While shopping for another part of our new deck at the cottage, I saw a black metal panel that I thought would make a beautiful privacy screen. We need something at the side of the deck between our cottage and the one next door. The panel I saw was not large enough, so I started looking around at various stores to see if I could find something more suitable.
I have been very busy with my gardening business, so my husband has been going up to the cottage a few days during the week to work on the deck. Last weekend when I went up, the privacy screen was in place…He framed it and set it into a wall of boards like the decking so it looks like a framedpiece of art!
I heard that dragonflies are released each spring on Palmerston Lake where our cottage is located. This practice is to reduce the number of annoying mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies, black flies and such, naturally…
While I have seen numerous dragonflies circling around, I had never seen one catch or eat any of the thousands of mosquitoes or black, deer and horse flys prevalent this time of year at the lake. Until this past weekend…
As we worked on the final stages of our new deck project, a large blue dragonfly landed right beside us on a board, with a horsefly in its grasp. For the next 30 minutes, the dragonfly chomped away on the horsefly, paying no attention to us. It was so intent on devouring its prize, that it did not budge as I snapped pictures and a video of the action from inches away…
Watch the jaws at work:
Trying to stuff the whole horse fly into its mouth…
and then finishing it off:
Shortly after it had devoured the fly, the dragonfly took off and I got back to work. I bet the dragonfly flew off to have a nap somewhere; that was a workout! The bugs seem to be worse than ever this spring, but I have proof there is now one less horse fly around to bite me!
When we discovered that our water pipe running from the cottage to the lake had frozen this past winter, we decided to dig it up, replace portions and reroute the rest so that it would be buried deeper and under snow cover for future winters. This project turned out to be an ongoing adventure, snowballing into rebuilding the patio and deck, which then lead to considering replacing doors and windows, which will have to wait.
This first set of pictures shows the soil that was displaced attempting to move the water pipe…
Next up was digging up the existing patio and expanding the width. length and depth so it is more comfortable. 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…
Then adding a waterproofing system to keep the patio dry, adding 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 project has been put on the back burner because of a family issue. My father-in-law fell and broke his hip in June this past summer and the ensuing drama has had us very busy. The side railings of the deck still have to be installed, including a hummingbird fence insert for a privacy screen:
Stay tuned for a spring update on this ever-growing cottage project…
