Happy cat

Last year we pretty well decided we were done taking the cat to the cottage with us. He's getting up there in years (21 at the time we made the decision, 22 now) and he really hated the hour-long trip in the car. Hated it so much he'd invariably poop or barf on the way. The kids would freak out because his carrier was always buckled between them in the back seat and they'd be stuck smelling it, but we got pretty efficient at changing the pad in his carrier, cleaning up the cat, and getting back on the road.

Because of his dislike of car rides, we'd been leaving him behind at home on weekend trips and only bring him with us when we'd stay for a week or longer.

This plan had to change this year. He has started to suffer seizures in his old age. We couldn't, in good conscience, leave him alone in that condition; who knows what we'd return home to?! So, we packed him up in his carrier for a weekend trip and set out for the cottage.

He mewled and he howled as he was miserable. The kids were flipping out over every little movement he made, convinced he was depositing "presents" in his cage for them.
In desperation, I let him out of his carrier as held him on my lap.
And he sat there happily for the whole trip!!

What?!?

We've now made 4 trips this way and he's been as good as gold. He fidgets a little bit, but mostly he's a happy cat. I know this isn't the safest way to transport him, but he never leaves my lap, and he's content. At the ripe old age of 22, I think he has earned that much.

Spook Island

For years we have heard rumours about a sand bar at the lake, known to locals as "North Beach".  Visitors can drive their boat up, beach it on the sand bar, and spend the day in the water swimming, visiting, and generally having a lovely time.

I don't know if this is the same sand bar, but we've found the one on the east shore of Spook Island. For maybe 10-15 meters out from shore, the water is only about 1-2 feet deep (there I go, mixing my units of measurement again.) It's nice and sandy, no weeds, and the water is warm because it's so shallow.

Because we arrived aboard the cousins' verybigboat, we anchored a short way out from the sand bar and swam in for a visit.

Some of us did suicide jumps off the boat.

Not me, though.

The little boys splashed and played

and tackled each other.

The big boys circled some local girls like wolves

and wormed their way into some "beach" volleyball.

I've read that there are issues with the island cottagers not taking too kindly to trespassers (can't say as I blame them). I've also read that there are issues with broken glass and water snakes in the water (otherwise they'd be land snakes, I guess?), but we saw neither. Probably just as well. I think I'd need a change of swimsuit if a water snake came sidling up to me.

I'm happy that we found the sand bar, though. Now we have a "destination"!

Green Heron

We've found a new critter on the lake this year.

We first noticed him when we were sitting on the porch and he landed on the branch of the birch tree right in front of us. At first, I thought it was a duck because of its size ("What's a duck doing in a tree!?"), but as it flew away we could see it was no duck.

It was only a fleeting glimpse, but we got the Ontario Bird Book out and decided it was either a Bittern or a Green Heron. I didn't even know they made Herons in green!

This weekend when the kids were out on the water and I had my camera on the dock, he flew by again, and I was able to get a better picture. It's definitely a Green Heron.



I love discovering new wildlife at the lodge!

Well, unless it's floating.

Cousins

Do you remember my cousin, her family, and their piddly boat from last year? (memory refresher)


Well, they came back! Even after the horrendous poo-hole Stink Off of 2011, they still took the chance and decided to come back.

And they brought their new boat. It's a wee little thing. (holy cow is it ever nice).

They were kind enough to drag all of us over to the sand bar at Spook Island (more on that later) for an afternoon of fun and sun. The boat ride was soooooo smooth, even though the lake was a little choppy. I could definitely get used to cruising like that.

Here are a few photos of our boat next to their boat. 

To say that their boat dwarfs our boat is a little bit of an understatement.

I have boat envy.

Happy Birthday, Derrek!

The cousins were up visiting this weekend. Before the clock runs out on 7-22, I need to get this Happy Birthday post up, complete with a photo of the banner made for him by his adoring chatterbox cousin, the Princess.

HappyBir thda yDer rek!!!!

(I made it pink and girlie, just the way you like it. Please note: I'm playing some Justin Bieber [beiber? beeber!] in the background right now, just for you)

Boys are weird

 Like I said.

Weird.

Sunfish are D-U-M-B

The princess was fishing off the dock at sunset last weekend. (She knows dusk is a good time to fish because the fish are biting). She's still fishing with the yellow wiggly lure that disgusts her brother so.

After one or two casts, she pulled in a wee little sunfish.

Awww. So cute.

The captain tossed him back to grow a bit bigger.

As soon as she dropped her line back in to the water, she hooked the sunfish again. Now, I can't prove that it's the exact same sunfish (He wasn't carrying any ID in his pockets), but if it wasn't him, it was his identical twin.

