My nephew Jack is currently enrolled in videography at Durham College. His talent for video production and photography has been obvious for years to those of us that know him well. His latest passion involves capturing breathtaking footage and pictures with drone photography.
If you have a business that could use his talent and skills, contact Jack through the email address listed in the photo credits below. He currently lives in Ingleside, Ontario area but will travel to the Ottawa area and cottage country.
On a recent visit to our family cottage, he took some amazing pictures of our property and the lake. Click on the pictures to enlarge this selection of his drone photography. That is Jack, my son, and a friend in the boat on the lake. I plan to enlarge and frame one of these for my hubby’s upcoming birthday…
They are all so gorgeous, my dilemma now is choosing just one to enlarge and frame. Which one do you like best?
Update on Drone Photography
I finally decided on one of Jack’s drone photography selections and I could not be happier with my choice. It looks awesome framed above our bed at the cottage.
Try Posterjack for Your Framing Options
Use my link to order prints from Posterjack, they have tons of options to choose from. The process is simple. Send them a JPEG online, the site will tell you if the resolution is good enough for the size of picture you want. I also used Posterjack previously for stretched canvas pictures of my garden and my favourite farm, as well as an awesome picture of our cottage years ago.
Is anyone else annoyed that Justin Trudeau is spending Easter weekend at his cottage in Quebec with his wife, children, mother, and staff? Once again, he is playing “Do as I Say and not as I do.”
The rest of us, however, have been implored to practice social distancing. To stay away from anyone that does not live with us, especially those over the age of 70, restrict travel to essential trips, stay away from our cottages, avoid congregating in groups of more than five, and limit trips across the Ontario/Quebec border to essential ones.
With his weekend jaunt, Trudeau has broken all the rules he has imposed on us. He crossed the Ontario/Quebec border, went to his cottage, and is spending time with those not in his immediate family, including his 71-year-old mother.
In the meantime, most of us are complying with the social distancing rules. You can see it in the deserted roadways, parking lots, and parks, as well as the direction arrows and other limitations in the grocery stores. Chats with neighbours are from the ends of our respective driveways. Socializing with friends and family is achieved through Zoom “meetings” or Facebook video chats. Our evening walks are eerie, like walking through a ghost town. Not that I have experienced a ghost town, but I can imagine.
Our three sons and 4 grandchildren do not live with us so we have only seen them on videos or from a distance of 6 feet for almost a month now. This has been very confusing for the grandchildren as they don’t understand why they cannot visit, play with, snuggle, and hug this Grandma or their other grandparents. We have resisted taking trips to our cottage, located in a remote area of Ontario. We have limited our exposure to others by reducing grocery shopping to once a week and forgoing other shopping altogether. Even my 60th birthday was regulated by social distancing rules.
Like most other residents of Canada, we have been following these recommendations ASÂ REQUESTED BY OUR GOVERNMENT, yet our leader is not practicing social distancing. Instead, he is playing “Do as I Say and not as I do.”
This is not a good way to lead a country through turbulent times, especially if you expect us to follow the rules.
Photo credit from feature image (top of page) to Markus Spiske and Pexels
The winter of 2015 was so cold our buried water pipe running between the lake and our cottage froze in Ompah, Ontario. This has never happened before and the cottage was built way back in 1972. Apparently, the frost line was deeper than normal for this area of Canada this winter. Digging down to find the buried water pipe, we found the ground frozen solid six feet down! Fortunately, the soil at the cottage is sandy rather than full of clay as it is here in Kanata, although it was still a big job. This was just the beginning of our cottage renovations that just keep on going.
Replacing the Water Pipe
The good news is we had planned (eventually) to rebuild the patio, so the frozen pipe turned out to be the motivation to start the patio project. This project turned out to be an ongoing adventure, however, snowballing into rebuilding the patio and deck, which then lead to considering replacing doors and windows.
The pipe was rerouted so it no longer goes under the covered patio, but instead will be snow-covered for better insulation in winters to come. This first set of pictures shows the soil that was displaced while attempting to move the water pipe…
Patio Renovation
Next up was digging up the existing patio and expanding the width. length and depth so it is more comfortable. Eventually, we plan on replacing and adding to the existing patio stones so they extend out further than the deck above. Perhaps the addition of a hot tub is on the horizon too.
Deck Renovation
Then came removing the old deck, and discovering the damage caused by carpenter ants…
then replacing the old, chewed boards, footings, and joists with new ones…
Up next we added a waterproofing system to keep the patio dry, added the floorboards, then the posts and railings. Final results: an upper deck for viewing or sunbathing, and a lower, covered patio, perfect for storm watching, reading, or working in the shade…
Unfortunately, our cottage renovations have been put on the back burner because of a family issue. Â My father-in-law fell and broke his hip and the ensuing drama had us very busy. Â The side railings of the deck still have to be installed, including a hummingbird fence insert for a privacy screen.
New Windows and Doors for Rooms with a View
As renovations continued at our family cottage, our front door and bedroom window have now been replaced with patio doors, creating rooms with a spectacular view of the lake…
We enlisted the help of two sons and a friend to remove the old door and window, create the necessary rough-ins and install the new doors…
The process of finding, ordering, and getting patio doors delivered to the cottage was a frustrating experience. In this age of online shopping, it was next to impossible to see the doors in real life before ordering. Due to the possible extreme weather conditions at the cottage, we wanted something more durable than the base models available at local DIY stores like Home Depot or Lowes. Stores that specialized in patio doors could not show us any doors and were very confusing on the details of what we were trying to order. Thanks to the manager of theLookout Home Hardware Building Centerin Plevna we were able to order doors specific to our needs and even get them delivered to the cottage.
BEFOREAFTER
Now that this project is complete, we plan to add windows to the side of the cottage and replace the door at the side as well as the window at the back with patio doors.Â
When the exterior is complete, including new siding, the interior renovations begin…stay tuned!
Lumber Shortage Thwarts New Dock Steps
Anyone trying to complete a DIY project involving wood recently knows what I mean about a lumber shortage. I’m not sure just how widespread the shortage was, but we sure felt it here in the Ottawa area. Of course, the shortage is COVID related, isn’t everything bad related to the dreaded virus these days?
Last fall, when we dug up most of our cottage property to install a new water pipe, we decided to replace and widen the ancient steps and base to our dock. We figured we could get them replaced before cottage season began in earnest.
Enter the pandemic, throwing everything and everyone into chaos, even the best-laid plans.
Luckily hubby had some pressure-treated lumber stashed away, remnants from our deck project several summers ago. I won’t be living down this (only) advantage of his “discard nothing” personality anytime soon!
We were able to get started using this leftover lumber but had to wait (what seemed like) forever for the floorboards. I was finally able to locate some 12-footers we needed to finish the project this past week. Thankfully, our son has a large truck and could transport the boards from Ottawa to the cottage for us.
We finally completed the project, a few months later than planned. This base will look awesome next summer when the cedars are trimmed and a few of my specialties, planters full of colorful flowers, are added.
Back Veranda and Garden
On days when the wind is blowing off the lake from the north, we prefer to sit on the south, sunnier side of the cottage. A new veranda on that side of the cottage was just the answer. It also makes cleaning out the eavestrough easier for hubby.
Once the veranda began to take shape, I marked out a design for a new garden bed in front of the veranda. We removed the sod from the area, transplanting it to the slope that leads down to the lake. We also added stepping stones so we could easily cross the yard.
The pictures show the progression of both the veranda and the garden…
Ideas for more cottage renovations just keep turning up…stay tuned!
