Good evening all:

Weekly Wisdom from the Canadian North Woods:

”There’s no thermostat, so don’t worry about the furnace!” — a local everyman we’ll name Claire (talking about heating a cabin)

The only thing worse would have been for the internet to be down and be out of coffee at the same time. Coffee was good, internet is still down.

Library (part deux) – with the internet being down the solution is to head to town and the library. What is nice is that just by parking out front of the little place the WiFi is readily accessible. I drove down, parked, and opened my laptop. In about an hour plus the battery drained and so I closed the connection. What I hadn’t realized is that I had dutifully followed Canadian law and had my headlights on – and so another battery had died.

Luckily I spotted Hans from the adjacent “Hans in Your Hair” hair styling salon. Hans was amazingly friendly and had apparently started his Happy Hour a bit early. Helpful Hans struggled to dial any acquaintance, let stand one with a set of jumper cables. He did get people to come out of their homes and join the search for a solution, soon about five folk stood in the intersection; lots of talk, few cables. The commotion did draw the attention of a passer-by with cables. To a small chorus of well-wishers my truck sprang to life. Hans and I waved joyfully to each other and off I went.

Packed Cabin – It has finally happened, 12 of us at the cabin. Luckily the weather has become spectacular. The kids are getting along famously (as are the adults). I am the nervous nanny who shudders every time I hear the toilet flush—so far the septic system is holding up nicely.

The adults hop around looking for any nearby camera yelling “photo op”, “photo op!” The little ones hop about happy, and unknowingly, creating photo op after photo op. They are having a blast. So far its been kayaking, pontooning, hiking, swimming, floating, exploring, crafting, ATV’ing, partying (3-birthdays), and watching World Cup soccer on our 5” X 4” screen television rigged with much tin-foil and thusly receiving 1 station. The one station happens to be CBC which is THE station that carries the games.

Bats – I thought I had shut our little friends out of the cabin. We had until Marcia spotted one of the little friends—in the bathroom. Word spread like wildfire. Now the kids yell “bat” and before anyone realizes that its just a piece of errant duct tape everyone swings into the action; work gloves are grabbed, fish net comes in from the boat, kids are herded outside. These are fun times. I am plotting to borrow a large ladder and rework my 1-way bat exit door at the peak of the cabin.

Momma Bass – with appreciation to Tevita for catching Momma Bass (a 3.5 – 4 pound Smallmouth) we had fish for dinner. There are few things better than absolutely fresh fish from crystal clear cool waters (with a little homemade lemon mustard sauce to boot).

Except from the one for dinner, Tevita has caught over 15 fish and little Marin a half dozen.

Animal Planet – The kids have been fascinated watching and listening to the loons. Coming back from some fishing four flew right over the boat, circled over the treeline, and like air force jet fighters blasted back over us. You could see their feet acting like rudders.

The Blue Herron flying by majestically was also a hit. But, there were even more things to see; Wolf tracks, bear tracks, rocky Racoon tracks over the hood of the truck, and ever more bugs—all different, just to name a few.

However, the very most major item was the catching of a frog. The frog was released after a bit, then this morning was the catching of a Northern Leopard frog—this is big time stuff!

Make it a great week everyone. The good news is that not only are we having a good great time, but, we’re all still talking to each other. Manage that last little bit with a group of 12 people.

Now it’s off to friends who’ve kindly invited the whole gang to watch Holland play Uruguay. “Hip, hip hoera Holand, oranje boven!”

Cheers,

Dirk