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Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Episode 76: Diaries of a Lodge Owner Christmas Special!
This episode celebrates the joy and magic of Christmas through personal stories, cherished traditions, and reflections on family gatherings. With a special note from Santa, the hosts share their love for live Christmas trees, the thrill of gift exchanges, and the importance of community during the holiday season.
• Importance of real Christmas trees as a family tradition
• Discussing contrasting gift-opening customs
• Value of gatherings and community during Christmas
• Personal anecdotes about travelling during the holidays
• Reflections on fostering love, traditions, and cherished memories
Merry Christmas to everyone from the team here! We wish you all a safe and happy holiday. Give your loved ones a hug, enjoy Grammy's cookies, and cherish the magic of the season!
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge A luxury outdoor experience with five-star service.
Speaker 2:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner, stories of the North. Well, I've got lots of stories from the north, but on this episode, steve and Will Steve had asked me to do this for him. The introductory Rudolph, can you slow those reindeer down? I can't think with all of those bells ringing ringing, you guys go out in the field and just get ready to go. Okay, thank you. Sometimes I can't think with the reindeer ripping around here, it's a very exciting time of year. I understand Christmas is coming and the reindeer, they're out trying out the bells and can't wait to get on the sleigh. Uh, I really like the sleigh too. You know those reindeer, they get right excited. You know those reindeer, they get right excited and I like feeling the power. It's like a 69 Firebird or a Camaro some days. But anyway, steve asked me we're friends from the outdoor journal days and he wanted me to open up the show today because it is Christmas and he thought that I would be a good man and I must agree I love Christmas.
Speaker 2:Merry Christmas to all. Now, I guess they're talking about Christmas. Yes, why don't we get right over to them Christmas? Yes, why don't we get right over to them. Anyway, folks have a Merry Christmas. It sounds like this recording is going to drop on Christmas Day, so I will have already visited all of your houses and delivered goodies to all who are good. So be good for your parents, young children, and all will be well. Merry Christmas. Oh, here they come again. Let me get on. Okay, rudolph, turn the nose on. Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1:Welcome folks to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North, and it is a very, very special edition. As you heard off the top, santa Claus opened up the show for us, which was very exciting. I've got a bit of a relationship with Santa. Back in my outdoor journal days it was my job to commission Santa to come and talk to Angelo and Peter and from those days I kept tight ties with Santa, you know, because, hey, to get to meet Santa and to try and foster a relationship with him, well, that's a pretty special deal right there I'll tell you.
Speaker 3:I would say monumental Stephen.
Speaker 1:Monumental, yeah, 100%. Well, that's a pretty special deal right there, I'll tell you. I would say monumental steven, monumental, yeah, 100. And and, uh, I love people and and I love, uh, I love having a variety of different friends and uh, there's not many people that can say that, uh, they, uh, that they hang out with santa every once in a while.
Speaker 3:Nice, nice yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you that's. You're lucky, buddy, you're lucky.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, well, and it is. By the time, folks you're listening to this, santa has made his rounds and the Christmas trees are all full of wonderful presents for all of the youngsters out there. And really I think I can speak for Willie, but I and Willie want to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Merry Christmas folks, happy New Year and we're excited to be here today, talk some Christmas. Let's tell some stories, buddy, yeah. Well, we decided Some wicked traditions and some stories and some values, and I think it's something that would be really cool, eh, just to go back and talk about Christmas to each of us and what it means.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely Christmas. I love Christmas and I love these holidays and I am not a happy holidays kind of guy, I am a Merry Christmas guy.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So, willie, what are some of your? Let's start off with some great traditions.
Speaker 3:Well in our household. So my grandfather, as I was telling you, he, you know, he raised me a little bit there when I was a youngster. He would go out okay, we always had a real tree. We never had a fake tree Like my. It was frowned upon in my house to have a fake tree.
Speaker 1:Still is in mine.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure. But when I was younger I remember my family would just buy them from like the Optimist Club or like the Lions Club to help support them in Coburg, right? But then as we got older, you know, we got to see the movie Christmas Vacation, which is my fucking favorite. I watched that movie 20 times a year and at Christmas time it's probably. You know it's ridiculous, but when I saw that movie I remember seeing it and my grandfather he's like let's go and let's do that, let's go cut our own tree. And then we started doing that tree and then we started doing that. So like now, to this day still, you know, I uh, years later, I've done it for all of those years, no matter where I am.
Speaker 3:If I was drilling out at the rig and there was a, you know we were in the middle of northern BC me and the boys would go hard and send the rough neck out to the bush and go huck down a tree and, you know, put it in front of my shock right, and do it up. But to this day, like, uh, last year me and Holton grabbed one at the law. It was the first Christmas we had at Nordic. So we, uh, we kind of went full bore. But we picked one out from the back of the lot there way back in the bush and me and Holton drug her out and this year we uh, we had the girls involved.
Speaker 3:Krista's always krista's always done this, but she'd she's only been doing it for, you know, 78 years here since we've been together. Um, but yeah, like, so the girls get right into it. You know, little lexi, like she gets, like she'll get down on her hands and knees and shovel out the snow with her hands and get real low. So like she makes sure the butt is real good, like starts sawing. Like she gets, she understands the whole theory of the Christmas tree and how it needs to stand on the stand.
Speaker 3:But I think it's a cool experience to go do that. So that's one of our traditions. Now it makes an afternoon or a day out of it, right, you know, bringing it back to the garage and setting it up, letting it fall, getting everything trimmed up on it, and you know we let it sit for a day and then finally the next day we put it out. We usually do that around like fuck December 1st, like Chris is like Martha Stewart on crack you know what I mean. Like it's crazy, you know. Like my house is like blown. It's like Santa Claus vomited in here.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. No, disrespect, santa.
Speaker 3:No, not at all, not at all Not at all it's all positive. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do the same thing with our tree. It's always a live tree. Buddies of ours has a big property and their kids sell Christmas trees just a few to friends and we always do the Christmas tree and this year was November 22nd was the day that we had to go, and in my opinion that is very, very, very early, because for a live tree it's tough keeping them alive, uh and and needles on them that long. Um, but did you sustain it.
Speaker 3:That long is she healthy, buddy?
Speaker 1:um, it's, uh, it's not doing too badly, but but she'll be hard-pressed to make New Year's. Ah, yeah, you know, yeah, and you know one of the traditions that I've kind of held up right through from when I was a kid, and this one has to do with presents. And this one has to do with presents. When I first met Melissa, for whatever reason, her family always opened up their presents on Christmas Eve, and I think it's probably because they would travel Christmas morning to go to her grandparents' place or whatever it was. But that always felt wrong to me and, and I always, I always, and, and we adopted this for our kids what my mom and dad did.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, you know there's, um, uh, santa brings everybody their gift on christmas eve and when you're sleeping, but, um, that's what happened with all of our gifts. Our christmas tree was always just about bare. The only presents that, um, that went under our christmas tree leading up to christmas were presents that the siblings, myself and my brothers and sisters would kind of wrap to give to each other, but no other presents went under that Christmas tree. There was no shaking, there was no looking at them, it was all in your head, and what that did for us was it made christmas morning so exciting um and um, and, and santa was always good enough, because you know we waited so long. Um, christmas tree was up and there was there was no presents, and and then it was always so exciting that night You'd hardly sleep, no, exactly.
Speaker 1:It was super exciting To wake up in the morning and to run downstairs and see a whole like just a massive display of gifts was such a huge memory. And Santa was a smart dude too, like I mean to keep us in our room, he would sneak into our room and put one. We would all have a little Christmas tree. I shared a room with my brother for a long time and we'd all have little Christmas trees in our room. And Santa would sneak in at night on Christmas Eve and when he put our present downstairs he had a little present for us that he would put in our room. And that's how we do it with our, with, with, our kids.
Speaker 1:I've never heard that one, we save our presents till till the bitter end, and on Christmas Eve we put them out. And then Santa he comes in and he puts his presents out there, and uh, and then it's just, uh, it's mayhem on Christmas morning.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's awesome. So the first part of what you said, that's actually what we do too, because I feel the exact same way, you know, and we do all of the same, pretty much proceeds, except for the little tree and the little gift, but super unique, yeah, yeah, that is awesome and more anticipation to the big, to the big bang oh yeah, yeah, you're right it does cause so much like uh, uh that you know the kids get like and and everybody at christmas, right, they get, they get all, all the excitement.
Speaker 3:Their mind can actually, you know, wonder what's going on and have an imagination and creativity behind it, and that's fun.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I remember as a kid, you know, on Christmas Eve looking out my window and staring into the night sky looking for Santa and a reindeer. You know there were a couple of nights. I was pretty sure I saw him Convinced.
Speaker 3:Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's awesome, Steve. That's awesome. You know I just love even talking about this right now makes me smile and just because some of the best times of my life have been at Christmas, you know, like some of your best memories and I know being especially being a Canadian you know it's we celebrate it pretty hard here. You know I've worked in a lot of different countries around the world that celebrate different cultural things, but in Canada, you know, christmas is a big thing and I think those things should continue for many years and I'm glad that you do that with your kids and your family and try and keep those old school traditions going. You know they're fun.
Speaker 3:They're fun. We do a Christmas. Another thing we do around Christmas time is a Christmas party. So we do like an. We call it an open house. So, like my parents and my grandfather and I know Krista's dad his name was Don Don Smeet and he ran the beer store here in Kenora for, oh man, like close to 40 years. You know, he was on the, you know, the curling club board of directors, the Legion board so like he knew everybody in town, right, he was that guy, and you know how it is in these small towns, steve, right, so he would have an open house as well at Christmas. So, basically, what we do is we pick a day, so ours was actually on Friday.
