Man's Spa IV - back to its roots

Not since the flip flop of the New Coke has there been such a dramatic branding and marketing about face!

The people have spoken and SPArtan weekend is reverting to it's original moniker as "Man's Spa", reclaiming it's proper title.  I tried to get Canadian Tire to sponsor the event but they couldn't afford us and instead they blew their modest budget on naming rights for a suburban hockey rink. Too bad for them.

Billy was back, joining Pat, Tim, Al, Johnny and me for round four. In a clever move, Billy had us sign an oath of secrecy for eternity.   I'm not sure how long that is so I waited a couple of months before posting this just to be safe. If I just broke the oath, oops, sorry about that.  It was an accident but seeing as it's already broken, I might as well just carry on blabbing.

Imagine, if you can, musical icons Johnny Cash, Neil Young and Bob Marley entertaining Man's Spa attendees around a roaring fall campfire in the Upper Gatineau.  Have you got that image in your head now?  Well, that's nothing like what happened at this year's Man's Spa, although we did do our best to pay tribute to them with some of their best (and most difficult) tunes. Thanks for the music Tim.

Every year at Man's Spa Johnny takes a Sunday morning plunge off the dock to wake himself up and refresh. For the first time, he wasn't the only nut to brave the chilling waters as 4 of 5 made a splash. Then we had to fight for the hammock.  Next year it's BYOH.

Oh Johnny, before I forget, please remember to thank your sister for the pillow.

And finally, RIP hawks.

Next year we'll gather again, during the harvest to keep the ring of fire burning with no woman.

Thanks for coming!

 

 

Want to feel like a million bucks?

Feel like a million bucks? You don't hear that expression very much anymore. Perhaps it's the inflationary effect that makes it less impressive than it was originally. Or perhaps its the move to electronic banking that makes a million bucks seem antiquated.

But that's how you can feel if you plunge into the lake on the record breaking late date of October 12th.  That's how I felt anyway.  Barb said she just felt cold. She actually tried to swim out for a bit. She realized that wasn't a good move and got back to the dock. The water temperature was shocking and that shock stimulates everything into overdrive, as blood rushes and flushes out the organs. The extremely relaxing effect of a cold water plunge leaves you sleepy and content, like a million bucks! Perfect preparation for the hammock. You may have noticed that Barb's hammock is getting a lot of mention on this blog. I assure you it's well deserved.

The Botsford Boys and Ones that Didn't Get Away

Time to write about fishing at the lake. Until recently, my efforts to catch a big one were pretty much limited to casting from the dock from time to time and a few uncomfortable outings in the canoe for an afternoon.

If I was asked, I would have had to honestly say the fishing is so-so, although I had heard of big catches from other cottagers.

That all changed starting last fall. Mark and his friends Art and Dan came up in September and spent the better part of their visit trying different lures. We fished off the dock and off islands. And neighbour Neil was kind enough to let us borrow his fishing boat as well. We lost a lot of lures - in the trees, in the lake and anywhere we could. Things didn't go so well, although after persevering on the second and last day Art caught what was until then the biggest bass I'd ever seen.

A few weeks later, I was up for a day with my friend Doug and from the awkward confines of a canoe, I caught one even bigger and certainly the biggest I've ever landed.

A couple of weeks ago (August 2013), Mark and his buddies came back for round two. Now I had my own proper boat for fishing and we could go anywhere on the lake.  Day 1 we didn't catch anything from the boat. Wouldn't you know that on day 2 they caught pike and pickerel right of the dock.  Perseverance paid off again as finally we caught some bass, including a couple of record breakers, from the boat on our last day.

Try landing a bass this size in a canoe. Right behind me you can see the secret fishing spot.

And these pictures below, by Dan, are from August 2013.

Dan surprised everyone, including himself, catching this pike right off the dock before finishing his morning coffee.

Above Dan displays a Whitefish - Later, Dan wrote: At a young age they have a small snout but as they age they're snouts get longer and protrude - Just like some of us !!!!!

They can get up to 20 to 30 lbs and are of the Carp family !!!!!  They are supposedly good eating - The big ones that is !!!!!

Mark, with bass taken at the entrance to the narrows at the northern end of the lake, and below with pickerel caught from the dock.

Art wins the prize for the smallest catch with this rock bass.

Captain Morgan's Deck

Watching my neighbours build their own cottages around the bay sometimes has me feeling that I missed out on something. Then I take on a project like building a deck, and I'm reminded of why I designed our cottage but left the construction to the pros. A deck is a modest project but still requires a fair bit of research and planning, not to mention the hard work.  Greg and I put up this 12 X 14 deck off the back of the screened porch.  It's a great spot to relax and enjoy the surrounding forest. See below for images before, during and after construction...

 

Greg calculated that the actual time working was just ten hours, but we spread it over a few days.

 Captain Morgan was the supplier for the celebratory toast when we were done.

Happy Birthday Barb! Here she is trying out her new hammock on her new deck!!

 

Expanding the Fleet

Until this year, we have been proudly human powering all of our watercraft. Two canoes and two kayaks offer a peaceful and environmentally friendly way to navigate the many bays of the lake.  However, sometimes it would be nice to have some motor power to take us quickly to one of the beaches, to offer guests a quick tour and especially when heading out to do some fishing. This spring, with the assistance of Kijiji, we found a 1980 aluminum boat and 7.5 HP motor. To our delight, not only are there no leaks in the boat, but the Evinrude motor started on the first try and has been running smoothly.  And just last week, again with help from Kijiji, we bought a pedal boat.  It'\s a very sturdy model and offers another option for casual touring or just floating around the bay with a book and taking in some sun.

 

Neighbour Neil (yes, one of four on the lake) was very generous in helping us by picking up the boat in Kemptville and towing it to the lake for us.

To get the pedal boat to the lake from where we bought it in Carleton Place, Emad kindly lent us his truck with a hitch and we rented a trailer for the evening.  Below, Barb and Laura take it for it's first spin.