Jim's 2014 Cottage Notes

"Excuse me sir.  Where exactly are you going with all those lunch bags?"

Hi Everybody,

Overall, the weather here in early September was uncooperative.  It started out nice for a few days, but soon turned rainy and very cold.  On our next to last night it got pretty close to freezing. The night before that, we had lightning and sideways rain for hours, which turned one of my weird flags into a sewing project.

The good news is that I managed not to hurt my knees or back this year.  The only damage was a stubbed toe I got while walking around in the dark without a flashlight, like an idiot.

Here's this year's project stuff:

SHED ORGANIZATION:

To lessen the possibility of broken shards & cuts, almost all of the glass storage jars have been retired.  The bigger ones have been recycled, except for a few I put under the sink.  The old baby food jars are all inside of the extra plastic peanut butter jars I brought from home.  Up close, the shed reorganization is pretty simple.  It's in describing it that things can get complicated:

1)  The tools and the parts organizer have been moved from the kitchen to the main shed, freeing up more cabinet space in the kitchen.  Most of the tools are in the tiny gray tool box I brought from home.  It was too small for the hammers, one long screwdriver and two files to fit in it.  The hammers are in their usual spots, and the files and screwdriver are in one of the baskets on the shelf above the toolbox.  There are a bunch of new tools in the toolbox, including a drill bit set.  I also got us wrench & socket sets from Harbor Freight Tools in Lansing.  They were cheap as hell ($22.93 for all), and made in China, of course.  I also brought a caulk gun and soldering iron from home (I had four of each somehow).

I didn't think of it until I was on my way back home, but if I organize the tackle boxes in the biffy shed, one of those could be repurposed as a larger toolbox.  I have no idea if anyone in particular has claim to any of those tackle boxes, or if if there's a reason they need to stay as-is.  Let me know before next year.

2)  The paint & stain have been moved from multiple shelves to the lower back shelf.  It's a much better fit.  The paint brushes and scrapers are on one of the three long hanger things I put up near the ceiling, so they're easily visible.  There's still a "paint supplies" basket, but it's not stuffed so full now.

3)  There's another long hanger thing holding the gardening tools.  Doug - when I was straightening your garden trowel, one of the rivets broke.  I drilled it out and flattened a roof nail in its place.  It should work a bit better, but mind the nail.  There aren't any pointy or sharp parts sticking out.

4)  The "Misc." department has been reorganized from 1 basket, 1 tomato juice can, and multiple jars into one basket and one cookie tin.  There are also some of the bigger "misc." items hanging from yet another hook on the left side of the shed up by the ceiling.  The cookie tin has "packaged" sets of multiple things like bolts, casters, "L" brackets, etc.  Single items will be in the Misc. basket.

5)  I brought a Rubbermaid thingamajig I couldn't find a use for at home.  It's screwed into the shed door, and makes a pretty good glove holder.  I also brought some cloth gloves from home.  Some of the old gloves that were there look like they've earned a retirement.  I'll leave that decision for whoever uses them.  I don't -- splinters be damned.

Glove bin, to the left of the rake.

6)  Nothing on the floor of the main shed has been moved or rearranged, except for the oars.  

A big thanks to Ray and Carrol for their donation of way too much stuff to enumerate.  It took hours to sort through all of it.  I think we're all set for 3" nails, drawer pulls and wire nuts.

After everything was sorted and put away, it turns out that no new shelves were necessary, and there are more of the long hanging-hooks available.  There's even room for more crap on one of the upper shelves.  (This shouldn't be interpreted a an invitation to more crap, unless you have tools...)

OTHER SHED NOTES:

° I didn't realize the black extension cord was in the main shed.  It was buried pretty deep behind oars and ropes.  Now we have three outdoor-grade extension cords totaling about 80 to 100 feet.  That'll do.

°Doug did such a good job on the biffy shed, the oars that were in the main shed fit nicely in there to the left of the door, only blocking access to some tarps and scrap wood.  It's also closer to the dock where they get deployed, and leaves more room for the swim ladder in the main shed.  I moved the oars there for now.  It's no big deal if they need to be moved back. Watch out for the lightbulb up by the ceiling in the biffy shed when accessing the oars.  (For about ten bucks, I could make that light permanent with a pull-chain switch, and put a little cage around it.  The switch in the kitchen for the outdoor lights would have to be on.)

°Once I'm sure that I'm done with electrical projects, I'll downsize the light fixture/electrical box that's in the main shed.

°The two big flashlights with no batteries have been moved from the front porch to the main shed.  You can't miss 'em.  The smaller flashlights are still in the burlap rice bag on the porch.  A few of them actually work.  If tossing any of them, save the bulbs!

