Cottage Work and Fun

I love retirement and I love that my husband is retired as well.....it means we get to spend so much more of our time HERE!!!!
But what many don't know is owning a cottage is like owning another house....or in our case 3 houses as we have 2 cottages at the moment.

So one of our big jobs we wanted to do was pressure wash the decks.
I kind of rolled my eyes when Wayne wanted to buy a pressure washer...I just thought, oh another toy for him to play with.
Plus I thought the decks looked fine...he treats our deck every 2 years.

Well I have to admit I was wrong!!
Look at the difference here!!!
I was so impressed with how it looks, it looks like a new deck.


So he did the camp walls...and again such a big difference.


And the patio blocks as well...look at the difference!


We (when I say we, I mean Wayne..well Kristy helped) had to make a new top for our septic and we found this little guy in it.
Every time we tried to move him, he kept hopping back in. Finally we moved him far enough away that by the time he came back we were finished and he got to go back into his home.


Now onto deck #2.
This deck hasn't been treated as many times as our deck, so the difference was even more dramatic.
The pain was doing each side of those pickets....that took a lot of time.


We had trouble getting the water going at the second cottage.
Wayne tried everything...1st by changing the less expensive parts, then we changed the sand point.
And lastly we needed a new pump.
This is the first year that both camps had water trouble...so nice that they decided to give us problems in the same year, lol.


We enjoyed our Canada Day weekend.
The whole family was out and 2 of my daughters brought out treats.
Kristy brought out these cupcakes and Ashley brought out a cake...but that was gone before I was able to get a photo, lol.


Early one morning I heard a loud motor and was scared it was our pump.
So I went on the deck to check where the noise was coming from....it was on the lake by the pipelines.
I see these lights and at first think someone is on the pipeline having a party.


Then see a firetruck driving down our private road.
They were getting water from the lake for their pumper trucks.
They came by about 5 times.
I later found out a transport was on fire on the side of the highway.
So glad it wasn't someone's home or cottage.

Sawyer loves it at camp...especially since grandma and grandpa let him have treats, teehee.
Don't mind my camp hair...I actually was so frustrated with how frizzy it was, I got wayne to cut it, lol.
Don't worry though, I just went to the hairdresser for a professional cut and I have to say, it looks so much better now.


Look how happy this little guy is.
First time he came up this summer he went straight to the water...in the rain, lol.
The second time when Ashley and Tyler came to camp, Sawyer was so happy to see me..but then he looked over my shoulder at the lake and actually Gasped!!!
Then he ohhhed and awwwed that I took him down at to the water....he loves playing in the water and in the sand.


Sawyer also likes to throw the tubes into the lake.
He does not like to go on or in them though, lol.


After a hard day of working and swimming these two beauties (Kristy and Heather) took in some rays.


Yes more photos of Sawyer.
But he is just so cute...and he sure has my heart.


Ok back to work.
A couple of winters ago while wayne was plowing our driveway he hit my bird bath and broke the base in about 4 pieces.
He welded them up and you can't even tell.
But it has seen better days, so I suggested we just paint it.


Now look at the difference!!!
What a bit of paint can do...now to re-plant it...as I use this as a planter, not a bird bath.


I am so shocked at the blueberries this year.
If you follow my blog for the last 8 years (wow), then you know I love to pick blueberries.
It is something we look forward to every year.
But this year they are so early.
I can't believe how many and how big they are already.
I never eat when I pick, but knowing it was to early, I had to try these.
The first week they were kind of sour, the second week they were a bit tasteless, last week and this week they taste better, but not at their peak yet.
Next weekend they should be tasty....lets just hope the critters don't get to these ones in our yard before I do.


Enjoyed an early fire.


