Woodpecker?

We've either got a wood pecker or an anteater at the cottage.

While having an ant eater at the cottage would be pretty cool, my money's on it being a wood pecker.

Monsieur woodpecker has taken issue with our campfire benches, and has decided to dig for a snack.

Did anyone else grow up thinking anteaters were ill-tempered and blue? Just me?

O.K. then. At least I come by my penchant for anvils honestly.

Hmm. If our log benches are punky and full of bugs, maybe it's time to start thinking about something else at the fire pit.

Maybe we could lug the blue benches up there? You know, the once that have been taking up space on the deck all this time, not being used?

*ponder scheme scheme*

More plants!

The cottage received some plant donations this weekend. Hooray!

They've been transported from Ottawa by Bestemor (the Captain's Mom), curiously enough, in pool salt bags. Salt, eh. That's good for plants, right?

Recent acquisitions include:
- chives (hooray! Now I just need basil and I'm set!)
- two kinds of spirea
- burning bush
and
- potentilla

Yay! Thank you!

If I get my act together this week and do some digging in my own garden, I should be able to add several varieties of hosta and some siberian irises to that collection.

Squee! I'm going to have cottage gardens that aren't all blackberry brambles and poison ivy!

fun fun fun fun fun

SWAG

It's official. The Hodge Podge Lodge gift shop has opened!

Both the Captain and Handy Dad are the first recipients of HPL SWAG. They each got a spiffy green t-shirt for Father's Day.

Just think of the merchandising opportunities that lay before me! If everyone who reads this blog bought a $10 t-shirt, I might have... $10! (What size would you like your shirt, mom?)


In unrelated news, we're preparing for a week up at the cottage after Canada Day. I hope to find enough posts to last while we're away, but if I do run out of material, please know I have a good excuse: I'm at the cottage!!

Dammit Ana!!

Ugh. Not again?

Ana White at Knock-Off Wood has another great plan posted.

And now I have another project to toss on the to-do heap at the lodge. I've been meaning to refurb an old glider bench that's been dwelling on the porch and turn it into a swing.

But maybe I could just build one from scratch (ok. not maybe scratch. I'd build it from boards, for sure.) Then I'd know for sure that it would be good and sturdy.

I like this plan. If I look for some bench pads at crappy tire or Lowes towards the end of the summer, I bet I could pick up something nice and cheap. Then I could just build the bench the right dimensions to fit the pads!

'Tis is cunning plan, m'lord.

fishinafish

The Wee Lad has caught the fishing bug. Every weekend when we're at the cottage he can be found at the end of the dock wearing his fishing hat, with a line in the water. This past weekend, he caught a lot of weeds. Lots and lots of weeds.

In spite of the mat of weeds, he eventually caught a nice little rock bass!

He reeled it (and a mountain weeds) into shore, and set to work taking it off his line, but he needed some help from his dad.

To their immense surprise, when they looked into the fish's mouth to extricate the hook, there was a little fish inside (it's kinda gross, but you can see the little fish's eye in this picture)!! Greedy fish! He already had a mouthful and was coming after Rowan's hook.

Serves you right, getting caught, you greedy rock bass.

Poop factories

Geese are poop machines.

The grass at the marina is splattered with all manner of goose excrement. You have to tread carefully.

I think these guys might be the culprits:

A gaggle of geese!

It's hard to get mad at them about all the poop though. Look at their cute little butts! Hello little poopers!

I don't imagine the poop situation is going to improve anytime soon with all these geese visiting.

Future guests? Consider yourself warned!

A bonus blog post

You're getting a bonus blog post today because I need to share with the world that it's my Mum's 65th29th Birthday! HOORAY!

Please join me in wishing a huge ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

... to the woman who brought me into this world, and on more than one occasion threatened to take me out of it again, too.

♥ ♥ ♥ I love you Mum! ♥ ♥ ♥

Hhhhhammock.

You have to say that like it's a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, o.k.?


What!?

What do you mean 'we didn't take phonetics in University'? What kind of readers do I have here?!

Yeesh.

Ok. "Hhhhh.... Hhhh" like the "h" is getting squeezed in your throat, ya?

"HHHHhhhhammock"

Excellent!

Last year for his birthday/father'sday/idon'trememberwhich, the Captain got a Hhhammock! Yay!

