Episode 97: A Week In The Life Of Steve

A flame flickers inside the wheel well of a beloved 1992 Ford F-250, threatening to consume it. Just days earlier, another flame—hope for the Toronto Maple Leafs—had burned briefly before being extinguished in yet another Game 7 heartbreak. Such is the rhythm of life for our host this week, where catastrophes and triumphs arrive in clusters.

This episode chronicles an eventful week that begins with the emotional saga of the Maple Leafs' playoff run. After reluctantly allowing himself to believe in his team during Game 3, our host experiences the familiar crushing disappointment of elimination. His candid reflection on the core players—particularly Mitch Marner—reveals the deep wounds carried by long-suffering fans who remember legends like Wendell Clark leaving everything on the ice.

The narrative shifts to personal misadventures when a scaffold collapses beneath him at his island cottage, resulting in a four-inch gash requiring seven stitches. This first-ever experience with stitches leads to an unexpected souvenir—the medical instruments used in the procedure, typically discarded after a single use. The emergency highlights a crucial lesson for remote property owners: invest in a comprehensive first aid kit.

Most dramatic is the roadside discovery of flames inside his truck's wheel well, and the ill-advised attempt to extinguish them with windshield washer fluid—which proves flammable, creating a momentary inferno. This practical lesson in automotive safety is delivered with the host's characteristic self-deprecating humor.

The week's misfortunes continue as he returns home to discover rats have decimated his flock of meat chickens, reducing 75 birds to just 24 in a shocking overnight massacre. Amid these challenges, he shares valuable tips for garlic cultivation using concrete reinforcement mesh—a technique that yielded over 200 cloves in a small raised bed.

Throughout these trials, our host maintains the resilience, resourcefulness, and good humor essential for life in the wilderness. Whether you're a cottage owner, outdoor enthusiast, or simply enjoy tales of rural misadventure, this episode offers both practical wisdom and entertaining storytelling about navigating life's unexpected challenges.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
I jump out of the truck and my front driver's side
, I could see a little smokecoming out of the wheel.
Well, and I thought, ooh, fuck,that's not good.
So I got down on my hands andknees and I looked under.
Well, I could see a flame ontop of the brake calipers, right

(00:26):
inside the rotors, and she washot.
And I'm thinking, uh-oh, that'snot good.
And then, you know, visions ofthis beautiful 1992 truck going
up in flames were starting tocome into the back of my mind

(00:46):
truck going up in flames werestarting to come into the back
of my mind this week on theOutdoor Journal, Radio Podcast
Networks, Diaries of a LodgeOwner, Stories of the North
Folks.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I am excited to bring you this week a day in the life
of me.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
It's been an eventful week and on this show we are
going to talk Toronto, mapleLeafs, trucks, safety on the
island and much more.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
So hold on to your hats, get ready, let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And I think folks, first of all, piggybacking on
last week's show with MattO'Brien, we were talking about a
massive, massive game and yes,I am talking the Maple Leafs and
that game turned out to be gamesix, which was an outright

(01:42):
beauty.
They come out, they won, theylost in absolutely awful fashion
in game five and I had alreadydone my eulogy, I had already
buried the jersey.
And they come out and you knowI had $141 left in my betting

(02:08):
account.
I usually throw in a couplehundred bucks at the beginning
of the season and mess aroundwith it and you know I had
convinced myself for game sixthat I was going to bet it all
on Florida because I was justthat incensed.
In my mind in that moment therewas no chance that after the

(02:34):
game they came out and playedthat they were going to be able
to drum anything up in Floridaand I was going to make myself
happy one way or the other.
If they won I would have beenhappy and if they lost I would
have made some money.
But I looked at the odds and,honestly, I have never bet
against my beloved boys in blueand I decided not.

(03:00):
I threw her all down on theMaple Leafs, like a good, honest
Maple Leaf fan.
And they won me $407.
And just like a good Maple Leaffan, even though they've never
won a game seven with this group, I threw her all down on game

(03:21):
seven and lost all my money andthey broke my heart once again.
They sucked me back in in gamesix and they blew me out in game
seven.
And what a?
What a you know, what a youknow I, I, my dad, he's not

(03:46):
doing all that good and this runmeant a lot to us and you know
there could be a couple moreruns here in the very near
future, but it was really,really heartbreaking.
You know I've got so manydeep-seated scars from this team

(04:11):
and I take solace in the factthat finally, I cannot see how
Brendan Shanahan can remain.
I can't call it incompetence,but the whole thing with the

(04:34):
Shanna plan.
It has to be over.
God just let it die.
And Mitch Marner, absolutelywonderful talent, great hockey
player, not built for theplayoffs, not at all Come up
with one big goal and after lastyear I was so, so upset with

(05:00):
his performances in the past inthe playoffs that I um, that I
couldn't.
I couldn't handle even itcoming, him coming back and then
slowly but surely, throughoutthe season, you know, with his

(05:24):
play, he he kind of won me back.
Ottawa, you know, showed alittle bit.
He showed a little bit and thenearly in the Florida series,
like I mean, this team really,uh, showed some resilience and
got through that first round andinto the second round.
He scored that one big goal.
Like I mean, it was a a luckyshot.

(05:44):
You know, it wasn't a huge bigplay, although I got to give
credit where credit is due.
And in that, in that Ottawaseries, he combined with
Matthews for an unbelievablegoal and scored a beautiful
breakaway goal.
And scored a beautifulbreakaway goal.
And I was thinking, you know,maybe, maybe.

