The Boys

Terry and I spent the week babysitting. No, not our grandchild, but our grand dog.

Tyson is Greg’s year old lab with more energy than could ever possibly be imagined. Since we were heading up to the cottage for a week and Greg was busy at work and then a week-end wedding, it was decided instead of Tyson being left alone he would join us at the cottage for the week.

Tyson is about 75 pounds and our little shihtzu Journey is about 14 pounds. They are not good friends. They barely tolerate each other. Whenever Tyson comes to visit he eats all of Journey’s food and then wants to play like a year old puppy wants to do. Journey is not a puppy, and frankly I don’t think he ever was a puppy. His existence is about sitting pretty and getting cuddles. He is not amused at Tyson’s invitations to wrestle.

During the week at the cottage we began to refer to the two dogs as “the boys”. Tyson continued to eat Journey’s food no matter how hard we tried to keep it in the closed bedroom. Journey starved the first two days as he never had a chance to eat his food before Tyson wolfed it down. By the third day however, survival instinct took over and 14 pound Journey pushed 75 pound Tyson aside and ate all of Tyson’s food. Tyson left Journey alone after that.

Speaking of leaving the dogs alone……..one day Terry and I left the dogs alone. We made sure all of the doors were shut tight to ensure no dog escaped and headed off to Minden for some groceries. About an hour later as we were approaching the cottage on our return, we noticed a minor backlog of cars on the highway in front of our cottage. Traffic jams are very rare for cottage country. It didn’t take us long to discover it was a dog blocking the right hand lane stopping traffic. I jumped out of the car and ran past several cars toward the dog….yes it was Tyson and yes I was so upset I really was running!

Tyson had escaped by climbing up on the kitchen counter and jumping through the screened window over the sink! Tyson had been stopping traffic for about 45 minutes and was refusing to leave the roadway until our return. We found out these details from Eric our neighbour across the way who had been trying to convince Tyson to get off the road but to no avail.

Luckily he was safe and sound. By the look of this soaking wet coat I think Tyson had gone for a bit of a swim in our absence as well. When we got inside the cottage Journey was sitting in the very same spot, in the very same position as he had been before we left, totally oblivious to the commotion outside.

Hopefully if we ever get a chance to baby-sit grandchildren it won’t be as eventful as this.

The Reason We Put Up With the Idiosyncrasies of the Cottage.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

Entertainment

Aside from the trip to the dump, there are always a lot of things to do at the cottage. There are the traditional outdoor activities like:

• Swimming
• Fishing
• Boating
• Hiking
• Camp fires
• BBQing

For indoor activities we often turn to a deck of cards to keep us busy. We have a giant hand crafted Cribbage board given to us that seems to attract lots of attention from guests. Feel free to take it off the wall and use. There are also lots of board games and puzzles on the shelf.

We come to the cottage to get away from it all. One spring week-end many years ago during NHL play-offs, I broke down and bought Terry a new TV to watch the game. It was the the first brand new thing we ever bought for the cottage. Unfortunately I did not realize we do not get any channels up here without satellite. We have hooked up a VCR and DVD player to it. The 25 year old VCR works fine. The 2 year old DVD player is rather sketchy. We did get satellite hooked up one summer but it never worked properly. I thought it was a sign from God telling us we shouldn’t be watching TV at the cottage, so we canceled it. We still have the useless satellite dish at the end of the drive way.

The ancient portable TV in the bed room does get two channels with the help of the antenna. It gets very fuzzy CBC and it clearly gets CTV from North Bay. I love the CTV station news as we get all of the kitchy news from the northern station. News stories about bear attacks and community events. I have yet to hear of a gang related shooting happening in the north.

Climate Control

We have a propane fire place. It heats the place up great in the winter, spring and fall. In summer we use the electric fan on top. Very high tech.