It's been sitting in a box in the bunky ever since. Boo.

Last weekend, he hauled it out of storage and decided it was high time to hang it up. We have nothing we can use to string up a Hhammock at the cottage, except a Hhammock. And trees. So the captain grabbed some flimsy nylon rope, wound it around the trunks of two cedar trees perched at the top of a steep embankment down to the water, and strung up the Hhammock. Did I mention the rocks? There are lots of big jaggedy rocks on the embankment, too.

"What!?" says the captain, pointing down the rock-strewn slope, "that tree at the bottom would stop my fall."

It turns out the rope wasn't quite high enough (my fault - Miss Calculation, 2011) so if he sat in it the wrong way, his butt would drag on the ground. And if he wiggled too much, he'd pitch over the side and tumble down the embankment.

But he spent a good long while reading away in the Hhhammmmmmock. I think he was happy. Or, possibly he was just afraid to move.

I think the final Hhhammocckck hanging solution is going to involve digging a couple of post holes and sinking some 4x4 boards into concrete.

For now, the Captain is content.

Weeds - reprise

I've already talked about the weeds in the lake this year. They're still completely crazy. I have some more photos to share.

The consensus on the island is that the weeds have never been this bad. You'll want to click to see the picture close up... it's better when it's bigger. That isn't a marshy spot in the photo, either. That's normally clear, wide-open lake right there with water about 8-9 feet deep.

Some popular theories about why they're so bad this year include the cold, wet spring - when the sun is hot and bright, the weeds pull away from the surface of the lake - or alternatively zebra mussels! They lake was badly infested with Zebra mussels in years past, the lake bottom is still littered with a blanket of jaggedy and sharp shells, but they're pretty much gone now. Zebra mussels are like little filters, cleaning lakes of pollution. Clearer water allows more sun to penetrate to the depths where the aquatic plants and algae thrive (thank you Wikipedia, font of all useless web knowledge.)

Whatever the reason, the lake is virtually choked with weeds this year. We can pass the afternoon entertaining ourselves on the porch by watching boats attempt to navigate across the weed mat.

That's good fun, that.

The floating weeds surrounding the dock were as bad this week as they were the week before, if not worse.

We picked up a cheapocheapo comb rake at Walmart, and I started shoving the mat of weeds around at the dock. It quickly became clear that I would put my back out in short order (there are somethings I just can't do anymore, shoving weeds while stooped over being one of them), so the captain graciously took over. On Father's day, no less. Is he not awesome? Sodden weeds weigh a metric tonne.

Dad and the captain shoved the weeds off to one side of the dock and pulled them up onto shore to dry out. I'm thinking of hauling them up to use in the bottom of my as-yet-non-existent garden bed. They'd make good compost, no? Free dirt!

What's a little depressing is that I know the next time we visit, the weeds will be just as bad as they were this time. Until we get a good hot stretch, I think 2011 will be "the year we battled the weeds".

At least my garden will be grateful.

What's better than fresh local produce?

Nothing, I tell ya. Nothing.

Mum and Dad stopped by at Johnston's market en route to the cottage and picked up some strawberries for dessert - quite possibly the best, sweetest, most flavourful berries I've ever had. I had a clearer berry picture, but it had Mum's blurry hand in it, so you get blurry berries instead.

The also brough a huge pot of planted herbs. I've got rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage. All I need now is a basil plant and some chives and my herb garden is set!

We're eating well at the cottage this year. Mmmm. Thinking about that sage on some chicken is making my mouth water.

Thanks Mum and Dad!

Oh, for pete's frickin' sake...

Eastern Kingbird

It was another critterful day at the cottage. I think I enjoy the wildlife almost as must as I enjoy the water!

We had a bird visitor this weekend who was chomping on a dragonfly (I like dragonflies - this troubled me a bit). It was an Eastern Kingbird. I hadn't seen one before. I know it was an Eastern Kingbird because Dad said it was one, and a quick rummage through my ROM guide to birds of Ontario confirmed his identification.

Now I can check that one off in the checklist at the end of the book.

Fun!

I love you, Dad!!

I'm tardy to the party today. This weekend has been bonkers nuts since about 6:20 a.m. on Friday morning and I haven't been able to tell my right from my left or my up from my down. I've finally stepped off this whirlwind ride only to realize I have no blog post for today. Crud!