(06:07):
But I fought those feelingsback because I knew my heart was
going to get broke.
And we moved into the Floridaseries and they come out and won
game one, and they come out inone game too.
And I still, at that point Iwas feeling optimistic but I was

(06:28):
beating those thoughts of, youknow, joy away from my mind
because I am wounded.
I have been constantly, and notjust me, every Leaf fan out
there who is my age, like I mean, I'm almost 50, and I very

(06:52):
vividly remember 1993 withplayers that went out and played
and give it their all, and youknew that everything they had
was left on the ice.
Dougie Gilmore was eating, youknow, plates of pasta and losing

(07:13):
two pounds, three pounds in agame.
And Wendell Clark, oh my God,wendell Clark.
He is, without a doubt, out ofall of the players in the
National Hockey League and nodisrespect to Chris King,
because I love Kinger too butWendell Clark was my guy and

(07:35):
still to this day is.
You know, back in those days,if he wasn't on the ice, the
only thing that I could focus onwas put Wendell on.
Put Wendell back on, becauseevery time he hit that ice, he
either had an unbelievable hit,a fight, a goal, a shot that

(07:58):
hits the goalie in the helmetand, um, you know, today, um, I
didn't.
I haven't really connected withthis team in that way.
I know I haven't Um, but but ingame three folks, um, they, and

(08:19):
and game two was a great game,like they overcome some demons,
you know, know they.
They got out and got the lead.
Then florida tied it and rightaway they went back, they, they
got the lead again, and theseare typical traits that this
team has not been able to um, to, to overcome.

(08:39):
In the past they would havefolded up and they didn't.
And then game three came.
And by the, by the middle ofthe, the, the game, middle of
the second period, it was threeto one.
Toronto.
John Tavares scored a beautifulwraparound goal that was
reminiscent for me of the DougieGilmore goal in St Louis

(09:02):
against Curtis Joseph not quiteas a little bit different, but
it reminded me of then and theywere blocking shots like that is
a.
That is something that aplayoff team does, that is
something that they've not donebefore, and you can credit that
to the coaching, to Craig Berube, another former Leaf and real

(09:25):
tough guy.
And at that moment we were at3-1, halfway through the second
period of Game 3.
And I'm looking at thoughtscoming through my mind.
All we got to do is, if we winthis game, we're going to be up

(09:45):
three games to none against theStanley Cup champions.
And you know what?
I couldn't help it.
That belief crept in and tookhold of me and in that moment I
was like, can they?
I was watching with dad and Ilooked over at dad at that point

(10:10):
and I said to him I said, pop,do you think they can do this.
And you know what, that feelingof believing again was so good.
It was so good and at the pointthat I decide in my mind that

(10:40):
I'm going to let this team haveme again.
They got me, I believe.
The wheels fell off.
The wheels fell right off.
They ended up losing that gamein overtime and you're left with

(11:02):
the what ifs and if ifs andbuts were candy and nuts, it'd
be Christmas every day.
But you know, they took them toovertime and it was a bullshit
goal that Marshan scores and itgoes off O'Reilly's knee and
then his pants and flips ever soslowly up and over the brick

(11:27):
wall, joe Wall, and into the net.
And I wasn't broken.
In that moment I wasdisappointed.
But you know, morgan Rileyscored I guess you would call it
the Riley hat trick two on ourown goal and one on theirs.

(11:48):
And you look at that game andyou think well, you know what.
It was bad luck.
It was bad luck if thatdeflection in overtime doesn't
go in.
And it was the first shot inthe overtime period and the
overtime only had two minutesleft.
Like I mean, mean they played asolid, solid overtime and

(12:08):
morgan if that.
And then you think if morganriley hadn't deflected the one
in in the first period and youknow, uh, uh, we willie
kneelander had a scored on onone of his breakaways and it
could have been different.
It could have been different,it could have been different.
But you know, there's stillrunway and then in game five

(12:29):
they rear their dirty, dirty,absolutely disappointing,
heart-crushing performance Likeno will.
They didn't leave it on the ice, they didn't start on time.

(12:50):
It was a 6-1, absolutely awfulgame.
And in that moment, with all ofthe demons from the past, like
these guys are core group and inthat core you've got Austin
Matthews, you've got MitchMarner, you got Willie Nylander,

(13:14):
you got John Tavares and JohnnyBoy.
I'm going to take him out ofthat because he played a very,
very solid playoffs and had agreat year and I don't hold any
I'm not going to say blame, butI don't hold any ill feelings

(13:38):
towards him in particular.
But you got to throw MorganRiley in there and him maybe
more than any.
But you got to throw MorganRiley in there and with, with,
and and him maybe more than any.
When it comes to ghosts of thepast, because that kind of
collapse, that kind of game,that kind of loss is something

(13:59):
that this group of core playersdoes on a regular basis in the
playoffs.
They just do.
And, like I say, game six I wasso convinced there was no way
they were going to go intoFlorida and beat those Panthers
the way that we needed them tobeat them.
And I'm up at the cottage Thankyou, matt and Terry, for the

(14:27):
internet connection and I satdown with Mark Plont and his dad
, donny Boy.
They were up helping me do somework up at the cottage and we
sat down and watched that gameand it was a thing of beauty.
To nothing, joe Wall got theshutout.

(14:49):
The Leafs played a flawlessdefensive game.
They scored when they needed toand um, you know, they, they,
they, they pulled me back in andum, and then just to pull me
back in and in game seven lose.

(15:10):
I don't even know what it was.
It was it well, the, the statstell it all.
It was after the second period.
They had more shot attemptsagainst than any other team in
all of the regular season andplayoffs.
By the second period.
It was so one-sided In thatgame six, austin Matthews

(15:37):
stepped up and he scored.
He played well and as far as I'mconcerned, I still have some
hope for Austin.
I believe that he can be agreat asset to the team, but I
have no hope for for um, um,mitch marner.

