what got done this weekend?

Not much! Thunderstorms kept us away on Saturday.

We were super excited to see the septic tank IN THE GROUND, only to have the moment spoiled by our neighbour who is pissed that it's not *enough* into the ground and is changing the grade and yadayada. 

For the Love. Of. God. In his defense, the grade IS crazy, and there's now a steep slope down into his yard. 

So now we're making Dave the digger man angry by asking too many questions and changing things after the fact. When in reality, we were never consulted in the first place, it was the builder and Dave making unilateral decisions.

Turns out they also never dug up the concrete under the bunky, they just covered it over, and that's why the septic has to be as high as it is. But they somehow have to dig down to install footings for the bunky, so how is that going to happen with a concrete slab buried under 2 feet of soil?! *Exasperation* so we're going to be paying them to rectify their fool mistake. *Livid* 

I was shocked that the septic is right smack in the middle of our most heavily-used part of the property: our precious lanai, the only cool spot on the hottest day. But apparently that's the only place it could go, because our lot is too hilly? What do i know.

In interior news, because I just CANNOT with the outside news anymore, we got nearly nothing done. The sink-side wall of the kitchen was mapped for cabinets, spackled, sanded, primed, spackled, sanded, and painted but no cabinets went in on that side.

Our woodstove now vents to the outside, but the chimney zig zags across the room in front of a window. It looks Seussian, tbh, but this cottage is nothing if not a litany of "things that aren't the way I wanted them at all". Maybe now the scaffolding can go away?

On the fridge side, we got 3 lower cabinets assembled but not installed, the cover panel for the fridge cut to size, and three of the upper cabinets screwed together. We hit a speed bump when the over-the-fridge cabinet wasn't lining up front-to-back with the fridge cover panel, and now we have to back track to figure out why, fix it, and hopefully forge ahead again. It's impossible to clamp between the fridge and the 15" upper cabinets, so, *puzzle*.

On the plus side, we have all the cabinet frames and cover panels, and are now just waiting on the lower cabinets drawers to come back in stock, purportedly next week.

We then got utterly smoked out by our other-side neighbours who thought a windless day was the perfect time to burn wet leaves and branches. We had to close all the windows to the cottage, and it was stifling.

I'm developing a persecution complex.

And you wonder why I hate people.

Cottage is becoming a four-letter word, too: C-O-T-J.

DinoStomp

STOP THE PRESSES!

OUR BYLAW EXCEPTION WAS APPROVED!!

That means the bunky is now a "legal" structure, and we can apply for a permit to rebuild, including septic! Wooooo!!!

Pray for a quick and painless permit process. *Fingers crossed*

not really an update

We've been to the cottage a few times this spring, but we're very much in a holding pattern at this point.

A few of the sticking points:

1. We can't take occupancy of the cottage until we pass the final inspection by the township. This includes plumbing.

2. Plumbing is roughed in, but we have no sinks yet. The bathroom vanity should arrive next week. The kitchen sink will be ordered once we get the cabinets ordered. We do have faucets for both! The shower is still in pieces in the bathroom.

3. Even if we had sinks, we have no septic system. We're waiting for Dave the digger man to put our septic in. Tbd when THAT will happen.

4. We've been waiting on septic pending resolution of the bunky nonsense. The township is still rejecting our application. As a final Hail Mary, we've applied for a bylaw... exception? amendment? I can't remember  the term. If it passes: the bunky will be torn down and rebuilt. If it doesn't, the bunky will be torn down. The end. So, either way, demo is happening. We're now awaiting demo. 

At the same time, we'll be tearing down the slanty bunky as it's being reclaimed by the wild. No jokes.

Additionally, we had the electrician back out to the island because there was some wierdness that needed to be solved. The ceiling fan in the great room didn't work. The outside light didn't work, and the hood fan breaker kept tripping. He was able to narrow it down to a faulty fixture on the front porch that was tripping the breaker (arced spectacularly when he was testing it) affecting the fan (ceiling) and the fan (hood). But now we have a borked fixture and we can't get more of the same sooooo, we moved the back porch light to the front so they all match, and have a "similar but different" light on the back porch now. We also had a faulty thermostat in the master bedroom and the heater wouldn't turn off. That got replaced, too.

We've been moving boxes and things out of our house and back to the cottage in the meantime. They're just being stored in the two bedrooms that are completely finished right now. It's nice to have some space back!

The wood stove should be arriving sometime this month, along with the vanity and hopefully the kitchen cabinets once we pull the trigger on that order.

We're also in the works getting our shoreline beefed up to store the boat lifts over the winter and to install the concrete base for a cantilevered dock.

