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Tag: cottage life

Big weekend spent getting things done.

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This one was a dozy. Moving docks, ramps, boats, deck boards, cables, snowmobiles, construction equipment, cleaning up the summer sports equipment and fitting in some time on the water, and a bon fire with S’mores. If it could be accomplished in 48 hours we just about did it vand now my hands, knees and back are grounded for a day or two to relax and recuperate.

Felt like we were some of the last people on the lake. I know that isn’t true, lots of multi million dollar estates up the Kawartha way, so unlikely we were actually alone, but the lake was still at times, and boats were few and far between. The stars were bright, and the temperatures this weekend exceptional! What a boon! Nothing like moving docks for the winter in 20°C weather & sunshine. It got a little wavy on the water yesterday, but today it was almost glass.

I was less than appreciative of my kids being up before the sun, but the sun rise itself was a beauty today.

If you want to enjoy the cottage and all of the toys, you have to be prepared to put them away and service them in the off season. Which is no small task if you have a fair number of toys lying around for the whole family to enjoy! Winterize, storage & maintenance. Weee! Ciao Bella!

256 Mb of RAM. How did we live like this.

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I remember one winter holiday inbetween Christmas and New Year’s where my whole family went out to buy computers. I was soon to go off to University, and my parents needed one for the house. And the one I bought was refurbished (less expensive) and was rocking out with 256 mb of RAM. It came with a tower, various cords and a keyboard. I had a monitor at home, a hold over from an even older computer I’d inherited from my oldest brother. We all thought it was the bees knees but by today’s standards I think my smart phone could outpace it consistently in just about every task. And that’s just in my pocket. All I did was use word, ms paint and run the Encarta encyclopedia on it. It didn’t have any games, other than a brick breaker that I was ever so slightly addicted to. I didn’t even have a desk for it. I sat on the floor and kept the unit up on a coffee table. Just the thought of writing term papers and essays while sitting cross legged on the floor for a year or more makes my hips go numb now. Times have changed. Life was kinda ghetto in my late teens and early twenties. When I took over the financial responsibility for myself that level of comfort and expectations fell through the floor rapidly. Reality was not kind. Mattress on the floor, no bed frame. Getting a job after university was when I bought a bed frame, and that was a futon, with an “extra firm” futon mattress which I paid extra for, because it was thicker and offered more resistance than a regular futon mattress, which is like a slightly overstuffed duvet. Not much to write home about. But I was off the floor. Still have that futon frame in my garage, all these decades later. If my kids go off to post secondary education, I’ll buy them a bed frame and a mattress and a desk. Don’t start off like a near homeless bum like I did. Or I’ll make them desks, who knows. Got a while to go yet before either one is in a position to leave the nest briefly for school, trades or an apprenticeship.

One fine Saturday morning round these parts today. Sun is shining, and the air is fresh and warm. We were lucky enough that my eldest was able to pick up wake boarding this summer. Did us all proud. Gets up no problem from water starts, carves about in the wake when she wants to, and can run for several minutes before the old forearms and quads start to give out. Very impressed! Next year she can start to learn tricks and stunts! Or even tackle wake surfing behind her uncles faster boat. The youngest was too intimidated to really give it a go. Cried and let go of the tow rope immediately. Maybe next year.