We bought a camp!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I haven't had to buy too many new tools to work on the cottage- I have most common tools needed, and many I have duplicates of so I haven't had to leave myself wanting at either place.  A few travel back and forth, but that's why I have a pickup truck and trailer.

I did feel the need to buy one new tool, pictures below.

Coyotes are a big problem in NS, especially since we really don't have any these days.  What we do have are called coy-wolves, which are coyote/wolf hybrids.

Imagine a wolf with the size, power and intelligence intact, but with the cunning and fearlessness of a coyote.  They are extremely dangerous, and are everywhere here.

And I have a snack sized dog, so this is an indispensable tool.  I have shotguns already, but I wanted something compact- after all, a really good tool is useless if it's at home when you need it.

Some locals have told me there are no coyotes around, so I thought maybe I didn't need this after all.  Still, we know there are bears that frequent the property (we spent hours cleaning garbage out of the woods after a bear got into the shed full of the previous owners' garbage stored in there) so it didn't seem like a waste.

But, spending all night in a tent I listened to the coyotes howling and sneaking around.  I can't say for sure if they were in the yard that night, but they were definitely close.

Needless to say, we will be prepared if they get too close.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Looks like you are making good progress for the amount of time you've spent there 

Yeah, this is one of the reasons I didn't want to buy something this far away.  It is getting to be a bit of a trek to go there every weekend just to work.

That's why I brought the canoe- up until now we haven't really had any toys up there to enjoy it.  It's just been a long drive and a lot of work. 

At least now we can take a half hour here and there and go enjoy ourselves.  In addition to the canoe I also brought up three snorkel masks and two sets of flippers, so we have a couple of choices of what we can do there.

There have been more than a few times we wished we had brought the kayaks or the snorkels and cooled off in the lake while working.

Oh, one other thing we accomplished this week- there is now a lock on the cabin!

There was not much of a door on it when we bought it, and because the floor was twisted, it wouldn't close all the way.

The door was replaced a few weeks ago, but there was no lock on the slider handle until now.

It's a little thing, but it gives us hope that the effort we are putting in is less likely to be destroyed or stolen!

Def

[LoopCutter]

Just found and read this thread!

Congratulations Megan and Grant.  🍾

Seeing the POTENTIAL and having no FEAR will provide a great place to escape the boring in HALIFAX 😜 (just kidding)

I saw many suggestions for naming the site.  Did not see this one yet “MEGAN’s”. or “Megan’s Cove”

One tool, that may provide you versatility is a SAWsawl.   Unsure if available by your brand, but it is a handy tool to have.

[IMR4198]

   I think I would definitely stake out a game camera somewhere.  Just to see what (or who) the nightly visitors are.  The place is looking good.  Best wishes.  G
 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I found these in the shed when cleaning it out a few weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to get photos of them.

I have very little experience with aluminum paddles, and I have never used or seen anything like these ones, but judging by how many I see on eBay they aren't rare or anything.  That doesn't change the fact that they are extremely cool. 

These paddles have very small blades, and I am not sure how useful they would be- they are smaller than they look and extremely light weight.  They do seem quite solid though, and I imagine you could paddle with them all day and not get tired.

I doubt I will use them- maybe once just to say I did, but really I think I am going to hang them somewhere prominent as a most excellent decoration.

Def

[LoopCutter]

I will qualify myself as a non boating person!

But, I have seen these style paddles before.
When visiting family friends with lake cottages and power boats or as called then speed boats, this style of paddle was usually stored in the transom area.  Used to push off from dock or if you ran aground.

But, not for paddling your canoe.  First will not move much water.  Second, there were no grips, so your hands will turn black from the aluminum.

My observations were from the mid to late sixties when I was in my teens.

[kottskrapa]

 

Here in Sweden at least a lot of people have paddles similar style but with a hook in the other end for when stuck, out of gas, holding on to a pole, fishing up a cap that blown of your head or whatever you can use it for. Mostly smaller boats with outboard engine

[WhichDawg]

no no no those are obviously “SPANKING DEVICES” 

[pfrsantos]

no no no those are obviously “SPANKING DEVICES” 

... and you know that because?...

 

Awlso:



 

[BPRoberts]

Looks like the inside is coming along well. Have you considered the anti-coyote armor that makes your dog look like an extra from Back to the Future 2?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Many times.