So, a bunch of scheming is happening, but few shenanigans.

It's 30°C today, and I would dearly love to be at the cottage.

While we wait, here are some railing mock ups for the front porch. (Another sticking point) I'm stuck because I don't like the color of the wood (contractor bought and installed it without consulting us), so do I work with it to make it look intentional? Stain it? We really wanted Low Upkeep. Arg.

I hope things become unstuck soon.

IKEA is a four letter word

Two days at the cottage, and this is what we have to show for it! It feels like "not much" and yet it was so exhausting.

Our process:

1. Move eleventy IKEA cabinet flat-pack boxes from the garage into the SUV, but not all the boxes, because HEAVY.

2. Drive to the marina.

3. Repeat the eleventy boxes step, this time from car to boat (thank god for the Pontoon boat and gangplanks to shore).

4. Drive boat to the island. Best part of the day, hands down. The lake was lovely.

5. Repeat the eleventy boxes step, this time from boat to cottage.

6. Inventory the boxes to figure out what you've got, because some boxes are still at home, and some boxes are on backorder at the swearword store. Organize the boxes into piles according to cabinet.

7. Assemble the beast cabinet (floor to ceiling microwave/pantry cabinet). Suck at math and make a stupid cut that you'll never forgive yourself for, but that is now cleverly hidden behind a shelf.

8. Pack up and go home because the sun is setting and you have neither toilet, food or bed to stay longer.

9. Repeat steps 1 thru 6 the next day, this time with a helper in tow who assembles four more cabinets while you:

10. Rip out trim that was installed because it's in the way of the cabinets. This hurt because it was so nicely done. Just beautiful workmanship.

11. Prime and paint the backsplash area before the cabinets go in for half the kitchen because that will *Not* be a fun job after they're in. I still want to put  wallpaper or tiles in that spot, but for now it's something other than bare wood. Currently "Odessa pink" by benjymoore:

12. Puzzle about how to clean paint supplies when you don't have running water. Solution: plastic tub and lake water.

13. Hang rails and upper cabinets on one side of the kitchen. Helper = invaluable. 

14. Pack up again because the sun is setting and the toilet/food/bed situation is unchanged. Honestly, so frustrating. We could get so much more done!

15. Agonize over the materials list for your order, because some of it does *not* make sense, and why did they do it that way?!

Plan to repeat the following weekend.

Bonus:

We have a wood stove!! It currently exhausts into the cottage (chimney not installed yet), but it's almost ready.

We talked with Dave-the-Diggerman this weekend about a concrete base for a cantilevered dock ($$$ for that system. Whooboy), and about our septic which will happen after the dock base so he's not driving heavy machinery over the septic bed. He thinks 2-3 weeks and we should be ready for running water!! *Breathes into a paper bag at the thought of running water*

Of course that means we have to buy and install the water filtration system, finish the plumbing for the shower, vanity, toilet, and kitchen sink, oh, and buy a kitchen sink, as well as get ORCA permits resolved for the dock work at the shoreline (possibly not needed? To be investigated), and buy the cantilevered dock system. *Insert hemorrhaging money gif*

And then, I think it's just railings for the deck and loft and we'll be in a position to move in officially. *Fingers crossed* it's been so long, I can't even imagine.

June update

***This post has been on hold since E wanted to wait until after our council meeting to share that the bunkies have been demolished. He's in the meeting as I type this.***

Another brief afternoon jaunt to the cottage!

Accomplished in this trip:

We picked up the spindle bed for D's bedroom from a nice lady in Indian River.

We transported the bathroom vanity (so heavy) and got it set up.  It's still not connected to anything, because "no water" but it looks nice!

The dining table light fixture is finally installed courtesy of R the monkey man who is not scared of the rickety scaffolding, and we fixed the ceiling fan dip switches so the remotes control one fan only.

the back porch light fixture is replaced and the basement flood lights are now installed.

Not completed: the ceiling fan in the last bedroom still needs to be installed. We're dealing with screws that are the wrong length and apparently the replacements purchased are "still wrong".

This week we ordered the IKEA kitchen (so much of it is backordered) but a good chunk of it should arrive on Thursday. The rest we'll have to collect later. Mostly drawers/drawer faces, I believe. That will be a fun assembly project. Oi.

In shocking news, both bunkies have been demolished and the property is a disaster. *Blink blink*

Very ready to be past this stage. I'm thinking that's a primo spot for a new garden shed, though.

Not shown: the booblight in the lake. They must've dropped it when carting away the bunky debris.

And that's about it! More soon. I get angry every visit because I don't want to turn around and leave right away. Arg