Tuesday, September 07, 2004
The Cabin. Cabin-y? Cabinesque? Cabinola? Cabinified?
So Rob says to me a couple weeks ago:
Rob “I’m going to the cabin for about ten days…”
Me “Yeah? Sounds like fun.”
Rob “Yeah, it’s always a good time. You want to come out over the long weekend?
Me “Of course! You’ll be there, so of course.”
Rob “Really? Alright!”
Me “Wait. What? I mean, what’s it like?”
Rob “Oh, it’s great.” Gets out picture book. “You can see pictures…”
Me “Hee! You had hair! You were so cute…”
Rob “There’s the cabin, see?” There is a picture of a cabin in the woods.
Me “And there you are, looking kinda half-cut.”
Rob “Yeah, good times. See, here’s another one. There’s a sandy beach.”
Me “Very nice.”
Rob “And here are my friends, all having a good time, drinking.”
Me “Are there bears?”
Rob “…”
Me “Dude, are there bears?”
Rob “Uh… there are bears in the general vicinity…”
Me “So, the likelihood of me getting eaten is?”
Rob “VERY small. No one has ever been eaten there.”
Me “And the NoodleDog?”
Rob “He won’t get eaten either.”
Me “Okaaaay… I’m sold. Sign me up. I’ll see you there after work on Thursday.”
After a drive that took way longer than it should have and was very frustrating due to the idiots who tend to occupy the TransCanada, I made it.
One word about the traffic to and from the cabin: SUCKED! The people who are driving on the TransCanada drive like myopic donkey cart drivers UNTIL they get to a passing lane and/or a passing area. Then it’s the fucking Indy 500 and everyone speeds up to prevent you from passing them, as though to be passed would cause them great dishonor and force them to commit hari-kari from the shame. We had everything from semis to Tauruses, Acadians to friggin’ Yugos slamming the pedal to the metal desperately trying to prevent me from passing them. Hello? It’s the Tiny Car. It’s fast. It doesn’t LIKE to go slow. It’s natural state is somewhere between 120-160 km/hr (depending on weather conditions). The way out was mostly rainy, so we had to keep it low around 120 km/hr. However, the way back was dry, so I had it pinned around 140 km/hr except when I’d come up the ass end of a whatever that was doing 80 km/hr, and then I’d have to slow way down until I could pass again. Then, the “whatever” would speed up just to frustrate me. Bastards, all of ‘em.
But I made it to the general vicinity Thursday night just after dark. The NoodleDog was VERY good in that he didn’t complain that I didn’t stop at all the entire way there except to get fuel. Rob met me in town, and I left my car with a very nice couple that is somehow related to one of his friends. We took a logging road (that I think the Tiny Car could totally have handled) in to the cabin and that was where fantasy and reality diverged.
Rob “OK, so get all your stuff, we have to hike in now…”
Me “Huh?”
Rob “You know, walk to the cabin.”
Me “Huh wha?”
Rob “I told you there would be a little walk in to the cabin.”
Me “No you never…”
Rob “I must have.”
Me “Nuh uh. I’d remember something like that.”
Rob “Well, I think I did.”
Me “Was I asleep when you told me? Were my eyes closed? Was I lightly snoring when you leaned over
and said “by the way, Sweetie, we have to hike in to the cabin so be prepared”?”
Rob laughs
Me “Because if you had told me, I would have remembered.”
It wasn’t far at all, and not much of a hike, although we did have to go through the beach to get to the cabin area. I kind of figured there was no point to worrying about the sand in my shoes, since they were just going to get all sandy over the weekend anyway. It was around midnight when we got in and dark, of course, but Rob still showed me around a little. There were little buildings around the cabin (sheds, shower, outhouse, etc.) – good to know about for future reference. Then it was bedtime. The NoodleDog and Rob’s dog, Cooter, and his brother’s dog, Bailey, all slept in the cabin with us. The NoodleDog didn’t understand about not getting onto the bed, but he learned pretty quickly. I think he was just glad to be out of the car.
