A great start to the summer

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Cottage front facing the lake
Another great cottage weekend. It was perfect. Well, not quite! We did not exactly run out of water but we had to prime the pump a number of times to keep a constant flow of water for the cottage. The pump is 15 years old and probably near the end of its life.

Spring clean-up
Getting the property in shape means picking up branches, cleaning pine needles away and checking for winter damage. Thankfully there was very little to clean up.

Enjoying a meal in the porch
We enjoy relaxing in the sun porch during the bug season. Where we are, a screened-in porch is absolutely essential to enjoy the "outdoors" while still being protected from the elements. Our screened-in porch is large enough that we can have company over, have a great meal and relax without those little pesky things bugging us. Besides who wants to wear Deet (bug spray). I hate wearing that stuff although it does work.

Our little motor boat
 We had the boat out. While I had the chance I changed the lower end and put fresh gas into our little 5 hp motor. She ran like a charm throughout the entire weekend.

There are always many opportunities to take walks in the woods and we did so several times during the holiday weekend. As you can see the leaves are just starting to come out. The air was fresh and  the walk was enjoyable and we had a great time.
Walk in the woods
Back to water troubles. My amateur troubleshooting skills revealed that it is at the pump end. Either the seals are gone, the pump is gone or perhaps even the sand point is clogged. I am suspecting the latter. Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed and fixed soon! Our trusty handyman, who opens and closes our cottage every year, knows a thing or two about installing water pumps / plumbing and hopefully he will have everything back to normal once we get back up there in the beginning of summer.

Water troubles
Otherwise the weekend was perfect. The weather was in the high teens (18-19C) when we arrived and as the weekend progressed we reached the high twenties. Not quite sunbathing weather but very nice. Swimming was out of the question since the water was still quite cool.
Traditional cottage meal of BBQ chicken
But for a freakish wild thunderstorm on Monday the weather held on. However, it was enough to summon the blackflies and mosquitoes so staying outdoors for any length of time was a bit of a challenge unless a brisk wind was up. With any luck those pesky little things will be gone by the time we arrive in early July.

We are anxiously awaiting the start ot the summer season.

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