Red Deer Log Cabins

This is pathetic.  In a free country, we can't decide to use nonpoisonous bug spray.?  It just won't be available.  Maybe that's why Skin Armour, an anti-bug essential oil soap is no longer on the shelves at Home Hardware.

It ran in the (propped) open door.
Not a good move this time of year with all the little animals looking for hidey spots for the winter...

I got 2 today.

I've often wondered why tipping is so expected in restaurants, but no longer in the accommodation industry.  Restaurant workers get a described job with a baseline wage.  Accommodation properties can be cheaper than dinner for a family of 4, and the money covers a lot more time. 
The extra service given in a 'housekeeping' resort scenario is rarely rewarded.  People who forget towels, pillows, matches, want romantic candles, have extra life jackets thrown in, have visitors arrive without notice having told them to drive right past the stop and register sign at the office and straight to their site/cabin, get messages from home that are relayed in good time by foot traffic...
Also if there is breakage, or someone can't be bothered to tidy up, it would be sensible to leave at least a token offering.  Mostly I want to know about breakage to properly equip a cabin for the next occupant.  Rarely is there a charge for "accidents", unless it is something big.  I prefer to be told instead of discovering a problem.

I hope tipping becomes fashionable again. 

Cabins are busy, but there is still camping available for anyone making last minute plans.  Don't be put off by the weather forecast.  It looks to me like we can expect some drizzle Sunday for a short time.

I just saw a shiny black Ford F150 rolling down the road with a hot PINK bush bar on the front.
Whaddaya figger that's about?

Much as I haven't wanted to admit it, it is obvious that there are yellow and falling leaves.  Willow, birch, poplar.
There have been flashes of red on maples for almost 2 weeks, something that is normal.  The maples that shut down photosynthesis first are the deep burgundy ones, then the odd flamer shows.  It's the yellow leaf part of the forest that seems early to me.
Poor trees are probably confused with all the rain and cool weather.
I think it's going to be a long autumn, but colours may come on earlier than the last couple of years.  That will make moose hunters happy.  The leaves may be down by the time they are in the bush.

Saw a lovely specimen of this threatened species the other day.

By and large, the snakes you are likely to see here are not aggressive nor dangerous.  If you don't bug them, they won't bug you.  They are a big help in keeping the mouse population in check.

Here's a cute snake, also sighted recently.

Went to the corner store this evening just before closing.  Other years, Highway 60 has been a stream of traffic on Fridays.
The road was DEAD!.
Canoe outfitter has everything rented, so they are doing well apparently.  But a serious traffic shortage overall.
Then one of the Campapalooza Moms dropped in to pick up things that were left behind.   She had just driven through Algonquin Park, and also noted that the traffic was very light.

Well...my cabins are full...campers still on the way too.  Normal Friday here.

In depth piece on The Current, CBC about feeding wildlife, intentionally or unintentionally.  Statistically speaking, deer kill more people than hunters do.  From raccoons to cowbirds, people are interacting unmindfully and/or inappropriately with animals, and it's turning into a battlefield.

Buckets of rain to start the day.  Now it's very ... calm

The woods are alive with the wind of mushrooms.

I love it when I have senior guests.
Double bingo this time, a(n) (older) senior with a senior therapy dog.  His daughter brought them for a week in the country.
These pilgrimages are refreshing for all of us.

Someone is burning plastic on his campfire.
I don't even know where to begin.
Obviously, I live in the country so that I can breathe crap like that at the whim of someone who gives me a couple of bucks.
Grrrrrrr.....

Hope he has a big fire, so it is all burnt off before someone else uses that firepit. 

Time exists here before and after each individual vacation.  What a 'self centred' person does can affect various guests in the future, as well as in the moment.  From fishing on the beach, to dumping food in any drain, or garbage in any toilet, breaking branches from live trees, burying cigarette butts in the sand,  burning plastic on a campfire...these are all indicators of someone who does not consider that the space is shared over time with other people.  Or doesn't care.
Funny about me advertising a distinctly environmentally responsible flavour for the place. 

Campapalooza is folding up, about to disappear into the mists.  Yes, mists.  It's almost raining, again.  Who would have thought we would have such crappy weather in the middle of August?  21 children didn't seem to notice, as they swam, flew kites, caught frogs, played chase games, kicked soccer balls, canoed...the list goes on.  Camp was well organized, and things went off mostly without a hitch.  The rain amounts were inconsequential during the day; the larger amounts fell at night and early in the morning.

Talk about next summer's event is already on simmer.

Campapalooza is a terrific success.  Well organized, well equipped for being in the great outdoors, and by and large all happy sounds coming from the waterfront, which is overrun with 6 to 14 year olds.

It looks a little like an accordion playing from a distance; the group expands and contracts with great regularity though in a totally chaotic fashion.

When Ontario was a manufacturing giant, before it was dismantled in the late 90s by Harris, this kind of family grouping would happen naturally with the plant shutdowns for 2 weeks each summer when everyone was off and the plant was retooled.  The farther south the manufacturing plants were, the earlier in the summer were the shutdowns.  Mix that with the youngest employees from other sectors getting the earliest vacations in the summer schedule, and week by week there would be large groups of children with their respective adults.  Activites didn't organize officially, but there was a lot of parents cooperating to have great vacations with their broods.

