Thaw

Patiently waiting for the ice to leave....

Any day now....

*sigh*

(remember, Rice like stretches north east to south west, about half way between Lake Simcoe (at the top left) and the peninsular bulge of P.E. county on the north shore of Lake Ontario).

I strung together the satellite photos to show the progression of the ice thawing.

Wa-wa-waaater!

There's finally been a clear day to see what's shakin' at the lakin'. Check it the latest satellite shot!

That, my friends, is open water on Rice Lake! Granted, not much open water, but I'll take it!

Water levels

I checked the Parks Canada site for Rice Lake water levels today. It looks like the spike has happened!

Compare this with last year's graph, taken on March 31:

This is good. This means the docks at the marina won't be underwater for long and we can get the boat back in the water. As soon as the temperature stays reliably above zero, at least. I haven't been able to get a decent satellite photo of the lake lately, because it's been so overcast.

In other news, it looks like our planned trip to the Cottage Life show this year is a bust. Hockey and Dance schedules have colluded and are refusing to cough up a single free day this weekend. Dangit! At least this is our last hockey weekend for this season (yay!!) This weekend is also the first of five dance competitions this year. I have to get up at 5 a.m on Thursday. Wait, there's a 5 o'clock in the MORNING now!? Yeesh.

If you're looking for me, I'll be the one blearily stumbling into door frames.

More melting...

Oh, gosh, I am so impatient now! GAH!

There's a lot more open water showing on the St. Lawrence. Whee!

Dreaming

If I ever fell into a vat of money, because let's face it, a barrel just doesn't go as far as it used to, I think this is the cottage design I would use to build a new edifice on the island.

It would need to be done right, with a well and septic, if it were to be done at all. And obviously I'd ditch the garage and convert that into two more bedrooms instead. Or possibly put the loo on the main floor and have one bedroom down, rather than having the loo upstairs. Click on the photo to go view the floor plans and such.

[ponder. consider. cocks her head to the side thinkishly]

And maybe make the porch bigger. But this plan has some definite merit.  It's made by a company out of Vancouver BC called "Smallworks".

Now to find that vat.

Melt melt melt melt melt

From today's satellite pass.

Lake conditions

Rice Lake is still ice covered, but the latest satellite photo shows that the surrounding snow is diminishing, as it's now much easier to spot the lake!

Gah. The first 5 months of waiting went past in a blur. This last month is agony.

Things rattling around in my cottage mental box like so many loose marbles right now:
- dock ladder
- boat lift
- bathroom ceiling, trim, cupboard, curtain
- living room ceiling
- guest room doors
- how soon with the water level drop?
- did the flooring survive?

Whee! 8000!

We just hit 8000 page views here on the cottage blob!

Thank you for reading!

That's all.

Just, whee.

*ahem*

We're getting close...

It won't be long now before we'll be back at the cottage!

A few of the Rice Lake area message boards have started their annual Ice Out contest to see who can guess the date that the lake will be free of ice. Dates are ranging from April 1 to April 16th so far. Last year, Ice Out was declared on March 30th.

They're using a cool satellite photo site (NOAA - the US Gov site that also tracks hurricanes) to determine how much ice is left in the lake. Here's the link if you're curious.

It shows mostly Lake Ontario, but you can just see the white gash of Rice Lake in the middle of south/central Ontario if you know where to look. (If you draw a straight light between lake Simcoe and the penninsula of Prince Edward County - Hello Sandbanks! - you'll cross over Rice Lake about half-way across.) As always, click on the photo to zoom in.

You can see that Rice Lake is still frozen and white, whereas Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes in New York are free of ice (blue).

Neat stuff.

This of course now has me in a tizzy asking myself "what did I forget to do over the winter!?"

At the top of the list of those forgotten items is: Buy Ceiling Materials For The Bathroom And The Living Room.

Dangit.

Now accepting suggestions for ceiling material. (Please note: "Soffit" is not a valid suggestion). I'm leaning towards 12x12 ceiling tiles for the bathroom, and white-stained pine planks for the living room, but can be swayed with good suggestions.

We're also debating hitting the Cottage Life show at the end of the month, but it's all dependent upon the wee lad's Sunday hockey schedule. I'm starting to give some thought to investing in a boat lift to keep That Damned Boat from getting smashed about on windy days.

ponder ponder spend spend

Dance hangover

Princess (left) and pal waiting to go onstage.

I feel like I have a dance hangover. The wee princess had her dance showcase last night. The showcase is a full dress rehearsal complete with an audience. The show was a big success (with a few gaffs that will be ironed out before we head to competition) and she acquitted herself well. I'm enormously proud of her hard work.

I'm exhausted from the logistics of 6 hair/costume changes in a short span but the wee princess was thrumming with excitement all night. We were honoured to have some friends take time during their evening to spend it watching her perform. Thank you!

The big let-down of the night was with the videography. I failed to set the camera up properly and so all of the videos turned out poorly. I. Am. Kicking. Myself. I don't get many opportunities to film her dancing because it's forbidden at competitions (they want to sell you their own DVDs, of course).

Anywho. Still no cottage news. From what I can gather around the internets, the lake is showing signs of thaw with diminishing snow banks but the big Ice Out hasn't started yet. I'm really starting to get the itch to return to the cottage, I have to confess.

Possibly fuelling this itch was the arrival of the latest edition of Cottage Life magazine in my mailbox this week. I knew as soon as I saw it that I'd need to share this insert with you. Look what can be yours for the low, low price of $199.00 (payable in 4 easy installments). And the "cuckoo" is a loon! Well, paint me purple and call me Barney. How have I survived these 29+ (++++++++++) years without a clock such as this!?

It. Is. Fine*.

All kidding aside, I freely accept that most cottages are where cast-off housewares go to die, however why would any human with two functioning brain cells to rub together burn $200 on a brand-new gaudy piece like this?!

*boggle*

Humanity scares me sometimes.

UPDATE: So, I just visited the website for the clockmaker. Look at the photoshopped "close up" of the cuckoo loon! The descriptions of the clock are giving me a case of the giggles.

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(*and by "fine" I mean a fine example of early ugly design. If you buy this for me I will hunt you down, paint you purple, and call you Barney. And nobody wants that.)