Christmas Day

Getting ready to visit the family by my Mother’s house.

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas

We celebrated the Neverman Christmas yesterday by Mona’s Sister in Manitowoc. We had a good time. Mona got her quick fix of the Monopoly Card Game.

Photos to Follow when I get a little time.

Special Update

Mona mentioned to me last night that my Sister-in-Law reminded her that I hadn’t updated the site here in quite some time. This posting is specially for her.

Here is a photo of Mona cutting the grass for the last time in 2011. It was taken about two weeks ago. I said it’s the last time this year because right now, most of the lawn is covered with SNOW!  The next time might be me on the 4-wheeler removing the snow from our driveway?

Last Open Water Fishing in 2011?

We went out fishing on Shawano Lake just over a week ago. You couldn’t beat the weather compared to this week. Near 80 degrees on October 9 – can’t beat that.

Mona caught this Largemouth Bass on a spinnerbait after a half hour or so.

If she can do it – I can do it too. I think hers was a little bigger though (not by much). Both fish were released.

A Few of the Turkeys We Saw A Couple Weeks Ago

As we took a ride around the Lake a couple weeks ago we came across theses Turkeys.  They didn’t seem to be too bothered by our presence as they slowly walked away and crossed the highway in to the woods.

Temple Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake – Ontario (July 2011) part 1

 

 

(All photos left to right) Mona took this photo of John jigging with a round jighead and minnow on the Barber Pole Reef. This is the last fish we need to go home with our limit of Walleye. Now we had to switch over to try to catch Northern Pike or Perch.

 

Mona checks the boat line to make sure it is secured properly so we don’t loose it. You can’t tell by the water in this photo but the wind is blowing pretty strong that day. Once the boat is secured Mona comes to the center of this small island.  We assume it has a name but we named it “Moose Island” because we ate lunch there with some friends we were traveling with back in 1996. We found some fresh signs of Moose that he left behind. We have yet to see a life Moose up there after 5 trips to Ontario.

 

Mona is taking a break from fishing as we slowly motor around the Bay where the Lodge is located. Temple Bay Lodge as seen from Eagle Lake.

 

On our last day of fishing we had a dock hand take this photo before we took all of our gear up to the cabin.  One of the meals we had for supper one evening. We actually had steak two night we were there.

 

The waitress caught this picture. We shared our table for meals with the same guests all week. There was a couple from the Wisconsin Rapids area and a couple of guys that got picked up in Appleton.

 

View from the end of the Bar going toward the office, store, and dining area. One of the walleye we  brought home.

 

Mona poses with one of the walleyes she caught. This one appears to be a keeper. Mona measuring another fish on the board which shows us the slot sizes to keep.

 

John checks out Facebook in the Lodge on our laptop. Mona didn’t forget her books as she’s caught here reading while sitting on the porch of our cabin.

Temple Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake – Ontario (July 2011) part 2

 

Sunset photo taken from the porch of our cabin. The dock area as seen from the balcony on the Lodge. Naturally our boat was on the far left side about as far as you could walk out.

Inside the cabin. Two rooms (bathroom in the back) was plenty when all of the meals are included with the trip. John holds up one of the Northern Pike we brought back.

This Northern Pike that Mona caught was just in the slot size that had to be returned to the water. The next photo she holds a walleye that didn’t get so lucky.

Mona was bartender here as she makes up a couple of Whisky Old Fashion Sours. Great touch before heading to the dining room for supper. One of our neighbors from the Milwaukee area took this photo of us on our front porch. (Why is my drink darker than hers?)

John pulls in a Walleye as the guide looks on  John caught and released a Musky. It’s the first Musky we caught in 5 trips to Canada. Little guy was only about 13 inches long though.

Our guide caught here cleaning fish for shore lunch. The rest of the meal is already being cooked as he takes time out to do this. He has his secret egg and breading mixture that he coats the fish with before it goes in the frying pan.

The fish being cooked to a golden brown and finally dinner is served. A nice slab of onion tops off the bread as we served this buffet of food. There are some things that I didn’t have room on my plate for.

Mona finds a chair along the shoreline to eat her dinner. This little squirrel even got his share of the left-overs as the guide was packing up all his cooking materials. This little guy is stranded on an Island probably from winter so I’ll bet he enjoys it when people stop to visit him. Everything was gone when Mona and I went back the next day to use the bathroom there.

DURBEN REUNION 2011… another one in the books

The 2011 Reunion has come and gone. Turn out was pretty good. The weather was hot with a few rain drops every once in a while but it looked like everyone enjoyed themselves. The food was good and plentiful. (Grilling was done by Chef Doug.) The event was sponsored by Toni Durben this year at her house in Darboy.

Once I get more time, I’ll try to post more photos. If anyone else wants to share some of their photos, please get them to me. I’m sure there’s a lot of good ones out there.

(The John M. Durben Family will host the event in 2012.)