The next day (Friday) it rained. And rained and rained and rained. We went down to the beach to meet up with Rob’s friends, Aron and Terra, and no one seemed impressed that it was raining. Breakfast was made and eaten, cards were played, and it seemed like that was about all the action we’d see. Back at Rob’s cabin, he gave me a puzzle to do – a little rubik’s cube type of puzzle with a storm trooper on one side and Boba Fett on the other, all mixed up. The idea was to get them to all line up right. So I’m working away on the puzzle, and Rob and his dad are wandering around doing stuff… I wasn’t paying much attention. Rob brought all the dogs inside and then went back outside. Then he came in, and called me over to the window.
Rob “You better come here and see this.”
Me “What? I’m doing a puzzle.”
Rob “Now! Come here and look!!”
Me “Ok, ok. I’m coming. Yeesh.”
Rob “Now, you’d find out about this sooner or later, so I thought it was better that you see for yourself.”
Me “What am I looking at?”
Rob “There’s just a little bear. He was out by the outhouse.”
Me “…”
Rob “He’s little.”
Me “?”
Rob “Are you ok?”
Me "You…a bear…here… You did NOT SAY THERE WOULD BE BEARS AT THE CABIN!!!!”
Rob “I did so.”
Me “Definitely not.”
Rob “I said there would be bears.”
Me “Yes, you said there might be bears “around”, but not AT the cabin.”
Rob “Well, he wasn’t at the cabin. He was at the outhouse. And he’s run away now, so everything is fine.”
Me “Eeeee!”
Rob “Really, he’s probably miles away by now. My dad shot a bear-scare at him.”
Me “That’s hardly reassuring…” [as I started to hyper-ventilate]
Rob “Are you alright?”
Me “What about the NoodleDog? What if it comes back and eats him?”
Rob “It was a very small bear.”
Me “That doesn’t make me feel good at all. What if its parent is somewhere out there.”
Rob “It was probably a couple of years old.”
Me “You never said there would be bears AT the cabin. This is a startling turn of events.”
The bear did not come back to my knowledge, although if he had come back, he probably would have been scared away by my anti-bear chant of “No bears, bears go away, no bears, no bears, no bears, I don’t even want to know you exist…” every time I went to the outhouse after that.
Late Friday afternoon, we went to the little store on the lake, which you have to get to by boat. The NoodleDog sat on the dock and barked his head off as I disappeared from his sight in the boat. Trina, one of the girls, went water-skiing, and Rob and I looked after picking up her spare water ski after she ditched it to do fancy tricks. There was some splashing of water that I didn’t quite understand, and a bit of a challenge, and after we had gotten to the store and were on our way out, somehow, Rob got pushed into the lake (hee – not by me). The boat ride back was cold, of course, because he was quite soaked. Then after we got back (and quieted the NoodleDog – he’s very loud), Rob went water-skiing since he was already wet. I opted not to go because, well, it was frickin’ cold, and the NoodleDog was happy that I was on dry land. It’s probably better that I didn’t go because Rob performed some spectacular wipe-out that might have worried me more to see it than the reports did. He actually ended up not feeling well that evening, so it was an early night for us.
