing about allof those game time decisions is,
you know, as crazy as some ofthe ones that I made were, they
always seem to work out for thebest.
And I think a lot of that hasto do with being positive about
(32:03):
the situation you're in, and andand actually making a call
right, because there's nothingworse than not making a decision
, and that's another thing.
When it comes to storms of lifeLike I mean, you know, how do
(32:24):
you really know that what you'refeeling is a storm?
You know, you know you'refeeling uncomfortable, but you
really don't know if it's thebest thing that could happen to
you or the worst thing that canhappen to you.
And for me, I've had a coupleof those.
I've had a couple of those andthe one that really a big storm
(32:49):
that I had in my life and um hadto, you know, really manage my
way out of it, was the day Iactually bought the lodge, you
know, um, the, the ensuing three, four months, the there was
such um, an internal andexternal storm in my life
(33:15):
because you know I made thatdecision and again you can hear
the whole story start to finish.
But this really fits into thestorms right.
When I bought the lodge, I didit because I truly believed that
I needed to make this decision,but there was a lot of
(33:52):
uncertainty of having to workher job and have three kids.
Well, I guess at the time wastwo and one on the way by
herself for six months of theyear.
Like I mean, there were stormswhen I finally signed the papers
(34:16):
and it sunk in at what I haddone, like my mind literally
melted down in front of my eyes,like that.
But you want to talk aboutbuyer's remorse.
Like you know, think about thelast thing you had buyer's
remorse on and let's go big.
You know, like, was it a car orwas it?
You know, a dirt bike or was itlike a?
Whatever it might be, you know.
(34:38):
And then multiply that buyer'sremorse by every cent you ever
made and you still owe so muchmore, everything and you drag
your parents in on it.
You borrow a hundred from themtoo, and then talk about buyer's
(35:00):
remorse.
Wow, I remember getting into myold Ford pickup truck and that
voice in my head was screamingLike I've never.
I've never really felt out ofcontrol of that voice in my head
(35:22):
.
In that moment.
It was out of control.
It was screaming at me whathave you done?
And constantly, for hours andhours into days and I, just, I
(35:44):
was, I really was, I was.
I was physically becoming sickthinking about what I had done.
And you know, I don't know if Iwould have signed that deal if
the if my real estate agenthadn't already secured some of
(36:06):
the financing and I already paid$32,000 for the right to borrow
money.
You know I was seriouslycontemplating okay, so if I
don't sign this right now, I'vejust lit $32,000 on fire, but I
(36:27):
can maybe get away from some ofthis.
You know this uncertainty anduncomfortable feelings and if
not for that $32,000 andcognizantly thinking about how
(36:48):
I'm going to explain that to mywife and partner, I probably
would have walked away.
You know, it was that close andI was that scared like I was
(37:10):
alluding to in the beginningthat one of the biggest storms
of my life turned out to be oneof the best things that ever
happened to me and I learnedanother big lesson there, and
that is and it was a long lesson.
This was a lesson that was, youknow, three, four, five, ten
(37:35):
years in the making, because youcan't see in the moment what a
decision is going to be and howit's going to turn out, even
though you think you because youare the most prepared, and you
know what's going to happen andyou know what's going on you
(37:55):
don't know.
You can be a self-fulfillingprophecy, and that's where
positivity comes in.
And once you make a decision,you need to focus on the goal
and the positive, becauseself-fulfilling prophecies, they
happen every day.
Everybody's seen those.
But those storms that you areunsure of when you navigate
(38:21):
through them and you look backon them, those are the things
that you remember the most thatdecision for me to buy Chaudiere
, and in the way that I did, um,that was the best decision that
I ever, that I had ever made,and you needed balls and there
(38:46):
was so much risk and I didn'thave the tools that I needed to
be successful in the moment whenI made the decision.
But once you have made thedecision and it's not just you
that's relying on it being asuccessful or a good decision.
You do what you have to do andI found those tools.
(39:11):
And whether it was hiring theright person or asking people or
learning it myself, I found thetools to be successful.
And when you don't give yourselfthe option to fail, there's no
way that you can fail.
You just don't give up and youuse positivity.
(39:35):
And you know, I'm sure there'speople out there thinking well,
I know people that have failedand they did everything that
they could and everything else,and that's true, but that
failure that they had could beone of these storms.
Just because you fail at onething doesn't mean that you give
(39:58):
up on everything else.
No matter how bad it gets, youalways keep going and you always
learn from what you've done.
And you know the failure that Ihad before this that haunted me
this is an aside, and you knowwhat.
We're getting to the pointwhere you guys are probably a
(40:19):
little bit tired of listening tomy voice.
But this is the last one andthis was one of the storms that
that I thought I had made thebiggest mistake of my life and I
, I, I, I had a hard timementally thinking about it and
recovering from it and what thisdecision was, um, when Melissa
(40:42):
and I first started dating.
So this is back in high school,like you know, and I got out of
high school and went to work,took a year off Then from work.
I went to college for a coupleof years and I really fell in
love with the Kawarthas area andI got done college and I moved
(41:05):
back home and I was still fairlyyoung, like early 20s, and my
mom was like, well, yeah,melissa's going to school and
you're working full time, it'stime for you to start paying
rent.
And that was just a foreignthought to me, like I mean, call
(41:27):
me spoiled or whatever, but Ijust always assumed that home
was I don't have to pay rent forthat and I'm definitely
considering charging my kidsrent that and I'm definitely
considering charging my kidsrent.
But that was a little leverageultimatum that my mom was giving
(41:47):
me.
It was you're going to have topay rent or you're going to
start saving to buy a house orinvest your money or do
something other than party anddrink it every weekend, right,
which you know.
If I look back on it, I guessthere was some.
There was some truth to thatstatement.
(42:09):
So in my wisdom I said, okay,mom, I'm going to buy a cottage
because I want a cottage and ifMelissa is going to be working
for the next, you know, or goingto school for the next couple
of years, I might be able to,you know, buy a cottage and and
(42:30):
and have it under control, themortgage under control, by the
time she gets out of school.
And this would have been like1998, 99 in that neighborhood.
So I start looking for cottagesand I went and looked at a bunch
and I found this one cottage onBig Bald Lake and it was, and
(42:54):
because I was looking, I couldonly I had only saved maybe
enough for 5% down payment,which meant that it could
qualify for a 5% down payment ordeposit or down payment, rather
(43:19):
than, like at the time forWaterfront, it was like 30%,
which was not even a possibilityfor me.
So I found this one place andit was.
It met those criteria.
It was a year round road access, it had potable water.
Those criteria it was a yearround road access, it had
(43:44):
potable water, it and it was ona one acre lot.
It was on on piers, like thebuilding, so there was no
basement or no foundation, itwas just on concrete posts, but
a very typical build for abungalow style cottage cottage,
for a bungalow style cottagecottage.
And the waterfront was, itwasn't the best, it was very
weedy and it was like abeautiful bass fishing bay.
(44:06):
Like I mean, I looked at thewaterfront and had no problem
with it at all, although youwould have had to clean it up a
little bit hush hush in thosedays, because there were so many
cattails that you couldn't evenget to the dock.
Um, but still, and they'reasking, um, forty thousand
(44:26):
dollars no, it was forty eightthousand dollars for the
property and at the time, like1998, like I'm buying vehicles
for 1500 bucks, okay, so $48,000was a massive amount of money.
So I'm looking and, like a dumb, uneducated kid, I'm talking, I
(44:55):
didn't even know how to make anoffer, but I'm acting big shot,
right, and a buddy of mine wasthere, mark Fleer, and we're
looking in this cottage and I'msaying to the real estate agent
I'm like, yeah, okay, well,let's offer him, you know,
$40,000, which really isn't aterrible offer.
It had been on the market forover a hundred days, which
(45:18):
really isn't a terrible offer.
It had been on the market forover 100 days.
But I want this lure left inthe drawer and I want this and I
want that and I want this.
Actually, I want everything andthey had stated that there were
some things that they weretaking out of there.
But, like a dum dumb, uh, Iwanted it all.
(45:40):
So we, we left and um, um, heput in the offer for $40,000 for
everything.
And you know, um, and I wasjust borrowing the money, like I
, I only had my 5% to put downand I was going to borrow the
money from the bank and um, andthen try and make it work, pay,
(46:04):
pay that little mortgage.
Well, it wasn't little at thetime and um, so we put the offer
in and about, I don't know.
Three hours later, I got a callfrom the real estate agent and I
was figuring it was the otherpeople calling back with a
counter offer and then I wasgoing to buy it.
(46:24):
Well, somebody else come in andmade a better offer and they
accepted that offer and boughtit out from under me.
And at that point in time Ikind of felt this sigh of relief
because I got that close.
I got that close and I wasscared and, rather than jump in
(46:51):
and do it, I felt relief that itdidn't happen because that way
I could just fall back to whatwas comfortable, right and I
looked right.
But I think it was more nowthat I look back on it.
I think it was more justlooking to keep my mom appeased
that I was trying to invest oror do something and, you know,
(47:16):
nothing ever really happenedwith that until two years later
I ended up buying the house inShelburne that I lived in for 10
years and while there, thiswould have been in about and
(47:36):
this is why I mentioned Melissathis would have been early 2000s
, like maybe 2000.
We ended up taking holidaystogether and went to a Well, no,
(47:56):
actually this was 2003.
No, three or four, it was rightaround the last call, because I
fished bass tournaments theyear before the last call, so
this would have been roughly2003.
We went, I was in the bassfishing circuit, the Bass Mania
(48:16):
Tour in Ontario, and we GlennBerry and I made the classic and
we walked, we holidayed on thesecond of the two lakes that the
classic tournament was going tobe on and that lake was called
Cameron Lake and so off we go onour holidays and I'm
(48:41):
pre-fishing away and not eventhinking about the past and
cottages and stuff, because itnever happened right.
And we went into Bob Cajun forice cream one day, just because,
and we walked out of this icecream shop and I looked across
the street and up until thatpoint I had totally forgotten
(49:07):
even where the real estateoffice was that housed the real
estate agent that put in theoffer for me on that cottage on
Big Bald Lake.
Well, excuse me.
Well, now I'm standing therewith an ice cream cone half
melted in my hand, lookingacross the street and there it
(49:28):
is.
So, naturally, out of, out ofcuriosity, I said to Melissa.
I said hey, that's the realestate.
I couldn't even remember whattown it was, it just so happened
.
I walked out there it was, andI recognized it right away and I
said we got to go in there.
So off we go.
We walk across the street and Iwalk into the real estate office
(49:51):
, half expecting to see the guythat I was working with in there
.
But he wasn't there.
But there was an oldergentleman behind the counter and
it kind of had that AndyMayberry feel, because he was,
you know, he had his readerglasses on and the newspaper
with his feet kicked up on thedesk and I walked in and I said
(50:12):
good day, sir.
How are you doing today?
And he looked up from thenewspaper and he said not bad,
son, not bad, what brings youhere today?
And I said to him I said,listen, I'm looking for a
cottage on Big Bald Lake.
I don't care if it's like anouthouse, you know, just like a
waterfront lot with a threeseasons cottage.
(50:38):
You know just something that Icould buy and I'm thinking in my
head that, well, I almost hadone bought, for it ended up
selling for 45,000.
They were asking 48, I went at40, somebody went in firm at 45.
So I'm thinking, well, you know, went in firm at 45.
(51:01):
So I'm thinking, well, you know, I could, I could maybe afford
45,000.
Cause at the time Melissa hadjust started working at the, the
uh, as a teacher and I wasmaking half decent money.
And, um, he looked at me and heslid those glasses down just a
touch to look over top of them,not rude like.
But he said, son, unless you'vegot $350,000 to $400,000,
(51:25):
you're wasting your time.
Because he looked at Melissaand I and he sized us up pretty
quick.
He knew that I didn't.
I had just bought my, to giveyou an idea, in 2002, I bought
that first house, which wouldhave been, like, like I say,
(51:45):
three years after this cottageincident in Shelburne, I bought
my first house for $175,000.
$179,000, sorry to be exact.
And now 179, sorry to be exact.
And now, like the year, this isa year after we moved into our
house in Shelburne this fella istelling me the cottage that I
(52:17):
could have bought four years agois worth let me do the math at
40, some $45,000, that it'sworth two, four, six and a half
times more.
Like I can buy three houses inShelburne for that.
And he looked at me and he said,yep, and that haunted me, the
(52:45):
thought that if I had boughtthat, I could have sold it and
bought three houses outright inthe town of Shelburne, right in
the town of Shelburne.
Oh, my God, I couldn't sleep.
My guts were just twisted andturning and that was like I mean
I managed to work out of thatstorm, but that was a lot.
(53:06):
That was a long, hard storm,right, you know, and that was
back before I really believedand had an understanding that.
You know, things happen for areason and sometimes when
something that looks bad happens, it's not Like you just don't
(53:27):
know.
You can't waste time thinkingabout what could have been,
because it's not and there'snothing that can be done to
change the past.
So focus on the now and thefuture.
And I wasn't well equipped withthose thoughts and that
discipline.
(53:50):
I thought about it a lot and astime went on and I'm talking
time like up until I bought thelodge, really, which was 2009.
So, for the better part of adecade, there were things that I
would see that would bring backthe memory of.
(54:11):
You could have won the lottery,is how I thought about it.
You could have won the lotteryand really, at that point in my
life, it was the lottery, is howI thought about it.
You could have won the lotteryand really it it it.
At that point in my life, itwas the lottery.