When we first bought our cottage we had a wood burning stove. It was fabulous. In no time at all it would heat up the place. Unfortunately our insurance company thought in no time at all it would burn down the place. We no longer have a wood burning stove. The remnant is a hole in the ceiling. Like all good Canadians we have covered the hole with duct tape.

Sleeping Arrangements

We have a double bed that originally belonged to my brother when he was a kid. He is now 51. The mattress is old. It is uncomfortable. But sleeping at the cottage is still better than in the city. Aside from the Bunkie, we have additional sleeping spaces inside the cottage.

The blue love seat opens up and sleeps one comfortably, or it works for two if they REALLY like each other. When we first bought the cottage we had five kids in a tiny two bedroom cottage. There was no Bunkie and no room for anyone. Our old neighbour mentioned she had seen a “perfectly good” couch up the street put out for the garbage. Her son and Terry ran up and grabbed it and now it is the focal point of the cottage. Everything at the cottage has a story.

Terry has two speeds. Fast and stop. This is where Terry stops.

This flip chair came with the cottage. It flips open to be a very long single bed. To my knowledge, no one has every slept on it. It is perfect for holding our clothes which we are too lazy to put away in drawers.

Our Recycling Centre

Underneath the counter are several bins. They are hidden by wicker blinds. Terry and I fight about these blinds all the time. Bicker is probably a better word. I think they are perfect to hide the mess of garbage etc. Terry just thinks they are a pain in the ass because they don’t work properly. I make them work to suit me. Each bin has its own unique purpose. There is a bin for plastic and cans. There is a bin for burnables, and of course there is a garbage can for the rest of the stuff. We need to take our garbage to the dump. There are a couple of dumps around with the closest being the Little Hawk Lake Land Fill. The hours and locations are posted on the inside of one of the cupboard doors. When you arrive at the dump you have to show a special card which indicates you have paid your taxes for the privilege of using the dump. You are also mandated to recycle. The garbage must be in clear plastic bags so you can’t sneak any recyclable stuff into the land fill. One of the events of the cottage is to take guests to the dump. First stop is the “cottage mall.” There is a shed you can put things you no longer want but are in good working order. The old adage, one mans junk is another man’s treasure is proven at the dump. You never know what treasure you will find and like the best things in life, it is free! The other dump attraction is the bears. Last year electric fences were installed but the baby bears still manage to find a way in. They are very adorable but remember where there is a baby bear, not too far away is a Mama bear!! Just saying………..

Telephone at the Cottage

This telephone pictured on the top was the original in the cottage. It does not work. The telephone pictured on the bottom is my Blackberry. It does not work.

There is no cell phone reception at the cottage unless you stand on one foot in the middle of the highway pointing north with your tongue sticking out. We do now have a regular telephone hooked up. Just last year we also got 911service. The number on a sign at the end of our driveway indicates our location for 911 purposes. Again….just saying……hopefully you won’t need to use this number.

Drinking Water

As mentioned, our water comes from the lake. We have been told it is safe to drink and we do use it directly for cooking and washing dishes as it is boiled in the process. Just to be on the safe side we have a water cooler for our drinking water. It has two tabs, the white one is room temperature and the blue one is for refrigerated water. There are extra water jugs in the pantry. When they are empty we go to Halls Lake- 2.2 kilometres up the road. A natural spring is there beside the road-side Fish and Chip stand. A tap beside the picnic tables will fill up the jugs. The water gets tested regularly and all that is asked is to make a donation of a loonie or toonie in the little wooden box.

The Shower

The cottage shower works great. It is however meant for one at a time. It is small. Make sure you adjust the temperature before you enter the shower as I mentioned before, the water is HOT. Also, we have not one, but two hot water tanks. They are both small. If you intend to take a shower lasting more than 5 minutes, the one tank will empty and the other tank will kick in. You will be notified because the water will become suddenly VERY COLD and then just when you adjust to the sudden change in temperature it becomes VERY HOT. Just saying. A message for the city folk: If you think you are having a shower apres swimming to get rid of the “lake water”…….the water in the shower is lake water!! That is where all of the water comes from. A pump underneath the cottage brings the water from the lake, through the hot water tanks, up to the sinks/tub in the cottage. As the water level drops throughout the year we do have to keep on eye on our water intake hose to make sure it remains in the water and not in the sandy bottom of the lake. Just another one of those cottage details.