Sunfish are D-U-M-B.

Slow boat to China

I thought tubing behind a pontoon boat was pretty bad.

The kids took it one step further and were tubing behind the pedal boat.

I never said they were particularly bright.

At least they were having fun and were out of my hair. Win-win!

Rubbermaid Extendable Scrubber

Those of you who know me well know what a housecleaning fiend I am (NOT. I hate housekeeping. My dust bunnies have fangs.) So imagine my surprise when I found myself excited about a cleaning tool!

Anything that will shorten the time I spend with my arm up to my elbow in the poo hole is a GOOD CLEANING TOOL.

Enter the Rubbermaid® Extendable Scrubber (this is not a paid endorsement - Rubbermaid has no idea who I  am, I just happened to buy their scrubber and really like it).

It's a big scouring pad with an extendable handle.

Now I can scrub my shower walls in a fraction of the time it used to take me, and I can clean those (ick) hard to reach dirty spots in the poo hole (ick ick ick). It's important to note: The scouring pad that attaches to the handle is removable (it's held in place with velcro), so the toilet pad is not the same pad used on the shower walls. Just so we're clear. Eww.

The little scrubber can also be detached from the handle for tight spots.

It wasn't that cheap (I think I paid about $15 for it?) but the time I get back at the cottage to sit in a hammock and read a book is well worth the expense.

Two thumbs up!

Wooden planter boxes part two!

I know I first wrote about these early in June, but I wanted to wait until the fellas were done with the  ♥ shiny new brad nailer ♥ before I put my planter box together.

Behold! 

This was the original plan

And here is the finished box. Not bad Google Sketch Up. Not bad! It looks pretty much just like the drawing!

It's maybe not as perfectly aligned. When I assembled it, I realized I had no square on the property, and had to resort to measuring the diagonals corner-to-corner to ensure they were the same length, and therefore, square. It was a bit of a pain in the bum, really.

In retrospect, the square would've made it a lot faster. I also think it's perhaps a bit tall (could easily have been 18" for the legs, rather than 21" and still would've looked OK. It just would've been a squattier (yes, that's a word) planter.

Next weekend I'll paint it white. It *is* interior-grade pine, so I don't know how long it will last outdoors before it goes punky. Hopefully the paint will slow down some of the weathering.

I'm still not sure where I'll put it though. "On the dock" was the original plan, but there are other planters there now. Maybe outside Slanty? That bunky is drab out front.

Here's a quick  look at the inside.

Sorry for the cruddy photo. It's gone from their website. 

So... can I just say how much I love the air nailer? ♥Love♥













It tacks nails in quickly and easily. The only issues as I see them, are:

• It's really LOUD when the compressor kicks in.
• The sproingy (yes, that's a word too) hose that comes with it isn't really long enough to roam very far. This is only an issue if you need to roam very far.
• It only supports brads up to 2" in length (but honestly, when would I need more than that?)
• When it blasts the nail into the wood, the force of the air does a little bit of damage to the wood around the nail head as it escapes to the right and left, so if I was making something Fancy, I'd definitely need to be patching the wood and sanding to hide the scars.

Now I really want to build more things, though. For starters, a small side table or two for the porch rockers...and then...ooooohhh. cabinets for my craft room? *insane*

Fish

There ARE fish in Rice Lake, besides stupid sunfish, giant carp, and piranhas.

My Dad has been skeptical about the fish situation because he never catches anything off the dock.  Finally, he caught something.

Behold, the little bass! (Behold, Dad's special fishing shorts! These are actually his grubby workshorts that he was wearing to work on the ceiling. The hole got much bigger as the weekend progressed.)

Granted, it's too small to be an eating fish, but there are fish in the lake.

Once the wee lad saw this, he HAD to skip down to the dock to cast his line.

Game on!

Dominion

My kids are obsessed with the card game, Dominion.

It looks a little nerd-tastic (Magic the Gathering, anyone?) but it's only a little bit nerdy.

The goal of the game is to get the most victory points.

You get victory points by buying them.

The action cards can help with the buying by granting you extra cash, extra cards, extra turns, etc. You buy them too.

The game ends when 3 of the card piles are deleted, OR when the pile of 6-point victory cards is gone.

On the surface it's a fairly simple game. I think that's why the kids like it. It's easy to learn, but tricky to master. It's a different game almost every time you play, because you can change the 10 action cards that are available in that game (there's a stockpile of different cards that come with the game, AND you can buy expansion packs that provide even more options).

The last time I played them, they totally kicked my butt.

I demand a rematch!