The new year. well the last one was probably one of the best years of my life so it's easy to have a positive outlook for the new one. great kids, great marriage, a job i love. what am i looking forward to? nothing I guess. I wouldn't change a thing. well it would be nice to quit the cigs. I am finally grown up enough to know that I'm happier than I deserve to be, karmically speaking.
I'm also finally smart enough to know when I've got it good.
well, that's all from the messy mind, happy new year to everyone out there.

well it's that time of year again, when we all stop and celebrate a very special birth a long time ago in a place far away. I am of course talking about the birth of santa claus around the turn of the century in newfoundland.
I'm kidding( hopefully that was obvious ) But really the religion aspect of it never rang for me.
I'm a spiritual guy just not a religious one. so it's all about the fun for us.
When I was a kid, christmas would be going along just fine and then the clock struck 11 a.m.
church time. oh well the service usually only lasted for a million years, so it wasn't too bad.
I don't look sideways at those folks that do follow and practice organized religion, just not my cup of tea. And for my own kids I'll encourage them to follow what they want,but I would be surprised if they went that way. Miranda is not too big on religion either. so no battles there thank god ....or buddha whoever, you know what I mean.
anyways, messy christmas from the merry minded fool.

no more calls...we have a winner

That's right Jason, the fifth was my birthday and for cracking Da Brownie code you win a genuine Fort Simpson toque- to claim your prize simply e-mail your mailing address to contest organizer at timothy.w.brown@hotmail.com

well as of approx 0230GMT 42 solar circuits have been completed, and number 43 is under way.

Yeah, I eat onion now, like dad was with it though, I like the flavor of it but don't like great big gnarly chunks of it. But you guys asking me about the onion thing brought something out of the messy mind.
About a year after my first wife walked out on us, I guess Rebecca would have been about 2 years old, I woke up one morning and could hear this munch-crunch noise echoing through the apartment. I jumped out of bed and went out to the living room, and there's Beckers, sitting on the floor watching cartoons and munching on a great big onion- just like an apple. I mean taking GREAT big bites and chewing it up- I was ten feet away and those onion fumes were almost like a pepper spray. "Beckers" I said "What are you doing?" She glanced at me and says "apple"
Another time I was at the fridge, and she saw a lemon inside and asked if she could have that orange. I told her it was a lemon and she wouldn't like it, but she insisted. I peeled it and broke it into sections-she ate that whole lemon without so much as a squint.
Anyways, to get caught up, yeah mike those are all pike. There's a lake outside of Yellowknife that has char in it, but I've never been there. For trout you have to go to a lake but Salmon have been caught down by Willow river. And of course everyone else's favorite the pickerel, I don't mind catching them but for fight and ease of catching you can't beat northern pike and those bad boys are everywhere. They are actually quite yummy too if you catch them early in the year or late in the year when the water is good and cold. You have to be a bit of a surgeon to get the Y bone out of them though.
We are just getting ready to go out in the boat right now.
Sis I know, what you mean about the life jacket thing. But when I first came up north I was fortunate enough to go up to Great Bear lake on a fishing trip. When we picked up the boat we were going to use I asked the guy( he was a native elder) about life jackets he laughed. "why?" he asked " Do you want to bob around for awhile before you die?" "A life jacket won't save you,just prolong the outcome"
The water is so cold there even in the middle of the summer you got about 5 minutes before hypothermia sets in. I tested the theory by having a bath in the lake, and I tell you when I ducked under to rinse my hair it was like having your skull squeezed in a vice. I was in the water for about 8 minutes and my lips were blue and couldn't move my arms and legs very good. The other guys were gonna have a swim til they saw me when I came out of the water.

well, I tried to post video of me and steve-o sailing down the lake (no joy on that one) so some still pics are the best I can do. Mike I guess I haven't changed much since those days on the Basin as we couldn't resist putting up a sail out on the lake in stiff wind. we used a ten by fourteen foot tarp. As i said in the video "we don't have much say in where we're going, but we're going there pretty quick"

I tried using the kicker for a tiller but it was sluggish at best.

Oh one other thing bouncing around inside the messy foolish mind, brought forth by Jason's soon to be trip home and his food list. To me as a kid growing up going to the city(halifax-dartmouth) meant one thing.....sunnyside donuts. Tim Horton's is a johnny come lately also ran to these guys. Anyone else remember sunnyside donuts? gimme a holla back, as the kids say.

I do indeed like fish in fact I love it. I remember when I was a kid I could take it or leave it, but now it's one of my fave's. We just came back from Willow river, we took off yesterday on a whim.
While we were down there, we cooked up a twenty-five pound lake trout. mmmmm yummy. we cooked it over an open fire and it took a little over two hours. a few rums and the night was complete(except for the whole sleeping in the truck thing thanks Coleman, owe you one-Ill get ya back for that when yer a little older.)
Cooking that trout down there gave me a reason to poke around inside the messy mind. When we were kids we'd be out the door in the morning and lunch was usually a big galvanized tub full of clams, mussles and crabs that we'd dig up and catch and cook over a fire right down on the beach. Mike remembers that I'm sure. We'd tie a bunch of drift logs together and go waaay out in the Annapolis basin.
I believe Mike and I probably still hold the record for going out the furthest. I remember Barry Watson's mother just screaming at us way out on the water. I admit I was scared but Mike was fearless.
Jason, the north is here, and you are welcome to come up any time. I think that would be cool.
I know the previous post alluded to the fact that I was giving up on the excursion vacation for something more main stream...uh not yet. I'm currently planning next years trip- it's a two day trip up a river system with two portages to a lake where there's an old abandoned lodge, couple of days on the lake, trout and pickerel fishing, and then two days on the river back out. 6 or seven days total. can't get that from a travel agent.

pics from previous post are of one of the thunderstorms overhead at camp on Willow lake and one of Miranda's grandfathers old trapping cabins. pics from this post are of a t-storm over the lake and another one of his old cabins. they are actually side by side not far from each other in the bush at the edge of the lake. the older log one is from like the early 1900's. The cabins were easily recognized by the building style, as soon as I saw them, I knew they were his. after having spent a week up there I can understand his life long love of the area. The entire Horn Plateau is a protected area. Not a park, as you can hunt and fish there. but protected from exploration and developement by the oil and gas and mining folks. I was flying in a plane one time and the guy sitting next to me is looking out the window and says "look at all that nothing" I leaned over a bit and glanced out the window and looked down and replied "look at all that everything".

I came back from my trip in better shape than I've been in years. I was not feelin great if you recall about a week before i left. But a week of drinking lake water and 18 hour days on the lake will set you right.

That being said this will likely be the last time I go out on a real excursion like this. Miranda worries and would prefer if I did something a little more orthodox like going to a lodge on a guided trip. I 'm starting to see the light on that. I've had my risky fun, and I will admit when the plane came to get us this afternoon, I was ready to come home. There was one point out on the lake when there was a question wether we should keep going or go back to camp. The waves were crashing over the boat, we were airborn more than a few times the wind was strong and steady and the waves were at about 4 feet I was having a blast...and i turned back to camp. There was a time when I would have kept going. but not now.

you bought a what?

Departure for the trip has been postponed til June 21. Kind of funny as it was the same day last year that Steven and I left on our trip, of course, that didn't work out so good for steve-o.

We have to delay because the lake is still 80% ice covered(difficult to operate on floats)

the pic if it comes up, is of the coolest thing I've bought in a awhile.

it's a personal satellite tracker/messenger. It's an in-expensive alternative to a sat-phone.

It comes with a $100,000 LLoyds of London insurance policy that covers the cost(up to 100k) of helicopter extraction anywhere in the world. Plus the wife can sign in to the web site and see where I am in real time on google earth. It also sends an OK message or a non-urgent help message, or an emergency reponse required message-this message goes to GEOS world wide rescue operations as well as all local responders. Miranda likes the idea of peace of mind while I'm away. She's heard all the stories so she's probably right to worry.

the countdown

30 days til my fly out fishing trip, god willing the ice is gone when we get there. I sought out some advice about our egress off of the Horn plateau. I've decided to have Simpson Air come back up and get us with the float plane.
The owner of Simpson air, Ted Grant advised us that the Willow lake river is a bit rough coming off the Horn. I'll quote him as best I can, "Imagine a twenty-five foot wide chute that's nothing but jagged rocks and foamin' white water. The river drops about 400 feet over a two mile stretch."
My first thought was..."COOL!!!" Then I actually did imagine it and thought "Not Cool, that's not cool at all."
I've had a lot of close calls up here,but never because I didn't heed a warning or sound advice.

the dirt on mom for jason

Sorry man, there is no dirt that I'm aware of (I don't deny the existence of said dirt, just my knowledge of it) frank and margaret were just old enough that most of their transgressions went by me and mike.
I do remember she taught me how to clean the bathroom, then gave me a snoopy sticker and told me if I clean the bathroom I get a sticker. man, I think I cleaned the bathroom three times that day, and used a whole can of Comet to get those stickers. Mike, were you in on the sticker deal?
Jason I've racked my brain, checked every file in this messy foolish mind, and the bathroom cleaning for a sticker is all I got for you.

A hammer story

When I first came North, I'm talking about literally the first two days. I flew from Halifax to Toronto,2 hours on the ground then on to edmonton, 2 hours on the ground then on to yellowknife, 15 minutes on the ground then on to Norman Wells. I was nervous about moving away from home, scared shitless about flying and excited about a new life all at the same time...soooo I drank my face off- straight thru to Norman Wells. My buddy met me at the airport and we went back to his house for a very late supper and a few last beers. It was past midnight and still broad daylight which was unnerving.
My buddy Kirk told me at about three thirty in the morning that i would be flying out on a "bush" plane in the morning to Fort Norman to start work- "what?!!??"
I wanted to sleep for a week, but I got up and got to the plane on time. About twenty minutes later I'm on the ground meeting my new employer. Straight to the job site. Straight up the scaffolding, three tiers. I'm holding up the faschia, the long straight piece of wood that hangs under the eaves at the edge of the roof, while the other guy is nailing it in place. he's taking his time. It's a nice sunny day. It's warm. the birds are singing the bees are buzzing around. Sure seems like a lot of bees up here, some of them are pretty big too. So I'm standing there, my left arm up over my head holding up this piece of wood, the other arm hanging loosely at my side, with my brand new 18oz. framing hammer in my hand.
Suddenly there's this knifing pain in my left shoulder- in a milisecond I glance down and see this HUGE "Bee" on my shoulder. Instinct takes over I swing to swat at the thing(had to be a right hand swing, I was holding the fashcia in my left) Of course, still had that framing hammer in my mitt when I swung at the bug-"THWAAACK!!!" That hammer hit me in the head, as hard as I could swing it. Off the scaffold I go AAAAHHH!!! boom into the mud and wet moss. Head pounding, shoulder bleeding. I look up at the other guy on the scaffold and he says"you had a bulldog on your shoulder."
That frigging thing was as big as my thumb, and took an enormous divot of flesh when it took off.
The guy tells me that everywhere else they would be called a horsefly. NOT BLOODY LIKELY!
But that's what it was, a bulldog. The northern steroidal version.
It's funny but everytime a hammer goes flying by(or into) my head I think about that story.
Thanks to my wife for inspiring this post(via the hammer)and helping me tidy up the mess.

Sis, you are one hundred percent correct. mom never made us do anything she wasn't doing right beside us, indeed, we even had to insist that she take a break when she would start having trouble breathing. I remember mike and I making deals with her that we would stay outside for another half hour or however many more loads of dirt if she would pack it in and go inside and rest.
I've outworked guys twice my size for twice as long in the worst kind of conditions without complaint up here(I worked construction for YEARS up here) and I've earned the respect of bosses and subordinates alike because of the work ethic I learned from mom. I don't regret it a bit, and you are right it was some of the best times growing up. But when I remember, and I reach back in time and touch that time and that place....