Saturday was equally rainy, although more people had shown up by then, so there was more partying. On Saturday, we went canoeing in a “tippy” canoe. Personally, I don’t see how you can unintentionally tip a canoe unless you really don’t know what you’re doing and are thrashing around a lot, but our trip was cut short by the NoodleDog. He watched me get into the canoe, and started barking. He objects to me traveling on the water without him, apparently. He barked and barked, and then waded out to the canoe, and as we pushed off, I thought he’d just go back to shore. He did not. He kept wading out further and further until he was actually swimming – a first for the NoodleDog! He swam after us as we canoed. The people on shore managed to coax him over, but he’s a strong little dog what with his low center of gravity and short little legs, so he managed to break loose and chase after us. He ran after us on shore for a while and when he had caught up to sort of where we were, he sprang back into the water and started swimming again. That, of course, worried me because the NoodleDog had never been swimming before, so I thought he might exhaust himself, so we had to canoe in to the shallows to pick him up. Rob managed to haul him into the canoe, where he sat until we got back to the dock. It was a short canoe trip, and I’m quite glad we didn’t tip over. If it had been at all warmer, I might have suggested we try it again with the NoodleDog as an intentional passenger. But it remained quite cold for most of the weekend.
In the evening, Rob and his dad built a little fire in the wood stove in the cabin. There’s a loft above the kitchen area that warms right up, so I crawled up there to nap (foiled by a noisy NoodleDog who was NOT being let in to the cabin). It got up to near +30C up in that loft – nice and warm.
Saturday night, we played Trivial Pursuit. Only, see, they don’t really play it according to the rules. You just sit around and ask the questions. It was kinda fun. Normally, I do OK at Trivial Pursuit, but it was the 20th Anniversary Edition, and what do I know about ‘70s and ‘80s literature?
And on Sunday, it finally warmed up a little and the sun broke free of the clouds for a few minutes at a time. It was still fairly cool, but at least we could see better and it brightened the whole experience. We boated over to a really cool waterfall and hiked up to see it, and then Rob took me over to this rock face where there are supposed Indian pictographs. There were, indeed, drawings on the rock face, but I have no supporting documentation as to their authenticity. They were neat, but we didn’t spend a lot of time there (due to the cold). That afternoon I was so cold I suspended my “no drinking” rules and started drinking. By the time I was half-finished my first rye & Diet Coke with Lime, I did not care at all how cold it was or that it was raining, and was introduced to a game called “Frisnock”
Frisnock is a Frisbee game. You get two stakes and put them in the sand about 25 feet apart. Upon each stake is placed an empty beer can filled partway with sand (for stability and weight to make it fall faster, apparently). In teams of two, you try to throw the Frisbee so that it will knock the other team’s can off the stake (which is harder than it sounds). If both the Frisbee and the can are not caught, your team wins two points. If either the Frisbee or the can are caught, you only get one. If you miss catching the Frisbee, whether it hits the stake or not, you have to drink. If you throw an “uncatchable” throw, then you have to drink. There are more rules, I think, but I’m not sure I remember all of them. I was drinking heavily at that point. I’m not very good at Frisbee.
It was a fantastic evening. Frisnock was played. Drinks were drunk. I yelled from the sidelines after Rob and I lost (big surprise there) and the next team took on the champs. We watched some ducks catch a fish and then fight over it, which was funny. There was a fire built on the beach for us to sit around, and the dinner we had that evening was pretty amazing – Rob is a great cook. The NoodleDog was the best dog ever in that he didn’t even interfere with the frisnock game, although I thought he might want to chase the Frisbee. He stuck pretty close to me – I think he was worried I’d try and boat off without him again.
Sunday night, after it got dark, we could hear something maybe in the water, maybe the beaver that lives in the area that comes out at night to eat the water lilies, so we went walking with a flashlight to see if we could find it. We didn’t find any wildlife at all, but it was still nice to be out on the beach with Rob and the dogs. Except, of course, that it eventually got too cold.
Yesterday, Monday, was beautiful. The sun was shining, there were very few clouds, and the sand started to dry out on the beach. We finished off as much as we could for breakfast, then Rob and I took as much stuff as we could to the car, and he and his dad packed up what was left at the cabin. It was terrible to leave, especially because it was so nice out for a change. We stuffed everything into his dad’s car and hit the road around 2p. I was home by just before 10p, and was told over the phone that my cats had not been on their best behaviour while I was gone (apparently, Tobey meowed a lot, and Smudge managed to get tangled up outside). The trip was over, and now I’m back here at work.
So. When can we leave to go again?
Rob “I’m going to the cabin for about ten days…”
Me “Yeah? Sounds like fun.”
Rob “Yeah, it’s always a good time. You want to come out over the long weekend?
Me “Of course! You’ll be there, so of course.”
Rob “Really? Alright!”
Me “Wait. What? I mean, what’s it like?”
Rob “Oh, it’s great.” Gets out picture book. “You can see pictures…”
Me “Hee! You had hair! You were so cute…”
Rob “There’s the cabin, see?” There is a picture of a cabin in the woods.
Me “And there you are, looking kinda half-cut.”
Rob “Yeah, good times. See, here’s another one. There’s a sandy beach.”
Me “Very nice.”
Rob “And here are my friends, all having a good time, drinking.”
Me “Are there bears?”
Rob “…”
Me “Dude, are there bears?”
Rob “Uh… there are bears in the general vicinity…”
Me “So, the likelihood of me getting eaten is?”
Rob “VERY small. No one has ever been eaten there.”
Me “And the NoodleDog?”
Rob “He won’t get eaten either.”
Me “Okaaaay… I’m sold. Sign me up. I’ll see you there after work on Thursday.”
After a drive that took way longer than it should have and was very frustrating due to the idiots who tend to occupy the TransCanada, I made it.
One word about the traffic to and from the cabin: SUCKED! The people who are driving on the TransCanada drive like myopic donkey cart drivers UNTIL they get to a passing lane and/or a passing area. Then it’s the fucking Indy 500 and everyone speeds up to prevent you from passing them, as though to be passed would cause them great dishonor and force them to commit hari-kari from the shame. We had everything from semis to Tauruses, Acadians to friggin’ Yugos slamming the pedal to the metal desperately trying to prevent me from passing them. Hello? It’s the Tiny Car. It’s fast. It doesn’t LIKE to go slow. It’s natural state is somewhere between 120-160 km/hr (depending on weather conditions). The way out was mostly rainy, so we had to keep it low around 120 km/hr. However, the way back was dry, so I had it pinned around 140 km/hr except when I’d come up the ass end of a whatever that was doing 80 km/hr, and then I’d have to slow way down until I could pass again. Then, the “whatever” would speed up just to frustrate me. Bastards, all of ‘em.
But I made it to the general vicinity Thursday night just after dark. The NoodleDog was VERY good in that he didn’t complain that I didn’t stop at all the entire way there except to get fuel. Rob met me in town, and I left my car with a very nice couple that is somehow related to one of his friends. We took a logging road (that I think the Tiny Car could totally have handled) in to the cabin and that was where fantasy and reality diverged.
Rob “OK, so get all your stuff, we have to hike in now…”
Me “Huh?”
Rob “You know, walk to the cabin.”
Me “Huh wha?”
Rob “I told you there would be a little walk in to the cabin.”
Me “No you never…”
Rob “I must have.”
Me “Nuh uh. I’d remember something like that.”
Rob “Well, I think I did.”
Me “Was I asleep when you told me? Were my eyes closed? Was I lightly snoring when you leaned over
and said “by the way, Sweetie, we have to hike in to the cabin so be prepared”?”
Rob laughs
Me “Because if you had told me, I would have remembered.”
It wasn’t far at all, and not much of a hike, although we did have to go through the beach to get to the cabin area. I kind of figured there was no point to worrying about the sand in my shoes, since they were just going to get all sandy over the weekend anyway. It was around midnight when we got in and dark, of course, but Rob still showed me around a little. There were little buildings around the cabin (sheds, shower, outhouse, etc.) – good to know about for future reference. Then it was bedtime. The NoodleDog and Rob’s dog, Cooter, and his brother’s dog, Bailey, all slept in the cabin with us. The NoodleDog didn’t understand about not getting onto the bed, but he learned pretty quickly. I think he was just glad to be out of the car.