I did, however, get to spend the afternoon with my Daddy, which was as much a gift to me as it was to him. I can't wait until we get to spend whole weekends there. One more week and dance is done until the fall. Wahoo!

So today, to my Dad, the captain, and all the amazing Dads in my life,

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

Raised gardens?

Have any of you ever built a raised veggie garden? How did that turn out for you?

I've been meaning to build one at the cottage. The princess wants to grow carrots. I wouldn't mind some radishes, beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, or peppers. Having fresh veg right in my own backyard would be darned handy, and tasty to boot!

I'm toying with something like this. Constructed of 2x6 and 4x4 boards. Right now I'm trying to decide what dimensions I should use (is 4'x8' too small?)

I'd line the bottom with some wire mesh before I fill it with soil to keep out burrowing critters (stole this idea from the photo! I likes it). There's also a solution for prohibiting top-side critters, too. Saves me having to think about it!

I'm still wrestling with where to put it though. The lot is somewhat hilly, and I need to find a spot that's:
A: Moderately level
B: In full sun
C: not in the traffic path between cottages
D: still conveniently accessible by hose

The location that's currently winning is on the hill between the firepit and Peaky.

I might even take the opportunity to build a composter at the same time, since it would essentially be a taller, narrower raised garden. And maybe a small back porch for the main cottage. Gah. Lists never stop growing, do they.

It looks like I have a date with a saw. Now to scope out some deals on lumber.

Getting rid of the guck

This post ties in neatly with yesterday's post about weeds.

We draw our utility water (for washing dishes, showering, watering the lawn, etc) directly from the lake using a pump and an intake line that hangs off of our dock. You can imagine what the water quality is like when the dock is enveloped by weeds! Bleh.

Last year when we installed the faucet in the bathroom, we had some problems with water pressure. We quickly realized that it wasn't the pressure that was the problem. There was lake guck building up on the wee screen "aerator", inside the end of the faucet. Once we removed the screen, water flowed freely.  And yes. Sometimes bits of cedar would spit out of the faucet. That was the price we paid to have running water in the cottage.

However, when we installed the shower head, it became clear that we would need a better system for removing the guck from the water, otherwise we'd be cleaning out the shower head after each use! Not very feasible. I also had lingering concerns about what all of that guck was doing to the inside of our hot water heater. (eww?)

After a little bit of web searching, I hit upon a whole-home sediment filter. It sounded perfect for what we needed, and best of all, it was fairly affordable (around $50 - $60) and easy to install. Several companies manufacture them. I was looking at models from Watts Premier, as well as Rainfresh, both available at big-box home improvement stores.

I picked up the Rainfresh unit, only because I happened to be at Lowe's at the time, and that's the brand they carry. I also grabbed a couple of replacement filters. I figured we'd want to have some on hand at the cottage so we wouldn't have to make a trip off the island to buy filters when the running water reduced to trickle.

Many filters are available, varying by porosity, and composition (polybead, charcoal, ceramic, etc.) The unit came with a 5 micron polybead cartridge. I picked up replacement 5 micron and 30 micron cartridges just in case the 5 was too fine and kept getting bunged up.

The unit I bought was a step up from the basic bare-bones model. It was an FC150, which includes a bypass/shut-off valve at the top of the unit that turns off the water in the sump for easy cartridge replacement, or in case we want to run the hose (no point filtering that water, right?).

Although they say you may want to enlist the help of a plumber to install these units, it was dead simple, and we didn't even need the connector kit (CK2) that they recommend purchasing. The Captain spliced the water line after the pump and pressure tank, but before the hot water tank (note: the Filter housings come in 3/4" and 1" pipe sizes). He inserted grey couplings that he had left over from the pressure tank project, attached them to the housing for the filter unit, clamped it all down, turned on the water, and Bob's your uncle!

Best of all, the gunk is gone! The water still isn't potable (that's a project requiring a lot more money, for another time) but we can shower and wash dishes without chunks in the water. Yay! We'll have to see how often we need to replace that filter cartridge. They say they'll last 4-6 months, but our water is pretty messy. I'm hoping it's just once per summer. At least with the bypass model it will be quick and easy to swap out the filter!

Weeds

Rice Lake has a bit of a reputation of being a "weedy" lake and this is part of the reason the fishing is so good here.

