Today I finally got an answer to one of the great mysteries of Camp Hidey Ho:
If the cabin catches fire, who exactly is coming to put it out?
I stopped by the community building to talk with the tax collector and ask which fire department actually responds to Camp Hidey Ho.
The answer turned out to be none of the answers Google had given me when I was trying to figure this out for the insurance company.
Apparently, the responding department is currently Princeton Fire Department, although that will soon be changing to the Indian Township Fire Department, which is a little closer.
“Closer,” of course, is a relative term around here.
Neither one is exactly around the corner.
Given our recent experience with the fire at the rental house in Florida, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for how quickly a structure fire can get out of control. I’m pretty confident that if Camp Hidey Ho ever caught fire, it would be a lovely bonfire by the time the fire department even made it to the beginning of my driveway.
But at least I now have an answer for the insurance company.
And today brought progress on another long-running Camp Hidey Ho mystery:
I have an address!
Sort of.
Gary Chaffee, the Talmage selectman, called me about my request for an address and gave me two choices.
I settled on:
200 Democrat Ridge Road.
So there we have it. Camp Hidey Ho officially—or perhaps semi-officially—has an address.
Gary has assigned it, but we’re not quite across the finish line yet. It hasn’t been entered into the 911 system, and it isn’t yet recognized as an official postal address.
Still, it’s progress.
I Googled 200 Democrat Ridge Road, and the location it comes up with is fairly close to where my property begins, so at least I now have something I can give people to get them into the general vicinity.
You know, all those people who are constantly coming to visit me.
There is one small problem.
According to Google:
200 Democrat Ridge Road, 300 Democrat Ridge Road and 400 Democrat Ridge Road are all in exactly the same place.
Apparently Google has decided that once you’ve made it this far into the Maine woods, close enough is close enough.
But after several weeks of trying to figure out how to get an address assigned at all, I’ll take the victory.
Back at camp, I turned my attention to another project that has suddenly become much more urgent: building a battery closet.
I picked up some lumber in Calais and started cutting the pieces today.
My plan is to build an insulated closet in the bathroom area where I can leave the large batteries over the winter. I’m still a little nervous about leaving them here through a Maine winter, but they won’t be charging, they’ll be turned off, and hopefully the insulated enclosure will provide some additional protection.
Because one thing I’ve decided with absolute certainty is that I do not want to haul those batteries back across the bog every year.
Getting that 136-pound battery over here once was enough.
So the battery closet has moved from the “would be nice to finish” list to the must finish before I leave list.
And speaking of leaving, I’m suddenly very aware that the clock is running out.
The original plan was roughly a month at Camp Hidey Ho, which takes me into the first few days of September. Right now, I’m thinking I’ll probably start packing around Wednesday and leave Thursday, although I may move that up by a day or two depending on the weather.
So we’re officially in the home stretch.
And with that comes a definite sense of urgency.
I also put more time into the bog walkway today and made some good progress.
At this point, I’ve adjusted my goal for this year. I don’t necessarily need to finish the walkway all the way to the cabin. What I really want is to get it across all of the wet, muddy, miserable part of the bog.
Once I reach the section where the peat is still springy but you can walk on it without sinking into mud or soaking your feet, I’ll consider this year’s walkway project a success.
And I’m getting closer.
So today turned out to be a pretty full day.
I found out who’s coming if the cabin catches fire.
Camp Hidey Ho became 200 Democrat Ridge Road—at least on paper.
The battery closet got underway.
And the walkway moved a little farther across the bog.
With only about a week left, every completed job is starting to feel a little more important.
We’ll see what I can get done tomorrow.