Saturday, March 21, 2009

Easy Come, Easy Go


We visited the cottage for a good part of March Break, so Katherine could visit with some of her old friends, and I could install the new stove. John came over and helped me out, and within half an hour the old decrepit malfunctioning unit was in the back of the van ready for a trip to the dump, and the new one was sitting in position ready to go. Sweet! I had walked in to TA Appliance in Kitchener three weeks earlier, and they had a GE on sale for $399, which compared well to units with a regular price of $550 to $600. It seems in all my research on new stoves, the typical discount was on a basic stove was $50 or perhaps even $100 off the regular price, so this one turned out to be an exceptional deal.

While at the cottage there was some excitement for Rudi as we watched a car drive across the lake to near the front of our neighbors place, evidently setting lines for some ice fishing. Rudi and I walked out to talk with the driver/fisherman a bit. He was an older local, with a bit of a french accent. I asked him how thick the ice was, and after he drilled a new hole he announced the thickness at 23 inches! I asked him, given that it was March, was that thickness good for only a week or two, or just a few days. He looked at me quite strenly, then chuckled and replied "Only today! That is good only for today!"

On our last day there, I was doing the laundry, and when I went down to check it, the washing machine had finished its cycle, but the unit was still filled with water. After re-starting it a few times, it appeared the machine would not work, so I had to bail it by hand, and then rinse and wring out the clothes in the laundry sink. Well, at least the oven works fine.....As the saying goes, easy come, easy go.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Renting Our Cottage


Since we don't come up for the whole summer, the times that we aren't up we make available to others to rent. If you are thinking of renting our place, I generally have ads posted on KIJIJI.CA in the major market areas (generally Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, and Hamilton, possibly Kingston and Peterborough also). The simplest way to find one of my ads is to use "Barrys Bay" in a keyword search, and ours and perhaps a couple of other ads will come up. All of the specifice details on renting are included in the ads, including up to date availabilty. One can also simply email me (check my profile for email addresses) and I will get back to you within a day or two.