Tempus Fugit

Every year we try to make at least one trip out to the cottage to experience beautiful Lake of the Woods in the winter. This year has been the warmest ever with temperatures above 0°C. Arriving last night we hauled the gear in and fired up the furnace and the fireplace. Things were warming nicely when we noticed the furnace had stopped. Oh yeah, the circuit breaker was acting up last year and we didn’t get around to replacing it. In the past, it would run for quite some time and then trip off. After resetting a couple of times it generally started to stay on and work fine. Tonight it’s flipping off ever 5 minutes, and its not really getting any warmer. After some serious electrical panel investigation is seems more cooperative. We head off to sleep and the furnace runs most of the night and by morning it’s nice and toasty.

On Saturday morning, it’s actually raining! The trees are getting coated with ice and I imagine the roads are getting pretty exciting for driving. First order of business is a coffee, followed by fetching some water from the lake.

Watering Hole
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Getting water from the lake has traditionally involved about a 1/2 hour of very aggressive pick axe chopping of a hole in the ice. As the ice can be around 2+ feet thick, you start choping a hold that’s about 3′ across which narrows in as you go deeper and you hope you break through before its to narrow to swing the pick in. If this happens, its more work, widening out the hole to about 4′ across. Many a year I’ve worked up a great sweat and taken off my jacket even at -20C while chopping he hole.

This year, brains over brawn has kicked it. I purchased an ice auger. That bad boy put an 8″ hole through 11″ of ice in under 30 seconds with very little effort. It was so easy and fun that I drilled a second hole just for the heck of it.

Water acquired and breakfast consumed, it was time to explore the neighborhood. Not to much to report, as very few people are around. It looks like all the local residents have gone south for the winter. Given the wet conditions of the snow we decided to do a little building.

Standing Guard
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

I’ve had this clock since I was about 14 and at that time is was already an official antique, being appraised a just over 100 years old. It was originally in the train station in Rennie, Manitoba near Brerton Lake in the Whiteshell. So, how did I get this little treasure? Well one weekend my Dad and one of his friends were doing some maintenance work at the CGIT Camp on the lake and that meant I was helping. My assignment that day was to paint and immense dinning hall floor a very nice shade of battleship gray. Wow, just how I wanted to spend my Saturday at the lake. The clock was hanging in the hall and as I painted, it caught my interest. The varnish finish was all cracked and pealing and it didn’t run. Well, with a little negotiating I managed to obtain ownership of the clock in lieu of payment for my days labours.

Once I had it home, I began the re-finishing process and stripped off the varnish and replaced it with a nice soft oil finish. The clock mechanism was another story. Upon investigation, one of the brass gears had a tooth broken off, something that a 14 year old wasn’t going to be able to fix. Dad to the rescue! He took the clock to an old school clock repair guy, probably one of the last in the city ,and a new tooth was fashioned and soldered into place.

Did I mention that it ticks rather loudly? The clock was installed in a place of honors on the wall at the foot of my bed. It took me a night or two to get used to the ticking, apparently it took my parents much longer to get used to sleeping with the rhythmic tick, tock, tick, tock, but everybody survived.

Ever since then the clock has been in our home. A while back the rod attachment that holds the pendulum in place broke off, so there was no more ticking. And then, during a recent redecorating spree I was informed that it’s place of honour in the living room was no longer “appropriate”. Since that day the clock has been in storage. So, this weekend the restoration began again. A fresh coat of oil finish, some brass polish and re-attaching the rod for the pendulum has it in tip top shape once more, and restored to a place of honour in my office.

I was looking through some drawers the other night and I came across some pictures from my Mom & Dad. Two little 3 x 3 booklets of black and white pictures from 1950s. Is these pictures I’m 3 and Gail would be 7, and were standing in front of the first cottage in what would be several cottages I’d experience growing up.

The cottage was build by my Grampa and Dad, all by hand, no power tools. Quite an accomplishment and one that still impresses me today. Just spend some time with a hand saw cutting 6×6 posts to length and you’ll know what I mean. I have a couple of vivid memories about this cottage. One is about a salt lick we had on the lot and watching the deer that came quite close to us to get to the salt. The other involves a car. Just to the right of the boardwalk is the driveway and it’s a little steeper than it looks. At the end of a weekend when Mom & Dad were loading up the car to go home. Gail & I were put in the back seat and told to “sit there and don’t touch anything”.

Well, after a while a guy gets a little bored and a car is a fascinating place. I leaned over into the front seat and was playing around with the steering wheel and then the gear shift leaver, and suddenly we were in neutral and rolling backwards down the driveway. Just then Dad and Grampa came out the door, dropped whatever they were carrying and came running to grab the car.

This is the view down the driveway to the lake. I was always told that the car might have rolled down, across the road, and throught the lot in front of us, and into the lake. Looking at this, I think the trees would have stopped the car first. Anyway, they managed to stop the car and get in and put the parking brake on. I think there was a stern talking to and perhaps a spanking involved, but all I really remember was being rescued. A good cottage story with a happy ending.

Underground Bunker
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

The other day we were explaining to some friends about some cottage lots on Lake of the Woods where electricity had recently been run from our point across to Hay Island (1.5km away). This lead to wondering how much these lots were selling for (a lot!), followed by some Google Map activity where we noticed this white square with a dark shape in it.

Well, this just had to be investigated. So, this morning Eric, Len & I boated over and hiked around and discovered this concrete structure with a stainless steel venting tube. It’s in the center of this part of the island between the east and west shores. There is virtually a road cleared up to where it’s located and the “road” carries on south up the middle of the island for quite some distance. We didn’t walk to the end, so we’re not sure just how long it is.