It's quite shallow, the maximum depth is 27 ft., but by and large it's no more than about 13 ft deep. A shallow lake bottom means lots of sunlight penetrates to the depths, and the weeds grow tall and close to the surface. There are huge mats of weeds out in the lake right now. The surface looks mat and brown instead of shiny and blue. By all accounts the weeds are as bad as anyone has seen them in a long time. Normally they retreat deeper in the lake when the hot summer weather and sun beat down on them, but this year we haven't had any of that extreme heat except for one or two days.

As boats cross these beds of weeds, it's not uncommon to get the prop tangled up in the long strands. You see boats chugging forward. Stopping. Reversing. And continuing along their way. Kinda like a boat conga line. They also tend to carve paths through the weeds as they pass. These free-floating weeds, pushed by the wind, drift towards shore. Our shore, for one.

We had so many floating weeds around the dock this weekend!

All along the west shore of the island it looked like this.

The Captain and handy Dad hauled rakes out of the garden shed to skim them out, but they're so heavy (uhm - the weeds, not Dad or the captain), the best they could manage was to push them off to the right.

I'll need to go buy a comb rake, I think, so we can drag those up onto the shore. Ideally I'd like to haul 'em up to the fire pit and burn 'em. I can't imagine a mound of rotting seaweed (lake weed?) would smell very good on the shoreline.

Saloon no more!

A week or so ago I bought replacement doors for the guest bedroom (a.k.a Mum and Dad's room) at the cottage. We didn't get a chance to install them last weekend, so we (the royal we again) got to work on them this weekend.

Here's what the doors used to look like, for reference:

It was a good weekend for getting things done. Right after we arrived a severe thunderstorm rolled through. It scared the pants off me! I'm pretty sure lightning struck the island, it was so loud. You could hear the hissing before the massive crack of thunder.

Anywho. After the thunderstorm the temperatures dropped like a stone. It was overcast, cool, and breezy for the rest of the weekend. We were perfectly content to hide out indoors and get some things done.

First the old doors had to come out and the new doors had to be unpacked. We opted to go with hinged bifold doors (with the hinges removed) again. Why?

A: because everything in this cottage is unhinged already, so why break with tradition?!
B: because a full door would open too far into the hallway would be an impediment. The room would get too hot if the door had to stay shut all the time.

So, I bought a 30" bifold (track included - even though we didn't use it) for about $48, I think. New, at Lowes. The six-panel style matched the door on our room across the hall.

Once the doors were roughly fit into the opening (and I say "roughly". Nothing about that door jamb is square or even straight, for that matter.), Dad marked the location for the hinges, and set about chiseling out a spot for the hinge on the side of the door.

Then they hung it up.

With both doors hung we realized they wouldn't close! Although the opening is 30" top and bottom, there's a wow in the door-jamb about halfway down that narrows the opening. Dad had to take one of the doors out to the deck and carve off 1/8" down the length of it with the skil saw.

The doors fit well after that, and closed properly. They still look wonky, because the door jamb is so darned crooked. But, they look better than the saloon doors, are more private, and the hallway looks tidier.

We still need to pick up more/better handles because the the screws for the current ones are too short (we knew they would be - they're meant for thinner cabinet doors) and we forgot to account for having handles both inside the doors, and out. Looks better, no?

Dangit

My clever plan has come back to bite me in the bum.

You might recall that I promised the kids $1 for each 4-leaf clover they brought me. I foolishly figured this would keep them busy for hours and I wouldn't have to pay a bent dime.

Well, I've had to pay up.

The princess brought this one in. We've pressed it to dry it and I think we'll frame it for luck at the cottage.

Of course, if I have to keep paying for them, I think they're maybe little unlucky.

Dangit.

Heeeeeeeeere fishy fishy fishy!

Finally we've been able to spend some time at the cottage doing cottagey things. No, they're not whizzing into the lake. They're fishing!

Fishing has been occupying more and more time. There's some pretty good fishing straight off the dock. All the lads have their own poles and tackle boxes.

The wee lad caught two fish the first day: a rock bass and a perch. He still hasn't mastered the fine art of removing the fish from the line. I can't really blame him, I still call for Dad's help when I catch a fish, too.

They were both too small to keep, and got tossed back.

I think this is probably the best fishing method, though. Much less fish touching to do: