Ice-breaking news! Well, no, actually ice-not-breaking news, but we do the best we can …

We (well, some of we) are going back to Penetanguishene, or perhaps I should call it P-town, having referred to Ottawa as O-town.  But given what’s been going on there, octogenarian-wise, perhaps I won’t.  I was delighted, however, to discover that I can get the weather for Beausoleil Island, even on the sidebar weather widget, so you can experience the weather I will be watching.  Isn’t life grand!

But here is what you have really been waiting for, and unfortunately I do not mean your ship coming in, because it can’t, being frozen, encore une foie [again one time, French for still, as they like to use a ratio of three words to one English word, I think out of principle]. No, what I mean is the Shipping News, by which I do not mean a depressing novel that everyone but me read, me liking my novels pleasant and finding reality depressing enough without needing to fictionalize it at great length.  No, what I really mean [we knew you could get there, ed.] is the

DAILY GREAT LAKES and SEAWAY SHIPPING NEWS

brought to you by boatnerd.com, the hottest [or coldest] source for ice-breaking news out there.

Browsing through the top story we find that, other than it reading like a Thomas the Freighter story, among

the waiting ships in the lower river were Tecumseh and Lee A. Tregurtha. Both were advised that their time had come [seems a little harsh], and they followed the Risley upriver to the Hay Lake anchorage, close to Nine Mile. Before they arrived, the Risley broke the ice in the anchorage to allow the ships to take advantage of this space closer to the locks. There is still a gathering of the ships in the Soo and little space for others to join, especially after the Roger Blough returned for repairs on Friday.

Several hours behind the Tecumseh and Tregurtha were Algosteel and Saginaw. Both ships made the journey without direct assistance although they reported the channel on the Sailor’s Encampment ranges was still very “sticky.” Saginaw is going to the mill in Soo, Ont., while the Algosteel is reported to be joining the convoy attempting to make the trip west on Lake Superior.

With all the troubles in Port Colborne/Eastern Lake Erie, Mackinac Strait, Lower Seaway and the yet-to-be-broken Georgian Bay, there appears to be no immediate relief or extra icebreakers in sight.

There is also a pleasant story of Canadian/American cooperation, when the “CCGS Samuel Risley … being always ready for whatever tasks come her way, stopped to reposition” a U.S. buoy, in U.S. waters no less, because “the two coast guards complement each other in several ways – this was one example.”  I suspect the other example has to do with the war on drugs, but that is a rant for another day.  Today they seem admirable. [Are admiral’s admirable?  If you let them be, she said, pretending to be a cryptic crossword for a moment. [Please don’t, ed.]].

As I was saying, what a cold and thankless [except perhaps here and on the ships’ radios] task they performed:

The buoy itself had a 4,000-pound anchor and 48 feet of chain attached, so the deck crew lifted the entire unit out of the water, inspected the chain and all connections, then prepared it for placing. Once the Risley was at the correct position, the buoy and anchor were dropped and the Risley backed away, continuing downbound to return to ice escort work.

There are some fabulous photos of them performing this difficult task, and here they have almost captured the buoy:

Lots of people have the most astonishingly difficult jobs, and I can’t wait to watch them do them.  We always try to keep the worker:watcher ratio high at the cottage, at least 1:5, and I am never one to shirk a duty.  Well, maybe a little shirking now and then, and when better than on a sunny Saturday, as this astonishing winter begins to melt away.

I hope there is a little shirking in your day too, and that we have a shirking Saturday together, encore une fois [which can also mean yet again, because the French like to keep you on your toes, even when you are just shirking quietly away.]