Um, not considering that Iwouldn't sell it or not
considering, you know, whether Iwould have lost it or not
considering anything, but justthe simple fact.
(54:33):
And it turned out to beextremely valuable.
Those feelings of regret andafter, looking back on it before
I bought the lodge and well,kind of around when I was trying
(54:53):
to buy the lodge, looking backand feeling those feelings of
regret of how I missed thatopportunity and what it meant,
but really it was the feelings,the negative feelings that I had
been dealing with whenever Ithought about anything to do
(55:14):
with that.
It was, it was, they werenegative feelings.
Whenever I thought aboutanything to do with that, it was
it would.
They were negative feelings.
And the good thing that comeout of it was simply this when I
was sitting in that lawyer'soffice and I was really, really,
really scared to sign thosepapers and to put myself in a
(55:35):
position where I wasn'tcomfortable, it was that storm
and those lessons that I learnedwith that situation that gave
me the courage to do what I did.
And I remember vividly thinkingI'm at the point in my life now
(56:01):
where, if I don't do this, I maynot ever do something.
And I was at the point in mylife where I was so unhappy with
what I was doing for a livingand that was sheet metal and
owning my business doing thatthat I said I am just not going
(56:28):
to go into the winter of my lifeand wonder what if the it was.
It was the the wondering andthe regret of not pulling the
trigger on that cottage and uh,you know that the thought of
having to do that again with afishing lodge.
(56:51):
I just couldn't bring myself toit.
I couldn't do do it.
I needed to know and I was verywilling to at the age of 33, go
into this.
And if I failed, I figured thatI was young enough to pull out
of it and I knew that one of twothings were going to happen I
(57:16):
was either going to becomeindependently wealthy and have a
outstanding business and awonderful time, or you know what
I'm going to know and justknowing.
Either way, going into thewinter of my life, that was
(57:36):
enough solitude in thinking that.
Because to go a lifetimethinking about what ifs and
candy and nuts and all of thethings that your mind can drum
up on you, it wasn't for me andthat is really what I had
(57:59):
learned from that situation andit and believe me, that's a big
one that was a real, that was areal doozy man.
I was a that's a fucking doozy.
Oh yeah, that was great.
But listen, folks, thank you somuch for listening to my I don't
(58:21):
want to call them ramblingslistening to my reminiscing self
, because I really appreciate it.
I really appreciate all of youand thank you again for getting
to this point in the show andlisten, reach out to Willie and
I and let us know if there'sanything you want us to discuss.
(58:42):
We would love to table some ofthe things that you're
interested in and also head onover to the fishingcanadacom
website and get in on all ofthose giveaways.
There's also all kinds of merchthere.
It's awesome Sport, that Fishand Canada gear.
(59:06):
I got to get some diary stuff onthere too for us all to see and
love and have.
But we'll get there.
We'll get there and, thanks toAndrew over at Lakeside Marina,
we really appreciate what you dofor us and what you really
honestly do for all of thosepeople up there that trust you
(59:28):
for the job that you do.
And, buddy, awesome, awesome,everything that I hear is all
aces, brother.
So thank you for that.
Thank you, folks.
And thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
(59:50):
Diaries of a Lodge OwnerStories of the North of the
North.
I'm a good old boy, nevermeanin' no harm.
Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
I'll be all you ever saw, been railin' in the hog
Since the day I was born,bendin' my rock, stretchin' my
line.
Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine.
Speaker 5 (01:00:20):
I'll be making my way , the only way I know how.
Working hard and sharing thenorth with all of my pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and live mydream.
Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
And now I'm here talking about how life can be as
good as it seems.
Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
Yeah, as the world gets louder and louder, the
lessons of our natural worldbecome harder and harder to hear
, but they are still availableto those who know where to
listen.
I'm Gerry Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
(01:01:09):
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
(01:01:29):
Indigenous peoples all over theglobe.
After nearly a decade of harvestuse, 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
(01:01:51):
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
On Outdoor Journal Radio's,under 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,
(01:02:15):
apple Podcasts or wherever elseyou get your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
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 Every Thursday,Ang and I will be right here in
your ears bringing you a brandnew episode of Outdoor Journal
Radio.
Now, what are we going to talkabout for two hours every week?
Well, you know, there's goingto be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes, All theother guys would go golfing Me
and Garton Turk and all theRussians would go fishing To
scientists.
Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe.
It's the perfect transmissionenvironment for life to be.
Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
, you will taste it.
Speaker 5 (01:03:14):
And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you
are.
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks toanswer the questions and tell
the stories of all those whoenjoy being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Networks, diaries of a LodgeOwner, stories of the North.
Today, folks, it's just you andI, and we are going to talk
about the storms of life andthose storms.
I was looking out the windowand we have in southern Ontario
(00:28):
today, a day where they'recalling for severe thunderstorms
, and it's also a day that we'vewoken up and found who our
government is in this country,and some may say that's going to
be a storm and some may not.
But today we're going to talkabout the storms of life and I'm
(00:55):
going to start with number onehow to deal with an emotional
storm.
Right, Because I think there'sa lot of people that suffer from
those.
I for one, know that I've beenin a position where I have these
emotional storms every once ina while.
(01:16):
And you know, the Maple Leafslose a game and the outcome of
the election for some of usdoesn't turn the way that we
really want and hope it does.
But at the end of the day, Ithink these storms make us
(01:36):
stronger, and sometimes aremeant to be, and we just don't
know how things are going toturn out.
How things are going to turnout, and I, always in this
position, try to remind myselfthat I've done everything I
could, and I need to refocus andand feel good, because the
(02:01):
emotions that you feel veryeasily can lift you into
wonderful places or spiral youdown into places that you never
thought you were going to getback to, or places that you just
don't want to go because it'snegative and negative thoughts.
So, on a day with a stormcoming and the aftermath of the
(02:27):
election and a ton of storiesthat kind of flooded back in my
memory about storms over theyears, let's start back at
Chaudière and I'm going to talka little bit about weather
management when you own a lodge,and that weather management was
(02:51):
a very interesting subject forme.
I had never even considered thatI should be managing the
weather when I'm at the lodge,because you know you really
can't control the weather.
And all of you out there arethinking, well, yeah, the
weather's something that youcan't manage, can you?
(03:12):
And the answer is no.
But what you can do is you canmanage expectations in the
proper way and thoseexpectations start, and I
learned this the hard way a fewtimes because I'm one of those
people who I, as a youngster,loved severe weather.
(03:36):
You know we're in a very safespot here in Ontario and I
always felt that, you know, likereally severe weather other
than thunderstorms was just nota possibility.
So I grew up with this love forthunderstorms and I just didn't
(03:57):
think it didn't cross my mindabout managing weather at the
lodge and, you know, keepingpeople safe and this and that.
