Red Deer Log Cabins

They're off!
Bookings are very strong.  Lots of full weeks for a change.  People are going for the best deal.  Booking by the week is a 30% savings over the daily rates.  I've offered it for years and am really happy to see return clients taking a REAL vacation.

Due to a recent disastrous booking, I will no longer accept bulk bookings for campsites or cabins.  Each cabin/campsite must be identified and linked to a specific renters name.  All guests in a group must be listed by the leader and contact information for each is required.

Facebook is jealous of the amount of time I spend doing other things too.

After waiting for years to be able to upgrade to a satellite service that allows me entertainment data allowance as well as work... I am really not happy that I have NO internet.  Installed 6 weeks ago, I have had intermittent signal since the beginning.  The company kept saying a tech would come to fix it.  I see no one.  No bill will be paid.

Until then, I am on intermittent access via the local library.  It's only open a couple of hours a week.  Please call if you have a time dependent inquiry, as it may take up to a couple of days to get an email answer at present.

It's been a busy get the season going season here.  Announcements to come.  I advertised in the Algonquin Park corridor newspaper; don't know if that is spurring higher inquiry levels, or if that is just a byproduct of slogging along all these years.
The people who are following Facebook (Red Deer Log Cabins) have already seen this; sorry for the delay!

Pretty funny how many people slowed down on the highway to look as it was being installed last weekend.  I would put money on the major talk in town being who are the new owners.  I had a hat on, and no one really recognizes me anyway.

in May.  It's been raining, as everyone just about everywhere in Ontario knows.  Flooding downriver in this system, but it is still fine here, at least so far.  Also hearing that parts of Algonquin Park are closed due to flooding, so that would be upriver on the Madawaska, it being one of the major waterways of the park this side of the watershed.  The only consequence here has been that the telephone has yet to be restored.  Last I heard they were laying line.  I still have email (different system); the internet is slow as molasses because of cloud cover, but it works.

That would be the signature of this winter season.  There were more service outages of more services than ever since I moved here.

A lot of southern Ontario has lost its snow, but there's still lots here.  I don't know if the snowmobile trails are open with all the warm and rain that we've had; it looks really bad on the stretch that goes around this place.  Trees have been drinking heavily.  There are snow wells and bare patches now covered with a fresh 2 inches of white.
Problem with the wasps is I don't know how to frame their information.  Their nests were very high at the beginning of last season, slowly getting lower and lower; they are measuring precipitation level, not time (or that's the part I can't decode) or temperature.

It's not going to stay.
Predicting a green Christmas, lots of rain between now and then.
The wasps told me
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The Season of 2016 is a wrap.

Thanks to everyone who made it one of the best in years.

​Book any time for 2017...

Google moved my marker again.  I moved it back again.  My ears ring with the laughter of those who know how many times I have said that Google is fixed...

​Still trying to get the body of water name back to the real one too.  The way they have it labeled, water runs up the Madawaska to Moore's Falls, which is not marked in any way.

So when do we get past the virtual, and on to the reality portion?
I have lost track of how many people need to NOT do their jobs in order for my map point to be displayed incorrectly.  How/why do they keep manipulating my data?

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It appears the issues with Google, which has been an ongoing situation for 17 months, are finally resolved.  We still need to see if they can change back the name of the body of water to the west of the campground to read "Moore's Creek".  Someone over there decided it was part of the Madawaska River...it is a distinctly separate tributary, spilling from Moore's Lake.

Over 100 emails and I have no idea how many phone conversations later, the ghost posting of Red Deer Lodge & Campground (name change 5 years ago, somehow the property moved over to Highway 17) is eradicated from the system.  I think the GPS problem is fixed, but we won't know until someone has trouble...or not.  Maybe now I won't get any more phone calls from people asking me if I am sure my place is not on Highway 17.  Maybe now I won't get people following GPS lost down a dirt road facing a locked gate.  Maybe.

If anyone finds a posting for Red Deer Log Cabins on Airbnb, please let me know. Someone is trying to make an unauthorized account using my publicized email address. Of course, it is easy to find pictures on the internet to phoney up a listing...

Red Deer Log Cabins does not have an offer on Airbnb, and because i don't have an account with them, I cannot contact them to report the fraud. I don't intend to make an account, as I don't agree with the 'sharing' economy. There are huge corporate $$s being made by duping people into believing they are 'sharing'. Airbnb properties are (so far) exempt from all of the regulations that the public petitioned the government to make for their protection as citizens. Now tourists are happy to circumvent those regulations, which cost huge tax $$s to create, and have put an unfair burden on legitimate tourism providers. As with Uber, Airbnb believes themselves to be above regulatory bodies in all jurisdictions. When your cheap rental or ride goes sideways, don't expect the government to do something about it...you already cut them out of the loop. People need to look at how they are shooting themselves in the foot with this 'sharing' economy. Why pay for regulations only to have them not apply to your particular situation?