The Outhouse

Our outhouse underwent a minor renovation a few years ago. I actually wrote a piece in Cottage Life Magazine about the experience. In one week-end a bunch of girls changed it from a run down ugly outhouse to a run down sunflower themed outhouse. My husband still prefers the outhouse to the inside bathroom. By keeping the door open while you are doing your business your eyes are drawn to the beautiful view of the lake instead of the cobwebbed corners of the outhouse, which to be honest does not get cleaned frequently. It is a great place to go when you want some privacy away from the madding crowd.

Plumbing at the Cottage

The Toilet
The first rule of any cottage is the toilet. While we do have indoor plumbing, our toilet is very particular. To keep our septic tank running as long as possible we have invoked the old cottage adage “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” You can’t just push the handle and walk away like in the city. With our cottage toilet you have to hold the handle down until it is finished flushing. Sometimes that is not enough. When we have a crowd at the cottage the toilet gets used many times in a day. The toilet does not like this and sometimes gets tired. We keep an old bucket in our bathtub for such occasions. Fill the bucket and empty it in the toilet bowl quickly…………and it will all disappear.

Cottage Life

Well we did it. We rented out our cottage. Terry’s work schedule has changed and we wouldn’t be able to come up as often as we would like and the place was just sitting here empty. As we still have to pay extraordinarily large hydro bills (Why? Why?) as well as property taxes, we thought we would let the place work for us. I placed an ad on Kijiji which linked to my facebook page and before I knew it I was inundated with emails. We were finally able to make arrangements with a group from the Sarnia area.

We have never done this before and to be honest we don’t know what to expect. We want the renters to love the place as much as we do. As every real cottager knows, a cottage has its own character and there are special rules to be followed. I thought I would put together some notes for our renters so they can enjoy the place to its full potential, as well as prevent any surprises.

Baby Ryder

I am a grandmother.

On Friday morning at 5:34 a.m. I became Grandma Sue. I can’t believe it. I picture grandmothers as grey haired women who like to bake cookies. I don’t fit that description at all.

Terry’s daughter Ashley became mother to gorgeous baby Ryder. While he was a hefty 8 pounds, 12 ounces, he is a tiny wee baby that looks like an ideal combination of his mother and father. I believe it was Dad Warren who picked out the name. Ryder is a perfect name for a baby boy who will most likely grow up riding dirt bikes and snow boarding, just like his Dad.

When Terry and I arrived at the hospital to greet the new-born, we arrived at the same time as Bev, Ashley’s mother. Immediately we congratulated each other and Bev asked me what I wanted to be called. I was very pleased with that, because as a step-mother/grandmother, I feel I am always treading water as to what my role really is. It was very generous of Bev to let me know immediately she was taking on the role of “Nana” but any other name was mine for the taking. Terry and I have decided on Grandma Sue….I hope that works for Ryder.

To be honest, I am not really a baby person. Even my own three children, when they were new-borns, I never felt this instant “bond”. Not until they start to display a real personality did I feel a real connection. I imagine it is the same with Ryder. When I held him, I knew I had in my arms the most adorable baby ever born, but I knew it would still be some time until I could really enjoy his company.

I just hope Ashley will be OK. As a new mother, everything changes. Gone are the days of hopping in the car to go wherever. I hope Ashley and Warren will take advantage of all offers of help they get. As our cottage is within an hour’s drive of Ryder and his family, it is my hope we will be able to spend lots of time with him as he grows up. Our cottage has been missing something these last few years……the joy of children laughing and screaming. We are ready for Ryder to learn to swim in the lake and to hang on to Terry as he bombs around the lake.

