Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving 1996
Then there was the time -- it might have been 1996 or 1997 -- that we tried to go to Sidetrack for Thanksgiving.
We packed up the turkey and the rest of the fixings and left for Georgetown early on Thursday morning.
About half way between St. Paul and Hudson on I-94, we drove over a fairly large piece of angle iron in the middle of our lane. It became visible from under the car ahead of us too quickly and there was too much traffic for me to swerve.
CLUNK!
Well, we hit something. Tried the brakes. They worked. Tested the steering. It worked. Maybe nothing.
We drove on to the Baldwin exit and decided to pull into a gas station there for a visual check. I looked under the van and saw gasoline dripping pretty quickly out of a gash in the gas tank.
UhOh!
A guy at the station gave me some gooey stuff to try to seal the gash. No luck, but my arm got covered with gasoline. The station attendant assured me that no repair shops would be open in Baldwin (or anywhere else nearby).
We got back on the freeway headed west. My companions had instructions to watch carefully for anyone flicking a cigarette butt out a window ahead of us. We drove the potential fire bomb back home. (By the time we got home, we'd used and lost enough gas so the tank wasn't dripping any more.)
That evening, I came down with nasty cold/flu symptoms that I attributed to the chill of evaporating gas on my arm before I got to the rest room to wash up.
The next morning, the van went to the dealer's service garage for a new gas tank.
We never did get to Sidetrack for Thanksgiving. (But today would probably have been a good day -- although it was snowing pretty heavily just east and north of Georgetown according to the Twin Cities weather report this afternoon.)
Maybe, with global warming, there's still a chance we'll cook a Thanksgiving turkey in Sidetrack's oven someday.
We packed up the turkey and the rest of the fixings and left for Georgetown early on Thursday morning.
About half way between St. Paul and Hudson on I-94, we drove over a fairly large piece of angle iron in the middle of our lane. It became visible from under the car ahead of us too quickly and there was too much traffic for me to swerve.
CLUNK!
Well, we hit something. Tried the brakes. They worked. Tested the steering. It worked. Maybe nothing.
We drove on to the Baldwin exit and decided to pull into a gas station there for a visual check. I looked under the van and saw gasoline dripping pretty quickly out of a gash in the gas tank.
UhOh!
A guy at the station gave me some gooey stuff to try to seal the gash. No luck, but my arm got covered with gasoline. The station attendant assured me that no repair shops would be open in Baldwin (or anywhere else nearby).
We got back on the freeway headed west. My companions had instructions to watch carefully for anyone flicking a cigarette butt out a window ahead of us. We drove the potential fire bomb back home. (By the time we got home, we'd used and lost enough gas so the tank wasn't dripping any more.)
That evening, I came down with nasty cold/flu symptoms that I attributed to the chill of evaporating gas on my arm before I got to the rest room to wash up.
The next morning, the van went to the dealer's service garage for a new gas tank.
We never did get to Sidetrack for Thanksgiving. (But today would probably have been a good day -- although it was snowing pretty heavily just east and north of Georgetown according to the Twin Cities weather report this afternoon.)
Maybe, with global warming, there's still a chance we'll cook a Thanksgiving turkey in Sidetrack's oven someday.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A portrait of Little Blake Lake
Yahoo maps has a new aerial photo of Little Blake Lake. It's really clear and beautiful.
It appears to have been taken in the early summer of 2008.
East Little Blake Lake Lane appears at the north end of the plowed field where it goes west from 70th Street.
You can also see a little triangle of bare soil on the west side of the plowed field (at the top third of the field). That's where the power line used to go down the hill to the cabins. It's almost directly east of Sidetrack.
If you click on the photo, you'll get to see it full-size. Then you can see the docks in the water. Sidetrack's dock is the fourth one from the northernmost. The silvery blob just south of our dock is the neighbor's dock and pontoon.
It appears to have been taken in the early summer of 2008.
East Little Blake Lake Lane appears at the north end of the plowed field where it goes west from 70th Street.
You can also see a little triangle of bare soil on the west side of the plowed field (at the top third of the field). That's where the power line used to go down the hill to the cabins. It's almost directly east of Sidetrack.
If you click on the photo, you'll get to see it full-size. Then you can see the docks in the water. Sidetrack's dock is the fourth one from the northernmost. The silvery blob just south of our dock is the neighbor's dock and pontoon.
A little bit of history
Sank from over on Big Blake said he was surprised that Sidetrack wasn't a year-round residence.
I take that to mean a little history is in the works. And a little is the operative word. I don't know very much. I was first at Little Blake Lake about 1971. There was a gap between 1972 and 1983 before I started spending much time there again.
