In celebration of a job well done to date supper Saturday night was something very special. Side dishes consisted of stir-fry vegetables and white rice, cooked on the propane stove, then kept warm on the woodstove.

Next I prepped the frying pan over medium heat melting quite a bit of butter, then adding minced fresh garlic, salt and black pepper.

The main dish was Mark French's last Atlantic Salmon which he tagged last season on the Great Northern Peninsula. With an allowance of just two fish per fisherman to be retained each season, wild Atlantic Salmon is quickly becoming a delicacy.

French cut his harvest into steaks (which greatly minimized wastage) then I fried the pieces over medium heat turning regularly for an even cook without burning or drying out this wonderful treat!

This was the first wild Atlantic Salmon to be cooked up in the new camp! There were so many pieces I had to fry them in two lots!

The seasoned butter worked out perfect and created an absolutely wonderful taste without overpowering the beautiful natural flavour of the salmon. The rest of the evening was rather short, after a long hard day we all hit the bunk fairly early.

Breakfast Sunday morning was much the same, this time with my Jalapeño cheddar moose sausages, and scrambled eggs for a change over fried eggs.

Poor Stroh was not feeling well at all Sunday, he figures he came down with the same flu his daughter had recently and it certainly knocked the crap out of him this morning!

After breakfast we carried on with some smaller projects, starting with the installation a range hood including ductwork to vent it outside.

By mid-afternoon it was time for Stroh, French and I to pack up and head back to the trucks for the journey home.

Slaney gave Stroh a ride out to the trucks. He made good use of the trip by loading up an old bathtub wooden hutch to carry out and either sell or do a dump run later.

It's amazing to see that after all the warm weather the last few weeks that there is still a significant amount of snow in the woods!

We made it out to the trucks with absolutely no issues on the dry woods trail, everything was still strapped tight and secure on the bikes.

The drive back to town under warm sunny skies was absolutely beautiful. We had a great winter this year, it's awesome to see so much snow still on the hills near Holyrood this late in the year! A stark contrast to the same time last year!

Slaney stayed at the camp one more night and knocked out a few more projects including vapour barrier in the third bedroom.

One final huge accomplishment was tidying away all the tools and construction materials. Then Terry moved the table to the new kitchen, and put the couch, coffee table and chair in its proper spot in the living room!

Terry also got a new ceiling fan/light installed and boxed in the ductwork for the range hood above the upper cabinets.

Its been one heck of a busy few weekends at Terry's camp and a lot of hard work but the results speak for themselves. The project is ahead of schedule but there is still lots of work to get done. Now the cabin is way more comfortable and quite liveable, perfect timing with trouting season about to open here in the province.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith