LINDA
The Isolation Blues;
reflections during covid-19
When I met Linda in the summer of 2000 my “north woods recluse” days came to an abrupt and timely end. After ten years of going it solo I was ready to share my place alongside the Meduxnekeag with someone who would love it as I. I went from a solitude of one to a community of two (and two dogs…). I was building a new addition on back of the cabin at the time so that first summer Linda and I slept in the sauna (pictured above). We would spend days in the cabin hanging out and fixing meals and then head to the sauna to spend the night. We shared a mattress on top of the sauna bench almost like a futon and the dogs slept underneath on the stone floor. We were a cozy family (no room for proper social distancing!).
We spent our first five winters at the cabin living an off-the-grid lifestyle with no running water, refrigeration or flush toilet. There was an outdoor hand pump next to the cabin for our fresh water supply and a conveniently located backwoods privy just a short walk across the rope bridge. Of course It wasn’t so convenient in the middle of the night but we did have a classic chamber pot for such purposes. It turns out Linda and I were doing the “tiny space” thing before it was a thing. Eventually we built a story and a half farmhouse (with hot and cold indoor running water) just up the hill from the cabin and that is where we reside today.
Here is a journal entry from the early days when Linda and I were living in the cabin.
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Journal entry;
June 25, 2003
Linda and I have a frog living in our spring-box. Since we don’t have refrigeration at the cabin, we have a dug spring a short distance away with a 30 gallon plastic Rubbermaid garbage can sunk into it with drilled holes in the side to allow water in and out. Now I don’t know how the frog got inside, but he appears to be perfectly happy. Each time I lift the lid to get something out of the spring-box, there he is sitting on top of a jar of pasta sauce or the pickles. The water is ice cold, so I can see why he likes to hang out on the mini-floating platforms! I know it’s kind of odd to have something living in your refrigerator, but at least he doesn’t eat much…It’s also become part of my morning routine; walk to the spring for the jug of milk, lift the lid and say “Good morning, Frog.”
In the woods,
Dave
July 29, 2020