Improvements

Over the past couple of years, I've neglected to note my progress at the cottage. Mostly, this has been because COVID-19, and other factors, have occupied my time, and I haven't had much to say. Last weekend, I closed the cottage for the 2022 season. I did not get up to the cottage as much as I had wanted, this past season; other opportunities and obligations took up a lot of my time. But, I did get some things done, some things started, and some things attempted this year.

COVID-19 has played havoc with schedules and intentions this spring, but it cannot stop me from taking time at my log cabin in the forest. I intend to, this year, complete the installation of my solar-electric system, and then take a much-needed break at the cottage.

At my home, a quarter century ago, I built a deck and installed a hot tub. The deck has well withstood the test of time, but the hot tub not so much. It's been showing it's age, with leaks and broken parts, and when the pump died last summer, I decided to shut it off permanently.

So this is the year. I've cleaned out fifty years of cruft around my cabin at the lake, started some much needed repairs, remodeled the kitchen, and repaneled the bedrooms. This year, I add (drum roll, please) electricity.

OK, so it's not as dramatic as all that. After all, I've had a generator at the cottage for about a decade. But, what is dramatic is that, for most purposes, I'm about to replace that noisy, costly, polluting generator with silent, inexpensive, eco-friendly solar power.

Spring has started "springing", and I anxiously await my return to my log cabin on Kimball Lake. This year, I have a couple of largish projects in mind, and I can't wait to get started.

I have had an "odd" season at the cottage, this year. I opened the cabin late (after the May long weekend), and only managed to get up to the lake sporadically during the summer. Fall has now arrived, and I find myself planning for the cottage closing, sometime in October. I don't know that we really had a summer this year, and I certainly missed the cottage.

Another visit to the cottage, and more incremental improvements and repairs. This time, two jobs: painting the master bedroom walls, and rebuilding the deck at the waterfront.

Since I installed the "Dock In A Box" dock, I've continued working on the cottage, cleaning up fifty years of cruft and making repairs. The last few trips have been rewarding, and have resulted in some significant improvements around Fugawee.

I spent this past week at the cottage, continuing my construction of a new dock. There weren't many other cottagers around, and the weather was (mostly) warm and sunny, so I got a fair bit accomplished.

This spring, the makeshift haul-out that I had installed two years ago finally decided to give me trouble. The float, an old boat fender, has folded in half, and the haul-out rope broke with the winter ice. It's time I put in a more permanent solution.

So, I bought a buoy, a length of anchor chain, and a few other odds and sods, and put together a proper haul-out buoy.