Speaker 3:So when this airs it would have been ours would have been the 20th. We did it and we just me and Krista this year we did a pulled beef, we did a, and we just me and Krista this year we did a pulled beef, we did a pulled pork. You know we had a spread out in the bar and some wine and drinks for everyone. We had a cup case of beer here, uh, you know, some couple of couple other friends brought some hors d'oeuvres and some things. You know you have the regular. You know the veggie tray and the meat and cheese platter and all that kind of stuff. And you know me and me and Holton did up the garage all fancy with decorations, dollar store decorations made it look like a a, I don't know what it looked like in here, but it was crazy. There was stuff everywhere and uh, but it was cool. There was stuff everywhere and uh, but it was cool. And what we do is we just have it from like I don't know, this year we just have like five to eight, but like, people stay till like 10, 10, 30, whatever, yeah, or show up at three in the afternoon and uh, we had, you know, like brucey, because you know jamie bruce stopped by for a couple beers. There was the deucen brothers, big musky guys up here.
Speaker 3:A lot of our staff at Nordic came by. You know our close friends and family. You know we ended up having probably 30, 35 people here through the night and it's fun. You know some people can come for 10 minutes after work because they're busy, and some people can come for the whole night and and it's just a time that everybody can get together and and, and you know, wish each other a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year prior to going with their families and doing their personal thing. And it's a really cool thing it's. You know we've been going on, you know, six years now doing this. So do you guys do anything like that down there, stevie, any of your friends?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you guys do anything like that down there, stevie any of your friends? Oh yeah, we uh. For us, um, um, well, when I was younger, when I was a kid, um, there were. There were two social events of the year for me and um. First was fiddleville, and that always, that always took place in the summertime in Shelburne, the largest open fiddle contest on the planet.
Speaker 3:That is the super coolest thing. We ought to talk about that sometime.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was the best. It was so awesome back in those days.
Speaker 3:I love the fiddle.
Speaker 1:Oh, dude, and I like. I mean, I think I went to Fiddleville from about oh 1990 until it ended.
Speaker 3:Does this thing still exist?
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 3:It doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 1:No, unfortunately it doesn't. Well, you know, like I mean it's there were. In today's day and age, when a small community tries to manage an event like that, the liability is outrageous and you can't. It was very difficult to maintain. There were some accidents along throughout the years that claimed some lives, and I'm talking like car accidents and things that led to the demise of what I considered one of the greatest events, and in my childhood I guess I'll call it I wasn't a child, right, but in my young adulthood but that was the first social event of the year. And the second social event of the year was Paul and Gina Smith's Christmas party, and that always no matter what happened on the 23rd of December and their son, craig Smith, who's now a game warden. Craig and I were good buddies. We had a big group of friends, but it was one of those, and this was a party. Man Like this wasn't like a come at seven and leave at nine. This was a come whenever and leave whenever, and you know.
Speaker 3:When the keg is done.
Speaker 1:While the aftermath at 10 o'clock the next morning Holy shit. You never knew what you were going to run into. Man, like I mean, it was a full-blown, just an awesome party. Like there were people out there sleeping everywhere.
Speaker 3:That's cool.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, there was always a big bonfire going on inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs. It was just mayhem everywhere and I bet you, in their little house we had. Oh, there were some years we'd have 80 to 100 people at any given time and the best part about it was it was a total cross-section of ages. You know, that's where I met my first bass partner, glenn Berry, and Glenn's probably 20 years older than I am and you know you meet all of these people and you know your buddy's parents and that was just an amazing, an amazing party.
Speaker 1:But, like all things, people moved on and kids grow up and that party doesn't happen anymore. But we try and have some people over. But really for us on the holiday season, because we've done a lot of traveling since about 2013. I like to have a New Year's get together, but again, that's kind of been broken up because we kind of took up a new tradition in 2013. Melissa's dad passed at that point and it was. We decided to go away for that Christmas Al God rest your soul and he had passed in September of 13. So that first Christmas it was pretty raw and we decided to go to Mexico and honestly, since then I don't remember a Christmas we were always home for Christmas Day. We didn't actually go away for Christmas other than that very first year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But we've always, for, like I say, the last 10 years, we've been gone from Boxing Day through the new year, and this year we're not. This year we're staying home, and I am so excited about staying home because that is a.
Speaker 3:Tell me why, stevie. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, there's nothing like and I guess I'm lucky in a sense that I do get to travel a bit with Fish in Canada and although it's within Canada, that's still Canada's an amazing place and to be able to travel is a wonderful thing. But I'm I'm so excited to be able to just stay home because, you know, especially with Melissa being a teacher and you're going away on holidays, by the time you get back I feel like I need a holiday from the holiday. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so yeah, Especially when you've got a ton of kids and you're having events and everyone wants to do things. Yeah, it's not like you're just getting on the plane and you're going to put your feet up on the beach and get up at 10 in the morning and eat whenever you want and be on your own schedule, right? You're a team event with the family, right?
Speaker 1:That the morning and eat whatever you want and be on your own schedule. Right, it's a. You're a team event with the family, right? So that's right. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Well, that's all great, it was a great. It was a great time to do that with the kids, and I feel blessed that we were, we were lucky enough to be able to do that travel, because there's so many people out there that, um, that don't have that opportunity, um, but I'm one of them.
