Episode 149: Running A Lodge In The Dog Days

The dog days of summer aren’t just hot weather, they’re the point in the season when a fishing lodge gets squeezed from every direction. When the heat hangs on, the days feel endless, and the finish line is still weeks away, you can feel staff focus slipping and small tensions turning into real problems. We walk through what that looks like from the owner’s chair, and what we learned about motivating a crew, giving proper time off, and managing staff relationships when everyone is living in tight quarters on an island.

Things get even messier when a key hire doesn’t work out. We tell the full “Crazy Dave” kitchen saga, from food complaints to personal drama, and why sometimes the only way to protect the team is to make a tough staffing change fast. From there, we shift into the other big dog-days threat: extreme summer storms on the French River and the ugly reality of multi-day power outages. If you’ve never run a remote lodge without hydro, the surprise is simple and brutal: water becomes the emergency, and everything else cascades from there.

We also share practical lodge operations ideas that actually helped, like building an ice stockpile to protect freezer inventory, staying safer on docks during midnight storms, and setting clear heat-wave plans for guests and guided fishing days, especially hydration. If you care about leadership, hospitality, and real-world preparedness in remote Ontario, this one’s a straight, story-driven playbook. Subscribe, share this with a lodge owner or outdoors worker, and leave a review with your own dog-days lesson.

Transcript

What The Dog Days Feel Like

SPEAKER_04 0:06

When you know the dog days are there is when you wake up and you have to really motivate your staff. And you you start to um lose some of the staff. Lose their attention, uh, lose them altogether, they quit or leave. Um it's it's it's a grind. And when you add the heat, you add the the fact that the honeymoon phase is over and you're you're eight weeks into the job, nine weeks into the job, and um the end is still not near. It's tough. This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Networks, Diaries of a Lodge Owner, Stories of the North, we're diving straight into the dog days of summer. That stretch of summer when the heat rises, the days feel endless, and running a lodge demands a whole different kind of playbook. On this show, I'm sharing how we handle the busiest, hottest, and sometimes most unpredictable part of the season. From keeping guests happy and staff focused to managing long days, changing weather, and non-stop activity. July and August test every system you've got. So grab a cold bevy, find a spot in the shade, because we are entering the dog days of summer. Welcome, folks, to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. And I thought today, sitting here on the Upper French River, looking out the window of the cottage on the island, and in I don't even know how hot it is, but the days have been hitting 34, 35 degrees, and it is hot, hot, hot. And it reminded me of some of those days back when I owned Chaudi Air. And I always I called it the dog days of summer. And it is by far the most difficult time to be running a lodge. And uh the dog days are a combination of different things. We've got um we've got um extreme heat. The honeymoon phase is over, it's busy, and sometimes for the first time, depending on on when the dog days start, and that's a that's a moving target as well. Um, you know, the dog days may not start until end of July, into August. Sometimes they've gone straight through and the dog days haven't hit until you know end of August for me. But when you know the dog days are there is when you wake up and you have to really motivate your staff. And you you start to um lose some of the staff, lose their attention, uh, lose them altogether. They quit or leave. Um it's it's it's a grind. And when you add the heat, you add the the fact that the honeymoon phase is over and you're you're eight weeks into the job, nine weeks into the job, and um the end is still not near. It's tough. It's tough.

Keeping Staff Motivated And Rested

SPEAKER_04 4:11

And um the the the best way that I found to manage the dog days was to talk about it a lot with the staff. And uh make sure that you know you're giving days off. I know a lot of lodges out there. Um, and more than you would think, uh they don't give their staff days off during the week. Yes, it's a seasonal position, and sometimes it's only four months or six months, but um I've never experienced the four-month uh operation and had to do it. I don't know, maybe you can get away with not giving people time off. But when you're running a business the size of mine, um you have I had to give people time off and really manage closely the relationships within the staff because the other con uh contributing factor to the dog days are staff relations, right? You're the your staff has been together and living together because you know, on on um in my business, uh staff comes to the island in May uh and um they live together in fairly tight quarters. I always had a a room for each person, but you know, by the time July or August rolls around, that's all shuffled up and and people are are are uh opening the doors between rooms and sharing rooms and everything else. But, you know, the staff has had enough time to get to know each other and enough time to figure out who they like, but more importantly, who they don't get along with. And um, if you have a um a couple of relationships within your uh organization that are difficult relationships, man oh man, it it is