Thank you Ashley and Warren!!!

Out House Renovation

As part of our annual girls’ week-end at Saskatchewan Lake, it became tradition to present me with hostess gifts. I did appreciate the gesture of a good guest but felt it was unnecessary for any more scented candles and other girly things at the cottage. After much discussion around the camp fire it was decided for the next girls’ week-end, instead of traditional hostess gifts, each guest would bring an item more appropriate for the cottage – specifically the outhouse.

The next summer guests arrived with their contribution. Unbeknownst to me, they had secretly decided upon a decorating theme, sunflowers. Before I knew it my sister-in-law Jenny was cutting through the outhouse wall creating a new window and my mother-in-law was on the roof tearing off shingles older than her. The outhouse redecorating project had become a full-fledged renovation! This was not a week-end of pampered woman indulging themselves; it was liberated women using power tools.

Suddenly the modern women image evaporated when everyone began screaming all at once. With the removal of the final ancient shingle, mice had appeared! Small innocent rodents were able to send six strong women off running in different directions.

Once we regained our composure we were able to finish the project. Our outhouse now has a new leaf-proof roof, a window to provide ventilation and much to Terry's chagrin, lots of sunflower paraphernalia.

While we were proud of our accomplishment, our subsequent girls week-ends have returned to the previous agenda, which does not included power tools.

My Happiness

I came across an article in the Globe and Mail regarding "Happiness". One thing led to another and I ended up getting in touch with someone compiling a book of essays about what makes people happy. She invited me to submit my own essay. I'm not sure what will come of it but in case the book doesn't become a best seller I thought I would share my essay here.

My happiness depends upon my cycle. No, not THAT cycle….. my happiness cycle.

After much reflection I have determined what really makes me happy. I had the AHA moment. I realized nothing makes me happy. I realized everything makes me happy. What makes me happy today will not make me happy next week. My happiness cycle is a gentle ebb and flow of thoughts, feelings and reactions to life’s events determining the degree of my happiness.

My family makes me happy. My children have grown to be independent, successful young adults. I believe my biggest achievement was the day they all moved out to be on their own. Yet I miss them. I miss the days of phones ringing and being needed for rides and food and mom advice. Now I look forward to their texts, their phone calls and their visits. Their arrival back home makes me happy. I bask in their energy and their youthfulness. But then I begin to feel the shift. I start to tire of being the responsible one, the one who is expected to know the answers to their life questions, especially when they choose to do what they were going to do anyway. When the door shuts behind them as they leave, there is peace and quiet and I am happy again. But a few days go by and I yearn for their return.

My job makes me happy. My job makes me feel successful and respected. It is a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I have a purpose in life and a pay cheque to almost pay for my lifestyle. But after too many days in a row of everyone needing me and having to crawl out of bed with too little sleep, I yearn for retirement. The stress starts to wear at my body and mind. The holidays always seem to arrive just as I think I am about to break. Much needed time off allows me to unwind and relax, but before long I feel once again the pendulum begin to sway and I long to be back to work, back to being needed.

Our cottage makes me happy. The first time we arrive in the spring we are welcomed by smells of nature and the view of the overflowing lake. The broken pipes and mice droppings don’t dampen my happiness at all. Nothing is as perfect as the first trip to the cottage in spring. Our time there in the spring is short, snippets of time we grab on week-ends between long weeks of work. Then summer finally arrives and I spend endless weeks at our lakeside retreat. As two weeks becomes three and four, my love affair starts to wane. The slowness of the lake begins to bore and I yearn for the return of work and routines of the city. The pendulum begins to swing back, marking my happiness cycle.

So what makes me happy?

Everything, until it doesn’t.

Until it does again.

The Summit Series

I am sitting with Terry watching the Canada-Russia game.