The next day (Friday) it rained. And rained and rained and rained. We went down to the beach to meet up with Rob’s friends, Aron and Terra, and no one seemed impressed that it was raining. Breakfast was made and eaten, cards were played, and it seemed like that was about all the action we’d see. Back at Rob’s cabin, he gave me a puzzle to do – a little rubik’s cube type of puzzle with a storm trooper on one side and Boba Fett on the other, all mixed up. The idea was to get them to all line up right. So I’m working away on the puzzle, and Rob and his dad are wandering around doing stuff… I wasn’t paying much attention. Rob brought all the dogs inside and then went back outside. Then he came in, and called me over to the window.
Rob “You better come here and see this.”
Me “What? I’m doing a puzzle.”
Rob “Now! Come here and look!!”
Me “Ok, ok. I’m coming. Yeesh.”
Rob “Now, you’d find out about this sooner or later, so I thought it was better that you see for yourself.”
Me “What am I looking at?”
Rob “There’s just a little bear. He was out by the outhouse.”
Me “…”
Rob “He’s little.”
Me “?”
Rob “Are you ok?”
Me "You…a bear…here… You did NOT SAY THERE WOULD BE BEARS AT THE CABIN!!!!”
Rob “I did so.”
Me “Definitely not.”
Rob “I said there would be bears.”
Me “Yes, you said there might be bears “around”, but not AT the cabin.”
Rob “Well, he wasn’t at the cabin. He was at the outhouse. And he’s run away now, so everything is fine.”
Me “Eeeee!”
Rob “Really, he’s probably miles away by now. My dad shot a bear-scare at him.”
Me “That’s hardly reassuring…” [as I started to hyper-ventilate]
Rob “Are you alright?”
Me “What about the NoodleDog? What if it comes back and eats him?”
Rob “It was a very small bear.”
Me “That doesn’t make me feel good at all. What if its parent is somewhere out there.”
Rob “It was probably a couple of years old.”
Me “You never said there would be bears AT the cabin. This is a startling turn of events.”
The bear did not come back to my knowledge, although if he had come back, he probably would have been scared away by my anti-bear chant of “No bears, bears go away, no bears, no bears, no bears, I don’t even want to know you exist…” every time I went to the outhouse after that.
Late Friday afternoon, we went to the little store on the lake, which you have to get to by boat. The NoodleDog sat on the dock and barked his head off as I disappeared from his sight in the boat. Trina, one of the girls, went water-skiing, and Rob and I looked after picking up her spare water ski after she ditched it to do fancy tricks. There was some splashing of water that I didn’t quite understand, and a bit of a challenge, and after we had gotten to the store and were on our way out, somehow, Rob got pushed into the lake (hee – not by me). The boat ride back was cold, of course, because he was quite soaked. Then after we got back (and quieted the NoodleDog – he’s very loud), Rob went water-skiing since he was already wet. I opted not to go because, well, it was frickin’ cold, and the NoodleDog was happy that I was on dry land. It’s probably better that I didn’t go because Rob performed some spectacular wipe-out that might have worried me more to see it than the reports did. He actually ended up not feeling well that evening, so it was an early night for us.
Saturday was equally rainy, although more people had shown up by then, so there was more partying. On Saturday, we went canoeing in a “tippy” canoe. Personally, I don’t see how you can unintentionally tip a canoe unless you really don’t know what you’re doing and are thrashing around a lot, but our trip was cut short by the NoodleDog. He watched me get into the canoe, and started barking. He objects to me traveling on the water without him, apparently. He barked and barked, and then waded out to the canoe, and as we pushed off, I thought he’d just go back to shore. He did not. He kept wading out further and further until he was actually swimming – a first for the NoodleDog! He swam after us as we canoed. The people on shore managed to coax him over, but he’s a strong little dog what with his low center of gravity and short little legs, so he managed to break loose and chase after us. He ran after us on shore for a while and when he had caught up to sort of where we were, he sprang back into the water and started swimming again. That, of course, worried me because the NoodleDog had never been swimming before, so I thought he might exhaust himself, so we had to canoe in to the shallows to pick him up. Rob managed to haul him into the canoe, where he sat until we got back to the dock. It was a short canoe trip, and I’m quite glad we didn’t tip over. If it had been at all warmer, I might have suggested we try it again with the NoodleDog as an intentional passenger. But it remained quite cold for most of the weekend.