On the south end of the east side of Little Blake is a public street called Little Blake Lake Court. There are a number of year-round houses on that cul-de-sac.
East Little Blake Lake Lane (ELBLL) is a private road off of 70th Street (Hunky Dory Road, according to locals) that provides access to 13 lake cabins north of that development. (Despite what the 1966 map or the online maps show, there is no connection between ELBLL and the cul-de-sac on the south end of the lake.)
A 1966 map of the east shore of Little Blake Lake shows 11 structures.
At least 7 and maybe 9 of those cabins were built shortly after World War II, including Sidetrack. (Before WWII, 2x4s were actually 2' x 4". The 2x4s at Sidetrack are 1 and 5/8 by 3 and 5/8. After 1952, the 2x4s were a bit smaller.)
The cabins all seem to have been built with the same footprint - kitchen on the northeast corner, a well just outside the kitchen with a pump at the kitchen sink, dining/living room overlooking the lake, and a couple little bed rooms in the back. A combo shed and outhouse graced the back yard.
The cabin at 1945 ELBLL seems to be the least changed.
Skip says that in the old days, the cabins wee simply sleeping places for a bunch of hard-drinking fisherman. Except for Sidetrack.
Sidetrack was evidently built with special-order options: knotty pine paneling, varnished interior ceiling, and a tiny balcony above a single bedroom. A little cellar was dug, a new sand point well dug, and a bathroom added, probably in 1949. (Toilet tanks have the year of manufacture on the inside of the cover.) I've already described the Shakespeare House. (See the October 2007 archives.)
Most of the original cabins have been changed and updated significantly. Since the new owners (2005) added a bathroom to the cabin at 1953 ELBLL, all have indoor plumbing. Nearly all now have decks, sliding glass doors, and big windows on the west sides.
The cabins that were added after the initial development are noticeably different. (See 1963, 1961, 1959, 1953, and 1939 ELBLL.) The cabin at 1943 might be one of the originals, but it's been altered dramatically. For instance, it has a walk out lower level.
Three of the cabins are winterized. The southern-most of the 13 was, I think, built for winter use. When we became custodians of Sidetrack, John and Mary Hammond (1943 ELBLL) were living on the lake full time. They sold and moved a couple years later. A few years after that, the people at 1941 ELBLL, put in a composting toilet, added a front porch, and lived there for one winter before selling. Several people use their cabins once in awhile on mild winter weekends. Sometimes, someone hires a plowing service to clear the "road."
I think I'll have to talk to Skip and get some more historical information.
I take that to mean a little history is in the works. And a little is the operative word. I don't know very much. I was first at Little Blake Lake about 1971. There was a gap between 1972 and 1983 before I started spending much time there again.
On the south end of the east side of Little Blake is a public street called Little Blake Lake Court. There are a number of year-round houses on that cul-de-sac.
East Little Blake Lake Lane (ELBLL) is a private road off of 70th Street (Hunky Dory Road, according to locals) that provides access to 13 lake cabins north of that development. (Despite what the 1966 map or the online maps show, there is no connection between ELBLL and the cul-de-sac on the south end of the lake.)
A 1966 map of the east shore of Little Blake Lake shows 11 structures. At least 7 and maybe 9 of those cabins were built shortly after World War II, including Sidetrack. (Before WWII, 2x4s were actually 2' x 4". The 2x4s at Sidetrack are 1 and 5/8 by 3 and 5/8. After 1952, the 2x4s were a bit smaller.)
The cabins all seem to have been built with the same footprint - kitchen on the northeast corner, a well just outside the kitchen with a pump at the kitchen sink, dining/living room overlooking the lake, and a couple little bed rooms in the back. A combo shed and outhouse graced the back yard.
The cabin at 1945 ELBLL seems to be the least changed. Skip says that in the old days, the cabins wee simply sleeping places for a bunch of hard-drinking fisherman. Except for Sidetrack.
Sidetrack was evidently built with special-order options: knotty pine paneling, varnished interior ceiling, and a tiny balcony above a single bedroom. A little cellar was dug, a new sand point well dug, and a bathroom added, probably in 1949. (Toilet tanks have the year of manufacture on the inside of the cover.) I've already described the Shakespeare House. (See the October 2007 archives.)
Most of the original cabins have been changed and updated significantly. Since the new owners (2005) added a bathroom to the cabin at 1953 ELBLL, all have indoor plumbing. Nearly all now have decks, sliding glass doors, and big windows on the west sides.
