A Tippy Start to Season 5

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.
I couldn't exit the lake at this location because the shrubs and rocks formed a formidable barrier, and I couldn't make my way by walking towards the dock without going into deeper water, but I sure didn't feel like standing around thinking about a strategy. The canoe had about five inches of water in it and I didn't have a bucket for bailing. I decided the quickest way to exit the water was to leap back into the canoe, confident in my sense of balance and athleticism. When I landed, sprawled awkwardly, I then did something for only the second time in my life - I tipped a canoe. This time the landing was in water up to my chest. Amazingly, my cap and sunglasses were in place on my head, and nothing had spilled out of the boat, which I righted again as I fell.   But this time the canoe had much more water in it and was less steady.  Barb, who was on the dock immersed in her book, finally paused to look up and inquire about all this splashing abut in freezing water.  After assuring her through chattering teeth that I was merely practicing in case I ever accidentally tipped a canoe, I asked her to bring me a bucket.  In her sandals and shorts, she made her way, slowly bushwhacking along the shore, suffering scratches and pokes to reach through the bushes and handed me the bucket.  It was the bucket with a hole in it! I briefly thought about asking her to go back and bring me the other one, but I sensed she might not appreciate that and might even order me to go jump in the lake, which I really didn't want to do a third time.   I made do with the leaky bucket, removing most of the water to the point that the canoe was stable once again.  I climbed aboard very carefully, paddled back the short distance, shivering violently. Safely on the dry dock, I announced it was time to go home.

Looking on the bright side, without this misadventure, opening the cottage would have just been too darn easy and sorely inadequate fodder for a blog post.