One man's poison...

Well, not really poison, but the old parable fits. What one man may find relaxing another man would not.

We had another few days at 100 Mile last week with visiting friends from Australia, Lyn and Rod Lindroth. Three nights actually, enough to appreciate the solitude of the area and not too much to get tired of the lack of facilities.

We met Lyn and Rod several years ago on a cruise, where we spent 48 days together sailing from Southampton to Darwin, in Northern Australia, where they disembarked, heading for their home in Melbourne, in the south. I have written about Lyn before in my blogs as she is a descendant of one of the original 'convict settlers' of Australia. Nowadays it is a proud declaration to have a descendant of a 'first fleeter'.

Back to The Cabin...We had a somewhat convoluted ride up there this time. We took the Coquihalla Hwy even though there is a $10 toll charge. The ride was different than the usual run up there, made more interesting by the snow and mist at the summit. We went to Ashcroft for the first time ever even though we have passed it 5 miles off the highway for years. It is a neat little town, check it out someday. We also went through Merrit that is also an extremely interesting town, although much bigger than Ashcroft. Both are towns with a decidedly western background, authentic cowboys work and live there, rather like going back in time.

We arrived around 5.30 and long time friend, Don Fox, the owner of the property, had the fire on and an ample supply of water in the cabin for us. Fellette whipped up a dinner in no time at all. Don and Lynn came up for a visit after supper and we caught up with their goings on for the past several months.

Sound sleep for us with the quiet and a bit of altitude, [3300 feet]. Lindroths are light sleepers and had a bit of a problem with the 'quiet'. They were still recovering from eight time zone changes [lost hours] in nine days on the journey by ship via Russia. They are on the third month of a 366 day round-the-world walkabout.

Next morning, after delicious coffee and a bacon and egg breakfast we got to work with the chain saw. [By the way we have learned that when working hard, all the bad things in bacon and eggs are neutralized at 3300 feet of altitude!]

During the winter a 90 year old pine tree that had been killed by pine beetle two years ago blew over. Don had limbed the tree but it was difficult to cut into fire-wood because of the fact that both root and tip were on the ground. It was impossible to use the chain saw as it lay there. We had bought up an eight ton jack specifically for that tree. Fellette and I jacked the tree up so that the tip was off the ground and proceeded to cut off 16 inch slabs for Don's winter wood supply. In two hours the tree was reduced to fire-wood and the slash and stump was set ablaze. My 29" chain saw worked like a charm even though starting it can be like starting a Model-A Ford on a cold morning with a crank. Don got to work immediately splitting the wood for their winter supply.

The photo of the slab with my knife illustrates the size of the tree. You can also see the dark stain that is indicative of Pine-Beetle killed trees. Also interesting that we can see in which direction the tree was standing. On the north side of tree the rings grow closer together due to the fact that they never get the sun, that is where the stain is thinnest. And now you know!

Next day or two we cleaned up some deadfalls and leaning pines and cut them to firewood for our own use in the cabin. We also roofed the shed with some recycled tin sheeting that we brought from the Farm. A few walks in the woods and a lot of reading, scrabble and napping and that was it, time to get back home to the Farm.

Not much of a travel story but it keeps us in shape. It sure was nice to get working again, I for one sleep so much better after a day of productive efforts.

Hard to believe but we still have not received our luggage [this is day 31] from the cruise. It has turned into a comedy of errors between Holland America, Fedex, and Canada Customs.

100 Mile, again!

Degrees of Luxury...

The other night in the early hours of the morning, [around five], I said to Fellette 'Isn't this a luxury?' She responded, 'I guess there are different degrees of luxury.'

We were at the Cabin at 100 Mile. For those that may not know, in 2001 we built a log cabin at a place called 100 Mile House, which is a town 440 K's north of Vancouver. There is not any running water, electricity, TV, phone nor any other distractions. The cabin is on our friends 160 acre piece of property in the heart of the wonderful B.C. Cariboo.

Seven days earlier we disembarked from our floating luxurious [in the accepted sense of the word] cruise ship, after a decadent 3 1/2 month round-the-world cruise. Sometime on that ship, after Tai Chi or an exercise class, our instructor told us to close our eyes and imagine that we were at some favourite place where there is peace and tranquility. My mind immediately went to the porch at 100 mile around seven in the morning having a coffee with just us and the birds, looking for late-leaving deer or coyotes. It was one of my goals to get up there as soon as possible after the lovely but intense time on the ship, in an attempt to get back to reality.

This is where the 'degrees of luxury' comes into play. What is luxury? Is it being served a wonderful meal with white linen, fancy china and superb wines with good company. Yes, of course. But to me it is also waking up in a cabin with the smell of wood-smoke, to the sound of Canada Geese flying overhead, then lighting the Coleman to get the coffee going as you jump back into your home made bed and wait for the tell-tale perking of the coffee. To each his own and God Bless the difference.

We took the opportunity of a long weekend with two of our grand-girls school curriculum to dash up to the cabin one week after getting home. During the weekend I sometimes drew parallels between our life for the past three months and what we were doing this weekend, and loving every minute of it.

 The girls are Adrienne, 6, Alicia, 10.

BBQ's...

Adventure riding...

Hairdresser on site...

Extensive wine selection...

 Single dining...

Or, family dining...

Lessons in arson...

Learn new skills....

Family time...

Quiet coffee lounge..

Queen-sized beds....

Private toilet facilities....

Unique bathroom facilities.

I hope that you can understand the comparisons between the cruise and 100 Mile.


This weekend we did a variety of things. Went for a walk and identified various kinds of animal scat, [droppings], flew a kite, flew airplane gliders, dropped a few trees, burned a pile of last years slash, roasted potatoes, marshmallows and hot dogs in the ashes, spent hours doing Sudoku, read a book on a lost gold mine in B.C., straightened the flag pole, put some tin on my shed roof, had naps, played with the kids, slept like a log and thanked the Lord!