The cabins that were added after the initial development are noticeably different. (See 1963, 1961, 1959, 1953, and 1939 ELBLL.) The cabin at 1943 might be one of the originals, but it's been altered dramatically. For instance, it has a walk out lower level.
Three of the cabins are winterized. The southern-most of the 13 was, I think, built for winter use. When we became custodians of Sidetrack, John and Mary Hammond (1943 ELBLL) were living on the lake full time. They sold and moved a couple years later. A few years after that, the people at 1941 ELBLL, put in a composting toilet, added a front porch, and lived there for one winter before selling. Several people use their cabins once in awhile on mild winter weekends. Sometimes, someone hires a plowing service to clear the "road."
I think I'll have to talk to Skip and get some more historical information.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Oh, and one other thing
I filed an online complaint about Ferrellgas' "no usage fee" with the Wisconsin Attorney General's Consumer Protection division just now.
Made me feel better.
Made me feel better.
The cost of not buying
It's expensive to not buy propane from Ferrellgas.
We didn't get to Sidetrack as often as we wanted to this past summer. We missed a lot of the spring and closed the place up a couple weeks earlier than usual. With the price of gas and propane, we were, in part, being frugal.
I received a bill for $210.00 from Ferrellgas last week. That's strange, since we didn't use much propane this year and didn't call for a tank refill at all.
The bill was for a "No usage fee." Huh!? We get charged over $200 for not buying Ferrellgas' product? (After a $57.00 tank rental fee.) That's right. I looked it up in the "User Agreement" that customers have to sign. Like most User Agreements, it's a one-sided "contract" that forces consumers to accept all kinds of limitations in order to do business with the company. Of course, the company faces no limitations, and can, indeed, change the terms of the User Agreement at any time for any reason.
I love the free market at work. Don't you? Adam Smith must be on a perpetual spin in his Scottish grave in view of all the perversions of his market theory practiced by free marketeers.
Turns out it does some good to complain. I called the company. The first sentence out of the mouth of the person I talked to was, "I'm authorized to reduce that fee to $75.00."
Now, the $75.00 plus the $57.00 results (in my mind) in a not-unreasonable tank rental fee. The company could even offer discounts to the rental fee based on the amount of propane a customer buys. (They already do. If you buy enough, you don't get charged for the tank rental at all and you don't get charged a "No usage fee.")
But, when Ferrellgas has the effrontery to bill its customers with a "No usage fee," you know there are a bunch of Neanderthals running the company who have absolutely no clue about public relations and customer retention. (It is so difficult to maintain a bit of old-fashioned propriety when I'm so offended.)
I'm beginning to call around because there are a couple competitors, one being the local power co-op, Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative. They might not offer better prices or terms, but it'll be worth a few bucks to me to get that Ferrellgas tank out of the yard and out of my sight.
We didn't get to Sidetrack as often as we wanted to this past summer. We missed a lot of the spring and closed the place up a couple weeks earlier than usual. With the price of gas and propane, we were, in part, being frugal.
I received a bill for $210.00 from Ferrellgas last week. That's strange, since we didn't use much propane this year and didn't call for a tank refill at all.The bill was for a "No usage fee." Huh!? We get charged over $200 for not buying Ferrellgas' product? (After a $57.00 tank rental fee.) That's right. I looked it up in the "User Agreement" that customers have to sign. Like most User Agreements, it's a one-sided "contract" that forces consumers to accept all kinds of limitations in order to do business with the company. Of course, the company faces no limitations, and can, indeed, change the terms of the User Agreement at any time for any reason.
I love the free market at work. Don't you? Adam Smith must be on a perpetual spin in his Scottish grave in view of all the perversions of his market theory practiced by free marketeers.
Turns out it does some good to complain. I called the company. The first sentence out of the mouth of the person I talked to was, "I'm authorized to reduce that fee to $75.00."
Now, the $75.00 plus the $57.00 results (in my mind) in a not-unreasonable tank rental fee. The company could even offer discounts to the rental fee based on the amount of propane a customer buys. (They already do. If you buy enough, you don't get charged for the tank rental at all and you don't get charged a "No usage fee.")
But, when Ferrellgas has the effrontery to bill its customers with a "No usage fee," you know there are a bunch of Neanderthals running the company who have absolutely no clue about public relations and customer retention. (It is so difficult to maintain a bit of old-fashioned propriety when I'm so offended.)
I'm beginning to call around because there are a couple competitors, one being the local power co-op, Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative. They might not offer better prices or terms, but it'll be worth a few bucks to me to get that Ferrellgas tank out of the yard and out of my sight.
