The 2015 weather was much better than last year. If anything, it was too hot for the first five days, mostly in the low 80's during the day, and about 60º at night, with no hint of rain. The last few days were a little cooler, a little muggier and mostly sunny with a shower or two. It's nice to get out of the relentless sun and 90 to 110º daytime temps of late summer LA. High 40's is good sleepin' weather.
As much as I'd like to stay out of the under-the-bed cleanout controversy, I have to say that I was very pissed to have to go on a wild goose chase on our first night, looking for the box of stuff I keep at Keywaybeek. It's there so I don't have to schlep things through multiple airports every year, including a pillow that won't wreck my neck. I don't doubt that the cleanout was necessary, but the way it was done was pretty rude.
Some things I used up there every year have disappeared. The big green board that used to be the back porch was my project work table. When used on top of the chainsaw horse, it can be seen keeping stuff off the ground in many pictures on this blog. It was kept where the two parts of the woodshed meet. I found another board leaning against the bay side of the biffy, but it's way too big. I used it as is anyway, but it'd be much better at 4 feet square. UPDATE Sept. 9th: Found it! The green board is the new Keywaybeek Kompost Cover®. I'm OK with the "new" board I found, as long as it's OK to cut it -- unless that board would make a better Kompost Cover, or part of a new shed. TBD, I guess.
I'll bet whoever decided to get rid of the blue clock in the kitchen doesn't do much cooking. It was mighty convenient for a nearsighted cook like me. Why isn't it there anymore? Even if the hands stopped turning, I have the appropriate replacement part in my giant toolshed at home -- maybe two of 'em. A phone call could've saved it, and now we're down one clock.
Since the books I've brought over the years keep ending up in the "get rid of 'em" box, all but one have been moved to a secure undisclosed location until we all come up with a sensible way to keep the book collection under control that doesn't depend on a single person's tastes. You couldn't pay me to read most of the crap on those shelves. Many of the books I've donated are for potentially bored kids -- I was one myself there, once or twice (or more). I could easily build more bookshelves into the studs if that would help. I moved the "town on a river" picture up over the books, opening up a whole shelf. If it has to move back for some reason, OK.
For future cleanouts, let's try to make best use of the stuff we already have. I don't have one, but I assume most of us have cell phones -- some of them smart, some of them not-so-much -- and that they all get OK bars at Keywaybeek. A quick phone call doesn't cost the arm-and-a-leg that it used to, and emails are free. I'm not sure how texting works. If needed, I could slap together a non-internet printable phone and email list of and for all interested parties.
Unfortunately, Dad forgot his cottage keys this year. Fortunately, I had a copy of the front door key. Unfortunately, we didn't have a way to get into the sheds, since the shed key was with the key that Dad forgot. Fortunately, Ray had a copy, so we got into the sheds on our second day. How about we keep a shed key in the cottage at all times? An extra could be hidden somewhere tricky, like on top of the back door frame, or in the sewing kit. Home Hardware in Sundridge can't make copies of that particular key. They said the closest place that can do it is in North Bay, so Doug will likely have to have copies made in Toronto. (Dad may also be able to get copies at Home Depot in Michigan.) Just in case something like this happens again, I'd like a copy too. Where did the same-keyed "American Lock Co." locks come from?
Speaking of sheds, the collection of lifejackets and other water stuff is beginning to take over part of the front porch. If needed, we could get a plastic locker like Ray & Carrol have down by the bay dock, or I could build a bigger version on the cheap next year, either out front somewhere, down by the canoe, or next to Ray & Carrols' locker. We've already got some of the necessary hardware. If I build it, I'll make sure it has a better door than the flammables shed, and that it's tall enough for all the oars, and has room for a few fishing poles, and maybe the swim ladder... For now, I used the dog leash that was there in the corner to help get the eight life jackets, two belts and two floaty seat pads up off of the floor.Let's not throw away the old shutters under the bed in the middle bedroom. They could be used for shelves or something else, and the hardware can also be reused. For that matter, unless it's rotten, we shouldn't ever throw away lumber up there. It can be stored in the woodshed or behind the biffy until we need it, and the small leftover pieces can be burned for heat. Is that Herb enough for ya?