There is another stainless steel tube close to the east shore in an area that was obviously excavated, close to where we landed the boat . But this tube has no visible concrete base. From this shore location it looks like there is a buried cable/conduit/??? in a trench that has been covered over with rock that leads up to the concrete pad. There are no signs, identifying marks or and indication as to it’s function or purpose. It seems like there is a humming coming from what ever is on the other end of the pipe, but that could just be some sort of echo or resonance effect from the pipe itself or …

Additional photos

Any ideas on what this is all about? Then please post a comment.

Here is a picture that brings back some memories.

It’s at the lake with the whole family, at least the whole family as back on August 5, 1993, things have changed over the years. My dad is taking the picture and my mom is on the left at the back. Gail & Gord with Ian and Craig and Shirley and I with Eric And Scott around the table. To me this picture symbolizes what the lake was all about for my parents, especially my dad. A place where the family could gather all together and share in the lake experience. I remember working with him as we built the cottage from plans that were slightly more that the back of a napkin, actually two fairly simple drawings. The design goal was always about having enough space so that everyone could be there at the same time.

Today, it’s rare that everyone is there at the same time. Distance, scheules, relationships and life seems a little more complicated than back in the day. Perhaps I was just more oblivious back them. Today, As I sit in the livingroom looking out at the snow and Christmas is approaching I can feel a whistful longing for the lake and the way things were. But, life moves forward, things change, and I need to adapt to the new realities. The lake will alway hold a very special place in my heart for the memories that were forged in that place with loved ones in my life. Change can never take that away.

Decked out
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Friday night we picked up a U Haul trailer and loaded up a king size bed and some other stuff for a quick delivery trip to the lake. Strangely, the U-Haul folks we not to willing to rent the trailer for two days, so we compressed the trip down to 24 hours of extreme trailering.

By the time we were ready to go it was 8pm. After picking up some dinner at A&W where their lightning fast service didn’t exactly help us get underway any faster. The drive down was a little sketchy from time to time as it was snowing and the temperature was around -1° so there was some snow in the passing lane and a little ice from time to time. It had to be a little bad because we came up behind several different semi-trailers that were doing 60kph. Oh yeah, and then there was the big buck that crossed the highway right in front of us. No biggie, he made it and so did we.

After arriving we lit a fire in the fireplace and huddled under a blanket while watching a couple of episodes of House. The next morning it was quite white outside. Winter has arrived and only a few short days ago it was much warmer.

Towing the trailer really put a hit on the gas mileage but on the way home we tanked up a .884/l the lowest price in many many months.

After breakfast we unloaded the new king size bed and loaded up two ancient singles destined for the dump later in the day. Then we quickly tidied up the cottage, antifreeze the plumbing and hit the road again as we needed to get the trailer back by 6pm.  After a quick stop for gas in Falcon and again at Prawda (did I mention pulling the trailer is hard on gas?) we’re back in Winnipeg picking up some stuff from the house for a trip to the dump. After the dump, Windsor Plywood to pick up some 14′ baseboards, bending them to fit in the trailer. That’s right after 8 years, we’re getting baseboards. Drop the baseboards off at home, drop some stuff off at Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and drop the trailer back at U-Haul. Phey, having the trailer off the truck is quite a relief. Then back home for a quiet night. That’s enought driving for one day.

Kayak Stacker
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

I’ve been thinking about how to store the kayaks without having them on the dock for some time now. The original idea was to have two “J” shaped brackets with webbing strung between to cradle the kayak, but I was worried about the stability of the top “J” being only supported by the vertical outside post, which in turn is supported by a 2×4 bolted to the bottom of the dock. The weigh shouldn’t be a problem as I can stand on either support arm and each kayak is approximately 50lbs, so with both on the rack each end only needs to carry that weigh.

After staring at the problem for several days, I came up with this idea. The top cradle is hinged so after the top boat is removed the cradle can be flipped back to gain full access to the lower boat. This method allows for better support on the dock-side uprights and improved stability.

It was a wonderful sunny morning with a strong west wind blowing across the point, so while it is relatively calm water in front of the cottage, there is a nice breeze to keep things from getting too hot. Even so, after a while of working with my shirt off, I could feel the potential of a nice sunburn coming on, so on with a shirt and hat. Gee, is that wisdom or old age? A hat, since when…?

As I’m warping up the job and doing a little dock repair I hear Shirley scream from outside the lower door of the cottage, “Garry! Come quickly, there is something in the cottage!”. We’ll after the recent attack of the Squirrel Army, we’re a little on edge so I came flying up the stairs. Sure enough, as I go in the door I can hear a clatter, but soon determine that it’s just something thunking around in the dryer. Crisis averted. The Fortress is still secure from intruders.

Take a look.

It’s raining, again. Fully overcast with a forecast for thundershowers, but hey it’s Sunday at the lake and by 5pm, the sun will be out as many head back into the city, but not us, we’re still on vacation and Monday is looking awesome at 26 and sunny!

In spite of the weather, we’re heading out to catch the 8:30am start of the 4th annual Kenora Borealis Triathlon / Duathlon. I’ve seen some very cool Tri bikes around town this week, so it should be interesting.

Triathlon Manitoba

The 4th annual Kenora Borealis Triathlon / Duathlon takes place on Sunday July 20th at Garrow Beach on Rabbit Lake in Kenora. It features an Olympic and Sprint Triathlon, a Long and Sprint Duathlon, and a Try-a Tri (for athletes 12 & up). The Long Duathlon and Sprint Triathlon are qualifying events for the 2009 Triathlon World Championships

Assuming we’re not in a torrential downpour, we’ll head over to the Tunnel Island trails to repair one of my geocaches. After that, we’re winging it.