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A cabin story: of when the kids were young.

The year was 1994, it was a beautiful summer, kids had been out of school for a few weeks and we were going out to the cabin.

Amy (8 years) and Lee (6 years) loved spending time out at the cabin and wanted to share this time out with some cousins. So Devin (6 years) and Sami (4years) came out to the cabin with us.

The kids had great fun all day, playing in the water, building sand castles on the beach and running around in the bush playing hide and seek. Needless to say they were tired little munchkins by the end of the day.

Our log cabin is not very big so to make enough room for 4 children to sleep, we pushed the two sofas together and made one big bed for them. They were thrilled with the whole camping out experience.

Lee (our son) is very warm blooded. He over heats easily and really enjoys our Canadian winters. This night he wanted to just wear pajama bottoms to bed. I said to him, “you should probably wear the pajama tops too so you don’t get so many mosquito bites.” He just wore the bottoms.

The children quickly settled off to sleep. Dan and I finished a few chores around the cabin and soon settled in for the night as well.

The next morning as I was sipping my coffee and getting ready to make breakfast for the gang I noticed Lee had a lot of small red spots on his back. I said “Lee, I told you ….. come here a minute.” I thought at first he had gotten a lot of mosquito bites during the night just like I told him but on closer inspection they were not mosquito bites they were Chicken Pox’s spots.

Oh no, he must of gotten exposed to Chicken Pox on the last few days of school and now he has them and also exposed his sister and two cousins.

Fortunately, Lee never got very sick with them. He played outside most of the day, in and out of the water.

Twenty one days later his sister also came down with them. Cousins, Devin and Sami did not miss out either. They were sick while out in Alberta visiting with their Grandmother and other family members.

A normal night at the cabin. Everyone finds there beds and fall asleep. In the middle of the night I get up to go to the washroom. There is no running water so the washroom is an outhouse not too far from the cabin.

I get my headlamp and shoes on and set out for the outhouse. To my horror, I am not the only one outside. On the edge of the small clump of trees next to the outhouse is an animal! I can’t tell what it is and I am freaking out! Looks like a really over sized raccoon or something with a bushy tail.  It moves into the trees a bit but no way am I going over there. I am panicking, jittering around, and confused about what to do. I quickly look towards the cabin. I debate if I need back up.I don’t know! I look back and it’s still there!

Now it looks like a huge 3 ft tall crab! What am I going to do?! I run back up on the cabin deck. Should I wake someone up to help? My panic is starting to wear off and I am more confused than anything about what I should do. After a while which was probably a minute it finally came to me and I remembered.

I walk out and use the outhouse and back into the cabin to bed. All the while amazed at myself and the whole event. Do you know what it was? My Dad’s pedal bike! Why? I was next thing to sleep walking. The flashlight and chrome off the bike wheels and frame created weird shadows and in my panic, combined with movement and light I made it look like it was moving. I didn’t remember it was there and was so groggy my mind went from 0 to 100 in no time.

Weirdest thing. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before, at least not to that scale or worth remembering. The next morning I told my parents. They laughed and said good thing I didn’t wake them or I would have never lived down the giant crab story.

Aunt Glenna and Uncle Keith have been at the cabin for a few days helping out. Today it is decided the the girl’s (Mom, Aunty, and I) will go rock hunting for a rock patio that will be built for the fire pit area. We all pile in the Tacoma and off we go.
Mom takes us to one of the areas that her and Dad have previously scoped out. It’s an area not far from the cabin on the main road. It was blasted to make it passable for logging trucks working in the area. There are lots of nice jagged and flat rocks to choose from. It turns into a treasure hunt and we split up to conquer the rock pile.

We  ooh and ahh over the different colour combinations, patterns, and shapes. We throw the keepers up on the shoulder of the road to be collected later. This area seems bigger than it really is. Soon it seems that we are having a hard time finding anymore rock’s that will do the job . Mom pulls the Tacoma up and we pack away everything we’ve found so far. On to the next spot.

We head back towards the cabin to one of the biggest hills on all of the road. It doesn’t seem like there is much here either. We climb our way up the rock face in a valley off to the side. Once we are 10 ft up though we see tons of good rocks. A weird giddiness sets in and we start yelling out our finds with excitement, big grins, and laughs.

Then Aunty finds the best rock of the whole rock adventure. She is so pumped and it is massive. It is almost all a really pure black. We haven’t seen many rocks this colour so far let alone one this big. It is quickly decided that it will be a stool and absolutely must come to the cabin.

Aunty starts putting everything she’s got into getting that big ole rock to the edge of the drop. It weighs almost as much as her. We all jabber away excitedly and somehow she manages to do it. We have all gotten way more into these rocks than i ever would have expected. Off the edge she pushes it and a nice big crash after as it lands on the side of the road in one big piece. 