Speaker 3:Krista doesn't fly, right, so I travel a lot. You know that I travel a lot, yeah, but Krista don't fly and that's something that we're working on and she's doing great at and the evolution of it and hopefully one day we can, but that sounds like an awesome thing to do, once you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I can help you with the flying thing.
Speaker 3:Oh man, she's doing great.
Speaker 1:Have you ever seen the A-Team the?
Speaker 3:A-Team, the A-Team.
Speaker 1:You know, with Hannibal Smith and Mr T and all the boys. Yes, yeah, feed her a hamburger with a tranquilizer in it, just like they do with Mr T. You don't fly either, but when they got it going I was like where?
Speaker 3:the hell, are you going with this story?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, when they got a special assignment and they got to get Mr T on a plane they just feed him a hamburger with a tranquilizer in it and they toss him on there and all is good. He wakes up on the other side.
Speaker 3:Fuck, she'd fucking smash me in the face.
Speaker 1:You know what it's tough getting you through customs.
Speaker 3:Right, she'd be like weekend at Bernie's. I'd be holding Christy up holding her head. That's my wife. Yeah, that's funny. No, she got on the plane. Uh, wayne clark had one, it was.
Speaker 3:We did a fly out one day and when he was coming back the guests were waiting on something. So he was like it was like 20 minutes. He was sitting there in the bay so I went up and I was like, let's get in, let's go for a ride. And she actually did. I couldn't believe it. She pulled the tray.
Speaker 3:I was actually right after melissa went out, you guys. So maybe she was like, oh, oh, melissa and Steve went on a backflip. You know, float plane, she can do it, I can freaking do it, maybe that was. But yeah, we taxied around the bay for like 15 minutes, 20 minutes, you know, which is kind of cool. We were in a caravan and I was like I was actually going to say just go, and she's like I should have just went and I'm like, yeah, you should have, because once you go, once you'll be fine, yeah, so that's a super cool tradition, man. We uh, we usually go away in the new year, like I'm gonna go away. I got my surgery January 6th and then after I kind of get a little bit of a recovery and I'm gonna go. Johnson wants to go down to Cabo on the 16th or 18th or something like that, but I think I'm gonna wait a little bit longer. I won't be fully ready by that time.
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Speaker 1:you've been all over um, well, it's always warm, like that's a requirement for the most part. The only time we broke away from that, brenda, my mother-in-law took us out to Canmore a couple of years ago. My brother-in-law, jamie, lives in Calgary, so we spent Christmas in Canmore, which was beautiful, like I mean that was outstanding. That's where we went, that's where we did the skiing and I ended up on one of the steepest slopes in Canada, and that was a whole story. I'm sure I've told that story.
Speaker 3:You have, you have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on the thing.
Speaker 3:Calgary is a beautiful place. In Canmore, canmore is gorgeous too. We went through there on the honeymoon, me and Krista.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's gorgeous and no salt, like I mean, you're driving around on ice, I had to get used to that. You know, the first uh stop sign and and uh, you know, touch the brakes and all of a sudden you're, you're just sliding. I didn't slide through, I uh, I uh, I'm. I was pretty cautious up into that point, but yeah, the driving there is is, um is a lot different, but oh, yeah for sure, the requirement for Melissa is warm. So we've done Cuba, and Cuba was a good trip. I loved everything about Cuba other than well, and I didn't even mind the food, but the food is not what it is in other places in the world.
Speaker 3:That's just a cultural thing. I drilled there for a bit. Eh, I drilled there for almost 10 months in Veradero.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah Beautiful. The cars are great. I love the cars.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's super cool about them yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, since they have this spat with the United States, all of the vehicles there are basically from the 50s. So you see 56 Chev's, 57 Chev's, all these different vintage vehicles that they've pulled the engines out and put these little Volkswagen diesel engines in, and that's what guys are picking.
Speaker 3:They're the taxis.
Speaker 1:Taxis yeah, absolutely, the taxis are like that and with their climate they're in beautiful shape. I heard somebody talking on YouTube, and whether this is a true stat or not, it wouldn't surprise me. But one of their greatest resources are all of these vehicles that they've got from the 50s right and um, um. I can just imagine what they would be worth if they started selling them all.
Speaker 3:oh, my god, because you are. You're right. They're in amazing shape, like oh, for sure, yeah, for sure, that's one thing them cubans know how to take care of their cars, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so Cuba was one. Their beaches are stunning, like I mean white sand beaches. Yeah, it was outstanding. All of that, the food, like I say, I think my mom got sick and she spent two or three days in the room and you know, it just happened. That can happen anywhere, though, right, yeah, it can happen anywhere, you just need to be prepared. The rooms were a little, were a little on the, on the how would I say?
