Happy Thanksgiving!

The lake was angry, the cottage was cold, and I managed to put my back out loading the boat.

Hurrah...

Not the greatest start to a Thanksgiving long weekend that's going to be spent closing up the cottage!

The lake was very rough as we crossed to the island. The winds were 35 km/h from the southwest with gusts up to 48, which is the perfect recipe for white caps and extremely choppy water on the lake. I though the captain was going to swamp us on the approach to the dock when he had to reverse and the waves came crashing over the transom at the back of the boat (as opposed to the transom at the front of the boat? Nicely redundant, miss.)

Excitement!

We also had our first immersion test of our Baja bags (we transport our clothes back and forth in Baja bags to keep everything dry.) when the wee lad let one slip off the dock. Whoops! Fortunately, everything inside stayed reasonably dry. The topmost item had a few wet spots on it, but I don't know how much of that was from the outside of the bag as I opened it, vs actual leakage.

The captain bravely ventured into the poo hole once we unloaded the boat, hoping that, after a month away, it wouldn't be too horrendously disgusting, and he might be able to empty it a bit before the winter. He said "it still wasn't pleasant", but for the first time since we took possession of the damned thing, it was dry in the bottom and the compost was compost-y. Could it be that we've finally, through trial-and-error and no thanks at all to the unsupportive heels at Envirolet, figured out the right setup to make the poo-hole work?!?! *thud* <--- that's me figuratively falling off my chair in shock (if I literally fell off my chair right now, I think I'd be stuck on the floor until the captain returned. "help! I've fallen and I can't get up")

We've managed (through judicious application of baseboard heaters, space heaters, and garlic bread in the oven) to get the uninsulated cottage up to an almost cosy 19 degrees overnight. The temperature outside was 2 degrees, so I was glad for the heaters. You know it's cool inside when the kids camp out in front of the space heater.

We had to tape all around the sliding door to keep the gusts of wind outside from coming inside.

Thus far, my gimpy back remains very painful (twisting, sitting, standing, walking, all yield winces of sharp pain). I have, however, made considerable headway on two crocheted hats. (there's not much else to do when you're confined to a chair all day long). Did I mention my butt was flat? Because it is.

Currently, the wee princess is keeping me company, knitting on the couch while I crochet, while we wait for the lad and the captain to return from the lad's hockey game back in town today.

The lake is quiet, the colours of the leaves are beautiful, and the cottage is peaceful. Today there is a lot to be thankful for. Except for back pain and flat butts. I'm not super thankful for that.