We bought a camp!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I know, I know, you have all seen enough sunset on the lake photos already but here's another one.

And I'm going to follow it up with a a sunrise photo as well, just for variety.

And a photo of Megan and I because what's the point of having property out in the woods of you can't do embarrassing things like take selfies once in a while?   

Lastly, as promised, I tried to take a photo of the stars.  It's not a great photo and I think I need more practice, but this was my first attempt.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oops, sorry, I accidentally posted two sunset photos.   

Here is the sunrise one.  I could really get used to waking up to this kind of thing every day.

And, for the fun of it, I had Google enhance the starry photo to make it look better.   

Def

[BPRoberts]

Cool shot of the owl, Grant. They're not something you see too often.

[LoopCutter]

 
Owls are very private birds.
Great pictures!  Enjoyed every single one of them.

I swear, Megan gets prettier each time you picture her. And, you, what can I say that you haven’t previously thought.

But, wow, Megan and the enhanced starry images are just HEAVENLY!  🌹

[Grant Lamontagne]

One little detail I may have missed when telling you all about our property is that it might just be  little bit famous, if you are the reading type.  Specifically if you are the type to have read The Tent Dwellers, by Albert Bigelow Paine, a contemporary of Mark Twain.  If you haven't read it, I can highly recommend it:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33846

Its a true story about two wealthy American adventurers who decide to go on a fishing trip to Nova Scotia, and, as with any adventure, they get a lot more than they bargained for.  As you are reading the first couple of chapters I think that you will agree that Eddie (at least!) would have been a very prolific member here at MTO if he were still alive today!

When Albert arrives in Nova Scotia he meets up with Eddie at a place called Milford House, where they prepare for their trip through the wilderness, hunting and fishing and camping as they go.

Last weekend Megan and I stayed at Milford House largely because it is just a few minutes away from our camp (nine minutes, according to Google at least) and it gave us a chance to work on the camp while also having indoor plumbing, which is just about all that our camp is missing at this point.

And, while Albert and Eddie didn't visit ur lake in particular, it is part of the very same system of lakes that they did travel around.  It's the same landscape and wilderness described in the book, so if you really want to get a feel for what our camp is like, check it out!

And yes, it has been well over a century since their trip, but honestly, not much has changed.  There's just a few less moose (overhunting) and a lot more paved roads than in the book.

It's kind of funny actually- we have the original land survey for our property and it says things like "from the Elm tree by the large boulder to the boulder by the water."  This is hilarious to me as the whole property has boulders and trees all through it- which one are they referring to?   

Anyways, here are a couple of pics from Milford House- I didn't really get any at our place this weekend.

We will be heading up Friday evening again to try and get some more done.  We still have a few months of nice weather left, but we are starting to feel the crunch!   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Sorry, forgot the photos.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I forgot to post this- we were in the local town of Annapolis Royal last weekend and I saw this ad.  For some reason I figured folks here would appreciate it!   

Def

[LoopCutter]

That is so well worth the read!

Especially the review, pure marketing and edgy!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I see what you did there.... 

I thought the ad was brilliant and I may just bring him a knife someday just because of the joy I got from reading it.

Def

[nate j]

I forgot to post this- we were in the local town of Annapolis Royal last weekend and I saw this ad.  For some reason I figured folks here would appreciate it!   

Def

[Dutch_Tooler]

Just stumbled over this thread (navigating the forum on a phone is a bit challenging at times  ).

What a nice project in what looks like a stunningly beautiful place! Makes for an entertaining read too. Thanks for starting it and for keeping us updated, and good luck to you two, the progress you're making is phenomenal  

Edited to add: I see a number of power tools, but I'm assuming the humble multitool or two will find occasional use, right?

[pfrsantos]

I see what you did there.... 

I thought the ad was brilliant and I may just bring him a knife someday just because of the joy I got from reading it.

Def

While you do that, invite him to join MTo. I believe he'll fit right in!

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Just stumbled over this thread (navigating the forum on a phone is a bit challenging at times  ).

What a nice project in what looks like a stunningly beautiful place! Makes for an entertaining read too. Thanks for starting it and for keeping us updated, and good luck to you two, the progress you're making is phenomenal  

Edited to add: I see a number of power tools, but I'm assuming the humble multitool or two will find occasional use, right?

My Vic Compact and Leatherman Bond have been used the most as far as EDC tools, and the various OLight OClips have also been indispensable for outdoor peeing in the middle of the night since we don't have indoor plumbing set up yet!   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Here is a few pics from last weekend- since we needed to replace 2/3's of the front wall due to rot, we needed to get the exposed wood stained or painted before winter or we'd be replacing it all again in the spring!   

