Prepping for 2015 Dock Work.

Last Sunday: "We've done more since, and I'll go over that in the next post..."

That's what I'm doing now.

Aside from the standard closing jobs of boarding the windows and what-not, our last visit included setting ourselves up for replacing the dock next year.

With Christine out in Halifax one weekend in mid-October (congrats again, Kath!), I went up with my folks for an overnighter. Christine left us a list of tasks to complete, which was good because I was bound to forget at least one.

One of those jobs was to trim the concrete "ramp" leading into the water from the lower level. There were a couple of metal pipes sticking out from the rocks that looked just hideous and dangerous. One popped right out, the other required a fair bit more work. But they're gone now, so the area looks like this:

It looks...like a pile of rocks and concrete.  Not impressive in and of itself, but it's an improvement, trust us. Interestingly, if you look towards bottom right, you'll see that at some point there had been stairs built in.  I think I'd like to try to restore that somewhat down the road.

So that done, on a subsequent day trip to close the place down for the year, Christine and I removed the legs off the dock and shoved that heavy bastard (yes, another one) over to the side.

I wasn't really looking forward to this, but Christine pointed out that I'll be looking forward to it even less in the spring when I have to do it in icy, chin-deep water.  Strong argument.

In a way, it was easier than we expected.  Turned out that the legs were more responsible for the overall weight than we thought. The dock itself was pretty manageable. The issue was more one of balance. We had to move it forward towards the water side while avoiding tipping it into the drink.

We're going to be buying a new leaner, lighter dock and installing it early next year.  But there are plans for the old one too. We are going to dismantle our eyesore of a shed and replace it with one that is slightly narrower and not quite as deep, then move it forward a foot or two.  That will enable us to use the old dock as a deck or low platform behind the shed and boat house (I still don't like the word "bunkie") overlooking our 16 inches or so of beach, where the pedal boat is currently resting.

You can never have too many sitting areas around the place.

No posts in October???

I didn't realize it had been that long.  Why didn't one of you say something??? ;-)

It turns out that the last few weekends of cottage season were largely uneventful (which, you know, is kind of nice from time to time...). We had made some plans but they feel through so we were left with leaves to burn and animals to feed (and villains to capture in the Batman series of video games but no cares about that. For the record though, I'm THAT much closer to catching that Riddler jerk. I WILL get him).

I may look pretty miserable there but truth is I'm seldom happier than in front of a fire in the fall (indoor or outdoor). Maybe I'm happier when the RedBlacks win.  So like I said, seldom.

Still, some things got done. We did have Kathy over on a lovely Thanksgiving weekend...

...a visit which was kicked off by replacing the leather couch in the dining room.

Now pardon me, but...that was one heavy bastard. It was a sofa bed, all wood and old, cracked leather...Just dreadful. Comfy enough, mind you! But still. It was time to see what my old friend Dumpmaster Gary was up to.

Kathy delivered replacement couch and for the life of me, I can not find a picture of it now. I could have sworn I'd taken one but I just can't seem to come across it. Whatever. I'll have plenty of opportunity to get one another day because THAT couch isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Another minor project got taken care of earlier that day. Remember those fence posts I "made"?

We had one 12-foot length of wood remaining (always better to have too much than not enough). So I cut it in half, then split one of the halves down the middle to make a frame of sorts for the kitchen garden.

I like that kind of job because it sounds a fair bit harder than it actually is. Then I have the choice to either a) make it sound like a terrible ordeal or b) make it sound like it would be a terrible ordeal for anyone else, but it wasn't for me. I choose based on my desired outcome.

Anyway, it's not exactly the sort of change that will set property values soaring, but the garden looks a bit more organized now and we have a bit of a path to the compost box.

We've done more since, and I'll go over that in the next post, but in the meantime here are some results of the animal feeding referred to earlier.

Do Not Attempt This Stunt In Your Own Living Room

Something you can do in your living is change the clock.  Especially when its tick is louder than a gravel crusher.

Here is the offensive timekeeper.

It looked more like something you'd find in a class room, and the last thing I want is to relive those days anyway.

So rather than have it continue to tick away my will to live, Christine bought one in North Bay that she liked far more, partially because it's quieter, and had it up over the door in no time.

Here's a better look at it.

Huh...the chipped paint is deliberate.  And if you think that's stupid, ask yourself if you've ever bought stone or acid washed jeans, judgy.  It's called "character", according to all the effeminate dudes on HGTV.

Now here's something you shouldn't do, and I must admit that once I was up there I had the occasional moment of regret.

Two years later, we're still finding tools and such tucked away in various parts of the grounds.  I even found a lawn mower last weekend.  Doesn't mean I have to use it, mind you, but I did find one.

