It felt like summer this past weekend at Horn Lake;
When we arrived at the cottage the driveway was blocked about 100 feet in off the access road by a big dead tree that had fallen across the driveway (Boy do we need a chainsaw) after 15 minutes of moving logs off the road we were on our way.
The ice in our inlet was all gone but later reports from Bill was that he had ice in from of his cottage when he arrived Saturday morning and it was gone by the evening. There is another tree that has fallen, it was an 80 foot spruce that was on the right side of the short driveway to the Beach House. My friend Chad and I got out the axes and the ATV and cut it up and dragged it temporarily to the side of the driveway just before the run down shed. When Mike comes up on the long weekend with the chain saw we can cut/clean and stack it. The grounds are clear of snow but there has to be leaves on every square foot of the property. I don’t think that a few rakes and man power are going to be able to do the job, unless you were planning on raking leaves all weekend and getting blisters. I have two electric leaf blowers and would welcome a gas powered blower to assist in the clean up they are only $89 at XS-Cargo. I am leaving the leaf cleanup for the May long weekend.
Water Report:
On the long weekend when Siobhan and I were up we solved a lot of the water problems in the All Season cabin. I bumped up the operating pressure from 30 PSI to 50 PSI, and all the screen traps in all the taps and shower head were full of rust and seriously restricting the water flow. After cleaning them twice and bumping the pressure It almost feels like home. There is an Ozonator and standard cartridge filter that I have stored under the sink that we will need to install.
This weekend I got the boat and the dock in the water. I raised the water line for the all season cottage and tied it to a jug so it hovers about 3 feet from the surface. This worked well at solving the tea colored water in the cabin and by Sunday I was able to drink water straight from the tap and it was as clear as the bottled water we brought.
I put the backflow valve/water intake end on the line for the other two cabins, it’s a temporary jig where I only put a 4 ft piece of black hose on the line in the water and anchored it with the rusty tire rim that was in the water near the beach. We’ll need to put the 30 foot hose on and run it further into the lake before we attempt to hook up the water for the two cabins. I say attempt because I tried this weekend to hook them up and failed. I was able to get the Rustic cabin’s water running and plugged in the septic pump, all was well. It took about 8 liters of water to prime the pump on the side of the Beach house. When I turned on the water for the Beach house I discovered 3 pipe breaks, co-incidentally there were 3 drain taps on those 3 lines that we didn’t open when turning off the water in the fall. I fixed one of the lines by patching it with black water hose (I will need to reinstall the tap when I repair it properly) I will bring up my plumping kit and soldering torch on the weekend before the May 2-4 and fix up the water under the cabin. I would like to look at possibly rerouting the waterlines under the house. As there is a lot of pipe that seems to do a double run, it looks like it was done in order to run the 3 drains that we didn’t open to the side of the house. There is a 3 tap block under the cabin that enables shutting water off to the Rustic and Beach cabins. The taps leak and need to have the seals redone before we hook the water up again, I have the seal kits and will do it when I’m up next.
The pressure tank on the water system for the Beach House and Rustic cottages is very small. I see that Princess Auto has pressure tanks on sale this month for $89. If you haven’t’ noticed the pump runs quite often, just flushing a toilet in either cabin causes the pressure to drop enough to engage it. A larger tank would be better in the long run.
After hooking up and priming the pump on those two cottages I ended up draining the lines and turning it all off. There is a leak on the elbow just inform of the pump intake on the line to the lake. We have the parts in the tool shed but it needs to be replaced before we hook it up again. Bottom line on the water, 4 leaks, need filters, perhaps a new pressure tanks.
BBQ’s
I made one decent BBQ from the two that were still usable and it’s still in bad shape, the paint on the inside is peeling and the bun rack is flaking off shards of rust. We need to buy 2 maybe 3 more BBQ’s, I checked all the BBQ’s that were there and we really have only one that works in any usable state. I would prefer not to buy the $149 Zellers BBQ but invest in real BBQ’s that are going to last and will be worth replacing the burner and grills in the future if they need replacing.
I ran out of propane weekend before last, and used the propane exchange system at a gas station near Burk’s Fall’s ($22) There is an empty tank at the cottage but it has expired, I figure since she didn’t check the date on the last tank I’ll trade it in for a new one on the exchange program, this still leaves us missing one tank. I still have Al’s tank he left behind and will try the exchange trick as well. Once all three are up and running it’s only $10.99 to refill them at Costco, we should have a spare 4th tank incase we run out so we aren’t scavenging off of the other 2 BBQ’s.
Docks
I put in the floating dock and have discussed with Bill the acquisition of one of his 16 ft docks for the cottage. It may need poles or cleats to install it but I have a plan to fabricate them from raw materials (Mike how’s the free electric welder coming?) There is a 16 ft dock that is at the end of the field, it needs some boards but it looks like it’s usable. I was thinking of two separate docks for the property, one at the Back Bay as well as extending the floating dock out far enough so we can dive of the end without fear of hitting bottom or rocks. The dock system in the bay where the Pontoon boat was parked should be long enough to fit al the paddle boats the small fishing boat and would be useful for canoes, kayaks and easy access to the boats from a stable platform. Either way I’m not looking at a huge investment in a new dock system but getting by with what we already have for the time being. Budget for docks and dock hardware $500 ?? We’ll need all the hooks and hardware to tie the boats up as well as some poles, feet and adjustable collars for the poles that will be holding the docks above the water.