In the evening, Rob and his dad built a little fire in the wood stove in the cabin. There’s a loft above the kitchen area that warms right up, so I crawled up there to nap (foiled by a noisy NoodleDog who was NOT being let in to the cabin). It got up to near +30C up in that loft – nice and warm.
Saturday night, we played Trivial Pursuit. Only, see, they don’t really play it according to the rules. You just sit around and ask the questions. It was kinda fun. Normally, I do OK at Trivial Pursuit, but it was the 20th Anniversary Edition, and what do I know about ‘70s and ‘80s literature?
And on Sunday, it finally warmed up a little and the sun broke free of the clouds for a few minutes at a time. It was still fairly cool, but at least we could see better and it brightened the whole experience. We boated over to a really cool waterfall and hiked up to see it, and then Rob took me over to this rock face where there are supposed Indian pictographs. There were, indeed, drawings on the rock face, but I have no supporting documentation as to their authenticity. They were neat, but we didn’t spend a lot of time there (due to the cold). That afternoon I was so cold I suspended my “no drinking” rules and started drinking. By the time I was half-finished my first rye & Diet Coke with Lime, I did not care at all how cold it was or that it was raining, and was introduced to a game called “Frisnock”
Frisnock is a Frisbee game. You get two stakes and put them in the sand about 25 feet apart. Upon each stake is placed an empty beer can filled partway with sand (for stability and weight to make it fall faster, apparently). In teams of two, you try to throw the Frisbee so that it will knock the other team’s can off the stake (which is harder than it sounds). If both the Frisbee and the can are not caught, your team wins two points. If either the Frisbee or the can are caught, you only get one. If you miss catching the Frisbee, whether it hits the stake or not, you have to drink. If you throw an “uncatchable” throw, then you have to drink. There are more rules, I think, but I’m not sure I remember all of them. I was drinking heavily at that point. I’m not very good at Frisbee.
It was a fantastic evening. Frisnock was played. Drinks were drunk. I yelled from the sidelines after Rob and I lost (big surprise there) and the next team took on the champs. We watched some ducks catch a fish and then fight over it, which was funny. There was a fire built on the beach for us to sit around, and the dinner we had that evening was pretty amazing – Rob is a great cook. The NoodleDog was the best dog ever in that he didn’t even interfere with the frisnock game, although I thought he might want to chase the Frisbee. He stuck pretty close to me – I think he was worried I’d try and boat off without him again.
Sunday night, after it got dark, we could hear something maybe in the water, maybe the beaver that lives in the area that comes out at night to eat the water lilies, so we went walking with a flashlight to see if we could find it. We didn’t find any wildlife at all, but it was still nice to be out on the beach with Rob and the dogs. Except, of course, that it eventually got too cold.
Yesterday, Monday, was beautiful. The sun was shining, there were very few clouds, and the sand started to dry out on the beach. We finished off as much as we could for breakfast, then Rob and I took as much stuff as we could to the car, and he and his dad packed up what was left at the cabin. It was terrible to leave, especially because it was so nice out for a change. We stuffed everything into his dad’s car and hit the road around 2p. I was home by just before 10p, and was told over the phone that my cats had not been on their best behaviour while I was gone (apparently, Tobey meowed a lot, and Smudge managed to get tangled up outside). The trip was over, and now I’m back here at work.
So. When can we leave to go again?