And I told one story in one ofthe previous episodes about Ty
and Sonia Powers and Mark Planteand his lovely girlfriend at
(04:19):
the time when we went out andgot caught in that ridiculous
thunderstorm.
That was a lesson that Ilearned there.
You know like I should havelooked on the map and found a
boathouse to hide in rightrather than try and drive
(04:39):
through it.
But those are lessons that Ilearned.
The other lesson that I learnedas well, this was a different
storm and you know, over theyears I've lived through a
tornado.
Mind you, it didn't do anydamage to our home in particular
, but in 1985, there was atornado that went through Grand
(05:06):
Valley, which was the town thatI went to public school in at
the time and my grandparentslived there, and Orangeville and
Barrie, ontario, and that waskind of when things in my mind
flipped and that changed.
So I've seen some storms.
(05:30):
I mean, that's my point I'veseen some severe weather.
But when I bought the lodge andmoved up to the French River
part time, the weather there isvery different than it is in
Southern Ontario.
There seems to be a line, onceyou get about three hours north
of Toronto, where the weatherjust changes.
(05:52):
It can be raining and miserable.
Down south, in Shelburne and onthe upper French River, it's
sunny and bluebird skies.
There's just it's different.
It's sunny and bluebird skies.
There's just it's it'sdifferent.
But there were some really,really um, intense storms that I
(06:16):
experienced up there.
And uh, one of them, um, asidefrom uh, the uh the powers
incident incident, we'll call itum, we had a storm coming in
and we got we didn't really geta lot of advance notice with it
and it's you know, this wasprobably mid-July, in that time
frame when you just can't trustthe weather, right.
(06:38):
Well, this was at night and allof the cedar strips were parked
down on the dock and they allhad the transom or the back of
the boat facing the wind and itnever really got rough in that
part of the river, but on thisnight, man, and it was dark, it
(07:03):
was late it would have been, youknow, 11 o'clock midnight, one
o'clock in the morning-ish andthis thing blew in and it was
raging, and I mean raging.
The waves were coming over theback of the transom and I was,
you know, fairly concerned thatthe boats were going to sink.
(07:25):
And I realized later on that itis very tough to sink a cedar
strip right, like really tough,but still with that boat filled
up and the engine on the back,those engines will drop below
the water and then you're introuble.
So I got up and withoutthinking, I just run down I
(07:49):
didn't want to wake anybody up,you know whatever and I run down
to the dock and the wind wasjust ridiculous.
It was like a freakinghurricane.
I've never actually experienceda hurricane, so I'm just
talking out my ass right now.
But the water was being pickedup by the wind and over you know
(08:11):
, the stretch of a quarterkilometer, the waves had built
up to like almost two feet, likereally, really big, really big.
And I was running around downthere and I had my, my Siri dock
boy boots that I, that I Ibought because they were
(08:37):
supposed to be the best and hadhad my guys wearing them on the
dock, non-slip, this, that andthe next thing.
And I got the first boat turnedaround and it was like I mean,
it was a job in the wind to getan 18-foot cedar strip spun
around so I could put the enginein the back, like away from the
wind coming into the dock.
So the bow was taking the wavesand not filling the boat.
(08:59):
This was my whole goal becauseobviously we don't want the
boats to sink and if they'reparked ass into the wind, the
waves come over the back of theboat because it's lower and your
boat sinks.
So I'm out there struggling andI'm spinning them around by
hand because I didn't want toget into the boats.
It was too.
It take too long to get intothe boat, start it, drive it
(09:21):
around, try and park it in thewind.
So I was doing this all by hand.
I got the first one done andthen a um, something.
I looked up.
There was a cedar over on themain dock that needed um moved
right away because it was, itwas full of water and, uh, I
(09:41):
remember running over to thatmain dock and with very, there
was light, but just what wasbeing thrown by the, the, the
boathouse, and I jumped up onthe bow of this, of the cedar
strip, for whatever reason, andwith it being like varnish and
(10:04):
rain and wind, it was like ice,and I slipped off the top of the
bow of that boat and I landedon the dock, but right at the
small of my back, just so thatthe balance of my body was on
(10:25):
the dock and not in the water,but with my torso hanging off
the back to the point where theback of my head, when I fell,
hit the water, and then tryingto struggle to get back up and
not fall in.
And once I got myself undercontrol, I realized that that
(10:51):
situation was probably one ofthe most dangerous situations
that I put myself in, next to,you know, the couple of car
accidents I've been lucky enoughto survive in.
You know that situationresonated in my brain and in the
(11:15):
middle of that storm, you know,I learned a life lesson, and
that is you know you don't workalone and you respect mother
nature.
And that lesson, in the middleof that storm, and I stood up,
(11:37):
my back was killing me, the rainwas hitting me and in that
glorious moment I rememberlooking back towards the lodge
and this, like massive lightningstrike, lit the sky with one of
those um fork lightning boltsthat skip across through the
(11:59):
clouds three or four times andthen hit the ground in multiple
spots, like I mean it was, Icould hear it.
I could hear it, the lightning,and right after the biggest
clap of thunder that you canimagine, like it shook the place
and thinking to myself this isabsolutely beautiful.
(12:23):
And thank you for that reminderabout being safe, because I'm
not going to be the guy thatends up on the bottom of the
lake because he's being notsmart.
And it affected me in mybusiness too, because from that
(12:46):
point on, I was very diligent onreminding guests about the
weather and teaching them how tobest deal with the weather.
And through my mistakes, Icould confidently say you know,
it's probably a good idea tofind a covered boathouse if it
(13:09):
gets really rough, don't try andnavigate through really rough
water.
And if you don't have any ideaof where to go or what to do in
the area that you're fishing,let's go to the map and I can
show you on the map.
You know you're out by MarshyBay.
Well, this is a place.
These people are wonderfulpeople.
(13:30):
They don't mind if you pull upunderneath their covered dock in
a situation like that andeducate my guests on those
storms, you know, and thereweren't just.
It just wasn't that moment.
There were other lessons thatunfortunately some of my guests
(13:50):
paid the price for when it cometo that kind of thing right, I
know Fred and Deb the one daythey were out in the middle of a
thunderstorm and sometimes youjust can't avoid it because they
sneak up on you from behind andthen you've got to go through
(14:12):
it to get back home.
But again that storm, thosestorms, mother Nature, it's
always best to respect her andlimit your exposure.
In vulnerable positions, likebeing in a boat on the French
River, on Lake Nipissing, youknow, always act with caution
(14:42):
and choose the shoreline and aboathouse or somewhere safe
rather than running running themiddle of it.
Although it is, it isexperiences, you know it's.
People love those experiencesof of the force of nature, but
don't do it on the water anddon't do it in a boat of nature.
(15:06):
But don't do it on the waterand don't do it in a boat, do it
at your house, on your backdeck.
But yeah, so it's one of thosestorms of life that I love,
those lessons, and hopefully,you know, people can learn from
those lessons because, um, Ipounded my head on the on the
(15:29):
wall doing it another storm.
