Guest Post from Gary MacDonald

Bayview Snow Report from Gary MacDonald. Picture by Herb

Dear everyone with a boat. mobile home, and/or
float house at MacDonald's Hudson Bay,

Because we may not have everyone's email in our
files, kindly read this email and then forward it to
anyone that you know in our little community. Your
boat might even be out of the water, but if you have a
dock neighbor without email you may want to make
some calls and keep them posted. People in our
entire area may have more snow that we do, so far at
least, but they aren't floating.Your getting this
information to your dock mates may mean that people
get multiple copies, but that's ok.

This is the situation: At 11:45 a.m. Thursday (now) we
have approximately 17 inches on flat ground, roofs, boats,
docks, etc. The snow is very light, but it is still weights
something and is still adding up. We have plowed our
roads and parking lots. We are working on the docks at
this point. We are keeping an eye on our floating covered
slips. At this writing they are low but ok.

Float houses: All of the float houses whether they be one or
two story are getting lower in the water as you might
expect. We do not have the manpower or the means
available to tackle any float house roofs. Most houses
have roofs that are high enough that one cannot reach
much with a snow rake, even with an extension handle.
Heat in the houses typically is not that helpful in getting
the snow to slide when the weather is this cold. Most
improved float houses have some insulation and the heat
can't really get to the roof anyway.When heat does get to
the roof, it melts a little snow and then it refreezes to the
roof making sliding impossible. I really think that we will
have to hope for the best.

Boats: All the boats are currently fine.They are all a bit
lower in the water, but I don't feel any are in any particular
danger. If you have soft tops they are at some risk
currently. If we have time we will do our best to push the
snow off the soft tops, but frankly I cannot make any
promises at this time. Jon is snowed in West of Athol and
Tyler is stuck in Spirit Lake. Kevin, Loren,and I are here
working. We have our hands full at this time.

Mobile Homes: At this point I don't believe any roof is in
danger and even with more snow I think that they'll be ok.
Most are protected from some of the snow by adjacent
trees. But, of course I don't know what the future will
bring.

Safety: If you do come out to shovel anything that you
own, please keep in mind that your property is not worth
your life. The water is very cold. If you fall in you might
not get back out. You should not work by yourself.

One thing NOT to do: If you have a boat in one of our
covered slip buildings and you visit it,you may find your
boat lines are tight because the building is low and your
boat is still floating. DO NOT LOOSEN them. Your boat
will help hold up the building and we have never had any
cleat failure with the additional load on your cleats. If you
have a boat in your float house, the same is true. Your
boat will help hold up your house. Thanks.

There is not much that any of you can do at this point.
However,if you can't stay away and end up here for
curiosity's sake you can do something. You can make
sure all of your power cords, rope, driftwood, knick-knacks,
etc. are off the docks. If you have extra rope,tie it up to
your boat. We don't like to find the mentioned items with
the snow blowers. But remember, this is absolutely NOT a
request to show up here. In fact, with the roads like they
are you're probably better off keeping off the roads as
much as possible. You be the judge.

We are not by the telephone very much. You can call my
home phone and talk to Mary (208) 683-2542, but frankly
she won't know any more than what I have written in this
email.You can be certain that we are doing whatever is
humanly possible to see that everyone's property is still
whole and floating after this storm is a memory.

Thank you for your assistance in getting this information to
people.

Sincerely,
Gary MacDonald






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