2014 can be summed up as a poor year weather wise, with regular rain and few hot days making conditions favourable for bug populations until later than normal. At least we had a couple of wonderful weekends late in the year to remind us of how great a cottage escape can be.
Projects this year: install screen door - done; move basement ventilation fan to opposite side of the cottage - done; change fridge door to open from the other side - done. Plans for next year: solar power, hot water heater, dock repairs, replace fireplace hearth. Notice we don't even bother listing painting the bedroom anymore. That's on the "someday" list now.
Closing up for the winter means bringing home anything that can freeze, clearing the water lines and pouring RV anti-freeze in the drains. It also means hauling the pedal boat and the aluminum fishing boat up on shore. Having bought the boat in 2013, last Fall was the first time I had to pull the fishing boat out for the winter. There's a slope at the shore and while it's doable to pull it up using manpower, its easy to strain your back or to slip on the damp leaves carpeting the hillside. My dad had a "come-along" at his cottage years ago for this type of work. Over the summer I searched in vain to find one and I wondered if they stopped making them. I asked around and eventually a co-worker told me it is also known as a hand winch. Bingo! It's a hand winch! With the proper name, I found them in a few places online, including Canadian Tire. When I went to buy it, I told the saleswoman in the automotive section that I needed a hand winch. From her startled reaction, she must have misunderstood what I said. I think she heard me say "I need a hand, wench." Once I repeated myself, carefully articulating the sound of the "i", she said she had never heard of that and brought me to her supervisor, an older gentleman. Predictably, when I told him I was looking for a hand winch, he said "come-along?" Yes!
October 18th we closed up the cottage for the winter and here's the picture of me with this neat little gadget. I just attach one end of the cable to a tree and the other to the boat, crank back and forth and along it comes. Old technology, but it's all I need to make hauling the boat up the slope a much easier task.