Needless to say, it was more work than we had anticipated.   

Megan found a color of solid stain at Home Depot that seemed to closely match the old stain, so we grabbed two gallons of Padre Brown and started scraping the older section of wall.

We started staining on the new section and kept comparing it to the old section and thinking that it was going to match then it wasn't going to match then it was, followed by it wasn't.

In the end it matches well enough that the condition of the new/old wall is more obvious than the slight difference in color.   

Even though things are cooling off we still had a great time.  We had to bundle up as it was somewhere around 5C overnight and there is currently no heat in the cabin since we had to tear out the old wood stove.  That wasn't a big problem, and we slept quite comfortably in the cabin, but it was a bit brisk the next morning when the below photo was taken.

But, as you can see from the panorama I took on the beach, it is worth all of the work and effort we are putting in!

Def

[nate j]

Looks like it is really coming along!
 

[Grant Lamontagne]

There are a few big jobs left, but we are getting there!

We still need a new roof (probably going to splurge and get an aluminum roof so we never have to worry about it again), a new deck (that will wait till the spring), we need some heat (we are going to install a wood stove eventually and once we get the ancient electrical mess sorted out we will install some electric heaters) and we need to scrape and paint two more sides.  One side isn't bad at the moment, so that might not need to be done at all.

Inside we still need to pull down the kitchen cabinets, clean them up and probably repair them after years of neglect and being an impromptu rodent hotel.  And the wall in behind the counters needs to be pulled down, re-insulated and rebuilt.

And then there is the bathroom, which is just going to be a pile of problems until itself.   And that's not even counting the septic tank.....

And then some flooring through the whole place.

After that we will finally be in a position to start furnishing and enjoying it, so still a long way to go!

Still, I think we have made some serious progress for what really works out to being only a few weeks' worth of work since we are only there for a day or two at a time.

Def

[SteveC]

Nice job on the staining !   

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's weird- I had a whole other post talking about the shed cleaning we did last week.  I must have accidentally added the photos to an old post and deleted the post I was making.   

Sometimes doing this stuff on a phone really stinks....

Anyways, as you can see, the shed cleared out nicely, with mostly only the two old stoves to go.  The garbage was piled up almost to the window and it's taken two trailer loads to the dump to get this far.

Fortunately the previous owners were still throwing fresh garbage in there right up until we bought it, and a bear decided to make a late night withdrawal just as we were closing on it.  The shed was quite off putting after that....

We'd started cleaning the shed first, but then it was blocked by the windows and doors and stuff, then when the windows and doors were in we concentrated on cleaning up the house... and now we finally have gotten back to the shed.  It turns out that it's actually a good size- I think it's about 8 feet by 12 feet, and so it's just large enough to put my canoe in now that we have taken out all of the rotting garbage.

I am happy to see that the rotting garbage doesn't appear to have rotted the shed too much and it's in better shape than I'd expected it to be.  I'll still need to jack it up, put some gravel under it and brace it to keep it off the ground so it won't rot, but for now I'll take any progress I can get.   

I think the drought we have had this summer is largely the reason it has remained as intact as it has.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Speaking of the drought, we have a good sized beach right now.

When we bought the place a few months ago the water was up to the larger rocks on the right.   

Def

[LoopCutter]

Great report!

Very glad progress is moving forward. Feel so guilty, just sitting here watching you have awl the fun😙

Looks that the leaves are turning.  You may have a variety of colors to enjoy as you look out across your lake. Enjoy.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yes, with the drought and the fires we weren't sure if we would get much in the way of fall colors.  They haven't really kicked in just yet here, but it is definitely coming! 

I am expecting this place to look absolutely amazing in the coming weeks.

Def

[LoopCutter]

I look forward to your updates!

Stay safe and have fun!    I admire you and MEGAN’s Passion for the outdoor adventures.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, I just wish I'd gotten it twenty years ago!

Heck, even TEN years ago!   

Def

[LoopCutter]

Trust me, it is never too late as long as you have each other.  Of course her to boss you!

Something I really do miss these past four years.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I shot this video last weekend.

While it looks great, bear in mind that where we are standing, we should be (at least) knee deep in water.

https://youtu.be/cAwxPbF8guA?si=VsyOalsPv68id73e

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We were a bit rushed last weekend, at least prior to the above video.  We didn't plan to stay overnight so we had to drive up early on Saturday morning (2 hour drive), then load the old stoves from the shed onto the trailer and get to the dump (an hour away) before it closed at noon.

That may not sound like much of a challenge, but trust me, it just about wiped me out for the rest of the day!   

First off, the electric stove that had to come out was a bit of a dream compared to the old Enterprise wood stove.  If you've ever complained about how heavy and awkward it is to move a regular electric stove, stay far away from old wood cooking stoves.   

Both stoves were beautiful and worthy of restoration, but we don't have the time, energy, materials etc to do that for either of them, so off to the dump they go.

The electric stove is an old General Electric model, and I assume it's from the late 50's/early 60's depending on the style of the buttons and dials, and there were many spots where the white paint was peeling/chipped and you could see the old taupe color shining through.  It went on the dolly with no issues and was quickly and easily deposited on the trailer.

Then it was the turn of the old wood stove.  For starters, it's 50% larger than the electric stove.

And it is made of much thicker steel.  And there is a lot more framing in it because there's more compartments.  And everything is cast iron, including all of the little drawers and doors.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Because we didn't go to the dump with the scale (we went to a different dump that doesn't do it by weight) I have no idea how heavy this smurfing thing was... but this is the dolly I used:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mastercraft-p-handle-hand-truck-600-lb-0600512p.html?rq=dolly

Note that it is rated for 600 pounds, and that in the photo below, both tires are completely flat.  You will also note the extra strap attached to the handle that Megan used to help me pull this thing on the flat tires across the uneven ground.   

Eventually, and with many loud swear words, this ancient stove was on the trailer and we took it to the dump.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that simple, as the heaviest end of the stove (the bottom of it) was closest to the back end of the trailer.  If you know anything about towing, you know that you NEVER want an unbalanced load that is biased to the back, which is exactly what I had.  Here's a little video showing how easily it is to become a ditch inspector when you have too much weight on the back end. 



Needless to say, I was VERY careful when heading out on the highway, down the burning mountain with a very improperly loaded trailer.   

But, as I am here posting this, we obviously survived, although I will tell you, there were a few moments of particular excitement that I am trying really hard not to think about. 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We had lunch in town and then went back to enjoy the camp a little bit more before heading home again. 

While still in town we took our tiny dog to Canadian Tire to pick up a few things, and naturally he found the pet aisle and picked out a toy that we naturally had to buy for him.  He really likes Canadian Tire because he likes automatic doors that open for him (makes him feel big and powerful I guess?) and there are always employees there ready to give him lots of attention and (more importantly!) treats! 

When we finally got back to the camp it was time for him to burn off those treats, so out came the football toy we bought him and he ran around like the happiest little maniacal toilet brush you ever saw.  He chased that ball and tackled the ball and dragged it around even though it weighs almost as much as he does.

Then I decided it was time I enjoyed myself as well, and since the canoe had been taken out of the shed to get the stoves out anyways.... well it seemed like a good time to put it in the lake, even though I haven't yet fixed the leaks in it.   

Unfortunately the water in the lake was so low (as I mentioned earlier), the ring of rocks around our property effectively hemmed us in to about 50-60 feet from shore.  The places where the gaps between the rocks look big enough to get a boat through are actually not- the rocks an inch or two under the water stopped us just as abruptly. 

I don't recall if I'd mentioned that when I went snorkeling there a while back, but the rocks are basically like an old fortress, piled up and reinforcing each other in a great, impenetrable wall.  This wall should be several feet below the surface, and therefore not get in the way of a canoe or kayak, but we are in the middle of a very painful drought (hence the mountain being on fire) and the water being so low.

But my teeny dog went on his adventure anyway, and it's probably best that it was very short, at least from his perspective.  I don't know that he enjoyed it, but he will, whether he likes it or not. 

I like my dog, and I like paddling, so the two will go together if it kills me!   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Since I am curious about water levels (and why shouldn't I be?) I have obtained an orange stick.

My plan is, each week we go there, if the water is further out I am going to move it to the water line.  When the water starts coming back in, we will know how much higher it is from it's lowest point.  The lower black tape mark is about 32cms from the sand (currently, subject to change) and the upper black tape mark is about 50cms higher than that.

For those who don't know what centimeters are, that's just over a foot for the bottom one, and about a foot and a half higher than the first mark.  When we bought the place I can't say that this stick in this location would have been submerged, but if it wasn't there wouldn't be a lot of it sticking up.

So, if nothing else, it will be an interesting experiment!

And, getting back to the original story, you can see that the shed is almost completely cleared out now, with lots of space for me to start adding stuff back into it and cluttering it all up again!   

Def

[WhichDawg]

Nice adventures and doggie thx 4 sharing and loved the video