Red Deer Log Cabins

Only a couple of days ago the landscape was distinctly redder, in a lusher kind of way than I ever remember seeing at the end of the colours run.    Red of many hues; orange through burgundy, along with the green conifers and flashes of white from things like milkweed seeding.  Striking!  Bare white and grey tree trunks showing all the yellows down.  Then the tamarack did it's magic and put the yellows and oranges back into the mix.
 
Now, with the hurricane's tail end moving through, there is steady rain and the last of the leaves are dropping.  A little wind later on  and it will be all over.

Seeing as this is a summertime place, it's time to call it a day.  The below zero temperatures at night are approaching the level where water pipes are vulnerable to breaks, so they were drained over the weekend.
 
The cabins are heated, and for those who are up to it, outdoor toilets and wash water from the river are available if you want to come for a late season stay.  Other than that, you can book for next summer...

Mind you, this is a combination of Google and the driver who reported the discrepancy.  So I have again been spending time with Google, trying to get a more accurate placement of my property marker.
 
A new client passed my driveway, the big red sign at the top of it, and the #6471 marker because her GPS (smartphone) said to continue.  She was directed to the driveway of the local landfill site.
 
Why will people not use the instructions provided on this website to get here?
 
At any rate, that provoked a new interaction with Google.  Google cannot use my GPS coordinates for some reason.  I said they needed to move the marker 1km north on Hwy 523, so they moved the marker to Hwy 60 and placed it at Riverland.   I am insisting they move the marker because of the recent 4 Google+ suspensions when I placed the marker myself.  Why can no one read or listen, but they still get paid?  Why is customer service so poor just about EVERYWHERE?  I have outstanding issues that are running in to a 3rd month with 9 companies, because the submitted information is not used.  That includes the brand new toilet that runs (the wrong part was sent)!
 
The marker is back to as close as I can get it to the driveway.  The sign can actually be seen again on the Google streetview map.
 
I cannot be responsible for bad choices made while driving, and bad preparation done before embarking on a trip.
 
The same driver disabled the septic system when leaving by driving over the cleanout pipe and not letting me know.   Because I am not psychic, it took a little time to see the pipe lying on the ground with the car tire tracks showing clearly which car did the damage.  I was busy with another client at the time.  This client is now trying to say there was something wrong before she drove over the pipe; she had seen the shut down toilet.  Because she doesn't understand plumbing she is accusing me of chicanery.  Perhaps the GPS needed an update and Google was actually right.  I don't know. 
 
I do know people have to stop blaming me for their mistakes.  Also,  customer service needs to be what it is called, instead of customer abuse.  The knowledge that someone gets paid to make my life miserable because I bought a product is very inflammatory.

People coming from the city are used to 'convenience'.  Tell me, how convenient is it though when your milk is sour, but the store won't take it back because you weren't given a receipt in the first place?  How convenient is it when you use an ATM in a store, your bank account is debited the amount + a transaction fee, but no money came out of the machine and the person behind the counter tells you to call the 800# on the side of the machine?  How convenient is having to pay cash for gas and alcohol because the proprietor refuses to let those purchases be charged to a card.  Conveniently, there is an ATM in the store. ? How convenient is it to be overcharged because of double entries on the register?

Get the picture?  Prepare well.  Best to provision in the last town you pass through instead of leave it to the last minute and pay middle of nowhere gotcha prices.  It is a good idea to carry some cash too.  Fact is, if the hydro goes out, credit cards cannot be used.  It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. This can be particularly important if you have children.
 
It may be a little more fuss than you are used to, but the payoff is worth it.  You will get to enjoy a beautiful place without the consumer hassle.  And I won't have to hear the sad stories...I can't do anything about your luck with that.

The sun is up
 
The sky is blue
 
It's beautiful...
 
Oops, I am not John Lennon, but it was his 75th birthday on October 9.  Dear Prudence remembers, I am sure.

I have been giving people instructions to get to the waterfall for 26 years, and no year has been as bad as this one for people misunderstanding me.

