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 💗💗💗 

Opening up the Cottage

I love our weekends at the cottage.
And even though we don't usually go up there in the winter anymore, when we go back up in the spring, its like we have never left.

I know how truly lucky and blessed we are to live in such a beautiful country and to have a place like this to escape the every day.

Last year my daughter's and I painted some rocks and decided to place them along our walking trails.
Now our walking trails are not cleared or managed, they are just there from us and a few others either walking on them or driving quads on them.
I decided to go for a walk last weekend to see if I could find them after the cold snow covered winter.

The only one I had seen was this one my daughter Ashley had painted.
I did notice that someone had done a bit of chainsawing along the trail, as there were some fallen trees from over the winter.
So maybe they are under the underbrush or fallen leaves...or maybe someone saw them and liked them so much that they took them home for their own garden...I hope it's the later.


Isn't this the cutest pillow?!?
My daughter purchased it for her bed at the cottage....I may need to make one for myself, teehee.

Last year on my birthday week out at camp, my daughter and I decided to make a flower garden out of this eye sore, lol.
It looks a little worse for wear as nothing has really come up yet.
But look at all of the fallen leaves I raked out of here.
Pretty bad when you have more debris in your flower garden than plants, teehee.

It was actually really hot at the cottage last weekend.
Getting the cottage up and ready for the season and getting the water running is a lot of work, and we like to do it all in one weekend if not all in one day.
So it was nice to soak my feet in the cool water for a bit while Wayne dropped the legs of the smaller part of the dock into the lake.

I received this fairy door from my daughter's last year for my birthday and started to make a fairy garden.
I am excited to add to it this year!!

We get a family of loons in our little lake every year and every year we are waiting in anticipation on if they will have babies or if the eagle will get them :(
Last year was the first year in a long time that their babies survived and they had 2 of them!!
So I was very shocked to see a swan on our lake when we got up there!!!
It was just enjoying the lake and stayed out there all day and night.
I was also happy to see the loon out on the lake as well.

But with the joys of the lake also comes the mosquitoes, lol
Look this is my 1st one of the year...many more to come I'm sure.

What is your favourite activity to do in the summer?
I love to craft as always, but also love to trail ride on my quad at the cottage.

Tracy 💗💗💗