Friends and Acquaintances

I may have written this somewhere else on this site but it deserves a bunch more attention.

When we first landed on Sturgeon Lake, I think its safe to say that we weren't met with the most hospitable reception. We had to postpone construction of the camp at the last minute due to a family issue and that was interpreted by some around the lake that I had sent a construction crew up from the states and they got turned back at the border. Not true, but no one ever asked about it or mentioned it to me. It became an event that engendered some gosip.

When we began clearing our lot I hired a worker from another camp close by. I agreed with him on the price and he did the work while I was back home. When I returned to the lake I paid him for his work. The camp owner for whom he worked for the summer got quite angry with me, saying that I should have paid HIM and he would have paid the worker even though that wasn't the agreement. I suspect that, had I paid the camp owner, the worker would not have seen the full amount. Maybe not, but that's my guess. Communcation got turned off between us and it took several years before he would speak to me again.

There was a fellow who lived near the landing that owned a barge that others had rented to haul construction materials to their building sites, so I contacted him to schedule it for our project. Came time to arrange the final transportation schedule...one week before material delivery...and was told that the barge wasn't anywhere near the landing...that I would have to go get it...and that the barge's motor was out being repaired and that I would have to bring my own motor. Now I'm sort of funny about things. When I rent a car or piece of equipment, I actually expect it to be in working order and at the place where I need to pick it up. Told him that...in a kind way. But it wasn't to be so I told him I'd find other transportation for my material. He wasn't very happy with me, telling me that he would get his money one way or the other and that he knew where my property was. Sounded like a threat to me! Made him aware that, should I find anything ever amiss I would know where to send the police. We never spoke again.

Elsewhere in this site I think i mentioned that we have neighbors on both sides of us today, but during construction, there was only one. Thought it was interesting that, when the cabin was built and I went up for the first time, I noticed that they had built a tall wooden wall blocking the view of our place from theirs. As we spent more time at the lake, and talked with a few others around it, we learned that they were very angry with us for building on the lot next to them...angry to the point that they wouldn't attend a fun event at one of the camps that was held each week and wouldn't speak to us.

Yeah, not the most friendly intro for sure.

But I WILL say that, over time things have changed dramatically and everyone who was so unwelcoming has become just the