Red Deer Log Cabins

Seems it's official.  This is not a trailer park.  Woodall's, the largest trailer site listing service in the US,  no longer wants to be bothered listing my place because it does not have enough serviced sites available for rigs.  So all of you folks who want a place to stay that isn't full of trailers and the associated society, I guess this is the place for you.
I only get about one booking a year from Woodall's anyway, so no great loss at this end except for the backlink.  Maybe they need me more than they think.  The last product of their advertising, a couple from California, was completely in awe of what they found.

In house this weekend are a couple of ladies of the french Canadian extraction.  One lives in Montreal, the other near Sudbury.  They have been friends for many years.  This is their first return; they were here a year ago.  Having not seen each other for some time last summer, when they got dressed to go for a swim, they discovered they had purchased the exact same bathing suit.
Are you laughing yet?

My current volunteer went for a walk to the lake, and showed up here shortly thereafter.  He saw a big pile of poo on the trail, full of berries.
It seems there are bear viewing opportunities close by.  There has still never been a bear in the grounds.  My fastidious campers help to keep that a reality.

A little thunderstorm and downpour just moved through here.  The phone rang.  I thought I recognized the number...it was the camper on the farthest site, called the "presidential suite", asking if there was still a cabin available.
Sadly for them, no.   However, I just received my first call from inside the grounds for a booking.
Ah, the wonders of technology!

2 paws up!  A client was here with his sniffer dog, the type that finds bedbugs and mold.  Oliver, the dog, had to use the wheel to be fed, because he didn't find any bedbugs or mold in the cabins.  That, after his owner, a home inspection professional, stated that every home has mold...

Anyone who likes fresh wild fruit, the blueberries are perfect right now.  They can be picked by the handful.
Same with the June Plums, also known as Saskatoon berries.
MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............

A commonly asked question is do I provide bbqs with the cabins.  For legal reasons, I do not provide gas bbqs.  A certification is required for me to attach a tank for a client, though they can attach their own tank to their own bbq with no certification required.  In that bbqs have become common at rental properties, there is an assumption that this is a lifestyle choice that should be supported.
Instead, I have firepits here with each cabin and campsite, and sell firewood on site.  Which brings to mind another technicality.  It is important that people do not bring firewood from other locales.  I have already fought infestations of gypsy moth, carpenter ants, and asian long horned beetles that have come with firewood that clients brought into my premises.  The cost for firewood here is minimal, $10/wheelbarrow.  It is not a money maker.  I provide local wood so that I can protect my trees, and provide shade and a sylvan environment for future campers.

Anyone who enjoys thunderstorms, this has been THE place for the last 2 days, and there is more to come.  Fabulous light show last night, ending in a crash of rain.  Lots of fair weather between the storms.
Fishing has been good during this series of meteorological events.

Nature makes people smarter.
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/thinkaboutit_20130730_23221.mp3

With all the legislation and regulation in this (tourism) industry, how about some legislation to make people spend time in nature?  For the good of all.

Finally!  The monarchs are late this year, or they were hiding.  I have finally seen 2.  It makes me wonder...there used to be a lot of monarchs here, but 2 Augusts ago, a lady came by and harvested cocoons for her school.  Maybe there are lots where she took them?  It takes 4 generations of butterfly to migrate to Costa Rica and back.  There is lots of milkweed here, even more than before.  Why are the butterflies not here in even larger #s?  As far as a declining population is concerned, I resist that this is part of an overall trend, as the population here was very healthy UNTIL the cocoons were exported.

It doesn't get better; light breeze, sunny, 30C.  What more could you want? 

After one, or was it two? oops, 11 day of local gasoline, there are signs back up on the pumps.  No gas.
Remember to gas up on the way into Madawaska.  Bancroft has best deal, the CanTire keeps the Esso hopping.

Yesterday was an offsite day.  The lads and I went to Wilderness Tours to whitewater raft on the Ottawa River.  It's a promotional situation offered to OVTA (Ottawa Valley Tourist Association) members.  It was fun, and a great reason to be away for a day.  As there were no arrivals expected, it worked out fine.  We just did the rafting, not the barbq or dance afterwards; it's too far from here to stay and party.
So it was all very interesting, but it was not nearly as extreme a sport as I had expected.  A lot of it was floating downriver and listening to the river guide.  Turns out we were given a condensed version, and not the most exciting part of the river.  4 rapids in 2 1/2 hours.  Too much talk as far as I was concerned, and not nearly enough excitement.  All in all, a bit of a time waster.  I can't see promoting them having not had the real tour, and I don't appreciate their use of my time this way.  After the experience, I thought the (theoretical) price was high, and then was told that we were not shown the best part of the river for action.
It was nice to be on the river for an afternoon, as that is a rare experience for me.

"The lads" are my current volunteers.  One is from France, the other from New Caledonia.  One is a construction supervisor, the other a mechanical engineer.  They are very skilled people, and I am blessed to have them here, fixing things that others, who were paid, did not do correctly.  If anyone wants the name of a couple of lousy contractors, I am compiling quite a list at this point.

But it's not raining here.  As far as I can see, it has been raining in Bancroft most of the day.
3 drops.
Yesterday, it did eventually rain.  For 10 minutes.

Wherever you are, it may be raining.  I talk to people and it is raining where they are.  As is often the case, in spite of the forecast, it's not raining here.

As far as I can tell, the biting bug population is well under control.  The swallows are out in full force, and I will credit them with the drop in black flies.  The mosquito population is also reduced.  Of course, the deer flies are just coming into their season, but I am not seeing the numbers of previous years, too wet for them, I think.  Yes, I know I said the bugs were gone 2 weeks ago.  Wishful thinking...they had a resurgence.  This time I think they are really on the run.

It's definitely old news now, but the fireflies have been lighting up the evening air for the last 2 weeks.  It's always so magical to see them.  They are somehow temperature dependent, only the warm nights, but I haven't figured out what the critical temperature is.  It is rather tropical here, a downpour or 2 passed through overnight, and this morning is very humid and warm.  Great day to be by the water.

There is gasoline available again in the hamlet of Madawaska.  It can be found at Algonquin Bound Outfitters, on the north west corner of Highway 60 and Highway 523.

By the way, the fishing was excellent this past weekend.  Many happy camping and cabining fishermen.  Many happy fish eaters.  There was so much, I even had a share.  Very good pike, mmmmmmmm

I try really, really hard to make my place easy to find.  GPS is not helping...I have provided the coordinates measured in front of my front door.  That should suffice.  However, over the weekend 2 campers were taken for a tour in another county.  Apparently there are 2 GPS systems, and they do not agree.
Please map your drive instead of relying on GPS.  I cannot close the gap of faulty technology.  Ah, for the old days, when a simple sentence got everyone to the door.  My place is still located 2 km south of Highway 60 on Highway 523. 
I don't expect that to change in the near future...
Those who follow GPS may take more than double the time to arrive as it should take, and may find themselves the recipients of my "Hansel and Gretel Award" for the vacationer who took the longest drive to get here, by following GPS.