°The short indoor extension cords have been moved from the shed and tool basket, to the right drawer of the the orange bureau.  One of them may still be connected to the end of the toaster-oven cord.  That makes it able to reach the plugs under the kitchen mirror when the toaster-oven is used on top of the woodstove.  (Obviously, the woodstove can't have a fire going at the same time.) 

°The hoses that were in the main shed have been moved to the "attic" of the flammables shed.

°With the small gas cans stacked in the back of the flammables shed, it seems a lot less crowded now.  I'm not sure who tackled that project.  The paint thinner was moved out there - again.  I left a note on the edge of the paint shelf about where to look.

°We took back the three small blue floaty things that were left in the main shed last year.  Neither Dad nor I knew last year that they were the winter plugs for his pool skimmers.  D'oh!

COTTAGE:

I tried cleaning the small red Ontario flag hanging on the living room wall.  As soon as it got wet, it started falling apart.  It was filthy.  The water looked like coffee.  Anyway, I sewed up the rip and hung it with the other side showing, since some of the colours washed off of the original side.  It's not good as new, more like good as forty years ago.

I brought a metal seagull wall hanging from home.  Where I live, this is exactly the type of thing that I don't want to have to walk over once it's been knocked off the wall in an earthquake.  It's hanging over the doorway of the bedroom next to the kitchen.  It's been door-slam tested, and should stay put.  If anyone has some brass polish they can bring, I could spiff it up next year.

I found some more of those CA Modern magazines at my place - last batch, I promise.  They're out in the biffy, along with a pretty good article I saved about Darryl Sutter (the coach of the LA Kings) and his trip home to Alberta with the Stanley Cup, eh?

I left three books this year - a kids' book about hockey, the original "Dracula" and a sanitized version of "Huckleberry Finn."  Dad & I weren't sure what was up with the box of books on the floor.  Is that the "weeding out" box?  There was some good stuff in there.  Anyway, I moved a few things around.  I took the small computer speakers out of the book shelves and put them at the base of the wall next to the bag of headphones, and put the sports-related books in their place next to the picture.  The speakers still work, but it takes some plug-jiggling to get a good connection.  We use them to watch DVDs and a few bootleg movies here & there.   I also put some "women's interest" books above the door in the middle bedroom.

I untangled & organized the fishing poles.  Some of them went up in the rafters by the ladder.  I put all the kid-size rods over the front porch door.  The adult-size rods are over the orange bureau.  When putting them away, try to alternate the direction the rods face.  That way they're less likely to tangle.

I tightened up the screws that hold the hand rails on the back porch, and added a few extra long screws to hold them steady.  Wood shrinks as it ages, so it's not Toni's fault they got loose.  I just gave 'em a tune-up.  They're a little sturdier, but I still wouldn't do any gymnastic moves on those rails.

I bought a blue & white $2 clock at the Goodwill store in Lansing & brought it up.  I knew we already had one, but what the hell.  I put it up in the kitchen*.  I also got a $4 Braun hand mixer on the same shopping trip.  Oops.  I took it home for eventual re-gifting.  The Oster hand mixer Doug brought this year should be enough.  There was also a $5 George Foreman grill at Goodwill, but with a griddle, two electric frying pans and three BBQs it seemed unnecessary.

I found out the hard way that the gray roasting pan in the cupboards under the sink won't fit in the oven part of the woodstove.  With the weather so cold, we had two or three all-day fires, so I tried to use the heat to roast a chicken and bake some taters.  The oven never really got all that hot with the slow heating fire we had going, but eventually everything got cooked.  Using the stove just for cooking now seems very wasteful, considering all the effort that goes into providing the fuel.

There was a white Revlon hair dryer in the CQ when we got here.  Was that intentional?  I left the little one I found on eBay anyway.  I also left a red & white Tupperware container that's supposed to be good for storing steaks & chops, and a plastic salt-shaker thing that could be used for our secret BBQ spice blends.  I also brought a couple more kitchen knives -- nothing great, the kind where you might get a free set with a full tank of gas.  It's nice to have multiple knives available when fixing a big meal.

The squeaky freezer door has been lubricated, and there's a "new" manual ice cream maker behind it.  I forgot to print out the recipes, but they're not hard to find.  We're all set for ice cube trays.  I think there are at least 10.  Some are on the shelf above the fridge.

The top two clips that connect the flags to the flagpole rope have been replaced.  They're all the same kind of clip now.

Someone suggested that the oars be refinished.  Which oars?  There are at least four sets in varying degrees of ugly.  I didn't have time for it, and we didn't have the weather for it this year anyway.

ATTIC:

The plug works, and the extra wire is NOT hooked up yet.