Speaker 3:this Simple side, you know, and yeah, I think the whole country is like that, a little bit Like when I was down there. It was everything was a little bland, like we. I just bring my own. When we flew in in the country, we'd bring our own ketchup and hp sauce and and salsa and that's pretty much it. Right, maybe some salt, because everything was kind of bland. If you're, if you're looking to lose weight, that's the best way to do it, because there's no extra shit on your stuff. Yeah, you know, but you know what we were doing there was super cool. So did you stay in Havana or?
Speaker 1:Varadero, it was Havana, okay.
Speaker 3:So we went in and did like a we actually did like a private kind of tour. We didn't do one through the resort we went in and watched where, like what's his name there, the big author, the novelist, oh, I can't remember. Anyways, early 1900s guy he was, you know, we looked at his bar, we went and looked at like all the old historic buildings where the civil wars had happened and all that shit. Yeah, and you'll see, outside of Aradero there was a bunch of drilling rigs there and vacation was one thing. But I ended up going back down with with brad nielsen, who was in my wedding party, and uh, and drilling down there and what we were doing was we were drilling how they, how they operate their power plant is through bitumen so they run. Okay, they run half their power plant off coal and half their power plant off of fuel, off of oil. So they drill out. They can't afford the country's kind of poor, so they can't afford these big platform drilling rigs to go out offshore and to pump it back. So they get right over top of the pool per se, let's say, but they drill out under the ocean from the beach and then extract it back to land with a pipeline. So the problem is, because of the spat with the US, they can't buy anything. So I'll give you an example.
Speaker 3:We would like a normal well would be like you know I just want to put it in layman's terms for people and so let's say two miles long, you know, three kilometers long, something like that, and that well is like a two foot diameter at the start and by the time you get to the end it's like 10 inches. Let's just say that okay. And because you stage down, the further out you go, you've got to go smaller, right, because of the weight of everything dragging. So when you're doing all of this drilling in a place on an island in the Caribbean, for one and one that has no sanctions with the United States or the North, everything's got to come from Russia or China and that's the only countries they'll deal with. So like we would be out there and we would have like like a drill a bit would go, you know downhole, and that's, that's a, that's a normal thing. So in Canada or the United States or in Russia or wherever in the world you were drilling, normally you know down hole and that's a normal thing. So in Canada or the United States or in Russia or wherever in the world you were drilling, normally you'd trip the pipe out of the hole to change the bit. So I mean, if you were shallow, it would take you whatever hours. It could take up to two and a half days. If you're drilling at like 6,000 meters, right, yeah, so, but there you would take they were a little slower. They were a little slower than normal. So you know, to trip out of the hole, let's say, at three kilometers, it would take us like three weeks. I'm talking like 200 meters a day. That's it Really. We would normally be like 250 meters an hour in here in Canada with our machine and the equipment.
Speaker 3:That's the other problem. It's all old, it's like all old time, like the 1950s. You know kelly's and the kellycock which is the hook, you know, and the big pin that holds the drill string and the block shiv, right, yeah, and these are all conventional old dinosaurs, right? So things are breaking. Well, again, when things break, when you, when you, when that drill string comes out and things break, you got to get those parts. Well, if you can't get them from us, if you can't get them from the north, it's a pain in the ass. Yeah, same and and it was a daily thing steve like I would wait, and this is no bs. I waited eight, eight weeks for a bit one time a drill bit me and Brad and all I did. I went. I went back and forth to Canada three times and I got paid every day. Really, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a great job.
Speaker 3:Because they don't know when it's it's. It's not like here where you have a tracking number. That's it's a communist country and they're dealing with black market people in another communist country. So everybody's got to be paid off to get the equipment. Like when we would ship our equipment there, you had to pay somebody at customs, like I had a purse. This is no bullshit.
Speaker 3:When I went and drilled in Russia I had a purse. I had a purse like an off the record. It was like having a second passport, right, and we would go and the company man on location. You had to pay him to get your equipment there, because if you didn't, you didn't have to. You could go and work but your equipment would never show up or it would show up smashed, or three quarters. It will be gone and sold on the black market. Really, yes, oh, man, it's. Yeah, you got to know that it's not, that the real world is not like it is here. It's a nasty place, right, so? And three quarters of the world that has oil are in those places that don't believe in how the West lives, right, so it's different, you know are in those places that don't believe in how the West lives, right, so it's different, you know and uh, so you had a separate you had a separate um, like, um, uh purse.
Speaker 1:you say so. Is that uh, uh, that's your passport, that's no.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they would give me a. They would give me a tag with my field instructions and my credentials and and basically a little as to why I was there, like what? I was a horizontal boring drilling engineer or a magnetic supervision down holes tech or something whatever right. So, um, and I had they would give me and I had they would give me money. So I had, like they'd give me 40 grand US or they'd give me right, which I'd sign out and I would have to do. That's what this money was for right Now. It was my job to get it as cheap as I can.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you're negotiating with these guys, I'm negotiating with that money, that's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. Oh, no shit.
Speaker 3:That's crazy. Oh man, it was fucking interesting, bud, like it was.