Now you can

I'm still figuring this stuff out, but apparently I've been discriminating against the anonymous users out there. Well no more of that.
All are welcome into the messy mind.
I got an e-mail from my brother mike, and he indeed does remember the time in the labor camp.
However, he credits that experience for making him the workaholic that he is today.
funny, to me "credit" and "blame" might be interchangeable words there.
I certainly recognise that it helped me come to terms with the inevitability of work.
WORK that demon time stealer who accepts no excuses. too cold? forget it. too hot? same thing.
I'll admit that I am a workaholic- no meetings for us though. 12 steps? jeez! who has the time?
I gotta get to work!

work, then and now

After getting a load of gravel in for the driveway and around the front of the house, I got to remembering(asI often do). I've told Miranda about when Mike and I were kids and how Mom always had a project on the go(usually landscaping-or flood control).
Mike and I had a choice, when school was out for the summer. We could work everyday for three hours-for twenty-five cents an hour...or(wait for it...)OR we could work everyday for three hours for free. It was our choice.
Our friends knew that if they were foolish enough to drop by, they too would be enlisted or maybe conscripted is a better word.
I remember on more than one occasion one of our friends would sneak up the driveway ninja style too peek and see if it was safe to enter the yard.
I bought my first boat with money I earned in Mrs. Brown's top-soil pits. It was an inflatable and cost forty-two dollars and came from, you guessed it, Canadian tire. Mike if you read this do you remember the old EM-GEE 4 ?

That reminds me...

A comment on the family blog by my older brother Frank got me thinking.
When my brother Mike and I were kids(I think I was six when this started) my mom said that if we let her cut our hair;as opposed to going to the barber in Bear River, she would put fifty cents in a jar every time. The plan was we were going to go to Disney World on the money my mom saved by cutting our hair and making our clothes instead of buying them. It took four years (and all of dads tips) but we went to Disney World.
The last time I paid for a haircut I was fifteen years old. I've been cutting my own hair since then. Granted, I don't have to spend a lot of time cutting my hair these days. It falls out fast enough on it's own. But like the lawyer that represents himself; so too does the barber that cuts his own hair have a fool for a client.

It got up to plus three today. I've been torturing myself with online shopping-catalog shopping from my two favorite places to shop: the fishin' hole and Canadian tire.
we're going to yellowknife tomorrow and I will be going to the crappy tire store there.
I'm not sure if it's just me, or maybe it's this way with all canadian men, but, I LOVE THAT SMELL!! , and they all smell the same. I remember going there with my mom and dad when me and my brother Mike were kids. looking at all that camping gear and new bikes, man that was the best.
But I digress, the reason for all the shopping of course is the impending summer. I like to be sitting ready, fishing rod in hand, tackle box stocked anew, waiting for the ice to crack.
This year, I will be chartering a floatplane and flying out on to the Horn plateau for some fishing.
Steven of the burnt leg will accompany me. we'll take my boat and take the willow river back down off the horn plateau. Hopefully there are no major falls or anything.

It's all about perspective

When I first moved to Fort Simpson, I met a fella on the jobsite and we became friends. One day after work he asked me if I wanted to go out on the river with him for the weekend, do some fishing, maybe shoot a moose.
I had never been out on the river yet at that point. So I agreed instantly. The added bonus- his wife would take beckers for the weekend.
So off we go, I'm loving it we're zooming down river. I've never seen this kinda big river, so I'm fascinated.
After about three hours we come to a confluence with another river-the North Nahanni river.
Nice big gravel bar to camp on, lots of wood handy, nice mountains..perfect.
We caught a few fish, played around in the boat. Shot off a couple boxes of shells target shooting. We stayed there for three days,and didn't see a soul.
My buddy, Stan, is Inuit from WAY up north. To say that these folks don't waste words is an understatement. Long periods of quiet and isolation don't seem to bother these hearty people either. I'll admit while we were there, there were some loooong silences.
But on the afternoon of the third day, and we haven't seen another soul for days...we hear a boat motor in the distance. I can barely see it going down the far side of the river.
Stan looks at me and says in all seriousness "Jeez, busy place around here".
I burst out laughing- to me we were two guys in the middle of nowhere, and if there was someone else there, who was so far away I could BARELY see them, that was fine. I still felt isolated, away from it all.
Stan felt crowded.
It's all about perspective.