It’s almost time to say goodbye to the drowned annuals that desperately tried to recover from the early summer monsoons and failed miserably (it had nothing to do with the fact the pots had no holes in the bottom and their pretend custodian had better things to do, like hold down a lounge chair), and […]
Cottage Status Report 20241020 Read More »
I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting an update on the health of my cottage appliances (probably as anxiously as you’ve been anticipating a sequel to Beetlejuice, which may be arriving at a screen near you soon). The good news is the zombie dishwasher remains mostly undead, as long as I whisper encouraging dish-cleaning words and
Cottage Status Report 20240929 Read More »
We have water! It was a simple thing, really. Turns out it wasn’t the controller for the pump, it was the pump. A new pump was purchased. It didn’t even cost more than $1,000! And, they’ve made great strides in pump technology over the past 20 years: instead of three wires it has only two,
Cottage Status Report 20240601 Read More »
When we got back from the cottage on Wednesday night, there was a Canada Post ‘pick up a parcel’ slip attached to the front door. This was decidedly odd. Normally, the mailman leaves any parcels in the parcel sequestering area of the super mailbox. This being suburbia, mail does not arrive on its own to
Suburban Status Report 20240524 Read More »
The dock spider was waiting when we pulled up in the tin boat to wake the cottage from its winter slumber. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. One of the dock spiders was waiting. The rest of the extended family was probably still asleep. Australian mutants not-withstanding, dock spiders reset anyone’s notion of what “big
Cottage Status Report 20240427 Read More »
I continue to indulge in my suburbanly-incorrect practice of brazenly walking to places like the grocery store. Naturally, this is preferably accomplished via sidewalks. Naturally, suburbia persists in its relentless mission to kill me by blocking off said sidewalks. This is due to the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the thoroughfare known as Yonge Street (AKA
Suburban Status Report 20231203 Read More »
My ongoing subversive plot to get kicked out of suburbia continues to bear fruit. Yesterday, a Municipal Enforcement and Community Standards Officer paid a visit to follow up on a complaint. I suspect the snitch was the same neighbour who ratted out my non-compliant cats. Anyhow, the egregious offence is the Lift-Rite that lives in
Suburban Status Report 20231029 Read More »
There are typically two times of the year when things break: the beginning of cottage season and the end of cottage season. Neither of these times is more preferable to the other. When we arrive in the spring, it’s pretty much a given that some things that were perfectly fine at close-up have decided not
Cottage Status Report 20231001 Read More »
One of the highlights of island life is occasionally getting off the island. Although I do like my slice of forest and shoreline, it’s nice to experience some form of civilization. A mainland trek always involves several errands: visit the transfer station, fill up a water-dispenser bottle at the community centre tap, return returnable bottles
Cottage Status Report 20230910 Read More »
What you probably thought I was going to talk about is s’mores by the campfire or jumping off rocks into the lake (okay, I’ve never done this but people much, much, braver than I have) or staying up late (or getting up early) to see the Perseids meteor shower or complaining about the neighbours across