Here's how this year's projects went:
1. A light with a switch in the biffy shed. Look for a pencil-drawn arrow on the left side of the door frame for the switch location. The cage I put up around the bulb doesn't fit the fixture very well, but it should prevent breakage for now. I'll keep an eye out for a better, possibly non-plastic cheap-o light fixture for next year.
2. A "new" switchplug in the toilet side of the biffy. The plug is active when the exterior biffy light is on, and doesn't rely on the switch above it, which is for the interior light. I moved the fancy switch cover that was there into the living room.
3. A hanging pot & pan organizer in the kitchen. The hockey stick holding it up was almost too pretty to drill holes into. I forgot to use Eileen as a measurement for the shortest cook among us, but it turns out Toni is 5'2" -- same as Dana. There should be no problems reaching the pans up there, and it should be out of head-banging range for loading the woodbox. With the organizer loaded up, we had some occasional indoor wind chimes when the kitchen window and door were open at the same time (nothing loud, just the pots & pans clinking together). Don't put cast iron skillets on there. They're too heavy.
4. An overhead light in the front porch. After the flag pole base, this was the most difficult project I've done up there -- long story. It's a 17 watt LED fixture, but puts out the light of two 60 watt bulbs.
5. The tackleboxes have been washed out and organized. I condensed four of them down to three, moving a small plastic one up to the attic. There was a tiny sub-tacklebox that was full of what I hope was rust. I didn't bother much with that. Most of the "antique" lures & reels are in the black metal box on the right in the picture. I'm not an expert, but the other two (black plastic & gray metal) should be lake-ready. Here's the "team photo". I later added some prescription bottles to separate the lures and stuff so they don't tangle as much, and to add a little buoyancy in case a tacklebox ends up in the water.
6. The dock accessibility issue for Dad (and others) kind of took care of itself, so that I didn't have to do anything except ask Ray and Toni a bunch of questions. Toni showed up the next day with an aluminum ladder from an above ground swimming pool. He bolted it to the side of the dock, and it seems to work OK. It's not the sturdiest thing ever, but it should be good enough for helping with balance getting into and out of the boat. Does Toni charge for stuff like that? He probably should.
The following is a rundown of the new tools this year. The note left with the orange toolbox and all the stuff inside of it was unsigned, so thanx to whoever left it! (Sources say it was Dana & Dave.) Here's another "team photo". The new stuff with an asterisk is stored in the orange toolbox. Everything else is in the black toolbag unless otherwise noted.
> A 12 volt cordless drill (with a charger and extra battery, on a shelf in the main shed)
> A speed square
> Large drill bits*
> Some masonry bits*
> Some masonry bits*
> Some small spade bits*
> A 25 foot tape measure
> A big adjustable wrench
> A small ball-peen hammer
> Sockets galore*
> Sized wrenches galore*
> An orange toolbox
> A black toolbag
At the top of the picture there's socket set in a black plastic box that had what would be our third or fourth copy of each size socket. Dad needed a set, so that's where it went. If it's necessary to get it back, I'm sure that wouldn't be a big deal. We could still use an upgrade of some of the screwdrivers, but I'm officially done whining about the lack of tools at Keywaybeek.
Most of the new tools that I brought came from my Grandpa on my mom's side, Norm Maas. He's 93 and won't be puttering with his tools anymore due to arthritis and a few other things creeping up on him. I visited him and my Grandma Alice (94) in Florida before flying to Michigan and motoring up to the cottage. She's still running circles around 70 year olds. I was lucky as a kid to have two cottages to go to every summer. Norm & Alice had a fancy 4 bedroom cottage on Lake Michigan between Ludington and Manistee that saw a lot of use.
There's now a second mouse-proof food bucket in the front porch under the life jackets. The black roasting pan is now free of stored food. Please don't toss things out just because the expiration dates suggest they may have tasted better a few months ago. I'm sure the deep-freeze over the winter extends the usability of dry items. If the buckets would be better somewhere under the porch bed or elsewhere, OK.
