Random Cottage Notes

[ShadowHM]

Cottage Notes 2007:

The water level in Lake Huron remains low. In fact, it is even lower than last year. The joy of boat ownership has diminished considerably now that we have had a few years of having the dock not even touch the water. There is none of the spontaneous joy of grabbing the P.F.D.’s and jumping into the boat for a ride out to play in the waves. We have to drag the boat about a hundred metres, then tow the boat another hundred metres before we can put the motor down to the highest pin and putt along for a while until the water is deep enough to re-adjust the motor and actually get going. I fear that it isn’t going to improve next year either, given that Lake Superior went down a foot this year and is at its lowest point since levels have been recorded.

Another aspect of low water that is somewhat unnerving is the fact that all the shoals we knew and were careful to avoid have become islands, and we now have to worry about new shoals that were previously deep enough to cruise over with impunity. :o

That brings me to another point – the mixed blessing of droughts. The news this summer was full of news of floods – floods in Asia, floods in Europe, floods in New York City, floods in the American Mid-West. We, on the other hand, have experienced a drought. The entire month of July had one rainfall, and it was the wrong kind of rain for the health of gardens and forest. It rained two inches in two hours, which caused considerable excitement as it ran down the property, into the back door of my brother-in-law’s cottage and out the front door. But it did run off fast, and didn’t soak into the soil at all. Worse yet, it was localized, which means it didn’t make a whit of difference to the general level of the Lake. At the end of August, we finally got two days of rain and it was of the ‘right sort’ – an all-day gentle rain that the land could absorb. And, Hooray! We didn't get any forest fires, despite an 'Extreme Hazard' rating virtually all summer. :w00t:

Civic duty is a Good Thing™ in general. Being a contributing member of one’s community is its own reward. But it can be daunting. I attended the Pike Bay Community Association meeting in May, where the general planning for the annual Pike Bay Pig Roast takes place. One woman spoke up to say that after 30 years of contribution in organizing the event, she needed to step back from the task. I looked around the room and realized that I was the youngest person there and that there really was no one else who could take over the task. So I volunteered to apprentice myself to her and learn how to organize a meal for 350 people. It was an education, to put it mildly. :blink:

Only one skunk needed slaying this summer. I seem to have become the resident skunk slayer of Stewart’s Point. :blushing: I do try to avoid the task – generally I co-exist well with wildlife. However, my husband is seriously skunk-phobic. So if one has the temerity and foolhardiness to take up residence in a place that sends them near him, I have the grim task of dispatching them. Another did show up on Labour Day weekend, but one of our neighbour’s dogs managed to find it before my husband did. (It was a bit hard on the neighbour, who was caught in the cross-fire and got sprayed too.)

We have a new foreign invader to add to the roster of new residents who impact the environment in new and unwanted ways. The Goby has come to Pike Bay, and in amazing numbers. Last year, there were none at all. This year, there were many – in all sizes from minnow size in the creek (and our minnow traps) to full grown ones in the Lake. The are problematic because of a spine in their back that makes them difficult for other fish to prey on them. So, while the Zebra Mussels that invaded in the nineties have subsided to mere nuisance from the full blown health hazard they were initially, we now have a new problem.

We had a theft that troubles and annoys me. :uhh: For years now, a bright green plastic child figure with the word “SLOW” on it has guarded the road on Stewart’s Point, to remind drivers (mainly delivery trucks and tradesmen who are focussed on their destination) to slow down. He was affectionately known as Franklin after the children’s book character he resembled. He performed a valuable service reminding drivers that there are many children on the Point. He went missing in mid-July and hasn’t been seen since. Why anyone would steal him is beyond me, and it is particularly annoying because our newest resident on the Point has a two-year-old and a four-year-old who like to go visiting their many relatives on the Point.

I *think* I have finally finished the saga of the boat launch improvement! It may well be a moot point, since there isn’t much point in launching boats these days, but even so, I am thrilled to have this done. My husband started a project last summer that went terribly awry. He thought that we might have bedrock of the same angle and rock type as some neighbours a few doors down. To make a very long story short, we don’t. Every attempt to salvage the project made the boat launch worse. We pried rocks, broke rocks, re-arranged rocks, removed rocks. Finally we were down to one last piece, a triangle about two metres a side that would not break. I hired a man with a back hoe to come and get the damn thing out of the way (enough with the do-it-yourself trip!) and we can now go back to using the boat launch and give our energy to other projects (like finishing putting new siding on the cottage).

All in all, despite the above, it was good summer. I hope all of you had a good one too. And I am glad to be back among y'all.

[KingOfPain]

And I was so glad we haven't had any newsworthy fire nearby this year - until 5 pm tonite.
I took this picture from where I work. Good thing it was contained rather quickly so it was more of a photo opp

The fire is not as hot as it looks in this picture, the orange tint is mostly fire retardent.



KoP

[ShadowHM]

We closed up the cottage this weekend.

I saw something for the very first time there - a salmon, spawning in the bay just on the other side of the creek from our cottage. I saw something odd flopping in the water this morning, so I put on hubby's big water boots (mine were already packed away) and waded over to find out.



Lake Huron has been stocked with salmon (they are not native there), but I had never seen one come in to spawn in Pike Bay before. Nor had any of my neighbours.

And, by the time we left this evening, it was already dead and being fed on by a Black-Backed Gull. They are always the first in the clean-up crew, followed by Herring Gulls, Crows and then Turkey Vultures.