It's hard to believe this is already season 5 for the
cottage! The place has come a long way in five years, with the addition of running water,
propane appliances and most recently, a large deck making it quite comfy for
living in the wild.
We opened the place for the
year on Victoria Day weekend. I'm very pleased to report that everything was in good shape. There were
no surprises and no water leaks when I opened the water like there was last spring when there was a
small flood in the basement from a pipe that froze and split over the winter. Evidently, the
repairs I made withstood this winter’s freeze. I was most relieved to see that
our new deck, that Greg and I built last summer, looked as good as new. I was
confident that the design and workmanship would make it a solid deck for
many years, but with the huge amount of snow this past winter...well you never know.
And then there's the dock to attend to. Each year, the dock needs some adjustments
after the forces of freezing and thawing on the lake. The water was so high
that the shore pilings were 6 feet from shore and had been pulled up somewhat
and leaning towards the lake. So I spent
a couple of hours making adjustments, standing in water to my knees, one hand
straightening the shore piling in the water while the other lifted and dropped
the sledge hammer to drive it into the lake bed. Luckily, there were no misses
with the heavy hammer and the dock is once again accessible.
Having accomplished all that, I decided to poke around the
bay in the canoe. I didn't take the wide
beamed veteran fibreglass classic, but instead I used Andrea and Alan's less
stable Coleman variety, as it was closest to the water. While paddling, I noticed some debris in among
the bushes about 50 feet from the dock. I wanted to retrieve it and tried to move
close enough among the bushes extending over the water.
It turned out it wasn't worth the risk and I ended up doing something
for the very first time in my life: I tipped a canoe. As I was being dumped, I jumped and landed
standing in frigid water up to my waist and immediately righted the canoe as I landed.