Um, I was, uh, there was a, afamily from England and, um, I
forget their, their names, butthey came once and the grandma
come with them and she was aprim and proper English lady,
(15:56):
you know.
She always had a nice hat onand she carried her purse and
was dressed like the queen.
She looked very proper andspoke like.
I loved listening to her talk.
She was elegant.
And this one day in particular,the family and I think there
(16:20):
was five total grandma, son,wife and kids and, um, they had
booked me for it wasn't really aguide but at that time I was
doing, um, I called them a tourto the beach and, um, I forget
what I was charging.
(16:40):
It wasn't near enough because Iwas using the old Georgia D
boat, which was a 24 foot Lundwith a like it did had a bridge
and you know it was it's a bigboat anyway Um, and the gas and
that thing was ridiculous, but Iwould take people out to the
beach.
So this one day in particular,and it was their last day, they
(17:02):
kind of planned it for theirlast day, which I never suggest
doing because you never knowwhat's going to happen.
Right, we were going to go tothe beach and the weather looked
great where we were.
We left nicely after dinner,like probably mid-morning, 10,
11 o'clock, and I knew thatthere were storms in the air and
(17:29):
we jumped on the boat and and Ikind of cautioned them on.
You know, there's they're,they're, they're, they're
calling for thunderstorms, butit looks good now.
So let's get you out to thebeach and, and you know we'll go
from there.
So we start in the old GeorgiaD and it's covered in and
grandma's sitting right besideme in the big captain's chair
(17:52):
it's almost like a bar stoolbecause it's so high.
You've got a place on thepedestal post to put your feet
and she's got both hands in herlap holding onto her purse, with
the pin, holding the hat on herhands in her lap, holding onto
her purse, with the pin holdingthe hat on her, and we're
driving out and I see thatthere's a storm and I pull off
(18:13):
plane and I explain to everybody.
I said, listen, it looks likethere's a thunderstorm there and
we've got to kind of go throughthat to get there there and, um
, we've got to kind of gothrough that to get there.
The water's calm, um, I don'twant to.
Uh, it's your last day.
There's always the stress of itbeing the last day because you
know, number one, you're eithergoing to have to, they're not
(18:35):
going to get the experiencethat's the most important part
of it and then there's thefallout.
From that, you know which iswhich is there.
There I've already basicallywasted, I've already spent my
overhead on there, because we'rethree quarters of the way
driven out there, an hour into,you know, organizing it and
(18:57):
everything else.
So I can't rightfully chargethem for the trip, although
business wise, like, like, juststrictly financially looking at
it, I should, but I never couldanyway.
So the stress of, of wanting tomake this experience happen
(19:20):
always is, is one of thosethings you have to be mindful of
when you're an owner.
Uh, because that was the.
That is really what I've beentalking about, that that um that
want to give the bestexperience possible, um, and and
, not knowing when to pull thepin, not knowing when to pull
(19:48):
the pin, and I and, and, in thiscase, um, it was, um, not the
worst case scenario in mydecision-making, but probably
not the best.
So I left it up to them and Isaid, guys, do you want to try?
Like I'm not concerned that theboat's going to sink, um, you
know.
But having said that, um, it'sa very real possibility that
we're going to get very wet andthings could get a little bit
(20:09):
rough, and you know.
So, anyway, we have a little uh, a little chat, and grandma
says, yes, let's carry on.
And I'm like, okay, perfect,because at least now when shit
gets rough, it's not a surprise,right, right.
So we start heading towards thisstorm and the water's still
(20:29):
flat, like we haven't, wehaven't hit any wind or or like
it's that calm before the storm,and the, the wall cloud is like
a massive backhanging anvil.
And you know, I come around thecorner of the island and then
it really I couldn't kind of seefrom the trees, like I knew it
(20:52):
was dark and I knew, I knew thatit was a storm.
But when you, when I finallygot a look at this wall cloud
and the back hanging anvil andthe, the, the eerie calm, I I
stopped and and I said, wow,this, this one, this is a real
(21:15):
storm.
And we had our talk and Grahamsaid, well, why don't we just go
a little bit farther and maybeit's going to miss where we need
to go.
And you know what?
It wasn't a bad idea because,you know, maybe, maybe, I don't
(21:38):
know, didn't look very good frommy vantage point, but it's hard
to tell the direction thatthose storms actually are moving
.
So I thought, yeah, okay, let'sdo that.
Well, we got up on plane and notlike, two minutes later, that
downburst of wind, that sheerwind force that goes underneath
(22:00):
these storms, from calm to galeforce, hit us Like we could see
it coming across the water.
You could see the gust of windmoving across the water and
pushing the trees as it's coming, and it's coming straight at us
.
Graham and I are watching.
(22:21):
Everybody else isn't payingattention.
And when that gust of wind hitus, I'm in a 24 foot Lund heavy,
heavy ass boat, like a sail too, to be fair.
It hit the bow of that boat andit turned me 90 degrees.
And as it turned me, I'm I andand it wasn't, it wasn't like it
(22:49):
was a snap turn, like I mean itblew the front of the boat to
the point where, when I was justgetting up onto plane, it
turned the front of the boat.
So I had to correct and steerdirectly into the wind.
And then, once I got it intothe wind and settled down a
(23:11):
little bit, we could see thewall of rain.
So I pulled it off.
I looked at grandma and I willnever forget this.
She she looks at me calm, as asa cucumber, like I mean, shit's
just got real rough in the boat.
And she's up there and she'sgot her hat pinned on and her
(23:34):
purse in her lap with both handsthere.
And she looks at me and shesays in this beautiful calm
voice Steve, do you know what wecall this back home?
And I'm thinking I have no idea.
And she looks at me and shesaid Steve, this storm is a
(23:58):
fucking doozy.
And I looked at her and I saidyou're goddamn right, it is.
What do you think?
I think we should probably,before it gets like bad.
Bad.
I think we're up close andpersonal with this beast.
(24:18):
I think we're close enough.
And she said yes, I do, I thinkthat we're close enough, but
she wanted me to.
We turned around and we justcruised with them, looking out
the back of the boat, watchingthis big storm, like I didn't
hammer it or anything.
We just nicely drove back andit was weird because we drove
(24:43):
out of the wind and you knowwhat it did hit us, um it.
But we, we did make it back intime and um the, that that ride
back, uh, with everybodywatching that storm come in, um,
that memory for them, uh, wasthe was a memory that they uh,
(25:07):
that they told me they wouldnever forget, and it is one of
those.
That was a great tour, you know, we didn't even make it to the
beach, but to be in a somewhatsafe zone, like I mean, whenever
you're out and there's athunderstorm like that, you're
never in a safe zone.
(25:28):
There's always a small minutechance that you could get hit by
lightning, I guess.