The Chef Hire That Went Sideways

SPEAKER_04 6:18

just a nightmare. And to the point where, you know, I remember one year, um this was when um Dave uh Quinney, Davey, Davey boy, chef Dave, he's actually the the chef over at uh Shotier right now. Um he worked for me on two in two separate stints. Um the first one, which I'm referencing, uh Dave worked for me for a full season. We had a great year. Dave's a great chef, food's wonderful, you know, he's um he's very, very good in the kitchen. Um and then the second year, he came back uh right around I think it would have been mid-June. So early in the year, uh, he had gotten a job offer to go to um Nunavut uh to cook there. And um uh it was a great opportunity. And it was one of those things where he applied a year prior to or whenever it wasn't like he was looking to leave Chaudi Air. But it was just one of those opportunities that presented itself, and um I couldn't tell him no. It was a great opportunity. So Dave helped me find another chef. Well, we found this other guy, I but I believe his name was Dave as well. Um, we called him Crazy Dave. Well, that was after after um uh we hired him, Dave Quinny, chef Dave, he was already in Nunavut. But um, we hired this guy, and I I forget his last name. Anyway, I I I kind of forget his first name, but I'm pretty sure it was Crazy Dave. Anyway, the first couple of the first week or so the the new chef come in, and I would always tell my chefs, listen, um you tell me what you do best, because I want the best food that I can that we can that we can build from your skill set. And um he talked a great game. Um, you know, the he uh he talked about his homemade uh veal sandwiches, which was one thing that uh that I really enjoyed having on the um the lunch menu is like a beautiful, you know, uh I I was a tradesman. I was always looking for veal sandwiches at Italian bakeries down in the city. Like, how do you get any uh you don't get better than that for lunch? Like, I mean, you just don't. Anyway, I remember going into um um I think he might have been there about a month. And um I had been I had started to get complaints about the food. Um, and I'm always in and out of the kitchen. Well, the last straw was um I said to him, I said, listen, you remember our conversation about um about um the veal, your your signature veal sandwiches? Let's get those, let's roll those up. He said, Okay, no problem. On the next order, I'll get everything I need. Wow. Everything he needed for his veal sandwiches were like those you know the cheap chicken burger looking patty things that you could buy at uh at uh no frills. Well, he bought the same version of that in a veal sandwich or patty. And and like uh a round hamburger bun. Well, I saw these goddamn things come out and I was like, Dave, what is this? Oh, that's the the veal sandwich. I said, no, no, no, this is not a veal sandwich, and the bread is shit. I said you can't we can't put this out there and call this a veal sandwich. And uh, and he said, no, no, no, no, they're good, they're good. And and I couldn't argue with him because it's it's lunchtime, he's got them made. So what other choice did I have? Well we had a conversation and um I told him, I said, Listen, I've had uh four complaints about your food in the last month. And he looked at me and he said, Oh, so that's one a week. That's pretty good. And again, I said, No, no, that's not good. Anyway, I started looking for a chef, needless to say. But what happened was he he fell in love, and this typically happened all the time with different members of staff, and this is where the dog days begin. You know, he fell in love with one of the the housekeeper servers, but I don't know exactly what happened, but she wasn't reciprocating the love back or wasn't anymore, let's put it that way. And then, you know, moved on to uh another boyfriend within the organization. And this is all these are all things that it's very, very difficult for an owner to control when it starts happening in on their time in the staff quarters. Well, one morning before I found a replacement, I woke up to um um a couple of the doc uh hands coming up to my my office and saying, Hey, Crazy Dave's gone crazy. And I'm like, well, yeah, no, no shit. That he's it's crazy Dave. No, no, no, really. He's he's lost it. He's punching holes in the direct in the walls of his room. And I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. And I knew right away, like the only reason a guy comes onto the island and starts punching holes in the wall is over jealousy. So I went down there, I talked to to Dave, and I still at that point I had um I always try and have three in the kitchen. Um and uh I had one other guy at the time in the kitchen, and um, it was gonna be very difficult for him to take over just because it's a it's a huge ask, especially when your skill set isn't quite there. So I talked this crazy Dave off the uh off the cliff, and um um kind of thought I had things straightened out, and right after that conversation, Pat came to me, and this was probably one of the biggest um one of the biggest shifts in in um uh for me at Chaudiere was this uh this advice.

Bringing Back A Pro To Reset

SPEAKER_04 13:50

And Pat come to me after I talked to Crazy Dave and he said, uh, listen, I think Philly Phil, Phil Schompke, who was if not the best, he was one of the best um chefs that I had ever hired at Showtier. Um and um he had taken a different job because um he needed to work in a dry camp. And um uh Pat had been and he had worked for me as well uh two years prior to Dave um Quinney coming. And um Phil was amazing. I went to Daryl was my first chef, and then Phil coming in for uh the next two years. And then at this moment in time, Pat said, Phil is working in this dry camp in uh Labrador, but he's not happy. Why don't you give him a call? So I picked up the phone and I phoned Phil and I said, Phil, I need a chef, and you're the man. I hear you're not happy. I I want you back. And um we uh we talked about how the situation was gonna work, um, made sure that it was it was a good place for Phil to come back to work at and Philly Phil came back to Chaudi Air. And I fired Crazy Dave as soon as Phil hit the island. Um and and um that that that was the beginning of the dog days that year. Now, by injecting Phil back into the situation, everybody loved Phil. So that was one of those moves that year that really helped um curb the dog days of summer because everybody was excited about Phil being back. Yes, we were busy, but we all pulled together. And, you know, it's about managing your staff and leading by example and um and really understanding where they're at mentally. And and sometimes you've got to let people go that don't work. And I'm not talking about physically working, but I'm talking about don't work within the staff unit because you have to look at your staff in this situation, in particular, as family, because we're all living together, working together, um, spending all of our time together. Um, and um uh you really have to manage those relationships as an owner, which is difficult and not I don't know if it's normal in other businesses, but in this one, it's it is it is this it's a necessity.

Sponsor And Network Break

SPEAKER_04 17:02

Welcome to Two Rivers Lodge, where we know that our hard work and determination creates your best experiences. You'll arrive as a guest but leave as family, surrounded by a multi-species fishing mecca like no other. Our elite cabins and professional staff are ready to make your stay unforgettable. Experience the difference because at two rivers, every cast is a story, and every guest is a part of the family.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

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. Every Thursday, Ang and I'll be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.

SPEAKER_06 18:08

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors.

SPEAKER_06 18:18

From athletes, all the other guys would go golfing. Me and Garchomp Turks, and all the Russians would go fishing. The scientists. But now that we're reforesting or anything, it's the perfect transmission environment for line with these.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for me, you will taste it.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

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.

When Summer Storms Turn Violent

SPEAKER_04 18:54

You've got to be ready for all kinds of things that start in the dog days. Like, I mean, j uh I mentioned it off the top, changing weather. Um the changing weather is is something that's um that's really big. You know, you get some of your most beautiful days in July and in August, but you get some of the most difficult days in July and August. And extreme weather here um seems to be um a common thread. Like, I mean, two weeks ago up here on the, well, it was July, uh June 30th, up here on the upper fringe, we had a storm go through. And well, fortunately or unfortunately, because I I'm one of those crazy, crazy guys that likes to experience those storms as long as they don't kill me. Um we had a, I don't know whether it was a tornado or something, blow through here and uh did significant damage to some of the properties around, which really sucks. Uh Wajot Cottages, they um uh, which is right behind me, they uh they suffered um uh significant damage to four of their cottages, uh with a like I mean, uh with a ton of trees down. Chaudiere, um, they had uh a little bit of damage. Three trees come down onto the staff quarters and one on another cottage and and one over some overhead wires on the island. Um and then on our island here, um again, I wasn't uh I wasn't here. Melissa it was our week to spend up here with our friends, the birds. And um uh it just so happened that Mikey, uh, my youngest son, was coming home from his um student exchange in France and we were picking him up from the um from the airport. And um one of the guides from Chaudiere, um, who now is is uh over in Do Keys, call uh texted me and said, Hey, are you guys okay over there? Because he knew we were up, and I and I and I I phoned him right away. I'm I said, Hey, Corey, what are you talking about okay over there? He's like, dude, we're in the middle of this massive storm. And somebody got hit by lightning. I don't know whether it was your place, showed your whatever, but somebody, and it's like crazy. It is a crazy storm. And I thought, okay, well, I I said, I'm not there right now. Uh Sam and Dean and um and their two kids and my two girls, Violet and Maddie, are are up there right now. He said, Well, you better phone them. So I phoned Dean and I said, Hey, is it storming? He said, Holy shit balls, is it storming? I'm sitting at your uh on your couch looking out the window, and it looks like your cottage is wrapped in parchment paper. I can't say. Anything. I can't see the trees. I can't see the lake. I can't see nothing. I said, okay, where are the girls? And he said, they're out in the other uh bunky. I said, all right, well, you know, what are you gonna do? Anyway, um uh it was good here. The storm came from the back side of the island, but around the back side, we probably lost 20 trees along the shoreline, just blew them right over, uprooted them, blew them right over. And um, those are the the the things that happen in July as well. And now, you know, we're dealing dealing with a f a four-day power outage, right? The storm is one thing. The fallout after the storm is a whole different problem.

Power Outages And The Water Crisis

SPEAKER_04 22:52

And uh power outages and fishing lodges are a nightmare. Um, I've gone through two or three extended power outages. The first one was horrific. Um uh it was it was honestly horrific because I had never experienced it. I wasn't prepared for it. Um, and uh I quickly learned after about day two that the biggest problem is water. You have to have water. If you don't have water, you don't have food, you don't have anything. So at that time, we did have a small generator um and we had the kitchen running. We had no water other than we were bringing water up from the lake to wash and boil and and do all of that stuff. And we had um we had uh bottled water for cooking. And um um the kitchen basically runs on propane. So, you know, the guys can deal with it. It's not nice because the fans don't work, um, the convection oven doesn't work. You're working with just your stove and you're you're working with everything from prop with propane. And then um the fridges, that's another major issue, right? Your freezer at that at uh that the first one, I had close to eight, nine thousand dollars in inventory in the freezer that was thawing out. Um the the fridge, you know, you're you're going in and out of these these um um these uh your walk-in freezer and walk-in fridge as fast as you can, closing the door behind you. And um that logistically was a freaking nightmare. But the again, I go back to the water. The water was the biggest issue because number one, uh do you know? Well, I'm sure everybody's experienced it, but not being able to wash your hands on a regular basis is a nightmare. Not only that, all of the cottages, um, the toilets didn't work, right? So we would have to take jugs of water, dump them in the back of the toilets, and then that would work for maybe eight or ten flushes because we had a 45-gallon drum or less. Actually, it was probably like a 30-gallon, the lift station out beside the cottage with an electric pump in it to pump it to the back. So once that filled up, it started overflowing outside. And overflowing means like everything, you know, the the the water, it was, it was some of them, the lids would hold the the all of the stuff in, but some of them it didn't. Folks, I'm telling you, you cannot believe how disappointed people were to be walking the the pathways of Chaudiere and smelling human feces. Um it was it was almost traumatizing for me. And I lost a lot of money because I refunded basically everybody that was there, all of their money back. And it was there was a couple of big groups um to to try and and manage the um the fallout from that.

Night Dock Work And A Near Miss

SPEAKER_04 26:41

Um so you know, there's those those storms. I remember another storm too, like uh that uh that um um happened, but this one was probably it blew in at 11, 12 o'clock at night. Everybody had already left the dock and everything, and um the the storm uh come from the um come from the west. And um all of the Cedar Strip boats at the time, um, we just parked them straight nose in because for guests to drive into the shoreline, it's just very easy to park them nose in. It's near impossible to park them nose out. Um, but this storm came and I was worried about those boats sinking because the waves were so high, which is a very rare thing in this channel, the way that it sets up, that the water was coming in over the back of the gunnel. And um uh so I run down and spun all of the boats so they were facing bow out to make sure that that didn't happen. And um I got all those boats done. And for whatever reason, I was doing something on the uh main dock, and this is a lesson that I learned um um the hard way. And and maybe, maybe it'll save somebody um out there listening. But I had um I had bought these sparry shoes that are supposed to be dock shoes and everything else, best of the best, whatever, whatever. And uh remember thinking, oh, I'm good, I'm I can jump from boat to boat. Well, there was a cedar strip on the end of the main dock, and the storm was going on, and lightning and thunder, and it was the it was a cracker jack of a storm, by the way. And I jumped on to the bow of this cedar strip boat, and though the bow of a cedar strip boat, it's not uh it's it's covered, um, and it's uh cedar and it's all um varnished, spar varnished. And um, when I jumped on that bow uh to to go to another boat, I um I slipped. It was like ice. And uh I come right in the air, um horizontal, and I landed right on the main dock, um, but only my back half. So right at the small of my back, my ass and my legs all hit the dock, and my head and shoulders um was off the end of the dock, and it was just enough that I didn't go into the water. Now, even if I had gone into the water in that situation, I think I probably would have got out because, you know, I didn't break my back or anything. But the point of the matter is if I had have come one inch closer to the edge of that boat, the one that was sitting right there, and hit my head and knocked myself out, I would have gone into that water in the murky darkness and never come back out. Um, you know, because I didn't have anybody down there working with me. Number one, I didn't want to wake up any of the staff. It's midnight. They've already worked long hours, you know, there was there it was just something that had to be done. And as an owner, I run down there and, you know, I um you never think to put a life jacket on when you're working on the dock, right? But after that day, um I I I uh I appreciate being very cautious around water, especially in extreme circumstances. So, you know, and July and August are those times when you start to see those those big storms and you you end up with power outages, like the one last week was a four-day power outage. And um it's just totally now. Since that first power outage that I had at Chaudiere, I um I made sure that I had uh a generator to run the water system, to run the septic, to run uh um the um kitchen, uh the lodge lights and everything like that. So you've got some comforts, but still the the the freezer and fridge are not on a backup generator. I'm not sure if Craig's got it on a backup generator, but I don't think so.

Ice Stockpiles Over Expensive Generators

SPEAKER_04 31:27

But the solution for that um was we started selling ice. And um it wasn't so much to make money on selling the ice, but what we would do is we would stockpile anywhere from two to three hundred bags of ice in the walk-in freezer so that if the hydro did go out, we had a stockpile of, say, anywhere from one to three hundred bags of ice in there. And um, it would keep food. As long as you kept that door closed, uh your your frozen uh goods would stay frozen for up to three, four, five days. Um, but it was you really had to manage the door. But it was it was something that worked for us. And um uh for me, buying a you know, $30,000 generator at the time wasn't an option. So that's what we come up with. But um the it's uh it's the the dog days, you know. And those were times that um that um I um I kind of dreaded in the back of my head because I knew that they were always gonna happen at some point. And, you know, some years were worse than others.

