12 years later, Tim and Neil return to their campsite

Those of you who remember the history of the cottage know that Tim first brought me to this lake on a canoe portage from the Picanoc River in 1998 (not 1996 as stated in the last blog). Last Thursday, August 12, we returned to the lake for the first time together since that trip. We had two great days. We paddled just about the entire lake, from the covered bridge in the south to the North beach, into the weedy bay and then up the narrows to the beaver dam that separates the lake from Ross lake. Yes, we stopped on the island where we camped 12 years ago. I have paddled past it many times of course and pointed it out to others. However, this was the first time I actually set foot on the island in 12 years. The view from that island is one of the best of the lake. It is kidney shapped, narrowing in the middle. Standing on that narrow band, about 30 feet accross, allows you a view looking north and looking south. We brought our camping chairs and settled in for lunch and drinks, and were able to recall a lot of details of our camping trip. The weather was perfect and with the water level low we had more of a beach in the bay on the island then last time we stayed there.

The view that first captivated me in 1998

The man responsible for everything returns to what is henceforth to be called "Tim's Island"

Aside from hours in the canoe, we also cooled off in the water, sawed more logs - replacing the pile Tom chopped last week - and cleaned up the campfire area. Evening was spent jammin' with guitar and harmonica by the campfire and watching shooting stars.

It's great to have friends who like to work, so we tried another test of the water system, installing proper fittings and connecting the hose from the water tower to the intake hose on the house. The guidance from my friend Christoff at the Home Depot worked perfectly, with the new fittings not leaking. We filled the barrel by hauling buckets from the lake. The results were what I would describe as mixed. Water was flowing into the house. And we did get a trickle out of the taps after exhaustive syphoning, only possible as a result of our training for this playing the harmonica. But we discovered that the toilet wasn't connected to the water pipe coming up through the floor. The builder used a rigid pipe. Not sure why, but it wouldn't quite align with the valve on the floor and so it appeared to be connected but it wasn't at the floor. We discovered this when water was pooling on the floor when we turned the water on. I had to buy a flex hose to properly connect it before my next trip up on Tuesday - but more on that trip later.