But we were far enough awaythat you could watch the
lightning in the storm and justto see the wind come across the
water in that sheer force andthen being able to avoid getting
(25:48):
too wet and watch that allunfold was a good time.
It was a good time.
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Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yes, the storms of life and managing expectations
and dealing with those things.
The other one that I always Ihad I struggled with was when to
call a guide trip, like when isit not good to go out?
And then you know, do you lookat the weather forecast and plan
with the weather forecast?
(28:22):
And those are two totallydifferent things.
Right, and in my experiencewith this one and in my
experience with this one, youreally got it wrong more often
if you went with the weatherforecast and as much as it
(28:47):
sucked, the best way that Icould manage it was to make a
game time decision and um, um,those are tough because you've
got guests standing there and,um, trying to, they, they want
to go and and you're you're kindof saying, well, it, it could
get rough.
And it boiled down in thatsituation for me to defer to the
(29:08):
guide and get their comfortlevel on it, because I know,
like a guide like Pat, forinstance, or Billy, know the
river so so well that even ifthey end up where you're in a
situation where a storm iscoming and you've got to take
(29:31):
cover, they know where cover is.
That was my biggest issue too.
I wasn't on the river as muchand didn't have the intimate
knowledge of every little nookand cranny and bay and sheltered
shoreline and boathouse with aroof.
I didn't have those tools in mytool belt where they do Like.
(29:56):
I mean, they know, and that waspart of it, right.
And then you know the guestcomfort.
But again, it's all of theselittle daily calls that you have
to make and what you have tokeep in mind and public safety
(30:25):
or the safety of my guests andstaff, that's always something
that is in the forefront of yourmind and you really have to
balance that when you're makingthese decisions, because you
just don't know how they couldturn out and always err on the
side of safety and caution andtraining.
Training is huge too, you know,because if we did it the other
(30:52):
way nine times out of 10, andthe other way I'm talking is
looking at the forecast andtrying to pick a day which
guests would do nine times outof 10, the weather isn't the way
that it says it's going to beanyway, like if they're calling
for rain on unless on Tuesdayand you're trying to book your
(31:14):
guide on Saturday unless it's90% and there's rain in three
days, that it moves around, it'sso difficult to try and plan
your trip on something like that.
So it's one of those thingswhere you really have to, you
know, use common sense and inthat situation it's a game time
(31:39):
decision, for sure.
And the crazy thing about allof those game time decisions is,
you know, as crazy as some ofthe ones that I made were, they
always seem to work out for thebest.
And I think a lot of that hasto do with being positive about
(32:03):
the situation you're in, and andand actually making a call
right, because there's nothingworse than not making a decision
, and that's another thing.
When it comes to storms of lifeLike I mean, you know, how do
(32:24):
you really know that what you'refeeling is a storm?
You know, you know you'refeeling uncomfortable, but you
really don't know if it's thebest thing that could happen to
you or the worst thing that canhappen to you.
And for me, I've had a coupleof those.
I've had a couple of those andthe one that really a big storm
(32:49):
that I had in my life and um hadto, you know, really manage my
way out of it, was the day Iactually bought the lodge, you
know, um, the, the ensuing three, four months, the there was
such um, an internal andexternal storm in my life
(33:15):
because you know I made thatdecision and again you can hear
the whole story start to finish.
But this really fits into thestorms right.
When I bought the lodge, I didit because I truly believed that
I needed to make this decision,but there was a lot of
(33:52):
uncertainty of having to workher job and have three kids.
Well, I guess at the time wastwo and one on the way by
herself for six months of theyear.
Like I mean, there were stormswhen I finally signed the papers
(34:16):
and it sunk in at what I haddone, like my mind literally
melted down in front of my eyes,like that.
But you want to talk aboutbuyer's remorse.
Like you know, think about thelast thing you had buyer's
remorse on and let's go big.
You know, like, was it a car orwas it?
You know, a dirt bike or was itlike a?
Whatever it might be, you know.
(34:38):
And then multiply that buyer'sremorse by every cent you ever
made and you still owe so muchmore, everything and you drag
your parents in on it.
You borrow a hundred from themtoo, and then talk about buyer's
(35:00):
remorse.
Wow, I remember getting into myold Ford pickup truck and that
voice in my head was screamingLike I've never.
I've never really felt out ofcontrol of that voice in my head
(35:22):
.
In that moment.
It was out of control.
It was screaming at me whathave you done?
And constantly, for hours andhours into days and I, just, I
(35:44):
was, I really was, I was.
I was physically becoming sickthinking about what I had done.
And you know, I don't know if Iwould have signed that deal if
the if my real estate agenthadn't already secured some of
(36:06):
the financing and I already paid$32,000 for the right to borrow
money.
You know I was seriouslycontemplating okay, so if I
don't sign this right now, I'vejust lit $32,000 on fire, but I
(36:27):
can maybe get away from some ofthis.
You know this uncertainty anduncomfortable feelings and if
not for that $32,000 andcognizantly thinking about how
(36:48):
I'm going to explain that to mywife and partner, I probably
would have walked away.
You know, it was that close andI was that scared like I was
(37:10):
alluding to in the beginningthat one of the biggest storms
of my life turned out to be oneof the best things that ever
happened to me and I learnedanother big lesson there, and
that is and it was a long lesson.
This was a lesson that was, youknow, three, four, five, ten
(37:35):
years in the making, because youcan't see in the moment what a
decision is going to be and howit's going to turn out, even
though you think you because youare the most prepared, and you
know what's going to happen andyou know what's going on you
(37:55):
don't know.
You can be a self-fulfillingprophecy, and that's where
positivity comes in.
And once you make a decision,you need to focus on the goal
and the positive, becauseself-fulfilling prophecies, they
happen every day.
Everybody's seen those.
But those storms that you areunsure of when you navigate
(38:21):
through them and you look backon them, those are the things
that you remember the most thatdecision for me to buy Chaudiere
, and in the way that I did, um,that was the best decision that
I ever, that I had ever made,and you needed balls and there
(38:46):
was so much risk and I didn'thave the tools that I needed to
be successful in the moment whenI made the decision.
But once you have made thedecision and it's not just you
that's relying on it being asuccessful or a good decision.
You do what you have to do andI found those tools.
(39:11):
And whether it was hiring theright person or asking people or
learning it myself, I found thetools to be successful.
And when you don't give yourselfthe option to fail, there's no
way that you can fail.
You just don't give up and youuse positivity.
(39:35):
And you know, I'm sure there'speople out there thinking well,
I know people that have failedand they did everything that
they could and everything else,and that's true, but that
failure that they had could beone of these storms.
Just because you fail at onething doesn't mean that you give
(39:58):
up on everything else.
No matter how bad it gets, youalways keep going and you always
learn from what you've done.
And you know the failure that Ihad before this that haunted me
this is an aside, and you knowwhat.
We're getting to the pointwhere you guys are probably a
(40:19):
little bit tired of listening tomy voice.
But this is the last one andthis was one of the storms that
that I thought I had made thebiggest mistake of my life and I
, I, I, I had a hard timementally thinking about it and
recovering from it and what thisdecision was, um, when Melissa
(40:42):
and I first started dating.
So this is back in high school,like you know, and I got out of
high school and went to work,took a year off Then from work.
I went to college for a coupleof years and I really fell in
love with the Kawarthas area andI got done college and I moved
(41:05):
back home and I was still fairlyyoung, like early 20s, and my
mom was like, well, yeah,melissa's going to school and
you're working full time, it'stime for you to start paying
rent.
And that was just a foreignthought to me, like I mean, call
(41:27):
me spoiled or whatever, but Ijust always assumed that home
was I don't have to pay rent forthat and I'm definitely
considering charging my kidsrent that and I'm definitely
considering charging my kidsrent.
But that was a little leverageultimatum that my mom was giving
(41:47):
me.
It was you're going to have topay rent or you're going to
start saving to buy a house orinvest your money or do
something other than party anddrink it every weekend, right,
which you know.
If I look back on it, I guessthere was some.
There was some truth to thatstatement.
(42:09):
So in my wisdom I said, okay,mom, I'm going to buy a cottage
because I want a cottage and ifMelissa is going to be working
for the next, you know, or goingto school for the next couple
of years, I might be able to,you know, buy a cottage and and
(42:30):
and have it under control, themortgage under control, by the
time she gets out of school.
And this would have been like1998, 99 in that neighborhood.
So I start looking for cottagesand I went and looked at a bunch
and I found this one cottage onBig Bald Lake and it was, and
(42:54):
because I was looking, I couldonly I had only saved maybe
enough for 5% down payment,which meant that it could
qualify for a 5% down payment ordeposit or down payment, rather
(43:19):
than, like at the time forWaterfront, it was like 30%,
which was not even a possibilityfor me.
So I found this one place andit was.
It met those criteria.
It was a year round road access, it had potable water.
Those criteria it was a yearround road access, it had
(43:44):
potable water, it and it was ona one acre lot.
It was on on piers, like thebuilding, so there was no
basement or no foundation, itwas just on concrete posts, but
a very typical build for abungalow style cottage cottage,
for a bungalow style cottagecottage.
And the waterfront was, itwasn't the best, it was very
weedy and it was like abeautiful bass fishing bay.
(44:06):
Like I mean, I looked at thewaterfront and had no problem
with it at all, although youwould have had to clean it up a
little bit hush hush in thosedays, because there were so many
cattails that you couldn't evenget to the dock.
Um, but still, and they'reasking, um, forty thousand
(44:26):
dollars no, it was forty eightthousand dollars for the
property and at the time, like1998, like I'm buying vehicles
for 1500 bucks, okay, so $48,000was a massive amount of money.
So I'm looking and, like a dumb, uneducated kid, I'm talking, I
(44:55):
didn't even know how to make anoffer, but I'm acting big shot,
right, and a buddy of mine wasthere, mark Fleer, and we're
looking in this cottage and I'msaying to the real estate agent
I'm like, yeah, okay, well,let's offer him, you know,
$40,000, which really isn't aterrible offer.
It had been on the market forover a hundred days, which
(45:18):
really isn't a terrible offer.
It had been on the market forover 100 days.
But I want this lure left inthe drawer and I want this and I
want that and I want this.
Actually, I want everything andthey had stated that there were
some things that they weretaking out of there.
But, like a dum dumb, uh, Iwanted it all.
(45:40):
So we, we left and um, um, heput in the offer for $40,000 for
everything.
And you know, um, and I wasjust borrowing the money, like I
, I only had my 5% to put downand I was going to borrow the
money from the bank and um, andthen try and make it work, pay,
(46:04):
pay that little mortgage.
Well, it wasn't little at thetime and um, so we put the offer
in and about, I don't know.
Three hours later, I got a callfrom the real estate agent and I
was figuring it was the otherpeople calling back with a
counter offer and then I wasgoing to buy it.
(46:24):
Well, somebody else come in andmade a better offer and they
accepted that offer and boughtit out from under me.
And at that point in time Ikind of felt this sigh of relief
because I got that close.
I got that close and I wasscared and, rather than jump in
(46:51):
and do it, I felt relief that itdidn't happen because that way
I could just fall back to whatwas comfortable, right and I
looked right.
But I think it was more nowthat I look back on it.
I think it was more justlooking to keep my mom appeased
that I was trying to invest oror do something and, you know,
(47:16):
nothing ever really happenedwith that until two years later
I ended up buying the house inShelburne that I lived in for 10
years and while there, thiswould have been in about and
(47:36):
this is why I mentioned Melissathis would have been early 2000s
, like maybe 2000.
We ended up taking holidaystogether and went to a Well, no,
(47:56):
actually this was 2003.
No, three or four, it was rightaround the last call, because I
fished bass tournaments theyear before the last call, so
this would have been roughly2003.
We went, I was in the bassfishing circuit, the Bass Mania
(48:16):
Tour in Ontario, and we GlennBerry and I made the classic and
we walked, we holidayed on thesecond of the two lakes that the
classic tournament was going tobe on and that lake was called
Cameron Lake and so off we go onour holidays and I'm
(48:41):
pre-fishing away and not eventhinking about the past and
cottages and stuff, because itnever happened right.
And we went into Bob Cajun forice cream one day, just because,
and we walked out of this icecream shop and I looked across
the street and up until thatpoint I had totally forgotten
(49:07):
even where the real estateoffice was that housed the real
estate agent that put in theoffer for me on that cottage on
Big Bald Lake.
Well, excuse me.
Well, now I'm standing therewith an ice cream cone half
melted in my hand, lookingacross the street and there it
(49:28):
is.
So, naturally, out of, out ofcuriosity, I said to Melissa.
I said hey, that's the realestate.
I couldn't even remember whattown it was, it just so happened
.
I walked out there it was, andI recognized it right away and I
said we got to go in there.
So off we go.
We walk across the street and Iwalk into the real estate office
(49:51):
, half expecting to see the guythat I was working with in there
.
But he wasn't there.
But there was an oldergentleman behind the counter and
it kind of had that AndyMayberry feel, because he was,
you know, he had his readerglasses on and the newspaper
with his feet kicked up on thedesk and I walked in and I said
(50:12):
good day, sir.
How are you doing today?
And he looked up from thenewspaper and he said not bad,
son, not bad, what brings youhere today?
And I said to him I said,listen, I'm looking for a
cottage on Big Bald Lake.
I don't care if it's like anouthouse, you know, just like a
waterfront lot with a threeseasons cottage.
(50:38):
You know just something that Icould buy and I'm thinking in my
head that, well, I almost hadone bought, for it ended up
selling for 45,000.