Didn't enjoy these wasp nests though.
I am the wasp/hornet terminator of the family.
Wayne has a high sensitivity to them...he doesn't need an epi pen, but he does swell up majorly and needs to take something for it.
So I am the one that takes care of them...funny thing is, I don't mind.
I have yet to be stung well taking care of any nests...even though one got in my hair during this one.
See that hole in the wall..that is where they were coming in.  There was a lawn chair hanging up there and the nests were behind it.
We have taken care of 8 nests so far this year.

I'm not sure why this isn't in Celsius, but this was the temperature one day here at camp.
It has been so hot here and I am loving it.....way better than snow and cold.
I have even been in the lake swimming a few time....and it takes a real hot day or me working up a sweat to get me in the lake, lol.

Well that is all from me at the lake so far.
The whole family is coming up this weekend again and I love that we are lucky enough to live in such a beautiful country and so lucky to have these cottages for out family to enjoy our time together and to make so many wonderful memories together.

I will be sharing some crafty projects very soon.

Tracy 💗💗💗 

Happy 150 Canada!!!!

July 1st is Canada's 150th Birthday!!!
I always thought I was special being born on a Centennial year  ;)
What better way to celebrate Canada's birthday then spending it out doors in this beautiful country I am lucky enough to call home.
So off to the cottage we went with plenty of food, family and fun.

We will start with the food :)
Ashley came up with the idea that each of us was to bring a food for Canada Day that was red and white (as those are our Canadian colours)
I brought potato salad, Tyler made brochette and Wayne made hamburgers (we added a Canadian flag to the burgers as they really aren't red and white)

We had many desserts ;)
Ashley make angle food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Heather made Oreo bark with red and white chocolate. Blake made peanut butter and jam cheese cake. And Kristy made red velvet cookies with chocolate chips as well as red velvet chocolate balls.
Lets just say there was no calorie counting this weekend, teehee.

The best part of the weekend was being able to spend so much time with my family.
I love when we are all able to get together...I am one lucky mom and grandma.

Here is Heather and her daddy :)
They both don't like to get their photos taken, but they were game this weekend.

Kristy and her boyfriend (of 7 years) Blake.

Ashley and her husband Tyler and baby Sawyer...and of course Oscar their doggy.

And we also had some fun!!
Heather and Kristy enjoying the water.
The water is still way to cold for me.

I picked up some bubble solution as I thought Sawyer would like to watch them...but it seemed like Oscar had way more fun playing with them :)

But like any weekend up at camp....there is a bit of work to do.
Sawyer was able to sit with Grandpa in the little loader.
I was surprised, I thought Sawyer might get scared as it is very loud.
But like his grandpa and great-grandpa, he loves his machines :)

Wayne was going to trim some branches off of a tree down by the lake, but (as I predicted) he ended up cutting the whole tree down.
So everyone helped bring the branches and cut tree, up to the fire, and then the girls wanted to clean it up, so they raked up all of the old pine needles.

Ashley wanted some slabs for decor for her table, so Wayne used the chainsaw to cut them.
Then Blake used a hand saw and cut some coasters for Ashley.

And of course what is a weekend at camp if Wayne and I don't get to take our toys out for a ride.
This is an odd sight....Wayne is in front of me, lol.
We checked out one of my favourite riding trails and there was a huge tree across the trail and the brush was so thick that we couldn't drive around it (believe me I tried).
So we had to turn around.
We were then stopped by the conservation officer.
He just wanted to know if we were fishing and check to make sure we had the proper papers for our machines and that we were wearing helmets.
All was good and in order, so we ended up just chatting with him for about 20 minutes.

So much more happened this weekend that I had better write it down in my camp journal before it fades from my memory.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you are a Canadian, I hope you celebrated our country's birthday with your family and friends :)

Tracy :)

Cottage Life...my weekend up at our camp

We had an excellent weekend up at the cottage... despite the weather.
It rained almost all weekend.
Friday we went and visited the owners of the English River Motel.
Louis gave Sawyer a gift last weekend, so we delivered a Thank You card to her and her husband Bruce.
I rained while we were there, so Heather and Kristy came with umbrellas.
Look how they are protecting Prince Sawyer from the rain...such sweet aunties :)

We are so so excited to have babies loons up at the lake again!!!
It has been years since we have had loons as the eagle usually get to them :(
But this year they made it....and there are 2 babies!!