Speaker 1:Did you ever get yourself in any situations where you were like a little, a little, oh shit. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
Speaker 3:Lots. I got detained once in Kazakhstan for like 18 hours. I think I told you this story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was when you were going across, when I was going back and forth.
Speaker 3:That was kind of the same kind of similar thing, right, because they don't want you have to. If I would have had a purse on me, that's exactly the example. If I would have had a purse on me, I would have been fine. They wouldn't have kept me there for 18 hours and dicked me around right, right, gotcha, right.
Speaker 2:So um, so your buddy should have gave you a curse.
Speaker 3:You go back to your vacations and and I'll hop back in the rig stuff after. I just want to tell you that veronero is really a cool place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yeah yeah, no, and uh you know, uh we spent, um. We've spent some time in mexico, um beautiful country. Food is outstanding. There's some wonderful uh resorts, um, uh the lot. The latest uh trip that uh we did was uh last year. And um my, um my younger son, mikey, um he's.
Speaker 3:Mike.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, he's got the travel bug. Yes, yes, he's got the travel bug. And the one thing he wanted to do and we kind of decided is we're going to go see all of the natural wonders. The wonder like the sorry natural isn't the right word, it's the historic wonders, like the pyramids are one of them, like the seven wonders of the world. What's that?
Speaker 3:The seven wonders of the world.
Speaker 1:Yes, so the Taj.
Speaker 3:Mahal would be one. Yes, so I've been to the Taj Mahal.
Speaker 1:Yes, but it's not the um, it's ancient wonders of the world, is what we're looking for. And uh, we went to um um, a couple of different places but uh, chichen itza is a um, is a um, a pyramid that's in mexico and we went to see it and it was really cool, like I mean, there were, there was. We went to two different sites the one site they just discovered it in like 1993 and they've been uncovering it and they're they're like these massive pyramids and it was so.
Speaker 1:so it was, it was ridiculously cool it is cool yeah, yeah, and they had this uh game, um, that they used to play, um, and it was called uh oh, poke poke talk or some some, some, something like that and and they would get together and they would play this game where they had to. It was kind of like basketball between these two massive walls and the losing team if you scored a basket, they cut your head off. It was something ridiculous. What the fuck? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Those fucking crazy Mexicans.
Speaker 1:I think it's called Poc to Poc, and the high priests and the shaman of the tribes were the ones that would watch and they would sit on top of these big walls and the natives would play this game and, yeah, if you score, you'd think that that's a good thing, but if you score, yeah, they cut your head off. That is so crazy. So Mexico and like, I mean, their beaches are decent. I remember all this would have been, maybe, oh, it was early, like eight years ago, 2014, 15, 13, whenever it was, I got up early and I liked to snorkel and, um, I walked down to the beach and it was, you know, five o'clock in the morning and, uh, I, I, I like being, especially when you got all them young kids, like I had four young kids and my mother-in-law and my wife and everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you want your old old time for it, yeah so I went to one of the buffets breakfast buffets before I left, and filled my shorts full of Rice Krispies, right, because you got, or whatever frosted flakes or whatever you got. So you go on, when you're snorkeling, you throw that stuff around and all the fish come around you. So you go on, when you're snorkeling, you throw that stuff around and all the fish come around you. So I walked down there and at that time of the year I'm not sure if it happens all the time or what was going on, but there's like this seaweed that would always wash up. So there was a worker that was down there, but when I got there, there was nobody there.
Speaker 1:I went out, I started snorkeling. I'm throwing my Rice Krispies all over the place and there's like wildlife everywhere. And you know, I've got my face in the water and I hear this muffled and I'm like what the hell? So I pop my head up out of the water and I look at the beach and there's this fellow there like a worker on the thing and he's like senor. And I noticed a flag.
Speaker 1:There was a black flag flying when I went down there, but I thought it was for weather and I like I mean the ocean was like near flat as piss on a plate, like there was no weather. So I just thought they forgot to take the weather flag down. And I'm like the guy's yelling senor, senor and I'm like he's got to be talking to me, like I mean, I'm the only one out here. There is nobody out here. So I finally said, yeah, yeah, he's like senor flag and he's pointing at this flag. And now I'm like what the fuck is he talking about? I I said, yeah, I know the weather's good and he's like senor, senor, it's not the weather. I'm like, okay, senor, black flag, shark, senor. So I'm out there with a fucking pocket full of Rice Krispies.
Speaker 1:Fucking, baiting the horse Throwing it all over. I got all kinds of fish. Like I mean, it was spectacular, the show that I'm getting out there and he's yelling at me. Oh my God. He's like get out of the water, senor, shark. So I looked around. I didn't see any fins, so I just slowly made my way back and got out. He's like senor black flag means shark. And I'm like okay, I won't go out no more. So that was it. It. Oh my God, that's so awesome. Oh yeah, every resort I went to after that and to this day I ask the person at the front desk or the guy giving the orientation. I'm like, hey, you guys got a shark flag. And then they say oh yeah, we got a shark flag, it's black.