(15:58):
Uh, he's it's time.
Um, thank you for your service,um, but um, it's time.
And it's very, very unfortunatethat um brad tree living, our
general manager, was thrown in aposition when he was hired that
he only had a month to decidewhether to keep Mitch Marner or

(16:23):
trade him.
And that was a couple of yearsago, because at that point
Marner had a no trade clausekick in on July 1st and Tree
Living only had that one monthto decide.
And I'm sure, I'm sure thatBrendan Shanahan, because he
come out and and told the corefour don't worry, you're not

(16:45):
going anywhere.
And I think that's probably whyDubas ended up going to
Pittsburgh, which in hindsighthas been great, because I have a
lot more faith in BradTreeliving as a general manager.
But the point is we could havegot something for Marner at that

(17:06):
point and I was ready I wasready a year before that to make
a move, but anyway.
So today we find ourselvesgrieving again for another

(17:28):
absolutely heartbreaking loss,loss, and, and these guys seem
to just do it so that, anyway,I'm very happy that that, if
they were going to lose, theydid it in this fashion, because
I believe that Marner is is notgoing to sign with Toronto and

(17:48):
I'm very happy for that.
I I believe that we've got agreat core, great defense, great
goaltending, and we don't haveto go into a big rebuild and we
can take the money that we savenow.
We're not going to get a player, he's just going to walk but we

(18:13):
can take that money that wouldbe spent on Mitch Marner like 14
sheets worth a year and go outand sign somebody else to play
with the Leafs.
And I really, really hope andI'm not a I don't claim to be a

(18:34):
professional when it comes toknowing how to put together
teams, but I know that we needsomebody that is playoff
hardened, somebody that has alittle bit of experience in the
playoffs, and I was secretlydeep down after the Oilers and

(18:56):
I'm sorry to all you Oiler fansout there, I know the West
doesn't like the East much, butI'll tell you what I was
secretly hoping that maybe youguys would have went out in the
first round and Connor wouldhave been a little bit upset.
And when his contract comes up,which is very shortly, toronto
may have seen a player likeConnor McDavid and that would

(19:22):
have been unbelievable, but Idon't think it's going to happen
now and I'm on the Eulerbandwagon Go, edmonton go.
But anyway, enough about theLeafs.
My heart is still sore overthat.

(19:44):
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Speaker 1 (22:00):
So, yeah, I was up at the cottage All last week.
We were doing some work and aninteresting thing happened to me
.
I've never had stitches.
I've never had stitches,although I did plan, and this is
going to tie in with remotesafety.

(22:23):
I'm on an island.
So I went out and I bought areally good first aid kit,
because sometimes you know Irented out and or you never know
the kids are there and and youjust never know.
You got to be prepared.
Anyway, I was on a, on ascaffold and on the first flight

(22:47):
and I had three boards to makea nice big platform like three
full, a proper scaffold plankwith the aluminum hooks that
hook onto your scaffold.
And then I had, uh, um, a goodbuddy ray.
He lent me, um, while they'reall his uh planks, um, he had uh

(23:07):
, uh, three uh other planks thatwere just made of uh, heavy old
oak board or something, and andone of them had uh, two, two
by4s and a 2x12 on it and theywere all secured on the bottom,
but the 2x4s on the one end wereabout eight inches longer than
the 2x12.
And when I threw that plank upI got it well over on the 2x4s,

(23:33):
but that 2x12, was right at theedge of the of the bar, the
supporting bar, on the scaffold,and, um, um, when I was up, uh,
uh, actually tuck taping um,some uh uh vapor barrier onto a
wall.
And, um, I, uh, I stepped onthat middle board, right on that

(23:55):
12-inch board, and it wasn'tfully on the end of the scaffold
and it opened up like a trapdoor and my leg fell straight
through it and it didn't reallyhurt, like I just went.

(24:16):
I went down, caught myself, um,but I must've landed kind of
hard on that leg and Mark wasover, um, uh, it was in the, in
the building, and he said, uh,holy shit, are you all right?
And I said, oh, yeah, I'm good,like I mean, I just, you know I

(24:42):
was good.
And then he said I don't thinkyou do, I don't think you are.
And when I looked down, well, Icould feel my leg was wet and I
thought, oh, maybe I, maybe Igot a scratch or something.
And by the time I looked downand pulled my leg up out of the
scaffold, my shoe was full ofblood and I thought, ooh, now,
like I said before, I've neverhad stitches right.
So I'm thinking, ah, maybeit'll be okay, because you know

(25:05):
I'm on the island, to getstitches is such a pain.
So I pulled my pant leg up butI knew before, like I mean, my
shoe was full, I was making amess everywhere and got my leg
up there, the pants up over myknee, and on the kind of

(25:26):
backside just below my knee onon the inside of my leg, I
opened up a cut.
I'm pretty sure it just kind oftore somehow.
I'm not even sure there were nonails there that gouged it or
my pants weren't ripped or.
But whatever, however ithappened, I put a gash in my

(25:49):
calf that would have been aboutthree and a half inches, maybe
four inches long and about aninch and a half deep and, mother
, it was bleeding, like bleeding, and so you know I don't
usually get too worked up.

(26:10):
I'm not the guy that sees bloodand gets faint or anything like
that guy that sees blood andgets faint or anything like that
.
So I pulled my belt off and Iput it above my knee and
tightened it on and held it totry and not make such a mess,
and got down off the scaffoldand walked over to the cottage

(26:30):
and got my pants off and, youknow, had a good look at it and
yeah, it was one of those that,even though I've never had an
injury where I needed stitches,I knew I needed stitches.
So the boys wanted to take meand I said, no, just let's get

(26:52):
the, let's get.
I knew I had to go, but Ididn't want to take them off the
island and you know cause Lordknows how long the the weights
are these days and I got the, mymy first aid kit out and there
there was these big pads and Idon't even know what they were

(27:12):
called.
I don't know if they werecompressed, this or that, but I
read on it.
It said tampon absorbent.
So I thought, well, that soundslike a good one.
So we packed two of those on itand taped it up real tight and
taped it, cleaned my leg up andthere was it.