You cannot go over the waterfall to your death when you are traveling up the river to get there.  If you think about it, it would not serve me well to send clients into danger.  If I won't tell you which mushrooms to eat, or to jump off the bridge into the channel, or to slide on the waterfall, why would I send you over the falls in my boat?
 
I speak really really good English.  I also speak not so good French, and Spanish, and even worse German.
 
Actually, I admit it.  I have been sending people to their deaths, down the waterfall getting there by going upriver,  for years now!  I lose a canoe every once in a while, but I get some great cars...

Recently there has been a lot of talk with clients/friends around campfires about unstable people.  They are everywhere.!  There is so much mental illness in our society.  The sad part is these are often the people who try to hold others to account when there is a problem.  All of the compassion and support in the world will not help.  As a proprietor, I have found myself under attack on numerous occasions for things that are not my responsibility.  I cannot be held responsible for the misconceptions of others. 
 
Some people think my website has too much information.  I have done this to protect myself from assumptions.  It is also amazing that apparently literate, intelligent people choose to twist words to make themselves right and make me appear to be deficient.  I find that at both ends of my business spectrum, both the client and the purveyor sides.
 
I went to LinkedIn this morning because there was a notification, and found a picture of the most recent abuser in my life grinning at me. 
Living life in virtual networks designed by computer algorithms is NOT healthy.
Spending more time in nature is healthy.  Of course, if one needs medication, it is a good idea to get help, and not expect your 'community' to continue to cut you slack for your intermittently uncontrollable bad behaviours.  We can be supportive all we like, but it will not ultimately be helpful.  Allowing someone to remain delusional does not help him/her.  Rewriting history will not help either.
 
I have been under the weather myself of late (a severe cold/virus with complications) and found myself the target of more than one person who can smell weakness.  Being prey used to confuse me.  Now not so much.  I've had so much practice I actually find defending myself exhilarating at this point.
 
I refuse to be anyone's whipping boy for any reason.  When I was young I was bullied incessantly, so this took me a little while to get turned around.  I am human, and occasionally make mistakes.  When I am wrong I apologize.  When I am not wrong I do not.  People can hate me all they like for not playing into their plans.  Selfishness abounds.
 
We meet for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  Very few make the lifetime cut.

A new one has moved into the area.  He's so bold he was trying to get into the garbage can at 2pm today.  Strange, as they are generally nocturnal.  Either he is really hungry, or he has evolved.  It's true, it was overcast, but nowhere near the light level of dusk.
 
It's a stark reminder to keep food and garbage under control.  Don't feed the wildlife, either on purpose or inadvertently!  Otherwise, it is a pet.  Matter of fact, it becomes your pet, and you have to take it with you when you go.  That's the rule here.

Instead of using the edge of a $250 white eastern full cut 2X6 picnic table to remove the cap from your beer, try using a piece of crap $1 disposable bottle opener from the dollar store.   Otherwise, I will have to charge for damages.
 
Just a thought...
 
I am seeing this damage more and more often in my campground, and it is completely unwarranted.  I don't know what kind of stupid tough act this is, but it is completely inappropriate.  As I am taking people to campsites tonight, I am pointing out that I know the table shows fresh damage.

Well, we got one thing right.  Google maps now show a travel time of 3 to 4 hours from Toronto, depending on which route is taken.  I believe this is because the 911#s have FINALLY been uploaded to the system  by the Township of South Algonquin.  This tells me that it may now be possible to find this location by GPS.  We'll have to do a test sometime in the near future, I will have to have someone try to get here by GPS.
 
Thank you, everyone who has been patient.  It is an administrative issue, and outside of my control.

We are right on track to see the peak of colours this weekend.  Finally the hills in the distance are showing the variety of colour expected in autumn.  Better late than not at all!

I am not going to go into the whole story again.  Look back through the blog if you missed it.
These people, this corporation, is apparently trying to kill me.  They won't leave my listing the way I put it.  They won't read what is in front of them.  I have to check it every day to make sure they have not messed with it again.
 
The moral to the story is do not follow Google maps or information to get here.  Please use the information I put on the "How to Get Here" page.  If they have not changed my information again you will be able to see Google street view of my driveway and sign.  If they have messed things up again, the Google maps will be dark.
 