There are also a lot of eagles in the area,, although to be honest there are eagles everywhere here.  One of those would quickly and easily swoop down and pick up a snack sized creature like Dash.

We've given a lot of thought to armor that would deter both eagles and coyotes, as well as an enclosed dog run that would keep him safe without us needing to be watching him constantly.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Trip #6 to the dump today.

We managed to load up the trailer pretty good and empty out the two other bedrooms today, despite the smoke from the nearby forest fire.

There is currently an out of control fire currently covering over 800 hectares of forest less than 20km from my cottage, so this may have been the last time I see it.   

For now though, the smoke was so thick we really couldn't see the lake from the house, which is less than 50 feet away.  This is the same view that I posted above, only now there isn't much to see.

But, like I said, we cleaned out more crap from the living room and also got all the crap out from the remaining two bedrooms so I'm counting it as a win. 

You can see a major difference between these photos and the ones I posted earlier.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Once we get the inside sorted out, the next step will be starting to clean up the yard area.  There are a few old docks, remnants of sheds, decrepit boats, TV antenna and other detritus littered around the property.

Last week while flying a drone in some more difficult to access areas I also found a tire and some almost completely rusted out oil drums.

There is also the parts of the old deck up against the side of the shed, and an old toilet in between the rocks that the shed is built on, with parts of it spread around the property.

It's going to be a lot of clean up, but the property is beautiful and will be even better once all of this is done.

I also managed to get in the water and do some snorkeling yesterday, but unfortunately no pictures from that. 

The lake was the water supply for the local military base years ago, and the base decided to increase the volume of the lake at one point.  This flooded a lot of ground, and it's really cool because I found the old rock wall that was built to keep the lake from eroding the shoreline.

I almost have a medieval fortress under water!

I will be sure to dust off the GoPro and get some footage of it the next time I do this because it is extremely cool.

Def

[ThundahBeagle]

Ah, the coywolves!

Here in New England we eradicated the wolves.  A Mr. Putnam out of Danvers Mass has a very good story from centuries ago, whereby he tied a rope to his ankle and too a couple of dives into a rock wolf den to kill them, and have his buddies pull him out.

But I digress...

Back in the 1940's, when wolves made their way back east from out west, and south again from up north, they mated with coyotes and we also have the coy wolves.

At times we hear coyotes.  Sometimes we hear a ightly higher pitched wolf-howl that breaks I to coyote yelps!

Often it scares us and Scout the Thundah Beagle right out of a deep sleep, waking up to a flop sweat and an "Attack Beagle" barking, baying and howling.  Scout never barks for no reason, and never growls before he barks, so if he's woken me up at 3 am, BOTH of us are on high alert.

Kudos on the Mossberg.  I've got an old, old 500 myself.  Not much scarier that the sound of that pump cycling, just the once.

As for the bears, we get them quite often here.  Thank God out east we only have Black Bears.  They are like cattle with razor sharp, giant claws, but really only forage for food and are not territorial like a grizzly.

Bumped into on as Scout and I rounded the corner of my house last year.  We all 3 just stopped, Mexican Stand-off style, and everyone backed off the way they came.  It does sober a man up.  But Scout the Thundah Beagle, making oneself big, shouting while slowly backing away, or even a hand bell is enough to scare Black Bears away.  They rely dont like confrontation.

Got some bear spray hanging near the door of the 3 season porch.  We got it while at Yellowstone, but here in New England we have never needed it.

I'm guessing you will never need that shotgun - at least, not for a bear.  The COYWOLVES, On the other hand...

[nate j]

As for the bears, we get them quite often here.  Thank God out east we only have Black Bears.  They are like cattle with razor sharp, giant claws, but really only forage for food and are not territorial like a grizzly.

Bumped into on as Scout and I rounded the corner of my house last year.  We all 3 just stopped, Mexican Stand-off style, and everyone backed off the way they came.  It does sober a man up.  But Scout the Thundah Beagle, making oneself big, shouting while slowly backing away, or even a hand bell is enough to scare Black Bears away.  They rely dont like confrontation.

Agreed.  We have black bears around here too, including one that was raiding our trash a few years ago.  Most are quite afraid of people; the only black bears I would be really leery of would be mothers with cubs.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, NS is a small province and there hasn't been a confirmed wolf sighting in years.

