Oct 16 - a near miss

When we left the cottage early September, expecting to be back early October, I had no worries about frost. Yes, we might get frost that would harm plants; no, we wouldn't get frost that might harm "things". Things, in this case, might include -- power washer, outboard motor, lake water pump -- among other possibilities. Those listed would be first-stage exposures. Second stage exposures would be underground pipes (water, sewage), water pipes in the house itself etc.

While I didn't worry about the house completely freezing, i.e. burst pipes & ruined wine (horrors !), I was thinking about how long it would take to heat up the house if the internal temperature was in the 30's, so I exchanged emails with Jason and he double checked that I'd left the heat on and the thermostat set at 50F. Of course he went the extra mile and upped it to 65F before we arrived, which was great.

Next on my "concerned list" were the 40 Mercury on the Whaler, the lake water pump and the power washer. I knew that I'd raised the motor out of the water when I pulled up the Whaler, potentially exposing the cooling system to freezing since the motor would not have a chance to completely drain. So far so good on that score -- the motor ran fine yesterday -- I'll be more sure when I pull the boat out of the water and change the bottom end oil in a couple of weeks. If it's clean, then we're in good shape.

The water pump and the power washer were not too much of a worry -- first of all they would not be hugely expensive to replace and second of all they were in enclosed buildings -- the power washer in the barn and the water pump in the shed. Since the ground temperature is still warm, they would be protected. Well, I was wrong on both counts but we made out ok.

I went into the barn yesterday morning to start planning on moving things around and couldn't find the power washer. Huh ? Whoops -- it was in the boathouse ... with the door not completely closed. However, I think that it's ok since a) it's right by the lake and b) the boathouse is built like a bunker, partly underground. I pulled it out yesterday and ran the last dribble of gas out of it, left the top off the gas tank after it quit and then moved it inside at the end of the day.

The shed ... door was left open. Rats. I would have sworn that I'd closed the door but when I did try and close the door it was blocked by grass and weeds -- clearly it had been left open. Water was frozen in the pipes. The pressure gauge read 60 psi but nothing would come out of the faucets. The motor ... hummed when I turned it on. This was bad news but I didn't see any water anywhere so perhaps I got lucky -- as it turned out, yes. Later in the day as it warmed up I turned on the faucets and the water trickled out and then gradually increased its flow as it wore away the ice. The motor still hummed ... come back later. Around 3pm I tried again, and the motor ran, pumped up the pressure, fed all the faucets down at shed level as well as up at the garden -- success. I opened up all the valves, turned the pump off, let everything drain, opened the priming plug and added anti-freeze, pulled the foot valve and pipe out of the water, drained them ... we're now set for the winter.

Back to the morning -- I froze, naturally, riding the 4-wheeler to my minnow spot in the frosty air. I walked into the bush down to the pond -- rats, it's frozen over ! I repeatedly threw the minnow traps out to crack the ice and eventually got them both into the water through their respective holes. Were there any minnows under the ice ? Time would tell, but long story short when I came back later in the day the pond was partly open with a couple of minnows in one trap and a dozen or so in the other. I took the minnows home and re-set the traps.

When I got back from first setting the traps Sandy said that Jim had been over, wanting to bring over his kayaks for storage. Jim doesn't let any grass grow under his feet ... or leaves sit on his lawn for that matter ! I had my second breakfast and went over by ATC, with Abby. Abby got a warm greeting from both Jim and Bonnie and Jim followed me back pulling his trailer with his canoe and kayaks loaded. I think that he was in a rush because it's the trailer that he uses for hauling leaves.

Anyway, we moved the boats from his trailer to my Whaler trailer in the barn. I wanted to have them there for ease of movement around the barn, planning on setting up a rack for the 6 kayaks and canoe (three of Jim's, two of ours, two of Stef & Aaron's). Jim went home and I studied the situation and decided to move his stuff to the Bayliner trailer instead, and pulled the Whaler trailer down to the waterfront to load up Stef & Aaron's kayaks. That done, I got the five tied down to the Bayliner trailer and into the barn. I'll move our two kayaks later -- Sandy might still go out for a ride.

Normally our two kayaks are stored in the boathouse but with the Bayliner there is no room for these hanging from the roof. I could still change my mind and simply slide them on top of the Bayliner but am not sure that they'd fit. My plan for the winter is to have the Bayliner trailer loaded with canoe and kayaks, the Whaler trailer, loaded with the Whaler and the ATC's all in the barn. That would leave space for a car, hopefully. Oh yes, the box trailer is also in there. Oh yes, the pile of wood leftover from the house build is in there too.

Also in the barn is the chipper ... the never used chipper ... I need to take that down to Toronto and have Stef list it on Craigslist perhaps. We ... no Sandy ... bought this for Radnor, intending on using it on all the leaves there, but it was easier to simply push them into the surrounding bush where they composted naturally. Shredding them would not have made any difference. It was an expensive beast, only used twice. Ah well, I've made similar sized and larger errors .

I had also gone into town before hooking up with Jim. At the General Store the lady told me -- "I just put all your mail in a box, not knowing when you'd be back". Ha. I came home with mail, milk, chicken soup base, yogurt and soda water. Sandy is still trying to increase her water intake, she's always got a wine glass in hand these days but of course it's water, right ? It just changes color after 5pm.

I went fishing down by Grumblenot Island, catching a couple of bites but nothing to clean. It was cold. I was cold. I might have done better at the end of Smith's Bay ... perhaps another day ... but with the water temperature now at 52.5F the fish might have all moved to deeper water.

So I got a fair amount done yesterday in terms of closing up. I hadn't intended on doing a whole bunch in one day but circumstances and cold weather prevailed. I still have a long list, some easy (attach extension cord to evestrough warmer), to harder (hang tarps around gazebo). Oh yes, I did do one more thing ... plug in the Christmas lights on the deck. Sandy never commented so I assume that she thought that they'd been on all the time.

The sky is turning lighter. A couple of wispy clouds hang over the trees. The occasional duck races by just over tree level. It's almost glassy calm. A fog hangs over the water. With the temperature below freezing, the water is warmer than the air. Today promises to be another sunny day. I'll putter around here some more; nothing else on the agenda. Tomorrow I'll head into either Britt or Sudbury for Mass. It looks like we have one more night of frost ahead of us and then it warms up, which means, of course, that it rains. Today through Monday are our sunny days, then four days of rain in the forecast. Who knows beyond that.

Should I go fishing this morning ? Do I want to freeze my butt ? These are tough questions.

Onward ...