Trip to Tin Town

Dad's Shack

This morning after mixing up the gingerbread dough, I went along with dad to Tin Town. Tin Town doesn't excite me, but dad seems to enjoy having me come. I'm not entirely sure why. Anyway, the above photo shows dad's shack at Tin Town. He's been fixing it up, so it's less shack-like on the inside... unrecognizable from the shack he bought.

At this point, you may be wondering what exactly Tin Town is. Tin Town is a collection of shacks on the edge of Delta Marsh, which is at the south end of Lake Manitoba. It's about an hour drive from my end of Winnipeg. Tin Town is named such because many of the shacks are made from corrugated metal. This is not a real town... it is a collection of shacks that adult boys tinker with, and sleep in during duck hunting season. Basically a big boys playground.

Some of the shacks are getting quite fancy. It seems that the Americans rich enough to own a hunting shack in Canada don't really go for the whole "shack" thing. (I can't really blame them... even though it seems foolish to have a hunting shack where you're worried about tracking mud on the floor.)

Anyway, I started off my afternoon with a walk around Tin Town. The walk was kind of limited, because the town is only one block big, and there were large snowdrifts blocking half the roads. After my walk, I returned to the truck to continue my nap I had started on the drive out. Dad occupied himself by playing with some of the other boys, who were replacing a heater in one of the shacks.

That reminds me... Tin Town has no electricity or plumbing. Luckily the temperature was only around freezing, and there actually was some TP left in the outhouse. (Boys have bigger bladders, and less interest in keeping the TP stocked. I must remember to bring my own stash the next time I'm dragged out.)

After napping for a bit, dad came by and invited me along for a walk on the ice. After checking the thickness, I agreed.

Here's a view of all of Tin Town from Delta Marsh:


Here's dad checking out a location for a duck nest:

(Despite popular belief, hunters are generally quite interested in conservation... after all, they want to continue hunting, and you can't hunt if there are no animals left.)

Here's dad walking across the ice:

(I fell behind a bit when I took the picture of Tin Town. You'll notice how aware dad is that I'm there.)

The flat light made it rather difficult to see the rises and dips in the snow drifts, which made walking even harder work. (The ice portion was no more or less hard than usual.) I am glad that I got some exercise.

I worked on my cardigan in the car. The first sleeve is now done, and the second one started. Given that I'll be baking tomorrow, I rather doubt I'll get the second sleeve done before the party. However, I will post photos of a finished product soon. ;)

Well, I should go to bed. I've been having really weird dreams the last few nights, and since the temperature is low, the only other two things I can think of that has been different is (a) I've been staying up much later than when I first arrived, and (b) I've been snacking on some of my Christmas candy before bed. I'm trying to fix both tonight, to see if I sleep better. Of course, given that it's already 11:30, I'm not doing so well with (a). Oops!

Good night!