The rain let up enough for us to do a few chores around the camp.
This is Ashley cutting some over hanging branches from her grandpa's camp, which is right beside us.
What you don't see is that she is standing on the quad to reach them...I am also on the quad making sure the brakes are working as it is a steep downhill.

Sawyer really enjoys sticking his tongue out.
Well he kept doing this while Kristy fed him is baby cereal, lol.

Sawyer has also discovered the remote control.
He wasn't happy, so Aunty Heather gave him the remote, that sure made him happy.

Sawyer has a lot of toys, but when he is up at our camp, he seems to prefer to play with empty water bottles, empty cardboard egg containers and yogurt containers with the lid and his toys inside.

Sunday morning Sawyer and Grandpa Wayne enjoyed watching the F1 races together.

We were able to have a fire on Sunday late afternoon as the rain stopped....for a bit.
It was so cold outside as well, so the fire warmed me up a bit .
That is it for our weekend...next weekend is our Canada Day long weekend and the whole family is coming up:)

Today I have been organizing my old photos of my relatives.
I wish my family lived closer so they could talk to me about these photos I have.
I think I have them in order now though.
Some photos are just copies of photos...but are still so special to me.

Thank you all so much for coming and visiting me on my blog...I love to read your sweet comments :)

Tracy :)

Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's Day here in Canada, and I would like to wish all those that are a father figure to a child/children a Happy Father's Day.

Last weekend when we were headed up to the cottage, I just grabbed some supplies to keep up there for the summer.
I didn't have my list planned out and we were in a hurry.
So it was a bit difficult to come up with a father's day card as I mostly had bright papers and my images to colour were all of girls.
So I did what I could and came up with this one.
I also made one for my FIL, but I forgot to take a photo as I quickly finished it when I got home as I had a certain punch that I wanted to use.

I want to say a special Happy Father's Day to my husband Wayne.
He is a hard working man who loves his family and even though he tries to come off tough..is really just a big softie when it comes to me and our 3 daughters...and now grandson.

Our weekend was spent up at our cottage and Ashley and Sawyer came up as well.
Kristy had to work the weekend and Heather was sick with a nasty cold and Tyler was waiting at home for a important delivery.
So it was just the 4 of us up there this weekend.
I picked up a stroller for Sawyer so Ashley doesn't have to cart hers back and forth to camp or to my house (as hers is a huge one and takes up so much room in the vehicles).
We had to give it a spin...Sawyer seemed to like it as he fell asleep in it every time we went for a walk.

We had a great time at camp.
But then again, even if I had just sat on the floor and played with Sawyer, I would have a great time this weekend :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Tracy :)

Rainy Cottage Weekend

It was a rainy weekend at camp, so I decided to edit and finalize some of my videos while we were stuck inside.
I also planned on working on some of my planners, but didn't get as much done with those though.

This has been our nemesis this year.
This is our water pump.
Last weekend we discovered a wee little leak in the top of this brass pipe.
So Wayne purchased all new fittings and pipes for this weekend.
Can you believe they wouldn't tighten properly and it kept leaking at the joints.
Wayne and I decided to put the old joins back on, but to only change the brass piece.
It was quite dark out by the time we had this all put back together.
We still don't have as high pressure of water than we usually do...but we will tackle that problem on another weekend.

Even though the water pump took most of our time, we did get in a few other projects we like to do when opening the camp.
I put our names on our sign, put out the solar lights and put up our flag.
We also went to Wayne's dads camp next door and cut up a tree that fell. It almost hit their steps...but just missed it.
We even went for a quad ride or two.

It is so nice to be back at our camp.

I hope you all have a very day.

Tracy :)