We gather a few more rocks and load up the Tacoma with spirits high. Some rocks are left behind including the big one. The Tacoma is already too full. Dad or Uncle will come back with the Kubota to collect what we couldn’t take.

At the cabin we unload and tell the guys all about our rock adventure. Dad jokes about us abusing his poor Tacoma. The day is good.

I found out later after being home for a while that Dad and Uncle never did go and get that big black rock. They probably thought it was more hassle than awesome like we did. By the road it still waits.

Mom, Dad, and I are heading back to camp after a day in town. A day spent doing laundry and gathering more food and building supplies. We are all taking separate vehicles. Dad’s got the one ton and it’s loaded full of gravel, scaffolding, nails, screws and other building supplies and tools. Mom’s got the Tacoma full of food and laundry. I have my truck. It has been at the house up until now, and needs to be at the cabin ready to head out west when my vacation is over.

 
Dad leaves 30 minutes or so before mom and I. He is trying to beat the dark. The one ton is really wide and has mirrors that stick out a fair ways and the cabin trail is narrow. It is easiest to navigate the one ton down the trail with day light. Mom and I leave together and make our way towards the cabin. The drive is uneventful until we come across Dad on the side of the Railroad Rd. He has a completely blown front tire. Wires are sticking out every which way and just the bead on either side of the tire is all that’s really holding it on. We are 15 minutes from the cabin and a good hour from the house. No spare. Dad hasn’t been able to find a rim that fits the truck yet since it is a ‘new to them’ addition. 

Our options are to leave the truck stranded till morning or head back to the house, fix the tire, replace it and get to the cabin. Building supplies seem to be a hot commodity in the boonies so we opt for not leaving the truck alone too long. Mom drives off in the Tacoma to the cabin. Can’t let the perishable food go bad. Dad throws the tire in the back of my truck and back we go towards the house. My speedy driving skills are now an asset as it is already dark and by cabin time standards that means bed time. We are getting tired.

We get to the house and Dad hunts down a few tire’s he thinks might work by the light of my headlights. We use the truck to get everything over to the garage and Dad gets to work. First the bad tire needs to come off. This is were an ax and a sledge hammer come in to knock the bead out of place. Some soap, a couple pry bars, and a lot of effort finish the job. The best tire is selected and more soap, pry bars, and effort get the new tire back on. Air it up and POP! it’s in place and ready to go. Tire is thrown back in my truck and we boogy our way back to the one ton. It is still safe and sound as well as our supplies. Tire is reinstalled and everything is good to go. 

We finish making our way to the cabin, stopping to leave my truck before the narrow section. I get in the one ton with my Dad to finish the final stretch of trail.Like I said before, this part of the trail is narrow. Dad happily gave me the commentary on how you get this beast down such a small trail full of rocks, trees, brush and hills. There was lots of ‘cut it hard here’ and ‘cut it back there’ a ‘clip your mirror here’ as well as a ‘drive one side of the truck up on this rock’ (feels like your on a 45 degree side slant). If your ever out to the cabin  its a ride I highly recommend. My Dad would surely enjoy it, and you might think we are a little crazy after.

We make it to the cabin. We are tired but it’s good that we got everything there and can start on a cabin project tomorrow. It was a good evening if it was somewhat eventful.

My favorite parts were learning how to use an ax and a sledge hammer to bust the bead on a tire and Dad’s entertaining trail commentary. 

Love you Mom and Dad,

xoxoAmy

Summer 2018

The plan in retirement is to spend spring, summer and a large portion of fall out at the cabin. Up until the summer of 2018 we only had short periods of time to spend at the cabin due to other commitments such as work and raising a family. A long-weekend here and there or a week or two for vacation seemed to be all we could manage. We both really enjoy the cabin and lake so we want to be able to spend more time there.

Our long term goal, a 4 to 5 year plan is to build all the structures we need to accommodate our needs if we spend 3 seasons a year at the cabin. Once the new cabin and out buildings are complete we plan to sell our home and travel when we are not lazing about the cabin and lake.

Storage is going to be an issue. Solved that problem with a little planning in the design of the new cabin but also in building a “pole barn”. The pole barn will provide storage for tools and equipment but also provide a dry work space for when it is raining.

Pole barn completed just in time for the snow to start falling. It was close but we got it done. Some work on the inside remains to be completed but that will have to wait until next summer.

Well that project is done, or nearly done.

What adventure is next?

My sister, Glenna and her husband Keith along with their two dogs, Solas and Lyric arrived for a working visit on September 2, 2018. We did give them a little time to get settled in and go fishing but not much, it was a working holiday after all.