(27:33):
It.
It wasn't bleeding through.
So I managed to talk Donnie boyand Mark into letting me go
myself, uh, which was, which wastotally fine, and um, and it
and it actually it didn't bleedthrough at all all the way to
the hospital and um, so I drove,uh, I talked to Bud, uh Rostool

(27:53):
at the Doakies Marina when Iwas on my way out and told him
what happened and he said hesaid oh geez.
He said where are you going togo?
Sudbury or Sturgeon?
And I said no, no, I'm going togo to Sturgeon Falls.
And I was thinking, you know,sturgeon's smaller, probably not
the wait time, it was like aThursday at one o'clock in the

(28:14):
afternoon.
And he said, oh yeah, that'snot a bad idea.
He said, and then you've gotNorth Bay 20 minutes down the
road if the wait is is too long,which I am so glad he planted.
That seed in my mind becausejumped in my, my big old Ford
F-250, which is another storyI'll tell you about but jumped

(28:38):
in the old F-250 and off I went,drove into Sturgeon Falls and
got into the Emerge parking lotthere.
And, note to self, if you'reever going to Sturgeon Falls,
make sure you got a pocket fullof coins, because it's a coin up
to get out of the parkingParking's cheap $3.50,.

(29:00):
But you need change, which Ididn't.
And anyway I walked in ninehours.
Nine hours was the wait, and Iknew I had a pretty good gash
and I wanted to get it sewn upas quick as possible so it'd
start to heal.
And Bud's words of wisdom rangin my mind when I heard nine

(29:26):
hours and I said, actually, youknow what, I'm just going to
continue on down the road toNorth Bay.
She said, okay, I can't adviseyou one way or the other, but
it's totally up to you.
And I said, yep, I'm headingdown the road.
Thankfully that's what I did,because I got to North Bay into

(29:49):
the hospital, I needed to buydog food and I was thinking, oh,
should I do it first?
I just wanted to get it done.
Anyway, the nurses in there,they were beautiful, they were
so friendly and helpful and Iwas in and out in like three
hours.
It was an absolutely wonderfulexperience.

(30:13):
It was an absolutely wonderfulexperience and the young kid
that stitched me up, a nursepractitioner, ian, I think his
name was.
He had just been working at thehospital for about six months
and come in, cleaned it out realgood and froze it up a little

(30:34):
bit and he stitched me up andanyway, I ended up getting a
couple inside the cut and abunch on the outside, so I think
the final tally was seven.
And then, like I say, hepatched me up, I was out the

(31:00):
door and I had time to go to getmy dog food and do a little bit
of running around in town andthen head back, head back to the
lodge and oh, it was just a.
It was a wonderful experience.
I was really having a good dayfor, you know, falling in and
tearing my leg open for sevenstitches, and you know, all the
old I got a 92 F250 that's inabsolutely mint condition.

(31:20):
It's only it's got the 7.3diesel and I've got I bought it
with 57,000 original miles andno rust Traded my 2022 and the
guy give me cash and that truckand I'm so happy for it.
Uh, and you know, you get thewave from the, from the odd
fella.
And uh, and there's a guypulled up beside me hey, nice

(31:44):
truck, like, thanks, brother.
And uh, I go get my stuff andI'm on my way back to, uh, the,
the cottage, and um, um, itstarted to pull a little bit to
the left, which, uh, and withthese old, with older vehicles,
like I mean, we're talkingtechnology, that's, you know, 30

(32:05):
years old, 30 plus years old.
And um, I thought, geez, that's, um, I'm going to have to check
that.
You know, I'm not one to getout of the truck and check shit,
right, I just keep on driving.
But I got off the highway andonto a little paved shortcut
from Highway 17 over to 64.

(32:26):
And I decided that I'd pullover and just check it, just in
case.
Well, I jump out of the truckand my front driver's side I
could see a little smoke comingout of the wheel, well, and I
thought, ooh, fuck, that's notgood.
So I got down on my hands andknees with this big patch on my

(32:48):
leg and I looked under.
Well, I could see a flame ontop of the, on top of the, the
brake calipers, right inside therotors, and she was hot and I'm
thinking, oh, that's not good.
And then, you know, visions ofof this beautiful 1992 truck

(33:12):
going up in flames were startingto come into the back of my
mind.
But again, I'm not, I don't gettoo excited, I run a lodge.
A lot of shit happened that hashappened to me over the years.
So I thought, okay, what have Igot to put that flame out?
And then this is a life lessonfor everybody out there.
I like to think that I'm amechanically inclined guy.

(33:36):
I can fix trucks, I can.
You know, I've had enginesapart and boat engines and I've
got great people that areextremely knowledgeable that
have helped over the years.
You know Scotty Hamp.
He's a good buddy of mine, amechanic, and anytime we do

(33:56):
stuff, anytime I need a hand ordon't know something, I call
Scotty and he knows he's aconsummate professional when it
comes to engines and vehicles.
And my Uncle Barry you guyshave all heard the stories about
Uncle Barry, so I've had a lotof people in my life that are

(34:17):
mechanics and so this wassomething I didn't know and
found out in very, let me say,exciting fashion.
So I'm standing there on theside of the road and there's a
wee fire brewing on my brakesand I think, okay, what have I

(34:42):
got to put this fire out?
I looked in the back of the boxand I had a jug of windshield
washer fluid.
So I thought, okay, thewindshield washer fluid.
Well, folks, windshield washerfluid is flammable.
Do not try and put fires outwith windshield washer fluid.
So, not knowing this, and youknow, after riding around in the

(35:05):
back of my truck most of thewinter, the uh, the label was
was gone, and I grabbed this jugof windshield washer fluid and
I got down on my knees and Igive her a good shot while the,
the, the, the little flameturned into like a rocking and

(35:27):
rolling blaze that was comingright out of the wheel.
Well, now it was a flashbecause it was burning the
alcohol.
After I realized that there'salcohol in it I thought, oh my
God, now I've got a blaze.

(35:48):
And a couple of guys weredriving by and saw this all
unfolding and pulled over, andan older gentleman he's got a
camp out on the Vouv River, Ithink he said, or just outside
of it was just outside of Vernerand a younger fella, and they
were just out getting water fortheir camp.

(36:10):
And they jumped out and the oldfellow says you're running
awful hot, aren't you?
I said, yeah, man, I am.
And then the young fellow saidhey, listen, I got water.
And at that point I rememberedI had a bottle of water in the
truck.

(36:30):
So I run around and grabbed thebottle of water, then got down
and give her a shot of water andit went out right away.
But it was hot, hot, hot.
Obviously the caliper seized onme.
That's why it was pulling alittle bit to the left and with
a big old 7.3, one caliperseized isn't going to stop you,

(36:51):
it pushes through.
And so, anyway, we got that out, got it cooled down with water.
They set me up the.
I put the rest of theantifreeze in my or windshield
washer fluid in the truck andthey set me up, filled that up
with water and filled my waterbottle up with water and and
followed me all the way down to64.

(37:12):
And I put it in reverse.
Um, the uh, older gentleman.
He said, I'll put it in reverse, it might unlock for you and um
, I drove it slow just because I, you know, and tried not to use
the brakes because I didn'twant him to seize up again.
But it let loose and I I got itback to um, to um, uh, dokees,
uh and uh and then ended up byuh, I had caa tow it back to to

(37:35):
Doe Keys and and then ended upby I had CAA tow it back home to
mom and dad's where we've got ashop and a hoist and and all
that fun stuff.
But but yeah, the old 92, she,I still love it, I love her.
I, you know, I, I was, I I giveher a, I give her a wee rub on

(37:57):
the dash and told hereverything's okay.
You know, I still love you andI've got a break job to do and
you know like, I mean the partsfor the old girl lines,

(38:17):
everything for both passengerand driver's side front, and I
was 500 bucks for everything inparts.
So you know she's treated mewell.

(38:41):
About these rumors that I'mhearing that Kearney is going to
ban all vehicles made prior tothe year 2000,.
Which is very upsetting to anhonest guy like myself.
But we'll take it day by dayand go from there.
But yeah, so anyway I got backto the island and uh and uh, um
back over and Mark was there topick me up in the boat and and

(39:02):
had a, had a great uh rest ofthe uh the the week and weekend
and mom and dad and um Melissaand the kids all come up for the
long weekend at the cottage andgot to see Mark and Donny Boy
on their way out and we had awonderful weekend on the French

(39:25):
River and did a little bit offishing.
You know Dad got one walleyeand that's good.
So it was a great weekend.
And just to wrap this wholestory up, folks, I can't stress
enough how important it is ifyou're camping, if you've got a

(39:47):
cottage, especially if you're onan island, you're isolated a
little bit.
You gotta have a, really yougotta have a a really good, uh,
first aid kit Like I.
I would have.
I I, you know I was, I was good, but without a good first aid
kit it would have been a realpain in the ass, um, to to deal

(40:12):
with a cut like that andanything else Like I mean you
could get burnt, you could.
You know, and I always take itfor granted.
I go up there a lot by myselfbecause I just love being on the
island and I have theopportunity to sometimes go when
everybody else can't.
And it opened my eyes.

(40:36):
I always took for granted, youknow, working on the roof or
working doing this or picking upstones and and just whatever,
running a chainsaw or running aweed eater or you know, you
gotta really be mindful,especially when you're on your
own.
And you got to be prepared andthankfully, thankfully I had.

(41:01):
I had the, the first aid kit andlike I mean it's a good one.
I went out and I spent abouttwo hundred dollars on on this
first aid kit.
First aid kit, um and uh, Ineeded to because the the, the
stuff that uh, that um, um wasin it.
That I needed is the stuff thatyou get in the expensive ones,

(41:24):
not the cheap ones.
So there you have it.
Oh, and one more quick, um, uh,funny, uh, note, well, funny,
call it what you want.
But when I was getting stitched,um, ian, uh, when he was done,
um, he, uh, he said, hey, uh, doyou like tools?
And I said yeah, I like tools.

(41:46):
He says, okay, well, you canhave all these.
And he gave me the, um, the,the tweezers that he was using,
the two sets of scissors,hemostats, like everything that
he used to stitch me up.
I tried to get the needle but Ididn't get that.
But all of that stuff he gaveme.

(42:10):
And I found out that athospitals they just throw that
stuff out, that's a one use, andthen garbage, and they're all
stainless steel, they're allhigh quality, but I guess it's
cheaper.
And when he said it, he saidthat it's cheaper for the

(42:31):
hospital to just use them onceand then discard them rather
than sterilize them.
I was thinking in my head, well, that's a waste of money.
But then you know, aftertalking to Mark and kind of
brainstorming about it, with theliability that they might have,

(42:53):
with um, sterilizing, and thenwhat happens if you know
somebody gets sick from you knowuh, uh it, they're not being
sterilized or whatever.
I kinda, I kinda get it.
Well, at least that there's a,there's the potential for that
to be, for that to be true.
And hey, I'm not a doctor, Idon't, I'm not, uh, I don't run

(43:14):
a hospital.
So who am I to second guessthem?
And they say bad things come inthrees, right.
Well, the truck was number threeand the cut was number one.
And when I was lying on the bedgetting stitched up, my son

(43:34):
Rayburn, phoned me and it's alittle out of character for
Rayburn to call me and he saidhey, you want the good news or
the bad news?
And I'm getting stitched up.
And I said I'll tell you what.
Give me the good news.
He said I don't got none.
I said, oh, okay, well, give methe bad news.
And I had bought I grow meatroosters.

(43:56):
We grow all of our own chicken.
I think you probably in thepast I've talked about the
chickens and stuff.
But anyway, I had 75 chicks youbuy them from Bonnie's Hatchery
and I was raising my meatroosters.
Well, I'm almost embarrassed tosay this, but over the winter I

(44:22):
realized that I had a problemthat's typical for farms and I
ended up with a rat infestationout in my little barn.
It's like a 10 by 10.
It's, it's beautiful, it's likeShangri-La.
The walls are insulated.

