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