The Far Northern Cottage

[Tamas]

Ok, I am not visiting.

[Valmy]

Well, there is an outhouse. Basically a shed built over a hole in the ground.

So yes!

Awesome.

The pictures make it look like your family spent a lot of time in the 1940s on the island as well. What did they live in before they built the cabi...er...cottage?

So no running water? You have to boil lake water on the stove?

[derspiess]

I see the dock, but where are the spiders?

[Valmy]

Oh how does Carl like these trips to the backwoods? I wonder what my kids would think being so in love with their electronics.

[Malthus]

Well, there is an outhouse. Basically a shed built over a hole in the ground.

So yes!

Awesome.

The pictures make it look like your family spent a lot of time in the 1940s on the island as well. What did they live in before they built the cabi...er...cottage?

So no running water? You have to boil lake water on the stove?

My grandfather built two earlier ones - an insect station a bit further up the lake (still standing!) which he sold - his family lived there all year round while he was tending to his forestry duties; and a "small cabin" near the current site, which later was hit by lightning and burned to the ground (hence my aunt's poem, above).

Water we get from a pump at the bottom of the hill, then carry up to the cabin. This can be drunk without boiling.

[Malthus]

Oh how does Carl like these trips to the backwoods? I wonder what my kids would think being so in love with their electronics.

He loves it. A lot more than I do.

Reason: every time I go up, I worry about things going wrong. It is very easy to run into trouble up there of a mundane sort, particularly when boating. The motorboat engine fails to start, or conks out when halfway across the lake; trapped by thunderstorms; high winds could swamp you. Or someone gets injured. All can be avoided or dealt with but I do worry about these things - there is literally no-one around if things go wrong, you are on your own. 

Plus, it is tons of work - splitting wood, carrying wood, hauling water, cooking, cleaning, packing, unpacking, filling gas tanks, putting the boat cover on, hauling canoes around, etc. You can be very comfortable up there but it requires a constant set of work. Plus keeping an eye on the kids while they run around like barbarians, jump into boats, etc.

We went up with Carl, my wife, my wife's brother, and his two kids - a boy Carl's age and a little girl around 9. The kids were great and had tons of fun, and were perfectly willing to do the work we set for them.

My wife's brother - well, he said he was there to relax; we both got more than a bit irritated, as he simply refused to do any of the work. My wife got very sarcastic with him on this account. She spent a lot of her time cooking and cleaning, while I spend a lot of time splitting firewood and hauling water; he wouldn't even help do the dishes. If forced to do something, he'd do it so slowly and badly that it was just easier to do it yourself.

I basically asked him up because I wanted Carl's cousins up, so he'd have kids to play with, and the cousins were wonderful. Carl and his male cousin stayed in a tent some distance from the cottage, and they had a great adventure.

[Grey Fox]

Next time, just take the kids.

and you wife, 'course.

[Malthus]

Next time, just take the kids.

and you wife, 'course.

Yup, even my wife agrees with this now.

She is usually willing to make all sorts of excuses for her brother's overall worthlessness, but I think this trip cured her - at least temporarily - of that. 

I mean, he's not a horrible person, he's just very irritating and lazy. He was driving us both crazy, another week and he'd have been living in the woodshed.

He does no work. He snores, loudly, all night. He constantly hawks and spits, which is gross beyond words - claims some sort of lung ailment. He's always talking and joking around, with talk that is dumb and jokes that are not funny, when all we want is to look around at nature. He complained about everything. 

In short, his presence was like fingernails on chalk the whole trip. I tried not to let it bug me, but it did, all the more so because my wife was fuming mad much of the time.

To give an example: we left a day early because forecasts called for thunderstorms. So we had to pack up the cabin. My wife and I were working like crazy to get everything ready - packing up stuff, cleaning, carrying down to the dock, putting the generator away, etc. He just - disappears. Turns out he went for a walk around the island, leaving us to do all the work.

When we get to the cars, it is pretty late. So he starts loudly complaining about how we left going so late. I was annoyed, and my wife nearly bit his head off - pointing out that we could have left a bit earlier, if he had helped pack up.

[HVC]

I propose a languish camp out

[Malthus]

I propose a languish camp out

Heh, I'd take Lanuishites up ... but if you won't work, or otherwise are annoying, you can swim home. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

I propose a languish camp out

Heh, I'd take Lanuishites up ... but if you won't work, or otherwise are annoying, you can swim home. 

There is a good horror movie theme here, slowly the population of a forum is depleted................where are they going? What is happening to them?

[HVC]

deal. my people have a long history of swimming to shore after adventuring mishaps

[Maladict]

Well, there is an outhouse. Basically a shed built over a hole in the ground.

I had to use an outhouse like that in the mosquito infested Danube delta.
It was very very unpleasant.

[Maladict]

As an aside, kudos to Malthus for breathing some life into this place.

[Valmy]

Tell me more about this place on the Danube Delta. Was it just an outhouse or did you have a few other buildings as well?