Not so much now that so many people apparently don't vacation.  The labour sectors don't support the same kind of tourist flow either.

There have been family reunions here the same size as Campapalooza.

These ladies are on to something.  4 nights of overnight camp for 21 youngsters of different ages? A quick calculation says they saved about $12K giving their children a camp experience the Campapalooza way.

Tomorrow I have a crew of 21 youngsters and their collective Moms arriving for a week of fun.

Stay tuned!

This is a first.  Before they were made critter proof I sometimes had mice in the cabins, and the occasional chipmunk (the Peanut Syndrome).  Currently there is a squirrel chewing holes in the screen above the sink in cabin #4.  This has been going on for a couple of weeks actually.  She is now also trying to chew through the tape covering the holes she made.
There's a supersonic squealer in the cabin keeping her out, so far seems to be working.  I'll have to fix the screen after either my cat gets her or she finds another nesting spot.  Right now she just keeps ripping into it.

I had a couple of mice in a cabin a couple of weeks back, before August 1, but it seems they might have run in when a door was propped open, because no more.  For now.

I'm told my response time to inquiry and booking emails is unusually prompt.
Apparently the downside of the booking engines, even though one may point and click for immediate gratification, is that confirmation takes some time to come through.  As that is not how I engage vacations, I did not know that.

The grass is cut.  That's done.
The not so good thing is the tires on the tractor are still getting wet, so the river is still high.  It means the trail to the waterfall is still flooded, badly.

There were many years when the trail was flooded in the spring, and it wasn't safe to go into the bush but for the bugs until August.  Some years the trail has been passable for the entire season.  For the last 2 years the trail has been under water.  Between drenching rain (the drought is over, no fire ban for the last 2 years either) and the river being kept high by OPG (Ontario Power Generation), the trail doesn't have a chance.

The tires being wet also means 2 campsites are flooded and consequently offline:  the waterfront tent site and the original group site.  Even if its dry when you arrive, OPG opening the floodgate at Whitney OR a 5 minute drench could mean you are floating by morning.  That's how much the river is still going up and down with the management.

It also means that on a warm humid evening there are still mosquitoes.  Their breeding ground has never dried up this year.  The deer flies are still murderous in the bush too, which is much later than their typical season.  Hiking in the forest isn't fun this season.  It's much better to travel by water or hike in the open.  By water is the only way to see the falls this season, don't know that September will be any better.

I just found a site with ropes in the trees wayyyy up, cutaways from the tarps and just about every branch that they could reach snapped back on the site.  A pile of small branches under the maple.  These are the same people that thought they could put 2 families on one site,  because the sites are so big, and split the cost.  Yup, that's why I made big sites.  That would make me 400% dumber than your average business person.  So that's a days worth of tree work and a monkey rental?  Don't know what to do about the ropes; 2 guys move a picnic table under the tree and stand on it to tie them.  Then they cut away at ground level, leaving the tree to strangle slowly. 

Guidelines for Guests are given to new arrivals. 
"6.  Firewood may be purchased at the office.  Do not break limbs or peel bark from live trees."

Tree pruning happens in the spring and the fall, when it is best for the tree, NOT in the summer at the convenience of the camper.  Sites are big so that there is room for the trees too.  Now I have a # of sharp points, some at eye height, and split branch stubs at the trunk.  It is a visual signal for others to help themselves.

After time, all the trees will be denuded on the lower trunks.  Privacy between sites will be gone.  Tops will strangle when the tree grows around the rope and the tree becomes a 'danger' tree and has to be removed.

So much for it being a 'beautiful' place, as so many new arrivals and return clients say.  It cannot be beautiful with everyone taking fire starter from live trees, and pruning as they see fit.  That is well beyond the privilege afforded here with admission.

Doing the same thing in Algonquin Park would attach a $250 fine to each licence plate.  $1000 in fines for taking liberty with trees that do not belong to the 'harvesters'.  I could rent a cherry picker AND a monkey with a chainsaw for a day for that amount!

I've been having trouble receiving notification that someone has commented on the blog, but I think it is fixed.  Hopefully for good. 
;-)
There was an orphaned question about nontoxic bug deterrent alternatives, which was answered directly subsequently.  You will find bug information under the "wildlife" tag.

Watch how this hack unfolds!
Currently we have no idea of time line or internet locations involved.  Now is the time to change all passwords.
Don't know I'd be buying much online these days.

It's ready, there is now a link for you to opt in for future communication.

Is this another make work project by our gov?  Most of my spam comes from other countries and offshore.  Anyway, I don't send many emails, but if you would like to make my job easier, please select one of the options.

One of my regulars snagged a couple this past weekend, quite a surprise for him.  Years of August weekends and this is the first time he has caught them. 
Cisco is freshwater herring.
They are great smoked, but also fine in fish soup.  The yellow alder that grows here is an excellent wood for smoking fish.  I have some dry for just that, more than I need, if someone wants to smoke fish on site.

Apparently people are showing up having prepaid for vacations in private cottages, only to find out that they have paid someone who had pictures, not ownership.  According to CBC, these postings come from Kijiji, but I'm betting that if there is one source for phishing there are many.

Buyer beware!

Of course, because the pics on my site are all real (except one, no one has figured out which one is the file photo yet!), you know this is a safe choice.  It really is a small cabin/camping resort with a sand beach, and I do have authority to contract your vacation.