I put a couple of stray blankets in the small cloth-covered storage bench and condensed the boxes of kitchen stuff.  We're up to four coffee makers now - don't toss the Krups.  All the camping stuff is on the side away from the ladder, including the sleeping bags inside a garbage bag.  The "hooks" someone suggested wouldn't have made them any more accessible, and would've just been more stuff to whack our heads on.  I moved the orange storage bench over by the kitchen, and put the inflatable floaty things behind that & the kitchen stuff, which leaves a ton of space in the middle for the mattresses.  I have a small inflatable raft at home I was thinking of donating.  Not anymore.  We've got plenty.  The old breadbox is tucked back in a corner.  It would make a good nightstand for anyone who sleeps up there (and who are now able to plug in a little reading lamp).

The waterskis & tow ropes are up there too.  I built a swing-arm storage bar to get them up against the ceiling and out of the way.  Be sure to support the storage bar as the left side swings away from the screw that holds it in place.  It should be self-explanatory, but I left a note on it anyway.

ELECTRICAL:

Even with the new tools, it took over an hour to get the hole for the kitchen plug just right.

The plug-in wire for the overhead light in the bedroom next to the kitchen went bad.  It's an old appliance wire that I assumed was OK.  I'm sure the extreme temperatures over the winter didn't help.  It's been fixed.  I also noticed the wires for that and the reading light were wound around the bedframe that's pressed against the wall.  Bad idea.  Eventually the wires would be crushed, resulting in an electrified bedframe.  I checked out the wire for the overhead light in the other bedroom.  It looks to be OK.  I also took a little sandpaper to the plug on the small bedside lamp in the CQ.  It should be much more reliable now.

I ran into a problem putting in the new kitchen plugs.  The GFCI plug I brought from home may have gotten a little damp sitting on the windowsill of the front porch a few days before.  Only a small amount of rain blew in.  I thought it was completely dried out when I put it in, but as soon as I replaced the fuse in the fusebox, the plug sizzled & popped, and the internal circuit breaker stopped working.  It still worked like a regular plug, but just to be safe I got a new $3 non-GFCI plug at Home Hardware and put that in instead.  It matches the other 2-socket plug I bought in Michigan perfectly.  The GFCI cost has been deducted from the expenses.  We can try a GFCI again next year if need be.  I tested out the appliances with the 4-way plug, and I think as long as we refrain from using the microwave at the same time as the toaster or hot plate the fuses will be OK.

The backside of the kitchen plug.  It's plastic, not metal.

I changed the switch at the front door that controls the outside light, but I ran out of time to put in the overhead light on the porch.  Whoever put the floor in the attic went a little crazy with the nails, like every five inches.  I thought I could have pulled up a whole sheet of plywood to run the wiring, but with so many nails along the edges, it wasn't possible without destroying the wood.  A hole will have to be cut, the wiring run, and then the hole in the floor will have to be patched.  I didn't want to put myself in the position of having to do all that on the last full day, along with getaway cleanup.

I couldn't get the original light I had linked to in an earlier post here.  Home Depot & Lowe's both let us down there -- long story.  Anyway, I picked up a low-wattage LED version for a few bucks more (<$10) that will give off plenty of light when it eventually gets hooked up.

Someone suggested a reading light for the front porch.  That's another eBay item I could look for - or whoever sleeps out there could borrow the little nightstand light out of the CQ, which has a dedicated reading light over the bed.

WOODPILE:

I fixed the chainsaw-wood-propper-upper thing.  The bottom boards needed to be replaced.  When it gets wobbly again, the solution is definitely NOT more nails, as seems to have been the case in the past.  I used screws for all the new wood, which wasn't dry enough to soak up much stain, so maybe there's the first 2015 project.  As long as someone has the stain out, he or she could also sand & re-stain the back porch steps. Hint, hint.

DRIVEWAY:

Ray and Toni got together before we got here to take care of the BIG rock in the driveway with a diamond saw blade and a pry bar.  It sticks up a lot less now, so I didn't bother to use force or fire on it.  With that out of the way, I went after the stump next to one of the parking spots.  I tried burning it out, but it was way too wet, so I got the chainsaw out and cut away 'til it ran out of gas.  Most of the stump is gone, and if someone manages to hit what's left, they don't deserve a driver's license.  I also took the top off of a smaller rock about halfway down the driveway, and rounded off one of the driveway roots that was sticking up.  There are more roots, but those are better dealt with by filling in around them, not cutting them out, since we can't know how that would affect the surrounding trees.

Seeya in 2015!

-Jim

*At Dad's request, I switched the clocks around.  The red one makes a little bit of noise that's less noticeable at night when it's in the kitchen.