Red Deer in Madawaska is STILL 2 km south of Highway 60 on Highway 523, just as it was before the internet and mobile phones.  I advocate having a real highway map.  Mostly they are right.  Maps are much cheaper than GPS or a cell phone with a plan.  Maps work when there is no cell coverage, as sometimes happens in rural areas. 
 
Seems to me the #1 problem with highway maps was not that they were outdated, but that people had a hard time folding them back up.  Gadgets that don't give good information are expensive and dangerous.  But hey, it's your dime, and your life, not mine.  It is a shame that so many people get lost on the way here though.  They could be here relaxing instead of frantically trying to figure out where they are.

It's turkey time!
 
Many requests for cabins the last couple of days, but all by large groups.  There is ONE cabin available at this time, for a maximum of 4 people.  #3.
 
Other than that, there is camping available as well.  A few brave souls have elected to do exactly that.  The forecast is not bad, actually, and may well improve by the time the weekend gets here.  Of course, it is not summer weather.  With good preparation all should be fine though.  We see temperatures like this weekend's forecast sometimes in July and September, and people camp.  I think the forecast rain is going to skip us, as it is today.

That was the traffic jam in Algonquin Park.  A tour bus and a car, a dead person and people airlifted out.  Just like the 401 at rush hour!
 
It's probably just me, but I would like to see safer drivers instead of 'safer' cars.  I know that every time I go to the Big Smoke that I am very impressed by self entitled drivers who believe that the rules are for everyone else on the road.  I still think the big old cars of my youth were safer.  The driver knew that he/she had to operate the vehicle instead of expecting its computers and ABS braking system to save one from disaster.  Attentiveness was required.  Once seatbelts were legislated fewer people died in MVAs.  Air bags lead to more survival, but perhaps more long term disability.  Hard to get numbers on that.
 
Tailgating was uncommon; drivers knew they needed time and distance to stop a vehicle made of steel.
 
Apparently the accident was near Tea Lake, on the really windy part of Hwy 60 just east of the West Gate.

It seems the digital world is out to kill me. 
 
I have proof that emails are disappearing, both sending and receiving.  My ISP wants copies of the disappeared emails.  I cannot send what I don't receive.  The bad part is, of course, that I have no idea who thinks I am rude for not getting back to them, because I did not get an email in the first place, or because my reply did not go through.  Due to the Google+ problems of a month ago, I am not happy with the idea of going to a gmail address. 
 
I am now directly monitoring form entries from this website, instead of expecting them to arrive by the pathway I created to bring them to my desktop.  So far only one of these has gone astray, and it was advertising.  However, I cannot determine what else has evaporated that has been sent to my [email protected] email address.  Thinking, thinking, thinking...

It was a lovely day here though.  Sunny for most of it, pleasant outside instead of sitting in a car lined up on the highway.
 
People are funny...

Well, I haven't heard that for a while. 

I was informed by a client of many years that I don't charge enough for my fully kitchen equipped, heated waterfront cabins with hotel quality beds in the off season.
 
I think it odd too the lengths people go to to suggest a lower price than what I offer.  Point being this:  discount and disrespect start with the same 3 letters.  If I don't charge enough there is always he-doublehockeysticks to pay for my lapse of judgement.  My prices include tax, and the view is better than any highway I have seen.  It is not right to equate my price here with a motel.  But again, if you want the best price, instead of the best experience...
 
Thanks Joan, for reminding me...

I can't remember an autumn when the colours were so late!  On my drive to Barry's Bay and back I saw maybe 30% colour in the hills.  Sure, trees have changed, and there are some iridescent reds along the highway, but the long view is still very, very green.  The oranges are not showing (oak and beech), and even a lot of the yellows (poplar, willow, birch) are not on board yet.  The pine colour change, which is orange, is just coming on.  Pines lose 1/3 of their needles every year; those are the ones that turn orange.  Then they drop, along with the deciduous leaves.
 The tamarack have not turned yellow either.  Nature is definitely taking its time.  It looks like Thanksgiving weekend is going to be the colour peak.