August at the Cottage - Dropping Birches

Arrived at the cottage mid-August to find one of the birch trees near the house had lost its top. It was already dying off, as birches do, hastened by some rather hungry woodpeckers and "assups". A few days later the Husqvarna 353 came out, and within a couple of hours both trunks were down, bucked up, and ready for stacking and cleaning up. The second and third photos are of the stacked logs showing the woodpecker work, and the new view, including a red pine that I transplanted to the front of the brush pile. It was pulled from a stand of four, and would have to be removed regardless, so it might survive, but if not, oh well.

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July 2010 At The Cottage

The May Two Four (part three)

On Sunday John and I 'toured' the crown land adjoining our property to have a look at the trees I transplanted a year and a half ago. The three trees (two White Pines and a Balsam Fir) have already begun budding out, and appear extremely healthy and vigourous. On our way back down the hillside we noticed these magnificent Luna Moths sitting on a bracken fern. They are magnificent, and measure almost five inches in wingspan.

The May Two Four (part two)

On Sunday John and I built a crib to raise the rainwater barrel, as placing it directly on the ground allows poor access to place a watering can under the spout for filling up. I busted apart two pallets made from round posts with flattened top and bottom surfaces, cut them to length, glued and nailed together a crib, then added slats to the top. About a half hour job between the two of us from start to finish.

The May Two Four (part one)

I arrived at the cottage Friday evening, after having dinner with my sister and her family in Barry's Bay. The next morning, after running into town on some errands, I arrived back and let buddy 'the wonder-poodle' out, who promptly leapt out the door at me, and pranced over the long, skinny visitor who was basking on the concrete pavers outside. It hissed up, made a few striking motions, and rattled its tail, warning us off.

I freaked out a bit, because all I know of snakes is if it rattles its tail and strikes out, it might be a Massasauga Rattler, the only venemous snake in Ontario. What little I do know however, is that the cottage is located well outside the normal range of that snake, or so I thought I knew. I got Buddy back in (who walked right over the snake on his way in of course!) and then phoned niece Rachel up, and had her google "Massasauga Rattlesnake", who quickly found out that mine was more than likely an imposter, and in this particular case was an Eastern Milksnake. The milksnake is virtually identical in colour and markings, yet is much slimmer, and though it 'rattles' its tail, it does not have actual rattles at the end. Phew!

OPP Search For Canoeist on Carson Lake

Some unfolding news that I learned of this morning... Hopefully the canoeist in question went ashore to take a pee break and had his canoe blow away, however after two days, the likelihood of his having drowned is becoming more certain.

Barry's Bay This Week - Canoeist Missing on Carson Lake

Last Snowfort of the Season

IMAGES. GOOGLE.COM

I have found that a lot of traffic (anywhere from two to five random hits a day) arrives at this blog by the way of Google's image search engine, Images.Google.Com. With a standard search using Google, StatCounter saves the phrase that was used in the search, however it does not do so with the image search engine. So if you have arrived here by finding a picture, I would be interested in knowing what terms you searched for, and what image you found. Please post as a comment below, thanks!

Boys And Their Toys, I Mean Tools

I felled a large dead poplar on Thanksgiving weekend, leaving it bucked up into roughly eight six-foot lengths. I own a beautiful mid-size Husqvarna 353 with a 20" bar putting out just over 3hp, which doesn't have a huge issue with cutting 18" diameter logs, but does have to run longer to do it.

I found three saws for sale as a package right around the corner from my sister in Ottawa, worked out a deal, whereby they would buy one for me for work received in kind, I would buy the other one, and sell off the third. I was interested in the two Husqvarna's, a 335xpr arborist saw, and a 385xp professional saw putting out close to 7hp.

A few weeks later, after cutting down two dozen or more dead Elms and a few scrubby Manitoba Maples at their property, I was able to get the 385xp to the cottage to finish bucking up the poplar logs. It was amazing to rev up the big saw and lower it onto each log, watching is easily cut down like a hot knife through butter, depositing an ever growing pile of little wood chips at the base of each cut. My original 353 would take about 20 seconds to make a cut through these logs, the 385xp did each cut in six or seven seconds.