Amy, our daughter was still visiting and helping us out at this time as well. As a team of five we were able to accomplish a lot in a short period of time. Once Glenna and I were freed up from any jobs we decided it was time to start working on a stone patio where we can place a fire pit. A great location to sit around in the evening, to take in the scenery and quiet of a remote piece of paradise. A place to sit and visit with family and friends after a day on the lake.

Amy, Glenna and I went on a couple rock hunting expeditions to find just the right stones for the patio. There were several rock characteristics we were looking for. We took the color of the stones into consideration along with the size and shape. We were looking for a variety of color, not all the same. Size was also important, a variety of sizes would be easier to work with trying to fit them all together. Of course they had to be a size we could work with. Shape was another characteristic we needed to be cognizant of. We needed at least one side or edge of the stone to be relatively flat.

When Dan build the little cabin in 1980 he placed a concrete block under the cabin as part of the foundation. As the cement dried he etched in the date and Trojan (his dog at the time) and his name. We wanted to keep the block and make it a part of the stone patio. The block was placed on the east side of the patio but not due east. Instead we lined the lettering up with the buildings so you can read it from the deck of the cabin while looking at the lake.

The stone patio project was time consuming and labour intensive but a great addition to our lake property. It will be enjoyed by family and friends for many years to come. I can just imagine a group of us sitting around the fire in the evening telling stories, laughing and reminiscing.

Come join us.

What adventure is next?

Some trees are just in the wrong spot.

A few years ago we cleared out all the under brush on our one acre of lake front property. The under brush had to go as it was so thick it blocked our view of the lake and made the cabin site feel kind of small. We left all the trees standing as we wanted to leave them for their appearance, shade and habitat for the birds.

Now we have plans for a new cabin and its location on the site means there are a few trees that have to go. They are just in the wrong spot.

Summer 2018

Amy, our daughter is home visiting from Calgary and she is going to give us a hand to remove a couple trees.

Two trees, one scraggly jack pine and one large really nice birch are growing just where the screened in deck is going to be on the new cabin. We tried to work around the trees with our plans but there just is not enough room.

Dan, has a logging/forestry back ground so removing the trees should not be a problem.

Removing the birch stump is going to be a much bigger job. The birch tree is much larger then the jack pine and its roots are deep and wide spread.

All that is left now is to cut the trunk into fire wood, remove as much soil as possible from around the roots and back fill the holes left in the ground.

What adventure is next?

Summer of 2018

Dan built the small log cabin in 1981 with some help from family and friends. It is used mostly for storage of tools and fishing supplies. The “old” (Dan’s research found it is likely 75 years old) “Servel” propane fridge is also stored here as it is not safe to have in the building where people are sleeping.

The small log cabin has remained in the same location since it was built, but now it needs to be moved, as it is sitting where the new screened in deck will be for the new cabin.

My question was, “How do you go about moving a log building?” The answer: jack it up, build some skids under it, push it over and let it back down. Well not really that simple but that is the gist of it.

Jacking up the cabin was a slow process as we had to be careful to lift each corner just a little bit at a time to keep the it level so it would not end up tipping over. A jack was set up in each corner with a solid plate of metal under it to keep the jack from sinking down in to the dirt. Pump up one corner a couple inches and add blocking, pump up the next corner a couple inches and add some blocking and around and around we went until it was high enough to build the skids under it.

Now the site the small cabin is being moved to needs to be prepared. The soil is heavy clay and it has been a very dry summer so the clay is very hard. This calls for some big tools.

Our new Kubota tractor was also used to prep the site for the small cabin. Its job was mostly moving the roots we found to the brush pile for later disposal. Dan thinks I must of hit a sharp stick in the brush pile as we ended up with a flat tire on the left front.

August 11, 2018 (a smoking hot day 38°C) was moving the small cabin day but I was not able to be there to take photos.

Dan would need help to move the small cabin so he asked two brothers and long time friends of his, Greg and Grant to lend a hand.

They showed up early, 7 a.m. to beat the heat. Cables and rigging set up to move and swing cabin into the new spot. Greg and Grant’s excellent operative skills and knowledge were needed to safely move this small but very heavy cabin with no damage to the building or any injuries to the workers. It was all done by noon.

Dan had chosen his helpers well, Greg & Grant ‘s “get er done” attitude and exceptional operational skills, made success assured. Now it just needed a new foundation.

On visual inspection of the underside of the cabin, the wood was in really good condition with only a small amount of damage from carpenter ants. The cabin is over 35 years old so it was great news the wood was in such good shape. The next step was to spray hot linseed oil on all the wood surfaces under the cabin, to help prevent any further damage.

August 18, 2018 the day I learn how to mix and pour concrete.

We were done the concrete slabs under the little cabin early enough in the day we decided to pour forms for new 24″x24″x8″ blocks for support under large cabin deck.