​Also, understand that the 'opportunity' to turn homes into income producing properties under the radar is a contributing factor to the obscene house prices in major urban centres.

There is a marked change in the colours overnight.  Even this waterfront is showing much more than yesterday.  It looks like the rain may hold off, and no high winds are in the forecast at this time, so there is a great chance that my prediction will come true, and the colours peak will be this weekend coming.

Also just in time for Thanksgiving, I am finally seeing substantial numbers of edible mushrooms fruiting.

People asked this past weekend about wild berries; the only thing still on the bushes is wild grape.  There are lots, as they have been slow to ripen.

Cabin availability:  the log cabins are booked, but the little frame cabin is still available.  If anyone can get out of the city this week, I have up until Saturday available in 2 log cabins.  I also have Sunday night and on from that available in one log cabin,  The weather is looking fab for this week from what I can see.

Anyone with trailers or RVs, I have serviced sites available for the entire weekend.  Also, anyone who loves camping and isn't afraid of cooler temperatures, you have lots of choice in the campground.  :-)

AND there have been a number of sightings of a moose cow in the reeds to the south of the waterfront in the last while.  I can't guarantee she will show herself; nature does what nature does.
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But...they are indeed northern lights.  They don't behave like clouds.  Big display, just getting warmed up.  Covering about half the sky so far, north to west.

It's a very slow start to the colours season.  I heard some speculation that there would not be colours this year because of the drought; highly unlikely.  That is not how nature works. Trees will stop photosynthesizing and leaves will change colour as a consequence of their stopping production.  Surprise is that the change is starting so late. Stressed trees usually change earlier, not later.  So far though I see almost no change in the immediate landscape. Even the maple tree in the driveway is still green and it is often turning red mid August.  As usual, nature doesn't care what the calendar says, and works on its own schedule.  In the general landscape (along hwy 60) I saw about 10% change on Friday, with the show being more vibrant when heading west.  
Likely the big show will be at Thanksgiving this year; only time will tell.

Thanks to all of you who called instead of writing these past 11 days.  Back to normal (or at least as normal as it ever gets around here...)

Currently I have no computer (a second massive fail this season), so please CALL and talk to the answering machine if I am not immediately available.  I check for messages regularly.

Got in a bit of a twist up with a client the other day because he was going to hike into the forest south of here to fish in a lake.  Problem was he took offense to me suggesting it was unsafe to go into the woods with winds gusting to 50 km/h (said I was 'restricting him). Perhaps it is uncommon for a proprietor to look out for the safety of his clients;  I just know that locals get dead quick when a tree comes down on them.  People compulsively check phones and expect weather reports to be accurate to the hour, looking out for rain.  How could high wind be inconsequential?

It's supposed to rain soon too, so, with a little luck, we should be looking at a bumper crop.
There are lots of other foods to forage as well, some lovely salad greens in particular. Dandelion, sheep sorrel, Johnny Jump Ups, plantain, and purslane (which is better sauteed).

We are now having dew such that mushrooms are growing  Not a lot...but enough for a snack every day.  
Very quiet long weekend; the roads, the waterway, and the campground doesn't have a lot of campers.  Actually, everyone in the campground has been here before, so I have the usual happy people syndrome in full swing.  New people in the cabins, getting infected with the good feelings...

My blog must be so jealous.  Since I have started a Facebook page it is getting all of the attention because of all the alerts and whatnot.  Wear me out much?  On the other hand, thanks to everyone who is posting pictures and making comments and clicking on things.

Mushrooms are trying to grow, but we really need rain.  There has been enough dew lately to make a few.  Last 4 predicted rain events are not worth measuring, a few drops. It rained heavy close by though because the Falls is just roaring!  That means the top of the ridge must have gotten substantial amounts of rain, where Moore's Lake is, to create such an outflow so late in August.  Lots of times the Falls is just down to a trickle by now.
Anyone who can get into the deep forest will likely be able to pick happily and heartily.

Water level in the Madawaska River is a bit high.  The riverfront tentsite is not completely dry (no standing water though) in one spot.  I noticed a wet lawn mower tire a couple of very limited spots in the grounds when I cut grass yesterday.  Yes, some of the grass here survived the drought.  A lot of sites only had one cut this season because of the shortage of precipitation.

Cabins are maybe full for the long weekend; one is not confirmed (#4).  Still a bunch of tent sites and a couple of serviced sites to be had.

So call, ,or fill in the form, and you too can be camping this weekend.  Oh, a second 1/2 day canoe prize was claimed.  Find the contest on the website, and enter to see if you are a winner.

I understand it's horribly hot amidst the concrete.
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It's official.  No open fires until further notice.  Campers be sure to have an alternative heat source for cooking.

In the shower...