I organized the toiletries & first aid drawers. There's no need to bring shaving cream, soap or razors in 2016. Or...earache pills?!? What the hell is that all about, and how old are those pills? That could be another good place to hide the shed key!
I got up WAY too early one morning, and needed a quiet activity that wouldn't wake Dad up, so I organized all the decks of cards in the cottage. I whittled the 11 decks that were in the dish bureau down to 5 or 6. The "kids' cards" in the orange bureau were reduced as well. Now there are about 10 extra decks of cards up in the attic inside of what used to be the main toolbox. All the decks are complete, except for one that has a joker replacement, and a little kids' "make a mess" deck, which is about 5 partial decks shuffled together. Pinochle decks are appropriately distributed, and the 500 and Euchre decks were undisturbed.
I got up WAY too early one morning, and needed a quiet activity that wouldn't wake Dad up, so I organized all the decks of cards in the cottage. I whittled the 11 decks that were in the dish bureau down to 5 or 6. The "kids' cards" in the orange bureau were reduced as well. Now there are about 10 extra decks of cards up in the attic inside of what used to be the main toolbox. All the decks are complete, except for one that has a joker replacement, and a little kids' "make a mess" deck, which is about 5 partial decks shuffled together. Pinochle decks are appropriately distributed, and the 500 and Euchre decks were undisturbed.
I moved the new weed whacker to the biffy shed to save room in the main shed for the swim ladder at close-up. (It doesn't fit in the flammables shed, and the small gas tank wouldn't be upright anyway.) The black handle hooks onto a screw that I put into a short shelf on the right side of the shed, which gets it up off the floor. Ideally, it would be put away after running out of gas. Something to stay on top of with these small motors is the internal fuel lines. I replaced a bunch of them recently, and it's pretty easy and cheap. The freezes up there could make it necessary to replace them every 5 years instead of 8 or 9, or however long it takes them to get crunchy. Is there a manual available?
The jukebox has been updated and is working fine. There are now 36,615 tunes to choose from for your dining and dancing pleasure. The mouse doesn't always work great. The Mac trackpad equivalent of a PC right-click is ctrl+click.
I took the "Older'n Dirt" CDs home with me. I'll bring them back next year, along with at least one more. I had a home computer die on me a while back, and I lost the playlists used to make those CDs. All that old music is on the jukebox anyway. Just type in "older'n dirt" in the search box of iTunes and then browse for the stuff you want to hear.
This year I made a couple of CDs for Carrol. Even with 36,000+ plus tunes, I had a hard time coming up with enough classical-ish music to fill two CD's. Everything I know about that kind of music came from Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd & Daffy Duck cartoons.
I left a bunch of clean, expendable food containers in a box on the top shelf under the sink -- mostly from cottage cheese, margerine and yogurt. If you make a huge batch of something (or buy too much), and want to take the food home or give it away, feel free to use them and not replace them.
I left a bunch of clean, expendable food containers in a box on the top shelf under the sink -- mostly from cottage cheese, margerine and yogurt. If you make a huge batch of something (or buy too much), and want to take the food home or give it away, feel free to use them and not replace them.
The tab for this year's projects was $34.35. The front porch light was part of last year's tab. Almost all the biffy electrical stuff came from my Grandpa's and my "collections". I'd rather do the itemization in an email, but those tend to get ignored, so:
Pot & Pan Organizer $17.79 on eBay
Chain for P&P Organizer $3.60 @ Home Hardware
Light Bulb cage $5.66 on eBay
Tool Bag $7.30 @ Harbor Freight Tools
Total $34.35
The switchplug, grounded power splitter, switchbox and various wires were all donated.
Does anyone still use the rock dock out front for boats? Since the demise of the big blue beater, I haven't seen it used much at all. Maybe the chore of setting up those ugly old tires on the rock (and pulling them out) should fall to the actual users. It might not be necessary to use all of the tires.
