Dennis Dauble ’78 MS Biol.
FishHead Press with Keokee Books: 2024
Dennis Dauble dreams of owning a rustic cabin in the rural Pacific Northwest. His quest takes him three years through back roads in Oregon’s Blue Mountains until he finally happens upon a 1940s log cabin at a ranch-turned-resort in the Umatilla River canyon. He and Nancy, his wife of more than 50 years, settle into their home-away-from-home that August.
This year marks 20 years since they bought their beloved cabin, and this heartfelt book is a love letter to the place and all of those years. It’s a memoir of simple pleasures permeated with love of family. Its pages take readers on a short trip to a fixer-upper in the woods.
Dauble reminisces about hosting grandkids, making s’mores, hiking and fishing, foraging for mushrooms, gleaning heirloom apples, and more. He recounts building a wood-fired hot tub out of a metal cattle-feeding trough along with a bunkhouse for guests and grandkids. He shares his pastime of whittling pipes, thoughts on opening day of stream trout season, and looking forward to buying oranges from the same man selling them year after year at a roadside stand along the shortcut to the cabin.
It’s not all bird-watching and bliss. With the passing of time comes—as the titles of chapters tell us—“Fixups and Screwups,” “Unwanted Guests,” and “Creatures in the Night,” along with new owners of the Bar M Ranch within whose confines the rustic cabin is located. The Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities turns the resort into a year-round conference, retreat, event center, and vacation destination.
Suddenly, hikes on the trails have to be scheduled and waivers must be signed. The pool is no longer open to the public. Eventually, cabin owners are allowed to swim—if they pay the lifeguard plus an additional hourly rate. “I don’t expect to start my morning with a dozen laps in the pool again,” Dauble writes.
In addition to adjusting to new landlords, Dauble battles carpenter ants, wasps, mice, flying squirrels, bats, pack rats, and the cabin itself. He upgrades electrical wiring, replaces worn pipes, builds a deck, redoes the roof, and extends the perimeter fence. The to-do list is endless. Then, in 2020, just before the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and after 15 and a half years of cozying up the cabin, a 100-year flood wreaks havoc on both the bunkhouse and cabin. There’s mud and mold to remove, a rotten beam and floorboards to replace, kitchen cabinets and countertops to rebuild, linens to launder.
Despite the devastating storm and other mishaps, Dauble writes, “Cabin life was as grand as I once imagined.” He’s an affable and relatable narrator who approaches his story with humor and realism. His casual style makes for easy reading. This book, his sixth, is perfect for those who dream of owning a cabin, like Dauble once did, or who have one now, like he does. Keep a copy at the cabin.
“Through it all—the fix-ups, changing of the guard, a 100-year flood, and the passing on of loved ones—our cabin on Rock Creek Lane provided a special sense of place and peace of mind,” writes Dauble, a former fisheries scientist who also taught fish ecology, biology, and management at WSU Tri-Cities. “Every drive we make, the people we encounter, and the adventures that we experience remind us of memories we wish to keep close to our heart.”