The pre-game talking heads described vividly the rivalry between the two countries. As Canadians we all believe it is "our game." The first recorded history of our game was described as occuring in Kingston, Ontario where Jennifer now lives. It was first written about in the early 1800's by Lord Haliburton so the Europeans back home could learn how people actually pass their time in the great cold barrens of the new world called Canada. Haliburton named after this man is where our cottage is located. Again I am able to relate our cottage to another blog entry, even in the middle of winter, in the middle of the Olympics...which is where I was actually heading when I first started writing this.

Many people are comparing tonight's game to that game in 1972.

Any Canadian who is old enough can tell you exactly where they were on September 28th 1972. I was in the library at Strathcona Senior Public School (grade 7) where they crammed all of us in to watch the final game between Canada and Russia in the Summit Series. I can still hear Foster Hewett yell "Henderson has scored for Canada!" This was a hockey series which included so many emotions for so many hockey fans and Canadians who weren't hockey fans (if such a person actually exists)

Everyone assumed the Russian national team coming to play an all-star team of CanadianNHL players would be interesting, but Canada would not have any trouble winning. The trouble was, this was before the time of the internet or other communication "behind the iron curtain." Communism was some dark unknown thing but we were confident they certainly could not play hockey as well as we did. We were wrong.

Game Results	Canada Wins Series 4-3-1
Game 1	USSR 7 - Canada 3
Game 2	Canada 4 - USSR 1
Game 3	Canada 4 - USSR 4
Game 4	USSR 5 - Canada 3
Game 5	USSR 5 - Canada 4
Game 6	Canada 3 - USSR 2
Game 7	Canada 4 - USSR 3
Game 8	Canada 6 - USSR 5

While we obviously eventually won the series we came to realize hockey was no longer just our game.

It took more lessons to really understand.

Nagano, 1998 -professionals were allowed to participate in the Olympics. We believed a medal (certainly a gold medal) would be an easy thing to attain for Canada. We were wrong....again. A lacklustre performance and once again underestimating our opponents meant we lost in the Bronze medal game to Finland. The next Olympics in Utah 2002 we got our revenge by beating the host country's team -USA!

This history lesson is really just reminiscing about how hockey has changed so much during my life time. Once viewed as the ultimate Canadian past time, it has emerged as a game played around the world (even in Dubai). There are just as many players registered for hockey in the US (465,975) as there as in Canada (499,695).

OK.....enough of the statistics. ...although statistics are an important part of our game of hockey. The stereotypical Canadian is polite at all times, we never brag or make our guests uncomfortable..... except tonight in Vancouver!! YES! We are going to win this game against the Russians and we ARE going to win gold Sunday night against those braggart Americans!!

Sorry if I offended any American or Russian readers out there. You know I am Canadian, eh?

Footwear is Changing

The docks are put away. The water has been drained. The cottage is closed.

I woke up this morning and there was snow on the ground.

I went up to the cottage this week-end to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. I packed everything I needed for our turkey feast. The only thing I forgot was proper footwear. I wore a pair of sandals up to the cottage and had nothing else to put on my feet. Who knew there was going to be snow on the ground?

It is official. Tomorrow I will put all of my flip flops to the back of the closet. I will pull out my socks and boots….maybe even shoes with laces. I really don’t like bending over to tie up laces. So much wasted time.

I love flip flops. Are there any wardrobe benefits to winter?

Canadian Thanksgiving

This week-end is the final long week-end of our cottage season. While generations ago it was Labour Day that signified the closing of the cottage, now it is generally Thanksgiving week-end most people do the dreaded closing up activities.

This week-end we have once again invited Terry’s family for our annual feast. While we do this because we actually enjoy each other’s company, the thing I am most thankful for is the fact Terry’s sisters enjoy a lot of the cottage tasks I find just plain work. I relegate myself to the kitchen to appear useful, but more importantly I keep busy in the kitchen just to stay out of the way.

