Snow, Ice, Cabins, (evil) bureaucrats- Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

Last weekend Kin and I went looking at cabins. Now there's several motivations for getting a cabin, a big one is that I love to ski and be out in nature, Kin (like almost all dogs) loves to be in the snow, but he really can't handle long ski trips, and to be honest I wouldn't want to take a dog on the trips that we like to do. But when not doing top tours or skiing into cabins it would be good to be able to take a ski trip for a couple of hours. Having Kin there is more organisation involved with going skiing in the winter. Having a cabin makes it easier to take ski trips. Also there is an economic consideration, in Norway you get a rebate on your income tax for the more money you owe, debt free, my income tax approaches 50%, with a huge loan this drops down into the thirties! Bizarre but true. So looking at a reasonable (low priced cabin) actually works out as a good investment for mind, body, and economics.


Last time Kin & I were at Gilja was March last year: http://kin-newfie.blogspot.com/2011/03/kins-first-ski-trip-nurhan.html at that Kin was coming up to being four months old. Now Gilja is a bit on the low side to get good snow for most of the season, but it's a no through road, and the cabins are not too far to walk from the road, which is a consideration with a young/old Newfie and also when there is deep snow. Conditions at Gilja on Sunday were amazing, ~ 40 cms of fresh, beautiful powder snow. I say beautiful if you are on skis, if you are a long haired, giant breed like a Newfie, you are not so keen on this.

 As the going does tend to get quite tough.

And then when you do get to the cabin, you're not even allowed inside!




My criteria for a cabin runs like this:
- snow in winter;
- no through road/little traffic; 
- close enough to the road that Kin can make it to the cabin especially in advancing years;
- not so close that he's likely to play with the traffic;
- something to do there in summer (climbing, paddling, flying, fjell running);
- short drive 1 1/2 hrs max, otherwise you limit the use that you'll make of the cabin;
- preferably no ferries to get there;
- close to water so Kin (and I ) can swim in the summer;
- proximity of neighbouring cabins;
- allocated parking-as this can be an issue with snow cover;
- time/duration of direct sunlight;
- cost is obviously an issue, I'm down at the affordable end as opposed to the GDP of a small to medium South American Country end;
- condition of cabin;
- development plan for the area;
- and for an owned cabin, water, sewage, and electricity could be nice.


Norway has a very 'liberal rule' when it comes to dogs, they have to be on the lead in all of Norway from April to September, and in some areas, this is extended to all year round, this is also a large consideration as the fewer folk around and the less sheep in the summer, the more option your dog has to be a dog (as opposed to a bored, animal limited by the owner).


Kin's run like this:
- food;
- sleep;
- play.

 The plan was to go and have a look at two cabins, however, Kin went on strike and we ended up returning to the car - talking of which, there were so many folk there that parking was an issue, the normal parking areas hadn't been ploughed (as this kind of snow here so early on in the season is quite rare), and lots of folk weren't too considerate, which did put a damper on the day before leaving the car.

 Thus the car was parked down the hill after forcing through an area that had been ploughed prior to the weekend's snow. Had been following the weather forecast and it was predicted to switch between snow and rain for the last four days, so the snow should have been compacted, however as all paraglider pilots will tell you in this part of the country, the weather forecast lies, and given the snow it's been below freezing for the last few days of snow fall and thus the great conditions for skiers, and the not so great for giant hairy breeds!

And I forgot the wax for his paws:

which given the conditions led to ice bits forming not just on his coat but in between his toes and pads, no harm done this time, but can't have been comfortable for the little chap.


So on the way back we stopped off at Bråstein so he could swim. Drop 400 meters and the paths become compacted ice, which was so great.

Still this is quite an effective way to remove ice from between the paws... however it does tend to lead to:

ice forming on the coat after the 30 minute walk/skid/fall, back to the car.

Talking of the car, being diabetic I have to get a form from the doctor to say that I am okay to drive, in order to renew my driving license; my last license was a 10 year license, my diabetes is unchanged, but a group of (evil) bureaucrats* have decided that the maximum license for diabetics is five years, so every five years I have to spend 1/2 a day between doctor, and going into Statensvegvesen, and spending 700 kr+ transport costs to renew my license, and despite having had an offshore medical for over ten years, never having had any problems with diabetes offshore, the (very evil) bureaucrats have decided to cause me all sorts of problems renewing my medical, this is causing me lots of time, stress, money, and aggravation and naturally 'it's no one's fault'; there are far too many folk in this country with time on their hands which they seem dedicated to making life hard for other people (and the really irritating thing is my tax money pays for them!), still as the concentration camp guards said during the second world war, 'just following the regulations, and doing my job.'




* is there any other kind of bureaucrat?


Reference one of the greatest lies in the world:


I'm from the government/Commune/... I'm here to make things better!