The deck needed to be jacked up and leveled. Old crumbling concrete blocks had to be removed. The sites had to be cleaned and prepared. Forms needed to be made and concrete poured. Once the concrete was beginning to set they were brushed with a straw broom to add detail and help cover up imperfections.

Small log cabin is now in its new location. Wood is preserved with linseed oil. Concrete slabs holding it up off the ground and landscaping done around the building. Should be good for another 35+ years.

What adventure is next?

In the summer of 2018 we are building a pole barn on our lake shore property behind our log cabin.  This building will be used to store tools and equipment needed for the building and maintenance of our new cabin (once it is built, hopefully starting that process in the summer of 2019) and other structures on the property.

What is a pole barn you might ask.  Wikipedia states:  it is a simplified building technique, using large poles or posts buried in the ground or on a foundation to provide the vertical structural support.

We will be using 11 reclaimed poles as the vertical structure. The holes need to be about 6′ deep and 12″ around. We know the top layer of soil where the structure is going is clay but we have never dug or drilled 6′ down so we thought it would be a good idea to drill a test hole first.

A new auger of the appropriate size is attached to the old international tractor.

The auger was aligned and the drilling began. It was slow and steady progress.  Every few minutes the auger was lifted and dirt cleaned off. Then the drilling would resume. Seemed to be going well but the deeper it drilled the harder it was to lift the auger out until it just wouldn’t lift any more. It was stuck in 5 1/2 feet of clay.

So now what? The adventure of trying to dislodge the auger from the depths of clay begins.  Lets try drilling holes around it with a hand auger to see if that would loosen up the clay enough to release the auger.

No way did that work, it was stuck good and tight.

Okay, back to the drawing board. Maybe we could make a device that would fit in the top of the auger and attach  it to the bucket on the front of the international tractor to lift it out.  The hydraulics on the front of the tractor have more power and more lift then the back of the tractor where the auger was attached for drilling. But no tools at the cabin to build such a device so we have to head home for a few days.

Dan was making the large metal pin in his shop at home. All the necessary materials and tools are close at hand. But during one step of the process the large and heavy pin drops off the bench and lands on his big toe. I never witnessed it but I am sure there was some dancing and swearing going on. He never even told me until the next day. That poor toe was swollen and black and blue for several days, but that did not deter him from finishing building the pin.

With the pin locked in place on the top of the auger, the tractor is lined up so the pin can be attached just behind the bucket.

Once everything is in place and secured the bucket is slowly lifted. We do not want damage the auger so being very careful.

Lots of learning from drilling the first test hole. We need to fine tune this process as we need to drill 11 holes for the poles supporting the new pole barn.

So lets drill another test hole. Hope it goes better then the first one.

A couple exciting experiences during the drilling of test hole #1 and even one hazardous to Dan’s big toe.

What adventure is next?

Phase 3: retirement years (our retirement, not the kids)

Now, we are retired and looking to spend more time at the cabin. This means we would like to build a pole barn and a new cabin. We now need to have access right to the cabin by truck. No way were we moving enough building supplies by ATV and trailer or by boat.

Following some lengthy research and looking into the process for improving our access trail we contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources for our jurisdiction and they were able to help us out.

We needed to have a work permit to improve the road and to install a culvert where the treacherous water crossing was. We received the work permit in early summer of 2018.

So the work began:

We purchased the appropriate size culvert and moved it from our home location to as close as we could get to the water crossing by truck and trailer.

Some site preparation was needed at the water crossing before moving the culvert into place. Some large beams we were previously trying to get out to the cabin needed to be moved. Moving the beams was not a simple job. Adventures and challenges abound but those stories are for another time.

The summer of 2018 was an exceptionally dry year so we were able to do all the work on the creek crossing with no water running in the creek! A large amount of debris, old logs/timbers and stones needed to be removed from the old crossing.

A trench wide enough and long enough for the culvert to fit in needed to be dug. The grade of the trench was important to ensure the water would flow the right direction once we were done and it started raining again.

 

We moved the culvert to site with a Kubota tractor pulling a small trailer with the culvert tied on top.

Moving the culvert from the small trailer into the trench was challenging to say the least. Some ingenuity and brute strength was needed.

There was a near miss from a serious injury when the culvert went sliding down the trailer narrowly missing Dan. But it was eventually in place.

Painted stakes were placed at either end of the culvert to ensure correct placement of the culvert as the back filling is done.

 

Then the work of back filling began.

Gravel was screened and separated. The larger stones were screened off and placed on the sides of the road as cobble protecting the road and preventing erosion. The smaller gravel was used to build up the center section.

Once most of the gravel was in place a packer was used to firm it up. The packer is very old so several small mechanical issues cropped up during the process. Small amounts of gravel were added as needed to level the road bed.

Eventually the culvert is completed and we now have vehicle access right to the cabin.

Now that we have road access to the cabin, what adventure is next?