THE ROADS TO HOODOO LAKE
(Page 5 of 7)
January/February 1971
By George Bumpus
Every evening I would duke an axe and shovel and dig a big hole in the dam, so the water could drain off the meadow. And every morning the beavers world have the dam solidly rebuilt. I thought that they would eventually gel discouraged and move on to another location but, by fall. the beavers had beaten my best efforts.
RELATED CONTENT
OUR SECOND WINTER
Soon after the first snows of urn second winter, I decided to again work in Prince George for awhile. That winter was very cold, much colder than the previous one and the temperature sometimes plunged down to 50 and 60 degrees below zero. There were many days when I couldn't start the car. Often, when the car would start, winter storms still kept me from reaching my job. So. after two months, I quit and took it easy
for the winter. Karen and I filled our days visiting the neighbors and catching up on long put-off reading. And, of course, there was always wood to be chopped.
Even though I was forced to stop my commuting, driving is not particularly hazardous up here during the winter. The snow is dry, when it packs on the roads it only makes then, smoother and the snow plow clears off the excess regularly. The roads do tend to get slippery when temperatures are high enough to melt some of the snow, but this usually occurs only in early spring and late fall.
Strange as it may seem, the mode of transportation that is most limited during the winter is plain old walking. Unless the drifts develop a crust of ice, we often can do little foot travel without snowshoes.
I should mention that I always take down the 303 Enfield ex- army rifle and go moose hunting as soon as the winter freeze begins. We hang the moose carcass outside near the cabin where it stays frozen all winter and cut off what we need. One moose lasts the two of us—and our little cross terrier, Chico—all winter.
There are a few deer in our region and Karen prefers venison—which has more fat—over moose. She says that moose is too dry, but I prefer the moose meat. Chico likes anything.
I killed a black bear once and liked the meat but Karen didn't. We used The fat for cooking for awhile but finally, went back to vegetable oil during one of the cholesterol campaigns.
PLUMBING: INDOOR AND OUT
When the temperature drops very far below zero—which it occasionally does—going to the outhouse can be an unpleasant experience. Still, we struggled along with outdoor plumbing for some time and only recently put in inside fixtures. It makes a big difference and wasn't too expensive to install.
It wasn't a difficult job either, even though we had to pay more attention to details than if we were doing the same job in a more temperate climate. Gravity feed throughout allowed us to use the comparatively inexpensive and easy to handle plastic pipe and I built a septic tank and installed the necessary pipes and fixtures without any previous experience.
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