But a couple of weeks back, we found a tree trimmer.  It had a rusted old saw blade attached to the end that we removed because it appeared to have become useless over the years, but the branch cutter itself (basically long distance gardening sheers) are still pretty functional.

And once you get started...You can't stop!  Trimming dead branches from ground level lost its luster quickly though, so my irrational man instincts (manstincts?  No, that sounds foul...) drove me to climb on something unsafe.  It's just how we're built and what we do.  "The ground is boring.  I want to pull and tug on branches while looking up towards the sun and standing on a steep surface several feet over rocks and wood".

Ah well. It's nature. And tell me this guy didn't have fun!

Calabogie Nights (on a Saturday afternoon)

But first, a couple of small outdoor projects.

To begin, Christine has recreated Stonehenge at Crow Lake.

It's not QUITE as spectacular, but it's a bit more practical.  The concrete slab comes from the area under the dock and the logs are from the dead trees that were cut down when we bought the place (just over two years ago now.  Wow).  They're too big to burn as is, and it would have been a monstrous job to cut them, so here, prop up some concrete for a while.

Smaller version around front (actually, Christine considers THAT one to be Stonehenge, I include the larger "table" without approval).

As the wood pile diminishes, we swipe an idea from the cottage area that we visited near North Bay between 2009 and 2012.

Get it?!  Flower bed!

The headboard was left behind by the previous owners.  It belonged to the bed in the guest bedroom, which was replaced early own during our ownership (the bed, not the room).  We kept the headboard (is that the right term?  It's not a board...) and I believe that even at the time the plan was to use it in this way, so we're now following through.  The stack of boards along the front are leftovers from the picnic table, and the short logs attached to them were from the burn pile, each split in two by my pappy.

And speaking of my dad...

He's been racing for years, and I'd never gone to watch him.  He was doing so again so in relatively-close Calabogie on a Saturday last month, so Christine and I planned to go, spend the afternoon out there, and head back to the cottage for the night.

Calabogie Motorsports Park is a little chaotic when you don't know your way around, but it doesn't take long to figure things out.  Armed with crew credentials (which tickles me, being that I don't even drive), we got to watch qualifying from just behind the wall around the track, but found higher ground for the race itself.

Christine is all business back there.

Offices, merchandise store, washrooms, etc.

Vintage car race. 

Leading the pack!

Side benefit: The trip took us through the town of Balderson.  You can't beat a town named, however indirectly, after cheese.  You also can't help but return a week or two later and buy maple cheese there, along with a great many other tasty treats.

We didn't visit the town of Calabogie itself so that's probably an excursion for some time next year, whether there's a race on or not.  This wasn't on my mind when I said earlier in the year that I wanted to check out events nearby during the cottage season, but it was a fun change of pace.  Vrooom!!

Oh Yeah...Birthday Week!

We finally did get around to painting the deck that week. Two coats, of course, each board done both by hand and by roller.  I believe we calculated that from clearing the crap out from between the boards to washing the deck and painting it twice, we put in about 12 hours worth of work each.

We kind of felt rushed at the end of coat two because it looked fairly certain that there was a storm coming, but damned if it didn't pass overhead.  So we got a bit of a break there.  And when it was finally done (except for the railing, obviously) it looked a little something like this.

A lot more clean looking.  It no longer looks natural, of course.  There's no question that it's been painted.  But you can still see the grain show through so we're pleased with that.  Here's a better before/after view against the as-yet-unpainted stairs.

Sacrificing the "natural" look was really a no-brainer.  A weathered appearance is nice but we were getting uncomfortably close to a point of no return there, and the last thing we need is to start replacing decks.

We're now tossing around ideas for the railing as well as trying to determine if we want to use different colours or shades for the other decks.  There's small comfort in knowing, at least, that the biggest job is done.

And now a couple of odds and ends to wrap this up (didn't think it would take me nearly a month)...

Project MK ULTRA is a success!  I first wrote about getting a small light house for one of the nooks in the dining room last November.  Kathy (if that's her real name) came through!

To be clear, I didn't anticipate receiving this prior to her return anyway.  And it would have been quite all right if she'd forgotten about it in the months in between.

As it it, she actually delivered it in person a while before our week off, but I had difficulty with my cameras and I only downloaded the shot recently.  Kathy is actually here as I write this (Hi Kath!!) so I was reminded to finally follow through and post about it.

I had bought a smaller light house in Westport a few weeks before in the meantime but it's been moved to the living room so now I have a coast-to-coast thing going on with my lighthouses. Mission accomplished!

Support for the local economy:  We bought the small picture below during that week.