Staff Quits During A TV Shoot

SPEAKER_04 32:50

I remember another year. Um we were shooting a show at Chaudiere with Fish in Canada. It would have been oh, one of my, I think it might have been the first the first um boot camp. But whatever it was. Um I had a girl that uh that came to work for me um from I'm gonna say Finland. She was overseas anyway. Maybe Finland, maybe Holland. I I I don't remember, but she was from overseas. She made good friends with another girl. And um for whatever reason, they decided that working at Chaudiere wasn't enough fun, and um wanted to go to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears. And uh I had heard some rumblings. I always hear, I always heard everything. And um I was thinking to myself that uh that uh they're there I knew that they were wanting to leave and and uh they weren't having fun or whatever, but at the end of the day, you know, when you come to work, it's not supposed to be a holiday, right? It can be it can be it it can actually be like work some days. You know what I mean? Working is supposed to be fun, but um it's work. It's not that fun. The fun you make. Anyway, that's bes that's a whole nother story, that's beside the point. So I remember the Fishing Canada crew was there and they decided that they were going to leave. Um and you know, I knew Ange well, but uh, you know, having it's embarrassing for an owner to have staff leave. At least that's the way I felt. It's embarrassing because I wasn't doing a good enough job uh making sure that they that they were happy in their positions and whatever. And I lost two of them, which was a big hole. Um, and I got this TV show and all of this stuff while we were shooting the show. They wanted some B-roll. And um um I was doing the interview. Uh I was um sitting on a rock and um the uh interview was done, and uh, it might have been Patrick. It was somebody that um that worked for me that uh that um was a longtime employee and a great friend, or who however it was. I think it might it was Patrick come up and told me. He said, Hey, um, so-and-so and so-and-so are leaving. And uh I was like, oh fuck. I uh, you know, it was just that defeated feeling because there is so much going on that I've got a TV show here, and then Ange wanted some b-roll of me walking in and out of uh uh out of a cottage. So I'm like, okay. And if you look back, it's it's just a a very short clip in one of the episodes where I'm walking out of the chickadee and I come down the path and I look to my my right, and um I'm watching those two girls getting in the boat and leaving. And the feeling that I have in that moment is I don't know how we're going to pull all of this off without those people because I can't find two new people to start tomorrow. And I've got a full house and a uh TV show going on, and it was the weight of uh I I see that episode every once in a while, and I know what I was feeling then. And uh you can see it in my eyes. You can see the the stress and the angst and the the the the awful feeling that I was feeling as I'm walking out of that cottage and onto the onto the pathway. I think I was wearing a brown shirt or something too. Um, but um, yeah, that was that was a a dog day kick in the nuts right there. Um but again, you get through it. Um the the the staff always always pulled together, you know, um until we found somebody else.

