Say Hello to our New Floor!

This past week saw major progress on one of the aspects of the construction we decided to do ourselves - the flooring. We finally found some flooring we wanted at Rona last Sunday and Monday morning Greg and I rented a cargo van to deliver it and begin the installation. Things got off to a rough start though when the van, after being loaded with a few things at our house, wouldn't change gears when we got on the Highway in Orleans, on our way to Rona. I got off at the next exit and took it right back to the car rental outlet. The good news is they did have another van available and ready to go. The better news is they gave me free rental for the day. We eventually made it to Rona and loaded 27 boxes of laminate flooring and underlay and made our way to the cottage without further incident. After unloading our materials, we worked for about five hours and made good progress, almost covering half of the front room, making it to where the hall begins.

Then Barb and I went up on Thursday morning to continue the task, but we didn't get to it until Friday morning. Our contractor was there on Thursday to cut the baseboards to size for us and attend to a couple of other small issues. Meanwhile, we worked at re-assembling our Adirondack chairs. We had stained them and were replacing the arms. They're great to have by the campfire. The weather was great over the three days we were there. We were able to, and in fact, needed to swim each day. After hours of hard work, diving off the dock never felt so refreshing. And we almost finished all the flooring in the front room. Our Power box 800 (from Canadian Tire) is proving to be very dependable. I used it to power a jigsaw to cut the flooring. Otherwise, I would have had to rent and run a generator or make all these cuts with a hand saw, which would mean we would only have about one tenth of the work done. Covering the unfinished floor really helps warm the place up and is much more comfortable to walk on. Just an hour or so more and we'll have finished the front room. We'll do the bedrooms a little later in the fall.

Here it is:

Expedition to Ross Lake

It was Saturday, August 8th. We decided to head out for a litttle paddle to the north end of the lake. I wanted to see the progress on the lots that had sold in the narows since I was last there about two years ago. The weather was fair, not too hot, about 23 degrees. We stopped along the way to talk to Beverly and Warren, who told us about Ross Lake. It's an adjoining lake you can access by portaging around a beaver dam. I had seen it on the map, but didn't know how to get to it. Now they told us where to look for the beaver dam on the west side of the lake in the narrows, just past the last cottage on the east shore. It is very small, maybe three quarters of a kilometer long and half a kilometer wide. But it is completely unspoiled. We portaged around the dam and paddled to the north end where there is a small beach. We found deer and other animal tracks in the sand and evidence of a feast of mussels by one of the locals. On our way there, we saw a huge bird soaring overhead. I think it was a hawk and we took some pictures. The trip back was against the wind, as it always seems to be. It made for a pleasant outing and a good workout. I estimate the return trip was about 12 kilometers. If you can identify this bird, let me know.

More Company!

Mark and Brenda on the grand tour

The August long week end was one of more visits amidst mixed weather. Laura, Greg, Barb and I went up on Sunday. Mark and Brenda joined us for the day. We sat on the dock, just relaxing and chatting most of the afternoon away. Greg entertained us with some classical guitar pieces. You would never know he is the lead singer in a heavy metal band in Toronto from his playing. Mark and I went out for a short attempt at fishing but they weren't biting.

Once again, we were treated by our guests to a delicious meal.

On Monday, Alan, Andrea and Cailin came up for the day. We played board games and celebrated Barb's birthday together. The guests brought the birthday cake - yummy black forest cake. Now Barb has a new tennis racquet too, so we'll be able to work off that cake soon.

On Tuesday, we witnessed the biggest downpour we have ever seen at the lake. After loading up the car to come home after lunch, we had to wait around as the rain was so heavy there was no way we could have travelled in that. I was concerned that the road might wash out and we wouldn't be able to get out. But while the road was rough, we made it home by supper time. There has been so much rain up there that the road will  need some repairs.