A couple of kids down the road were selling trinkets and cookies (chocolate chip!  Also purchased!) so that one of them could invest in a chicken coop.  Is that "small town" enough for ya?  How do you not support that?  So now it's hung above the entrance to the dining room, right as you walk into the cottage.  Good luck, kid!

Real geese too!:  There was one aspect of the week that I found particularly memorable; For several days, right until our departure, there was a family of geese swimming from rest spot to rest spot.  We believe that it was the same group that visited (and marked) our territory in June.

Our evidence is a little dubious; we base ourselves on the fact that there were 16 of them, just like two months ago.  But in terms of age and size variety, it seems like a safe bet.

And speaking of evidence...They didn't visit our property as such this time, just swam around.  So we didn't need to deal with the fall out (in a very literal way).

We did get to have a giggle at the expense of the folks who arrived to find out that 16 geese had spent a couple of afternoons at their crib away from the crib.  It may sound lousy on our part to see humour in their dejection upon arrival, but those guys have probably told the story a dozen times already.  All part of the experience, player!

So whenever there was a quiet moment, I'd grab the binoculars and look around the lake for "my" geese.  We haven't seen them since, unfortunately, but I like to think they just found a slightly quieter area to gather their breath in preparation for a long flight.

Still, just one more time this year would be nice...

Oh, and I saw Harper at a football game.

That's about it.

Still Working on Birthday Week

Man, you don't always notice how much you get done until you sit down to record it.

All right, so we'd cleaned the deck but it rained fairly heavily shortly thereafter so we had to wait things out before actually painting.  So on Thursday, July 31st, Chris suggested we head out to Newboro.  Sounded good to me.  Let's roll, Kato!  We'll leave the chipmunks to their feasting.

Well, once in Newboro...Would you believe we saw...the largest loon in Ontario???  I knew you wouldn't so I snapped a shot.

We're not sure if it's largest in Ontario, all of Canada, North America or what.  I can't imagine there are too many larger loons around though.

Newboro is a sweet little town though.  It's most prominent feature/attraction are the nearby locks and marina.  After a little shopping and eyeballing some of the residential areas, we closed out what became a hot, sunny day by visiting that area.  All pictures below are from there specifically.

Birthday Week part 2 of a couple more

But first, before we move on from Christine's birthday, a brief flashback...

Shortly after we opened the place this year, we dropped by Westport to do a little shopping.  Christine eyed a piece decorative metal art (I guess that's what you call it...) in one souvenir store that she thought would be a great fit.

At the time, because she was reluctant to get it, I suggested we go ahead and buy and put it down as an early birthday present for her.  We try to avoid cluttering, but I couldn't pass up that birthday gift insurance policy opportunity (damn good thing, too, 'cause sure enough...).

Anyway, here it is:

It's hung over the window to the left of the entrance to the master bedroom.  We like having a window there, but weren't crazy about the frosted sunrise/sunset decoration on it (can't seem to find a "before" picture at the moment).  We debated about scraping that decoration off, but thinking it might end up being difficult to do it so that the window is completely "clean", we decided against the attempt.  Christine did a great job of using it as a frame to her crows instead.

And it couldn't be much more appropriate in Crow Lake.  We've had a lot of fun with visiting crows this summer, leaving peanuts around for them to find.  We actually miss them between visits, even if they don't always look or sound all that friendly towards us.

Back to our current spot in time, my folks popped by for a couple of nights on Tuesday the 29th.  As usual, it took no time for my dad to get busy with odd jobs.  That included additional work on the picnic table, which had its legs replaced.

That's some sharp looking legs. And the picnic table's pretty spiffy too!

We also started fencing off the area at the end of the property in which Christine wants to build her boat garden.

I'm fairly proud of the above.  We bought three 12-foot pieces of wood, two of which I split down the middle (more or less.  It was eyeballed, so...) with the axe.  A few weeks back, I planted the posts through root and rock (and horse flies), then split two of the remaining 6-foot pieces lengthwise. Pappy screwed them into the posts all nice and tight to further things along.

When the cut pieces weather over time, the whole thing should look a bit more uniform. Christine has since planted flowers at the base, but they don't seem tremendously happy there. I'll wait until they perk up before posting any pictures of that.

Dad also installed an equalizer along our wonky living room floor.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture, but this shot from March, when the floor was painted, should at least illustrate the challenge he faced in making the floor equal.

On the night my parents arrived, they treated us to an excellent meal at The Maples Restaurant in nearby Sharbot Lake.  I've talked about their pizza before, and Chris and I had have had a good breakfast there, but they impressed again.  We had an excellent pasta primavera on their deck, near the beach.  Under some slightly worrisome clouds, mind you, but the rain held off.  Well, it did that night, anyway.

That takes us to Thursday, July 31st, when we made a brief roadie into a swell little town called Newboro.  That's next.