Speaker 3:I have never seen that one. I thought honestly. I've seen the black flags out and I've always thought and been told they were for jellyfish, that's what I was told yeah, I didn't know, they were for sharks.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, this guy told me shark.
Speaker 3:I could watch that. I think that's so funny.
Speaker 1:I'm like oh you stupid prick Out there with two pockets full of rice krispies and every species of fish and everything around you. Oh yeah, shark could get you with. I'd make a good meal.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, so it's beautiful down there, though hey, we, uh, I've been down to, we did some drilling down there too, down by, uh, campeche. So, campeche, you were probably over by Tulum. Yes, south, towards the Elysian border.
Speaker 1:Tulum was one of the that was the other ruins, the one that was found in 1993. The other thing not to cut you off that we did was a cenote, which was very cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, they're cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're just like these massive holes.
Speaker 1:Explain to the folks what they are stevie hey explain to the folks what they are well, the these cenote are are natural, um occurring, um massive canyons, but they're round, they're like, they're like columns, uh, in the ground and the and the groundwater flows into these things.
Speaker 1:And the one that we stopped at would have maybe been, oh, three-quarters of an acre around, like the footprint would have been about three-quarters of an acre, so not big at all, and it's like a round opening in the earth, in the rock, and then from the top of it, if you were to look over the top, it would be probably, I don't know, 80, 90 feet to the water and there's like fresh water in the bottom of this thing and like I mean they're deep, like they go down they didn't even know how deep the one that we were in was and you can go swimming in them. So you, they had a set of stairs that went into this cenote and you walk down the stairs down to a platform that was about, I'm going to say, 15, 20 feet off of the water, and then you jump in and you can swim in the cenote. And when you look up, like I mean it's, it's a beautiful sight, like there's, there's water that's, that's flowing in and trickling over the sides in certain spots, like little waterfalls and the vegetation has grown down from the top and there's like these big vines that are hanging down. It's like something that you would see in National Geographic and they're just. It was a really, really cool experience.
Speaker 1:The cenote.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they are super cool that whole area. We had a friend of mine Cordell McNarland was his name. He was a drilling engineer cross-shift guy of mine from that's quite a handle. What's that?
Speaker 1:That's quite a handle.
Speaker 3:Cordell McNarland.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And yeah, but he. So he drilled with me in Canada. But him, him and his wife, his kids were getting older. They were like your kid's age, you know just leaving the nest and he's like, fuck it, I'm going to go and build a house down there. So he went like the they started at, like the normal areas down there that you would, you know, the Cancuns and whatever. And he's like I don't want to stay here, I want to go and check in Mexico out. So he went over through all this area you're talking about and then up to a place called Campeche, which is the original settlement of the Spanish. That's where they originally landed and it is one of the most beautiful cities you will ever see in your life. They actually have gold-plated streets in some areas still, and it was really cool. Steve, you have to check it out sometime if you're ever down in that area. Oh yeah, the history there.
Speaker 3:I spent two days there just walking through the streets and markets. It was super cool, anyway. So he ends up building this place, beautiful place, and he had a lot right beside him and he wanted to sell it to me for 30 grand US and this was like 2010, and I was like I should have bought it, man, and I can't believe I didn't. I still can't believe to this day. I didn't buy it off him, but anyways, they beautiful area down there. So I would go down and I flew into Cancun and then I rented a car and I drove because he's like oh, come check out my place, willie. So I rented a car and I drove all the way down to Belize and then so went through that area, went swimming with the turtles and all that shit, and then came back up through Tulum and all and those the pyramids I only saw the one set and then back up to Capetia and across and super cool place.
Speaker 3:So when I'm there he introduces me to these local oil guys because he's an oilman, right. So they all oilmen are a breed like that, right, like worldwide, right. So he introduces me to these local Mexican oilmen and we get talking. Well, I go home, sure enough. A few weeks later doesn't my email go off and it's one of these guys and they're like hey, we need a directional consultant down here and I need him to speak in, can you come? And I said, well, I mean I'm working right now but I'll be done in a few weeks. My contract, that's the thing. In the oil field you can drill 10 wells. You can drill three right and then just tell them find someone else for the next five. I'll be back in two months, right.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 3:It depends on the relationship you have with them, right? So I was like screw it. So down there I went and I was down there four days and the fourth day. So picture this like and this is like the first time I saw like high security at an oil field site. I never saw that Like. You see this high security, but it's like for the protection of the people and the staff yeah, no machine guns.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not Exactly and yeah, it's not exactly, it's not sub machine guns mounted on your truck, on every corner of the lease and building, because pirates are gonna fucking steal your shit and rob your, burn your rig down. And I'm like this is the first time I'm seeing this, so it was pretty trippy, like when you go any anywhere we go, they bomb, check your car, right you know, like to give it a wand underneath and they, you know they got a dog everywhere you go, but it's a scent dog and uh, so like I think we're pretty protected and I think this is crazy. I'm like this is ridiculous, like who's gonna steal oil, right? Yeah, well, fourth day, I was fucking wrong. So I was like it was uh, probably like one in the afternoon and I go into town and all of a sudden it was. I was in town for like maybe a half hour, 40 minutes, and I I see all these police and all these army vehicles just flying by and they all got sirens on and they're going and I'm like, well, that's a little crazy, whatever, right, but I'm guessing it's a standardized thing, right? I traveled enough, but then to get used to it, but well, little did I know they're on their way to my rig, so my cross shift.