When we got there, the refrigerator was pushed back too close to the wall behind it. It needs about 1 1/2 to 2 inches at the back, or it won't get enough air, and will tend to run constantly. I bet a refrigerator door that can stop all flow through a cottage is bad fung shui.
Pot & Pan Organizer $17.79 on eBay
Chain for P&P Organizer $3.60 @ Home Hardware
Light Bulb cage $5.66 on eBay
Tool Bag $7.30 @ Harbor Freight Tools
Total $34.35
The switchplug, grounded power splitter, switchbox and various wires were all donated.
Does anyone still use the rock dock out front for boats? Since the demise of the big blue beater, I haven't seen it used much at all. Maybe the chore of setting up those ugly old tires on the rock (and pulling them out) should fall to the actual users. It might not be necessary to use all of the tires.
When we got there, the refrigerator was pushed back too close to the wall behind it. It needs about 1 1/2 to 2 inches at the back, or it won't get enough air, and will tend to run constantly. I bet a refrigerator door that can stop all flow through a cottage is bad fung shui.
I redid the plug end of the cord on the old kettle. If it's still acting up, let me know before next summer and I can replace the whole wire with another selection from my collection.
I did a casual inventory of the attic. It's in the Cottage Notes binder. I didn't bother with fine detail, like enumerating all the prehistoric percolator parts. There's quite a bit of room in the orange box for more small stuff. Someone who uses them may want to go through the pile of inflatable floaty things, and weed out any that don't hold air or won't get used.
I left a calculator in or on the dish bureau. It doesn't always turn on the first time "on" is pressed. Instructions for avoiding that are on the calculator itself, and the battery is brand new. Now that some of the cards are out of the way, we could put a small stapler in that drawer. A tiny pencil sharpener that works would also be nice. The current one breaks off the lead just as it's getting pointy. If I can find it, I might donate a very thin clipboard I have. Dad thinks we need one of his old hole-punchers to get un-holed paper neatly into the Cottage Notes binder. As someone who prefers typing, I don't care; but wouldn't buying some notebook paper be simpler and use up less space?
Here are the new flags I flew this year; Australian Navy, Texas Navy (1836-1846) and Prussia (Pre WW1):
Please note how the winter cap is oriented in pictures 2 & 3 -- with the white can on top, so it doesn't fill with rain & rust over the summer.
I did a casual inventory of the attic. It's in the Cottage Notes binder. I didn't bother with fine detail, like enumerating all the prehistoric percolator parts. There's quite a bit of room in the orange box for more small stuff. Someone who uses them may want to go through the pile of inflatable floaty things, and weed out any that don't hold air or won't get used.
I left a calculator in or on the dish bureau. It doesn't always turn on the first time "on" is pressed. Instructions for avoiding that are on the calculator itself, and the battery is brand new. Now that some of the cards are out of the way, we could put a small stapler in that drawer. A tiny pencil sharpener that works would also be nice. The current one breaks off the lead just as it's getting pointy. If I can find it, I might donate a very thin clipboard I have. Dad thinks we need one of his old hole-punchers to get un-holed paper neatly into the Cottage Notes binder. As someone who prefers typing, I don't care; but wouldn't buying some notebook paper be simpler and use up less space?
Here are the new flags I flew this year; Australian Navy, Texas Navy (1836-1846) and Prussia (Pre WW1):
Please note how the winter cap is oriented in pictures 2 & 3 -- with the white can on top, so it doesn't fill with rain & rust over the summer.
We had lots of hummingbirds around, and one chipmunk that was so tame I kept an eye on where I was stepping while I was out by the woodshed working on stuff. Here's a nice little video I got of him or her grabbing a peanut and scurrying up my arm. There were also a pair of striped woodpeckers hanging around, and more dragonflies than I've ever seen, mostly in the few hours before sunset. A friendly fat brown dog wandered around the driveway a few times. Not much went unsniffed.
That's about it. As usual, I'm sure I forgot some stuff, and this may get rewritten a few times before it's final. So check back later. See ya in 2016!
-Jim
