Working on a new vision

Connor and Glen Pilling

Cutting out a step through a log for easier beach access

On Preparing the Shady Camp

July 20, 2018

I was in the Slacker Zone this morning. I had watered the new grass and thought I would rake out the area under the slacker line, for after cutting out some of the boxwood, there were still rough roots that some who falls off the line might hit. I came upon a stump I could not work out with my pitch fork. While thinking that I would move on and leave it until someone came who could tug on it harder than I could, I heard Glen’s voice calling, “Hello. Can I borrow your extension ladder?” I asked what job he was doing.

“Cleaning the garbage out of the second large camping area, the one that gives shade. My main purpose is to put up a No Tresspassing sign there, for people have been coming in, camping and leaving their garbage there.”

“Fine. Can I bring the kids and come along?”

“Feel under no obligation. I am not asking for help. You don’t need to come.”

“But I want to.”

Betty, Alice and I pulled the red wagon along the lakeside road of the railroad tracks and joined Landon, Piper, Connor and Glen.

Piper Hicks picking up precious beach-worn glass
to give to her grandmother as a gift.

By the time we got there a lot of work had been done. A huge pile of garbage from under the trees was now in a pile. Actually two piles of garbage, one to the left of me and one to the right. Laynie was pulling trees out of the forest that Glen had already felled. She was stacking them by the side of the water so that we can burn them in the fall. She said that there would be an open work policy. Do whatever you wish to clean the beach. Piper was busy collecting all of the beautiful broken glass, the greens, the browns, the blues, the clear glass. She was putting it in a pile to give to her grandmother.

The wish list already made before Miranda and I got there:

1. Providing shade – This was one of the major reasons for cleaning the camp up. The beach has been virtually inaccessible between 11 am and 5 pm because of the extreme heat with no shade except that provided by umbrellas for those who can stay under them. Laynie had watched her kids in only partial shade over there and had sunburns on the tops of her feet. We checked as we worked to see when it would become too hot in this spot. At 1 pm we were still working in the shade. Then the afternoon moved on and when early evening came there was still lots of shade back in the trees. This is a perfect place for the family where the mom likes to watch kids from the shade. And the beach is beautiful. The only drawback is no cement boat launching pad to use to walk into the water with. I have a pair of beach shoes from Trish and Jack which are working for me in this new spot.

2. A place for a swing: we have a ladder from the Slacker Line Kit which we can’t seem to find a place for on Lot 4. So either this ladder or a bigger tire swing when available would really work on one of the limbs of the Douglas Forest Tree that is at the edge of this camp. The tree towers above everything else and there is a tall limb there that screams out ladder or swing.

... making a sand castle with a bucket ...

3. Steps over the large log that was prohibiting easy access to the beach: this was accomplished when Glen took a chain saw and cut out a piece that would make a step.

Seeing it was too tall for me, he made two other steps, one up and one down, that I can negotiate.

Then Glen and Connor did in-fill with gravel and sand to make this a lovely place all of us began to use.

... Glen, using the chain saw, to remove
sharp edges from the log children walk on ....

4. Transformation of a long piece of drift wood that the children were already walking on, into a safe long piece, since the scars of tree limbs long gone are still on the main trunk.

Glen clipped off the knobs that would tear at the skin of little people who fell off and he cut off a jilldarm, he said.

I asked him how to spell that.

He said he didn’t know. It was not the long branch that went perpendicular to the trunk.  It was the tiny pokes left in the ground that foresters trip over.

Google didn’t help me with a definition.

... Miranda capturing children able to play in the shade ...

5. Placement of a No Trespassing Sign / Private Signs – Glen is torn over putting these signs up. LaRue leases the land along the railroad track, along which we drive to access this space.

Formerly, this space has been available to all. 

On my recent trip there a couple of weeks ago, I pulled garbage out to the beach that had been left back in the trees: a broken lounge chaise, assorted plastic water toys/mattresses, water wings, bags of plastic cups. I was wondering if I should ask Dave to come down and get the rubbish, but it seems unfair to ask him to always hall away trash that belongs to others.

6. Disposal of a long 2 “ rusty chain that is a hazard to children. The metal chain/rope is buried deep in the sand. Connor worked for a long time digging it out of the shoreline. It was too deep for him to succeeded.

... one pile of trash left by
 thoughtless campers at this spot ...

7. Final placement of the blue dock with its anchor and newly purchased ladder for easier access. It only makes sense to put it down the beach, some yards away from the long dock we now use.

8. Moving the fire pit down to the beach area, instead of having it in the trees – a fire precaution.

9. A map for children that lets them know the lovely places along the beach.

From left to right while looking at the water?

The Willow Beach, The Healing Circling, The Ramp Camp, the Little Canadian Stream, the Shady Camp, an unnamed stream which is now only 3 small trickles of water, the Sandy Beach, and the 49 Sign on the Railroad. That is going to be a map drawn by many children.

 Like the "woods" in The Adventure of Christopher Robin, perhaps?

... signs to go up on trees ...

I wanted to also take a walk/swim to the 49 Sign so that I could see if it was still there, since I remember my dad pointing out to me that the property is some yards to the west of that sign. Bonnie and I did that with Michael, Alice and Amir. Amir walked when he got to the stream before Sandy Beach. All three of us ran into a number of huge boulders that are on the projection before Sandy Beach – all with hurts to different parts of our bodies.

Swimmers beware at this point.

... campfire up in trees ...

... time for fire safety and get this
campfire out of the woods and onto the beach ...

At the 49 sign on the railway I stop.

What does that mean?

49 miles to where?

 Revelstoke?

I can hear my dad pointing to that sign and saying, “The property ends here,” and with a sweep of his right arm and a drip of his right wrist, he points out the exact place to me. My best guess is halfway through Sandy Beach, though I have no idea.

... learning to balance on the log ...
LtoR:Michael (6), Alice (4), Landon (7 )Betty (3)

I told Bonnie that Glen might have a better idea of where it is, but if I ask he would probably say, “Who cares. We have no neighbours from there to the outskirts of Sicamous, and no neighbours east going up Larch Hills.”

Yes, who cares since all of us are only caretakers.

Arta