More good stuff

Rather than dwell on what's wrong with the cottage (there's plenty of blog fodder there) I'm going to give you another good feature today. "Drumroll please..."

Today I give you: The Lot.

I know. It sounds a bit odd. But this cottage has a great 75 x200 ft. lot. Sure there's grass to cut, and yes, it slopes so hauling the lawnmower up the hill is going to be a pain in the butt (once we get a lawnmower over there in our non-existent boat), but there's so much space to run around! One of the big issues I had with the cottage we rented in Haliburton was that it really had nowhere to play. You couldn't toss a frisbee, chuck lawn darts at your sister, play a bit of soccer, none of it.

Our lot ends at the power lines (which you can barely see in the first photo). Everything past that is this weird common space. Apparently the centre of the island (i.e. not waterfront) is divided into 3 land parcels, most of which are owned by some "lawyer from Toronto", according to Marvin the sage water-taxi driver. The space is available for general use by the cottage owners, for now at least. What's great is that this area is huge. Big enough for a proper soccer game if you wanted.

There are also trails that wend through the island so you could go on little island hikes if you wanted.
(aerial map from Peterborough County Web GIS, requires IE)

Imagine the picnics we can have!

In addition to the common space, there's also a fantastic fire pit near the back of our lot as you head up the hill. It's a dug out area with a stone fire pit and split-log benches. There's also a terrific cache of firewood and kindling that we're looking forward to making smoke with. I can't wait to make octoweinies and JiffyPop (which you're not supposed to cook over an open flame for some reason but we do anyway because we're non-conformists. Stick it to the Man!)

So, until we replace the fire-hazard wood stove in the cottage, this is going to be our fireplace.