cottage

Reading LOTR updated.




At the cottage! Jeff and I spent the first full day doing cottage-opening type of stuff...putting out the deck furniture, making small repairs, cleaning cupboards, washing all the dishes, cutlery, pots, etc. before replacing them on the shelves. We only found one dead mouse this year, lying in a corner of the kitchen where it must have expired over the winter. I had to pry the corpse off the floor before dumping it in the garbage (yuck).


We visited the Portage Store on the other side of the lake to get some drinking water; it wasn't officially open yet, but they let us fill out containers in the restaurant kitchen. While we cleaned, we listened to CDs on the ghetto blaster...including Ookla's new CD, "Smell No Evil". Really great album! I highly recommend that you all order this right away, if you haven't already. Jeff's favourite track is "Me and My Monkey". I'm torn between "Hockey Monkey Song", "Son Of Kong", and "Conquest". Also listened to two Aimee Mann CDs (after recommendations from Rand and Parki), Sam Baardman's "The Rookery", a Celtic harp CD by Therese Honey (birthday present from Tom Jeffers), some Dave Matthews.









Last night, Jeff made dinner (AND cleaned up, woohoo!)...steak cooked on the grill, rice, salad, served by candlelight. :-) We've gotten into the habit of having our steak with slices of blue cheese. My sister-in-law's boyfriend (a professional chef) introduced us to this combination, and now we're both hooked.


Took a sauna before dinner to wash up after all the messing about with dust and grime and dead mice. Jeff put a big cooking put full of water on the coals to heat up, then we filled up a portable shower (the same kind we used on our Nahanni canoe trip) and took turns holding the bag above each other so we could wash our hair. Ordinarily, we'd jump in the lake after, but the water's still pretty cold...the ice just thawed off the lake last Monday!


Very quiet on the lake; not many people are here. That will change this weekend, I'm sure. :-)


Today's Blatherpics:

I took this photo this morning.

Loading up the boat just before heading across the lake to the cottage.


Poll:

You are buying a few souvenirs at a small tourist shop while on holiday. The clerk gives you too much change. Would you point out his/her mistake?