Break-in’s
Bill reported that a couple of cottages on his side of the lake we broken into over the winter. Bill went up this weekend to check and he was missing the Tire off his Camp Trailer, the thieves were nice enough to place the nuts on the bumper and leave the wheel cover behind. As we leave more stuff at the cottage it might be a good idea to devise a lockup area that is impenetrable and inconspicuous. Even a lockup under the all season cabin up under the cottage where you’d have to know what you were looking for to get at it would be piece of mind. My main concerns are my fishing gear and trolling motor and Bill’s 9.9 motor.
Rentals
I have confirmed with Harry Schlange (The 20 year renters) that they have all three cottages on the last weekend of August as follows $995 for the modern one, $895 for the rustic cottage, and $795 for the one on the rock. Total $2685. Saturday to Saturday rental period. He is away on business this week but I will be negotiating extra days for the long weekend for a potential extra $660 when he returns. This will be paid up in full before mid May and will cover the Property Taxes for the rest of the year ($2900) Next bill is $952. in June.
Friends
My friends have be asking about the July 1st weekend, historically this is the week that we’d all rent a cabin in Perth together and light up the sky with close to a thousand dollars in fireworks. As these are my immediate and best friends I am not inclined to charge them rent but to have then supply food and Beer for the weekend and invite them as guests for the weekend. IF and only IF all of the cottages are not rented on that weekend I might be looking to a 4 day weekend with friends. As well, Mike Boal has offered to park (store) his Tent trailer at the cottage and it could be used for over flow (or Kids) if we want it.
May long weekend.
Typically (every year but one in the last 15 years) we rent a cottage on the May long weekend, it’s a long tradition and it’s how I meet Siobhan (Buckhorn lake) 11 years ago this May long weekend. I am hoping that the weekend isn’t all work but as is my nature I will continue to putter around doing work like activities all weekend. End goal, I would assume is to have everything operational and the grounds cleaned up, the sooner the chores are done in the day the soon we can relax?
In any case I am going up the weekend prior to the May long weekend to ensure that the cottages have water running and are ready for people when they arrive Friday night.
Cash Flow
I will create a report of the account balances and sent it out before the end of the month, please deposit $750 to cover Mortgage, Insurance, Phone and Hydro.
Items of Interest
My friend Jeremy Ashe has donated a perfectly good washing machine. I think that we could clean up the run down shed and install it there since it has running water and septic hook up. I am not entertaining the idea of a dryer unless it runs off propane or is as efficient as the wind and sun.
I am bringing up my Basket Ball net and an Ikea wardrobe for the 3rd bedroom in the all season cottage that doesn’t have a closet or drawers. I also have a beer fridge that I’d like to bring up and put in the garage with a lock for beer storage or keg hook up, mmmm 30 Liters of Muskoka Cream Ale on tap….
Wood Stove/Heating
As you may or may not know there is a need for a wood stove in the all season cottage. It would pay for itself in 4 seasons in hydro savings alone, according to my calculations I use 9 Kilowatts on a weekend in the winter and only two last weekend that’s 7x40x1.096x5.5 cents. a savings of about $17-$20 every two days in the winter, since the cottage was in use for about 20 days this winters using full electric heat that’s a realized savings of $170 to $200 a season. Sarah and Daryl have a 20% coupon for Home Depot that expires at the end of the month. I have no problem fronting the money for the stove and as long as everyone agrees on a style and location in the cabin. If that works for you, than I’d like to proceed. Even if we can agree in principle, that would be enough to save a couple of hundred dollars of the cost. If a consensus can’t be reached by the expiration of the coupon, I would start looking for a used one in the $300-$500 dollar range.
I have turned off all sources of heat in the cabins this past weekend. This included the heater in the basement. I had worked out a system where I turned off the heat in the bedrooms and closed the doors, left the heat in the bathroom at 10 and closed the door and turned back the heat in the kitchen and living room to 10 and opened the blinds to let the sun heat up the place. A further savings could be had if we can devise a system to only heat the bathroom and basement and be able to drain the kitchen pipes and sink drain so the main cabin can be left at or around zero in the winter.
I also turned off the water pump breaker and hot water heater and feel it’s a good practice when leaving the cabins unoccupied to prevent a leak or pipe break from running the pump until it burns out.
Repairs
The cottage inspection indicated that two roofs needed to be redone in the next few years, well I just happened to be shopping at Princess Auto and came across an Air powered Roofing gun on sale for $133.33 I just had to buy it and 4000 roofing nails. Can’t wait…. I also need to redo my roof this year so I figured it was a justifiable expense. ;)
I’ll go over the report they gave us and make a list of recommended and required repairs, there is stuff like GFI’s on two of the cottages and water hot and cold that is reversed in some of the bathrooms etc etc. I’d like to plan the repairs so we can budget for the added expense over a period of time.