Tip Pool Rules That Kept Us Going

SPEAKER_04 37:50

And back in those days, um I could handle tips a lot differently. Um and what I did with that is um I um if you left, uh all of the all of the the cash tips were were pooled and distributed um by um my manager. All of the the tips that were left on card were was put into uh a single account um that was open for all of the staff to see how much it was and split evenly amongst everybody other than the guides. The guides were were different. And um the the deal was you needed to finish out your contract to get your portion of the tip pool. Um if you leave before your contract is up, you forfeit your tips to the company. And what I did as the company, um in that instance, when you know, you've got I've got two girls, the one foreign girl, and then the other girl she made friends with decide that they don't want to work anymore. And um they're they're leaving. They don't leave me in a lurch. Well, they do, they leave me in a lurch, but just as much as leaving me in in a lurch, they're they're leaving the rest of the staff bent over a barrel because we all have to make up the difference until I can find somebody to replace them, which could be anywhere from a week to two or three weeks. So I would keep the the tips from the the the portions of the people that left, and I would call a staff meeting and say, hey guys, listen, uh Debbie and Bonnie just um just um quit. Uh they're leaving today. It's gonna leave us uh in uh behind the eight ball with a ton of work. I get it. I'm I'm sorry, and I'm going to try and find somebody as soon as possible to fill both of those positions. Um, but their portion of the tip pool at this point is $2,800 each. So that tip pool, their tips there are going to go into that pool, and now they're going to be split between you guys that are left. And I would keep track, right? So the that the that extra um, you know, $5,000 or whatever it was would go back into that tip pool, and then that money would be split amongst the workers that were there. And um, that was always a great way to motivate um uh the staff to take on the extra burden that the people that left left behind in their wake until I could replace them. And then once you replace them with the new people, then the tip pool starts fresh from there for those ones, and then it and and it moves on. So that was a a great way to to kind of battle that. The rules changed, life changes. Um I think Kathleen Wynne was the uh was the uh premier at the time that uh that changed all of that stuff for good, for better, for worse. I don't know. Um, but it is what it is. And that's what I did for for that.

Owner Boundaries And Listening For Clues

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Um but losing staff is uh is one of those really tough things um in the dog days. And you can see it's kind of you can you you you really have to manage um uh your your staff relationships and you have to, you know, my my um my manager Diane Restoel, God rest her soul, I love that woman. And without her, I don't the the I would not be um as successful in that business as as we were, because a lot of it had to do with Diane. But she would always tell me right from the day that we met, she said, Steve, you're the owner. Owners can be friendly with staff, but can't be friends with staff. You have to understand that. And um I come to understand it. Um those lines were uh that that was a very dip difficult concept for me. Um and I think for the most part, I I followed Diane's rules. But there were there were a few people that um come back year after year, Diane being one of them, that uh obviously um you can't just be friendly with, you know, um, that I was friends with. But um one of the things that I would do to kind of keep my finger on the pulse of what was going on back there, number, number one, you've always got people that you're close to that are living there and and you kind of hear things. Um, but I would also go back and and uh um for a couple of years they had this big hookah looking thing where you would um um it was like a uh a the predecessor to a vape. Um, but it was um you'd put um it was like a tobacco-based big old water pipe. And um it was kind of something that everybody would go back, and it's a social deal where there's all kinds of these things coming out of it. It looks like an octopus. Anyway, I go back there and and um just listen. You know, it's like I found with my kids. Um if I if I learned how to play Fortnite, um, and I played. With them and uh all of a sudden you've got, you know, three other, you've got one of your kids and two other friends, and you're there, and uh and they're talking amongst themselves and playing this game and everything else. You know what? They start talking and they forget that I'm dad. And um their friends start talking, and I knew more about my kids and all of my friends' kids than anybody did because I was getting it all when I was playing Fortnite with them. Same like in the staff quarters. I sat down and and, you know, um took a couple hauls off the hookah and sat back and listened and, you know, uh talked about uh situations and that was a very we didn't have meetings. We had meetings, but not often. Um often enough. We probably had a meeting once a week, but in the evening, I would try and spend 15, 20, half an hour, an hour, whatever it kind of led into, up in the back, just you know, talking with everybody. And um those that communication really um really can can help. Um, because again, you get to those days in the summer and and late summer where your your risk of losing staff goes way up and chances of finding staff goes way down because how do you find somebody who wants to work for four weeks on an island on the middle of the in the middle of the French River? Right. So that was a that was a big dance.

Heat Waves, Fans, And Guest Comfort

SPEAKER_04 45:44

Um and then, you know, um managing guest expectations. Uh we didn't have air conditioning. Uh still they still don't, which you know, it's gotta be really, really hot for it to to affect people. But believe me, there are days when when it gets really hot and it affects people. You know, we have we had a bunch of fans in one year, like even this week, okay, up here on the French, um it's been an average of 29, I think uh today, supposed to hit 34, 32, and tomorrow. But it's cooled down at night enough, and there's been a beautiful breeze. So it hasn't been terribly noticeable the heat, unless you get out into the sun. But there was one year over, and the lodge is the same. Like, I mean, we always would get a really nice breeze coming off the water, but sometimes always doesn't work. And um I remember going into um Costco or Home Depot or something in Sudbury one year and buying about 14 fans because it was unbearable and the guests were were suffering. Um, you know, it's uh it's one thing to to deal with the heat during the day. And and you know, you can jump into the river and um we have the swim platform off the dock and ladders to get on and off and and all that stuff. But when you can't sleep because of the heat, that really sucks. And um dealing with heat waves is uh is another big thing, right? Um dealing with with um uh the guides and people going out on guides in that um in that weather. Um the biggest thing um that we had figured out um that a lot of places that I've been to with Fish in Canada don't is you need to send a lot of water in the boat in a heat wave. You need like we were sending um at some points, we were sending five, six bottles each per person for an eight-hour day. Um and you know, it sounds like a lot, but sometimes it wasn't enough, you know. But if you send half a dozen bottles of water per person, that'll that'll get you through because not everybody's gonna drink half a dozen bottles. But, you know, I'm one of those guys that might drink more. Um, and to send out one bottle of water per guest in a um in in those kind of temperatures is um borderline dangerous. Um, you know, and um the there the and those are these are things that people don't really think about because the summertime is the summertime. The summertime is everybody thinks is uh is perfect and beautiful and and everything else. And to a certain extent it is. We wait a long time over the winter to get to summer. But um it's uh it it can be a very um um, it can present very difficult situations, right? Especially for um places I was on the grid, right? You talk about um um lodges that are off of the grid and running on generators or solar or whatever, and and um in the summertime have air conditioning or have large draws. Uh it can like losing power for whatever reason is devastating to a business like this. And um it's uh it uh it's one of those things that um that you need to be prepared for, but you don't really as a as a lodge owner, you you're you you're never truly prepared until you go through it and you see where your weaknesses are. And then even at that, um sometimes you can't, number one, maybe afford to be properly prepared, but you know, you you start to do the best that you can do. Um, but yeah, that's uh that's the dog days. Number one dog day issue is um is um making sure that you can keep your staff happy. And um sometimes, unfortunately, um it means that um uh you need to remove a piece to keep all of the other pieces um um in good spirits. Um, but it's easier to do that when you can bring when you're when you can plan and have people ready to come in. The big thing is when the pieces decide that they're they've had enough and they're leaving. Um that always hurts. Um, but you know, so you've got your staff, you've got um managing weather and power outages, um, and then and and totally unpredictable situations, and then you've got guest expectations and um dealing with the heat and how to to put strategies together for dealing with it if you don't have air conditioning, um, especially.

The Dog Days Playbook Recap

SPEAKER_04 51:18

Um, but um there you have it, a little insight, a little playbook, a little couple of plays from the old book of uh the past. And uh listen, folks, thank you so much for getting to this point. I really appreciate it. Um without you guys, uh uh I wouldn't be here doing this. And uh also thank you to Anthony Mancini and Dino Bambino. Uh, you guys are are um awesome. I really appreciate the job you do producing this. And um uh Willie, the oil man and Two Rivers Lodge, thank you for for your continued support. And uh thank you all again. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner, Stories of the North.

Closing Music And More Shows

SPEAKER_05 52:13

I'm a good old boy, never meaning no harm. I'll be the only you ever saw been reeling in the hog since the day I was born. Bendin my run. Stretching my mind. Someday I might own a lodge and I'd be fine. I'll be making my way, the only way I know how. And now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

Back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Tight lines, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

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 Oulette, and I was honored 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. 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.