Speaker 3:So here's what ended up happening. I wasn't there, so when I get back, I here's the story. So that sometime after I had left the cartel and these so which are like these, these pirates which are run by the cartel showed up on location, shot a guy in the shot, a guy in the corner of the lease. So they basically that's their threat, right, like don't fuck around or we're gonna shoot you all. So they shot this guy somewhere, but they didn't kill him, they just shot him. And then went into every shack and dumped the shacks out, took all the money and all the jewelry and shit. And then they want to go to the rig and they want all the, they want all the medals on the rig and they want this and they want the equipment. And so they tried to get as much as they could. Well, my partner fucking he heard them coming and saw them come in. He jumped out his back window and fucking ran into the rainforest. Man, no, yes, so he's in the rainforest. So this is going down. They can't find him and they know there's a guy in charge. They can't find him and they know there's a guy in charge. They can't find him. But I'm in town too. So they end up getting everything and they end up leaving. Well, as they're leaving, I guess some of them got busted on the road on the way out and some of them never got caught, or something like that.
Speaker 3:I don't really know the details. I was too new and I was the green guy, right, so, and I wasn't there. So, anyways, I get back to the location, I figure all this shit out, or I hear all this stuff and now I'm like where the fuck is my partner right? So Des. So it was like, fuck man, we were there, was people looking for him in town, there was. I had to call the oil company right, company right, and be like, listen, like this guy's gone right, like because we were thinking, because you have no idea, like he went back to the jungle, they could cartel guy, could have grabbed him in a minute, tied him up, right, yeah. So we had no idea. Anyways, he fucking, sure enough, he comes crawling out of the woods, like right at dark. He'd like oh shit, des, you're alive.
Speaker 3:So that was my fourth day. This is end of day five. I was out of there day six. I was like, okay, get me the fuck out of here. I love crazy stuff like that, but I'm like, yeah, this is a little too shellacked to me If they can just show up here and do that in five minutes, when I'm like, yeah, I'm out of here. Yeah, I didn't even take a paycheck from him. I said I won't even invite you, just pay for my ride home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt yeah, enough is enough.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was crazy. That was crazy Not Christmas related, but it was pretty crazy. Yeah, that that's okay, that's uh, that's how we roll. You never know what's going to come out buddy christmas in three couple days. I can't wait, man. My, my kids are right. I have one that's still a kid, that's still, you know, the kid, the believer of everything and that. And, uh, you know, my other kids, though, they've all kept the passion of christmas and it's going to be really fun. I'm uh, and we have this year, we have so much to be thankful for. You know our great relationship and friendship with you and Melissa and the network here and the. You know the lodge and all our close friends and our Diaries family.
Speaker 3:You know I've gotten a couple emails here from some guests and fans, and we love hearing from you guys, you know. Send us some stuff, Wish us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You know we are all doing that to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love hearing from them. Yeah, no, I again. Folks, thanks for being here on Christmas morning and I hope Santa was good to you all I'm sure he was and listen. Thanks again for listening. We really appreciate it. And we've got another great episode coming up in a week and that'll be our year in review, our New Year's episode. We've got lucky. You know, christmas fall, we drop on Christmas, we drop on New Year's episode. We've got lucky, you know, christmas fall, we drop on Christmas, we drop on New Year's and tune in for that. And again, will you know any last Christmas parting thoughts?
Speaker 3:You know what? Not this time, Stevie. Just Merry Christmas to everybody. We'll talk to you. Have a safe and happy holidays. No drinking and driving. Love, peace, happiness. Have a wonderful holiday.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a great way to do it. And you know what folks Give all them loved ones a hug, you know, eat up Grammy's cookies and everything else and just really grab them loved ones. That's what Christmas is. The Christmas magic is the loved ones that you've got around you. And again, folks. This brings us to a little bit of housekeeping. You know the drill. Go on over to fishingcanadacom, get in on the giveaways. You never know what's there, what's special. You can check out the other podcasts on the network. And folks thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 2:Stories of the North. Been the hog since the day I was born, bending my rock, stretching my line. Someday I might own a lodge and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way the only way I know how Working hard and sharing the north with all of my pals. Boy, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream. And now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:As the world gets louder and louder. Yeah, as the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 5:After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature. And under the canopy Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right.
Speaker 3:Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, Now what are?
Speaker 1:we going to talk about for two hours every week.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 4:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch, yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 6:We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors from athletes.
Speaker 2:All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists, but now that we're reforesting and laying things free.
Speaker 4:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 6:To chefs. If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it, and whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.