The main job needing done at the cottage on Thanksgiving week-end is taking out the docks. This isn’t necessarily a difficult job but it does require some team work. In spite of being married to Terry for 17 years, I still can’t read his mind. In spite of being told this fact for 17 years, Terry still believes I can read his mind. This often results in friction as he tells me to get a certain tool or hold the dock a certain way and I am supposed to know what he really means. Nevertheless, Terry and his sisters seem to have a way to communicate in order to get these jobs done in a peaceful, if not often comical manner. This must be a blood is thicker than water type of thing.

Our thanksgiving feast will include the traditional turkey and stuffing and gravy and potatoes and veggies and pumpkin pie and of course the wine and beer and cottage snacks. It is definitely not the week-end to kick start the diet.

My American readers may think it strange we are having our Thanksgiving so early. I often wondered why we Canadians celebrate in October while our neighbours south of us wait until November. I decided to Google it and was fascinated with the results. It turns out Canadians were the first North Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving! Who knew?

If you Google it yourself you will discover all of the details. But basically the first Thanksgiving was in 1578 by Martin Frobisher to celebrate his safe arrival back home from trying to find the Northern Passage to the Pacific Ocean. (Global warming…sorry climate change….is making safe passage through the Arctic a reality now…. but once again I digress.) In Canada Thanksgiving has been celebrated every year since but often for a variety of celebratory reasons and the date was all over the place. Canadian Parliament actually nailed down the date to the 2nd Monday in October in 1957.

I personally believe it was a teacher that picked the October date. Right about now teaching staff (and kids) are in need of a break. We have got our routines back in place, but the bloom is off the rose, the honeymoon is over, etc etc. It is time to enjoy a day off before the snow arrives!

Americans and Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving differently. We don’t watch football and we don’t shop. Canadians are much more focused. We eat!!! Oh…and drink our beer (there is no question our beer is better) The best way to celebrate Thanksgiving is at the cottage, with the foliage peaking in colour, but it is still warm enough to sit on the soon to be brought in dock with a beer in your hand…now that is Canadian!

By the way…..how do I break the news to my American friends it was a Canadian who invented basketball?

Note: By coincidence, it turns out one of our managers at the board office is now dating the brother of the couple who live across our lake (No, Canada isn’t really that small… it is quite a coincidence) Anyway….thank you Lana for taking a picture or our cottage last week-end. It shows our little white cottage surrounded by the beautiful foliage….hasn’t peaked yet….hoping it will be this week-end.

Sex And The Cottage

It is a beautiful day at the cottage. The weather predicted all week has finally emerged. Sun is shining, water glistening and we are even wearing shorts and a T-shirt with no fleece anywhere to be found! Finally summer at the cottage…………..although it is Labour Day week-end not Victoria Day week-end.

My son Greg and hubby Terry are outside doing manly things. They have chopped and stacked wood. They have moved all of the tools around in the tool shed (or the studio I call it when I want to annoy Terry). They have used the pellet gun to shoot at pop bottles hanging from the trees. All of this is done while they “stoke” the fire in the fire pit. Now they have headed out on the boat to go fishing.

I am working on my laptop in between reading the paper, doing the crosswords and watching the family of ducks swim across the lake.

There are definite differences in how the sexes spend time at the cottage. (sorry if my title mislead some of you in reading this blog entry)

Are there any other differences in the sexes at the cottage? Is this a Canadian thing Ed?

LABOUR Day

We are at the cottage again for the Labour long-week-end.

All week-end long the newscasts have stated over and over what fabulous weather we are having and how much better it is supposed to be for the week-end. In spite of the fact I still have lots of things to do in preparation for the first day of school on Tuesday, I am in the cottage looking at a cloud covered lake, listening to my husband and son cut up trees for fire wood with the chain saw. They think they are being very macho. I think they are being very loud. I am busy typing up my “School Improvement Plan” which needs to be ready for discussion with my superintendent.

Do I sound annoyed? I hope so, because I am.

OK…..I am jealous. Jealous of all those people out there who are retired and have an endless summer…………

My time will come…..2190 days…….