(44:44):
It's like, I mean, it's, it'sgot hydro, it's, it's a beauty.
Little chicken coop and the ratsgot in there and I thought that
I had them under control.
I got quite a few in the rattrap, like quite a few, three or
four.
And the thing that tipped meoff, funny enough, I was sitting

(45:08):
on the couch looking out theback window.
We've got nice big back windowsin our living room facing the
backyard, and I saw an owl oneday and this would have been in
January or whatever Beautifulbig owl, and around Shelburne we
don't see.
You see them the odd time, butnot often.

(45:31):
And this fellow was sittingright back by the barn and I
thought, wow, it never dawned onme until I started seeing
evidence of rats.
And then I went out and theyhad chewed a couple of holes in
the wall and they were pullingout all of the insulation and it
was just.
They are awful, awful littlecreatures.

(45:53):
I have now found a creature thatthat I dislike more than red
squirrels and, um um, the.
So I had got, uh oh, maybe fourin in the rat trap and I was
putting them on the on my backfence post and the owl would
come and get them Right fencepost and the owl would come and

(46:19):
get them Right.
So I did that and then, youknow the the trap stopped going
off and I thought, well, maybe Igot them all.
And, um, anyway, I, uh, I, um,I had a box with uh, like one of
those protective boxes that youcan put a little bit of poison
in.
Uh, it holds the poison inside.
Got a few more with the poisonand I thought, okay, I got her
under control.

(46:40):
Well, I don't, I don't have itunder control at all and I had
no idea that rats will eatchickens, well, chicks up to
about a month old.
And um Rayburn called me whileI was on the uh, on the gurney

(47:02):
getting stitched up, and he said, yeah, the rats got like he
said it was.
He said it was like a war zone.
They got, well, I'm down to 24out of 75.
And the majority of them allwent in one night and the rats

(47:28):
come out and they were killingthem and then not even eating
them.
They just killed them andchewed them a little bit and
went to the next one and killedit.
They're awful, awful littlenightmarish creatures and I
don't like poison.
I don't like poison at all,because poison never stops
working, and especially in, in,uh, in an environment where I,

(47:49):
um, I'm, I'm eating the productout of the out of there, I'm
eating the product out of there.
So, you know, poison is notreally an option for me.
So I've been blocking off holesand putting in traps and all

(48:10):
kinds of stuff.
But if anybody out there andI've even thought about staking
them out, you know, and I'veeven thought about staking them
out you know, I've got to buy abox of .22 shorts and, you know,
sit in the barn and wait atnight for the little buggers to
come out and blast them with the.22.
You know, those wee shorts,they're a glorified pellet gun

(48:31):
really.
I know the Mennonites aroundElm almira, that's what they do
in the barn.
They'll, they'll use shortsbecause they don't go through
the steel of the barn roofapparently.
But um, I, um, I, I gottafigure that problem out.
And uh, you know the my, mylittle girls.

(48:52):
I got a bunch of eggs in theincubators and and if you hear a
humming going on in thebackground that's an incubator
of mine.
So I've got more chickens andchicks on the way.
These ones are more specialtychickens.
Their giant braum is a buddy ofmine, chris McGriskin.
He's a chicken man and set meup with my egg laying flock.

(49:17):
And uh, there's some uh prettycool breeds.
You know uh, giant Brahmas andLangshan and and uh, these ones
are uh, we're um, uh in, uhcahoots together and and gonna
uh put together some, uh, somenice breeding trios and and uh,
and there's a great market outthere for them, like they're

(49:39):
fairly valuable birds butthey're cool, they're big,
they're very docile, they're myyou know what, out of all of the
chickens I've had over theyears, from Banties to, you know
, isa, reds and Bard Rock andyou know White Rock and all
these different breeds GiantBrahmas are probably

(50:01):
my favorite.
Their comb is more like it'slike a.
It's small and looks like aflower almost on top of their
head.
And the hens, they hardly havea comb at all.
So they kind of look more likea hawk head and they are so
docile.
The roosters are friendly andbig Like.

(50:23):
I mean, you know my, my bigrooster.
He top of his head it standhigher than my knee, like he's a
.
He's a good size bird,but anyway.
So the girls were looking afterchicks.
I got chicks popping outeverywhere I got.
I got rats in the barn.
I, you know, I'm, I'm lookingafter a a a big gash on my leg I

(50:48):
tried to get.
I tried to convince Melissawhile they told me I couldn't
shower for four days orsomething.
And I tried to convince herwhile they told me I couldn't
shower for four days orsomething.
And I tried to convince herthat those beautiful, wonderful
nurses at North Bay told me totell her that she had to give me
a sponge bath every night.
But I bet you guys can andgirls out there can guess how

(51:10):
many sponge baths this guy's got.
Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty stinky,anyway, yeah, so we've got that
and I've got a bunch of beehiveson the go.
I'm gearing up to put about sixhives out.

(51:33):
And good buddy, Gary Thiebaudwe had him on the show the other
day and he's going to be comingup here in the next week or two
and we are going to talk allbees and one of the things that
I wanted to do as a lodge ownerwas to have a beehive out back

(51:58):
or two, and we also the chef,philly Phil and I always talked
about getting a pig right sothat we could feed the pig all
the slop, because all the foodwaste from the kitchen you can't
, you couldn't put it in thegarbage, so we ended up putting
it in buckets and dumping it outon one of the shorelines around

(52:21):
the back, and I had a great,great cleanup crew of about 30
turkey vultures and 150 seagulls.
That that they.
They were my best workers, man.
They were an hour early everyday and they did not leave until
the job was done.
But we wanted to, philly Philand I wanted to, you know, get a

(52:44):
pig or two and and raise themup and then have a pig roast at
the end of the season.
But we didn'tdo that.
And another, the other projectthat I wanted to implement was
honey, because having your ownhoney to serve to guests would

(53:05):
have been really, really cooland depending on what they're
eating and the pollen thatthey're getting, it changes the
flavor and color of the honey.
And to have a French Riverhoney would have been very cool.
But we're going to talkeverything bees coming up.
So I've got, I'm getting readyfor that and really excited

(53:31):
because that is going to be agreat show.
The beekeeping itself is sofreaking interesting.
I love all of that type ofthing and I'm really looking
forward to jumping into thathobby, make a little bit of

(53:53):
money with it, you know.
But and Gary's great, we'llkeep him focused and and he is
such a knowledgeable guy when itcomes to a number of different
things, so you can look forwardto that.
And and my garden.
I'm so far behind on the gardenother than my garlic.

(54:14):
I tried and this is anotherthing I'll share with you Good
friend of mine, Paul Fleer,lives around the corner from me
and I'm a big garlic guy, like Ilove garlic in everything I
love.
You can buy a garlic dehydratoror fermenter sorry.

(54:34):
You can buy a garlic dehydratoror fermenter sorry, it's like a
Instapot almost and you putyour garlic right in the clove,
you don't even take the husk offof it, throw the bulb right in
the fermenter and over seven to10 days it heats up, it cools

(54:55):
down, it makes magic, it doesthis, it does that, whatever,
whatever.
And you open it up and thegarlic in the bulb.
When you open up those clovesthey've all shrunk, obviously
and they've gone black, likeblack like night, like they look
like something that you shouldnot eat.

(55:16):
And you eat that clove and it'sgot a really, really
interesting good flavor.
It's got a texture of like asoft gummy or maybe like a very.

(55:42):
The texture would be a very,very consistent prune, like you
know how prune has the skin, andit's not consistent.
The garlic is like a really,really soft gummy.
It's got a good flavor, reallygood flavor, and it's supposed
to be extremely healthy for youand I wanted to do some

(56:03):
of that.
Anyway, I stopped over at PaulFleer's place Paul, he's a good
fishing buddy of mine from wayback and he was growing garlic
and I had always wanted to growgarlic.
I know a little bit about it,you know you should plant it in
the fall and everything else.
But he showed me that he madethis box and it was like I don't

(56:27):
know four feet by eight feetlong or whatever the size of his
box was.
It was almost like a raised bed, but it wasn't really raised,
it was just there and I askedhim I said how like?
I mean, how are you growingyour garlic?
Cause he sells it too and it'sa breed called music and they're

(56:47):
big, beautiful clothes.
And he, he showed me and Ithought, geez, I've got a raised
bed right now.
I tore out, um, but, uh, Ireinstalled it.
So this is what, um, this iswhat he told me or showed me
to do.
I took my raised bed, um, putit back into the back garden

(57:13):
that I've got, put it back intothe back garden that I've got.
I tilled the ground real goodbefore I put the raised bed down
and again it's just kind ofsitting on top of the ground.
Then I dug a lot of the goodsoil, the good topsoil from

(57:33):
around it and threw it in.
So this raised bed would havebeen about I guess it's about
maybe three, six, nine, 10inches deep.
So I filled it up with maybethree or four more inches of of
good topsoil.
So I still got five, six inchesleft above ground in there
inside theraised bed.
And you get it's a mesh you canget at Home Hardware.

(57:59):
I got mine at Shelburne HomeHardware here.
But what it is is it's that big.
You get it in 4x8 sheets.
It's like a 4x4 square and it'smeant for concrete.
It's meant to go.
You pour your concrete and youthrow these mesh sheets.
Throw these mesh sheets intothe concrete to solidify the

(58:21):
concrete, to hold it, to give itstructural integrity, and so I
got two of those.
You put them across the top andmy raised bed was four feet by
16 feet long.
So I got two sheets of that.
You put it right on top, youtack it down and then and you

(58:45):
plant your garlic onthe grid.
So, and another wonderful, andI and and Pauly boy, I'm sorry I
can't remember whether you toldme not to give your secrets
away, but you know what away,but you know what.
This is a great way to do itand I'm hey, listen, if you need
garlic, give Paul Fleer a callor reach out to me because I'll

(59:15):
set you up with it.
But he was taking a long, justfrom your toolbox, an extension,
a deep socket, aboutseven-eighths of an inch deep
socket, and just you go alongthat grid every four inches,
Boom, you stuff that socket down, mark it.
Geez, he told me exactly theright depth and that's.
I wish I could say it was atrade secret, but I've forgotten

(59:38):
how deep it was.
But I'm gonna say maybe fourinches deep.
Anyway, google it.
I'm sure the google box willfigure some shit out, or chap,
gbt or gdi or whatever you wantto go um, but you go on
that grid.
I I took um my buddy ray pool.
He always, he always preachesabout a concoction that you dump

(01:00:01):
in the hole for your tomatoes,for your onions.
Well, I'm pretty sure he dumpsit into every hole that he
plants, and it was like wormcasings and blood meal and a lot
of different organicfertilizers.
Mix them all up, dump a littlebit in each hole.
Then I planted all of thatgarlic, one clove in each,

(01:00:25):
covered it over and then the keyis to I only tack down the one
side of the expanded mesh, orthe grid, the mesh, lift that up
, flip it over so it's openagain and fill it right full
with leaves, old leaves Like Iplanted in, you know, middle of

(01:00:47):
October, beginning of November,sometime
like that.
So all of the leaves from thelawn and all that stuff, rake up
those leaves and pack her, puther in there on top of that, on
top of your garlic, and thenflip those screens back over.
And those screens work twofold.
They are your grid.

(01:01:09):
So you're planting them on afour, four inch grid and the
spacing is beautiful and theyhold all those leaves in over
the winter so they don't blowout and by the springtime we had
great.
We had really a really goodyear
for snow.
Those leaves were all packeddown.

(01:01:30):
They're kind of broken, they'rekind of decomposed a little bit
and that garlic man, oh man,she pushed through there like
you wouldn't believe and um, um,once it, uh, once your garlic
gets pushed up, you got to kindof watch too.
Any of those garlic that arethat are struggling, that kind

(01:01:51):
of gets stuck in in the middleof a leaf or it's.
It's amazing what they'll pushthrough.
But you kind of just kind ofhelp them so that they're not
getting caught too badly inthose leaves.
I've left them there.
That biomass helps.
When it's dry it holds moisture, when it's wet it helps

(01:02:11):
evaporate moisture and it alsois great compost and it keeps
the weeds down.
And once your garlic comesthrough to the point where it's
poking above that screen or thatmesh, pull the mesh off.
You're done with that for theyear.
All of the garlic sprouts willhold your leaf base in there

(01:02:39):
fromblowing away.
And Bob's, your uncle and I gotback from the cottage, went out
back and I was amazed at howwell it's doing.
Thank you, paul.
I really appreciate what youdid and I put in for interest.
In a four by 16 raised bed Ifit 207 clothes.

(01:03:10):
So you multiply that by aboutfive.
I'm going to be doing good andI love this system so much.
I'm going to be doing good, uh,and, and I love it, I love this
system so much, I'm going to,I'm going to double down, I'm
going to put another bed inthere, just the same way you
know, and, um, epsom salts and,uh, wood ash was another, uh was

(01:03:31):
another um, um, uh little uhtidbit that I had learned, uh,
uh on the, on the Google box andTikTok and whatever, whatever
that I employed and it seems tobe working
very well.
So there you go, folks, yourgardening tip of the day from a

(01:03:53):
former lodge owner and all youlodge owners out there.
Owner and all you lodge ownersout there.
Man, oh man, I got to tell you,if you're providing food in an
American plan, that homemade,homegrown stuff is outstanding.
I used to grow my own lettuceand carrots and different things

(01:04:13):
here at home and I would.
When I had enough, I'd theoverflow would go to the lodge
and it.
It really, really helps,especially if you've got a place
to do it, at your, at your, atyour facility.
We had a, we had a raised bed,you know, on the French River,

(01:04:34):
where we're on top of rock, butthe chefs always had an herb
garden there.
You know chives are a great onebecause those beautiful purple
flowers are an unbelievablegarnish too.
And you know the chefs that Ihad, dave and Philly, phil and
all those guys, daryl, in thebeginning.

(01:04:55):
They really love to have accessto something that is easy.
It's right there when it's inseason to doll up those plates.
And you know you can have thymeand rosemary and all kinds of
different herbs in an herbgarden and um it it just to have

(01:05:18):
fresh herbs that are growing,that are live and not from, you
know, cisco's or or Flanagan'sor whoever um that are dried in
a, in a plastic bottle, makesall the difference.
Um, grow a herb garden.
I've got one going here, I gotone up at the, up at the cottage
.
It's um it's, it's fairly easy,low maintenance and um it it

(01:05:43):
really really, at certain timesof the year, makes a big
difference.
So, and listen, um, this isgoing to be a first but not
a last.
I want to thank producerAnthony Mancini.
That man has been producingthis show now in concert with

(01:06:05):
Dino for a long time, likemultiple, multiple episodes.
He is the guy that cuts it alltogether, makes me sound good
and he needs to know, know thatI really, really appreciate
everything he does.
Um, you know, anthony, you rockbrother, thank you very much

(01:06:29):
for everything you do.
And um, folks, head on over tofishingcanadacom and and and get
your um, uh ballots in whenGarmin stuff we've got all kinds
of.
You never know what Ange andPete have
on the.
Go over there, uh, get overthere and and uh, take advantage
of of winning free stuff.

(01:06:50):
Mercury engines uh, you neverknow, we just give away an
electric engine.
Um, you get over there overthere and look after that.
And thank you to everyone whosupports us.
You know Lakeside Marine,andrew up there, thank you very
much.
We really appreciate workingwith you.
It's easy.
You guys are consummateprofessionals and I appreciate

(01:07:16):
everything you do.
And folks, last and definitelynot least, I appreciate you guys
getting this far in thisepisode.
If not for you, we wouldn't behere and I thank you.
And any questions you've got,you know how to reach out to me.

(01:07:37):
Steven at fishincanadacom.
Willie, he's not with us today.
He's got swollen vocal cordsand for a man like Willie,
swollen vocal cords is adevastating injury.
You know what I mean.

(01:07:59):
And, willie, we hope you'refeeling better and you get them
vocal cords all tuned back up soyou can get back on the air
with us and folks.
Thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of

(01:08:19):
Diaries of a Lodge.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Owner.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Stories of the.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
North Since the day I was born, bending my rock,
stretching my line.
Someday I might own a lodge andthat'd be fine.

(01:08:47):
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how Working hard and
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

(01:09:12):
seems.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Back in 2016,.
Frank and I had a vision toamass the single largest
database of muskie anglingeducation material anywhere in
the world.

Speaker 5 (01:09:28):
Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this
amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
like you.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly
grew to become one of the topfishing podcasts in North
America.

Speaker 5 (01:09:42):
Step into the world of angling adventures and
embrace the thrill of the catchwith the Ugly Pike podcast.
Join us on our quest tounderstand what makes us
different as anglers and touncover what it takes to go
after the infamous fish of10,000 casts.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
The Ugly Pike podcast isn't just about fishing.
It's about creating atight-knit community of
passionate anglers who share thesame love for the sport.
Through laughter, throughcamaraderie and an unwavering
spirit of adventure.
This podcast will bring peopletogether.

Speaker 5 (01:10:10):
Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our
angling adventures.
Tight lines everyone.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.

Speaker 6 (01:10:26):
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, angelo and Iwill be right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Hmm, now, what are we going totalk about for two hours every
week?
Well, you know, there's goingto be a lot of fishing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.

Speaker 6 (01:10:52):
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 Garth and Turk.

Speaker 5 (01:11:03):
And all the Russians would go fishing To scientists.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe.

Speaker 5 (01:11:09):
it's the perfect transmission environment for
life To chefs, if any game isn'tcooked properly, you will taste
it.

Speaker 6 (01:11:18):
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.