THE SAWS (Clockwise from top): Husqvarna 335xpr Arborist saw, Stihl 041 chainsaw (now owned by Mark, Pam and Jeff's contractor), Husqvarna 385xp professional forestry saw, Husqvarna 353 chainsaw (which has a place close to my heart - down a bit, and to the right, actually!)

THANKSGIVING (Cont'd)

The entire Chiles Clan met at the cottage Sunday for Alexander's second birthday and Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately although we are spread out over Ontario (Southwest, Toronto, Barry's Bay, and Ottawa) It is not uncommon for most, or even all of us to get together at the same time.

Rudi and Natalie pulling their adorable 'Gap Kids' pose... a bit too adorable for my liking actually, it looks like they are planning something devious!

My father Roger (aka 'grampy'), with Sophie (Ackert) and the birthday boy Alexander (aka 'number last'), just turned two on October 9 2009.

Most of the Chiles Clan at Alexander's Birthday Party, from left Rachel Artymko, Roger Chiles (Grampy), Susan (Chiles) Artymko, Katherine Vlossak, Natalie Artymko, Alexander Vlossak Chiles, Jean Chiles (Nana) and across the table Rudi Vlossak Chiles, Eileen Leslie (good friend of Katherine) John Artymko, and Sophie Ackert. Missing Pamela Chiles and Jeff Ackert, and me the photographer! One can also notice Buddy the wonder poodle snuffling around for chocolate cupcake crumbs.

THANKSGIVING

It was absolutely beautiful at the cottage this weekend, the weather fair, with the leaves showing their magnificent autumn splendour in a dizzying spectrum of yellows, golds, oranges and reds. And all I could think was "What an absolutely beautiful day...a beautiful day to die..."

Thanksgiving, for us at least, was sad and somewhat muted, as a dear friend of Katherine, Karen Livesey, passed away on Saturday morning after a long battle with cancer. Karen was a teacher at Madawaska Valley District High School, and leaves her husband Mel Schulist, three wonderful step children, and an incredibly vast group of heartbroken family and friends.

I did not know Karen too well, but I can tell you her voice, and her laugh, and her smile, were just some of the things forever burned into my mind. She spoke like in song, with a wonderful, lilting voice, like a clarinet or flute, played beautifully solo. Her laugh was free, unrestrained, and rich, not feminine, yet magnificent because of that, perhaps. And her smile, like her laugh, brilliant and comfortable, quick to appear, and very slow to diminish and fade.

And now sadly she is gone, taken by a disease that claims far too many women's lives across the country and around the world. If you knew her, you would have loved her also. Sad also was the fact that after Katherine had moved away from Barry's Bay, she (and I) didn't see enough of Karen and Mel, though the times we spent in her company were memorable.

Just The Boys

I returned to the cottage the Saturday before last after returning to Tavistock, helping Jeff out for a day, and then taking a half dozen canoes to the Paddle Shack in Gravenhurst. On Monday Katherine left with her parents, and returned home for her first two PD days, while I stayed at the cottage with the boys 'til the weekend. Here is Alexander playing with some of his favourite toys, and Rudi doing his best Michael Phelps imitation (in spidey underwear, no less)!

Digging in the Dirt Part 2

Dropped by the cottage last weekend to install the 'new' washing machine and clean between guests, of course after the Shoemakers (name changed for privacy considerations) there wasn't anything to do except wash the linens and towels! I decided also to inspect the transplanted Norway Maple, keeping my fingers crossed that it survived its bare root transplant from Tavistock. Lo and behold, although all but a dozen leaves had died and dropped, it was sporting at least twenty or thirty new buds! Wonderful news, as I am confident it will survive the winter, and bud again next spring.

A Trio Of Cottage Classics!

Three elements of cottage life. The traditional floral oilcloth used as a tablecloth, on sale at Home Hardware for $2.99 a yard, the iconic fake wood panelling, probably still decorating many a den even today, and the cold bottle of beer, in this case a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager.

Cottage Art

This is one of my latest pieces, which used up a dusty shoebox of beer coasters, an old storm window from the Field House, and about two hours of time with some melamine sheet, a screw driver, and a hot glue gun. I think I have sampled about four of the brews represented here, which I decided to group by region. I think a far better means of displaying these interesting artefacts than piled in a shoebox. I am now accepting commissions to turn your old collection of beer coasters into a fine work of kitschy cottage art like this!