They were asking 48, I went at40, somebody went in firm at 45.
So I'm thinking, well, you know, went in firm at 45.
(51:01):
So I'm thinking, well, you know, I could, I could maybe afford
45,000.
Cause at the time Melissa hadjust started working at the, the
uh, as a teacher and I wasmaking half decent money.
And, um, he looked at me and heslid those glasses down just a
touch to look over top of them,not rude like.
But he said, son, unless you'vegot $350,000 to $400,000,
(51:25):
you're wasting your time.
Because he looked at Melissaand I and he sized us up pretty
quick.
He knew that I didn't.
I had just bought my, to giveyou an idea, in 2002, I bought
that first house, which wouldhave been, like, like I say,
(51:45):
three years after this cottageincident in Shelburne, I bought
my first house for $175,000.
$179,000, sorry to be exact.
And now 179, sorry to be exact.
And now, like the year, this isa year after we moved into our
house in Shelburne this fella istelling me the cottage that I
(52:17):
could have bought four years agois worth let me do the math at
40, some $45,000, that it'sworth two, four, six and a half
times more.
Like I can buy three houses inShelburne for that.
And he looked at me and he said,yep, and that haunted me, the
(52:45):
thought that if I had boughtthat, I could have sold it and
bought three houses outright inthe town of Shelburne, right in
the town of Shelburne.
Oh, my God, I couldn't sleep.
My guts were just twisted andturning and that was like I mean
I managed to work out of thatstorm, but that was a lot.
(53:06):
That was a long, hard storm,right, you know, and that was
back before I really believedand had an understanding that.
You know, things happen for areason and sometimes when
something that looks bad happens, it's not Like you just don't
(53:27):
know.
You can't waste time thinkingabout what could have been,
because it's not and there'snothing that can be done to
change the past.
So focus on the now and thefuture.
And I wasn't well equipped withthose thoughts and that
discipline.
(53:50):
I thought about it a lot and astime went on and I'm talking
time like up until I bought thelodge, really, which was 2009.
So, for the better part of adecade, there were things that I
would see that would bring backthe memory of.
(54:11):
You could have won the lottery,is how I thought about it.
You could have won the lotteryand really, at that point in my
life, it was the lottery, is howI thought about it.
You could have won the lotteryand really it it it.
At that point in my life, itwas the lottery.
Um, not considering that Iwouldn't sell it or not
considering, you know, whether Iwould have lost it or not
considering anything, but justthe simple fact.
(54:33):
And it turned out to beextremely valuable.
Those feelings of regret andafter, looking back on it before
I bought the lodge and well,kind of around when I was trying
(54:53):
to buy the lodge, looking backand feeling those feelings of
regret of how I missed thatopportunity and what it meant,
but really it was the feelings,the negative feelings that I had
been dealing with whenever Ithought about anything to do
(55:14):
with that.
It was, it was, they werenegative feelings.
Whenever I thought aboutanything to do with that, it was
it would.
They were negative feelings.
And the good thing that comeout of it was simply this when I
was sitting in that lawyer'soffice and I was really, really,
really scared to sign thosepapers and to put myself in a
(55:35):
position where I wasn'tcomfortable, it was that storm
and those lessons that I learnedwith that situation that gave
me the courage to do what I did.
And I remember vividly thinkingI'm at the point in my life now
(56:01):
where, if I don't do this, I maynot ever do something.
And I was at the point in mylife where I was so unhappy with
what I was doing for a livingand that was sheet metal and
owning my business doing thatthat I said I am just not going
(56:28):
to go into the winter of my lifeand wonder what if the it was.
It was the the wondering andthe regret of not pulling the
trigger on that cottage and uh,you know that the thought of
having to do that again with afishing lodge.
(56:51):
I just couldn't bring myself toit.
I couldn't do do it.
I needed to know and I was verywilling to at the age of 33, go
into this.
And if I failed, I figured thatI was young enough to pull out
of it and I knew that one of twothings were going to happen I
(57:16):
was either going to becomeindependently wealthy and have a
outstanding business and awonderful time, or you know what
I'm going to know and justknowing.
Either way, going into thewinter of my life, that was
(57:36):
enough solitude in thinking that.
Because to go a lifetimethinking about what ifs and
candy and nuts and all of thethings that your mind can drum
up on you, it wasn't for me andthat is really what I had
(57:59):
learned from that situation andit and believe me, that's a big
one that was a real, that was areal doozy man.
I was a that's a fucking doozy.
Oh yeah, that was great.
But listen, folks, thank you somuch for listening to my I don't
(58:21):
want to call them ramblingslistening to my reminiscing self
, because I really appreciate it.
I really appreciate all of youand thank you again for getting
to this point in the show andlisten, reach out to Willie and
I and let us know if there'sanything you want us to discuss.
(58:42):
We would love to table some ofthe things that you're
interested in and also head onover to the fishingcanadacom
website and get in on all ofthose giveaways.
There's also all kinds of merchthere.
It's awesome Sport, that Fishand Canada gear.
(59:06):
I got to get some diary stuff onthere too for us all to see and
love and have.
But we'll get there.
We'll get there and, thanks toAndrew over at Lakeside Marina,
we really appreciate what you dofor us and what you really
honestly do for all of thosepeople up there that trust you
(59:28):
for the job that you do.
And, buddy, awesome, awesome,everything that I hear is all
aces, brother.
So thank you for that.
Thank you, folks.
And thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
(59:50):
Diaries of a Lodge OwnerStories of the North of the
North.
I'm a good old boy, nevermeanin' no harm.
Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
I'll be all you ever saw, been railin' in the hog
Since the day I was born,bendin' my rock, stretchin' my
line.
Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine.
Speaker 5 (01:00:20):
I'll be making my way , the only way I know how.
Working hard and sharing thenorth with all of my pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and live mydream.
Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
And now I'm here talking about how life can be as
good as it seems.
Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
Yeah, as the world gets louder and louder, the
lessons of our natural worldbecome harder and harder to hear
, but they are still availableto those who know where to
listen.
I'm Gerry Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
(01:01:09):
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
(01:01:29):
Indigenous peoples all over theglobe.
After nearly a decade of harvestuse, 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
(01:01:51):
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
On Outdoor Journal Radio's,under 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,
(01:02:15):
apple Podcasts or wherever elseyou get your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
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 Every Thursday,Ang and I will be right here in
your ears bringing you a brandnew episode of Outdoor Journal
Radio.
Now, what are we going to talkabout for two hours every week?
Well, you know, there's goingto be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes, All theother guys would go golfing Me
and Garton Turk and all theRussians would go fishing To
scientists.
Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe.
It's the perfect transmissionenvironment for life to be.
Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
, you will taste it.
Speaker 5 (01:03:14):
And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you
are.
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks toanswer the questions and tell
the stories of all those whoenjoy being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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