Coy-wolves are everywhere, even in the city.

They also tell us there are no bobcats left in NS, but I've seen enough tracks and know enough people  who have shot them to believe that is even remotely true.

Another week and the house should be habitable again, so I'm getting less and less concerned about wildlife as they all tend to prefer to hunt at night

Other than smurfing out for a quick pee before bed I don't see my snack sized dog being exposed to bobcats or coy wolves too significantly.  Eagles, hawks and owls are really the biggest concern for the most part.

But, a shotgun is a great insurance policy for a lot of stuff, so it's well worth having.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I made a new friend at camp this week!

This is a harmless garter snake- well, harmless if you aren't a toad or small mouse.  They can, and will bite people if you antagonize them, but they aren't venomous and most are too small to even bite a finger.  This one is large enough to get fingers, maybe even a hand if you let it, but mostly they'd rather just have nothing to do with you.

I'm happy to let this one live under the house and keep any other creatures from setting up shop there. 

It's a fair size, at just over two feet long.  Many around here are picked up by predators and don't make it much bigger around than a pencil.

We've also found a lot of bite sized roads and frogs around, so hopefully this little snake will live a long and happy life here.   

Def

[LoopCutter]

 Nice pictures of a new friend. 

Garter snakes are great for keeping little rodents at bay.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Friday evening was absolutely gorgeous out and we were finally able to spend the night inside the cabin.  As you can see, sunset was amazing, and as usual, my pictures don't do it justice.

As we still currently don't have plumbing set up in the house we had to venture outside in the middle of the night to pee... And what a freaking show that was!

No, not that....

It was a perfectly clear night and we are right near a dark sky preserve at Kejimkujik park.  If you can't pronounce that, most people here just call it Keji (pronounced Kejjy).

https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/activ/reserve-etoile-sky-preserve

At any rate the stars were mesmerizing with no light pollution.  Just like at my father's place, there is no light pollution for miles and you really get to see the night sky in all it's brilliance.

Unfortunately no photos, sorry.  I will research camera settings on my phone for trying to take pictures of a starry sky so I'll be better prepared for next time.

Meanwhile, this was like a top ten pee for me. 

The next morning we had to hurry and get to the dump as Megan had an event in town we needed to get back for, but even so I managed to get rid of the last major inside issue- the green carpet.

I often joked that I wasn't sure if it was ugly green carpet from the 70's or whether there was just moss growing on the floor, but I'll tell you, when I hauled that thing up it would have smelled much better if it was moss.   

Def

[LoopCutter]

Old carpet can be the worst. Hopefully you had masks or ventilators on when handling.

Great progress, just a teeny tiny envious of your adventure, today at my advanced maturity, my spirit says go for it, my mind says NO WAY JOSE!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Old carpet can be the worst. Hopefully you had masks or ventilators on when handling.

Great progress, just a teeny tiny envious of your adventure, today at my advanced maturity, my spirit says go for it, my mind says NO WAY JOSE!

I usually wear a mask when doing stuff, but I didn't while hauling it out this time.  We are almost to the point where we won't need masks at all indoors.  Now we really only wear them when disturbing stuff, but now pretty well all of the disturbable stuff is already gone. 

There's still a lot of shop vac-ing to do, but once that's caught up we should be good.  I actually have a spare Roomba here in the city and I am thinking of taking it up there and letting it trundle around during the week, doing it's thing.

Another milestone is that we now have functional internet there now. 

Well, more than functional, I have better internet at the cottage now than I have at home as my older, out of date service package at home is no longer offered.   

My new internet package is Fiber Op 500, and my service at home is Fiber Op 150. 

I can send and receive text messages  at the cottage but phone calls are choppy (at best).  I can send photos from my Android but Megan struggles to send them with her iPhone, so score one for us cheapskates!   

I keep seeing how much is left to do and wondering if we are really making a dent in it, but Megan and I just went through the photos we have been accumulating and you can really see a lot of progress after all.  I guess I am just too close to it. 

I didn't post a lot of the earlier photos of the inside here because it was a bit of an embarrassment, but now that it's really starting to take shape I may post the old photos so you can all see how far it's come!

Def

[LoopCutter]

Just want to say THANK YOU !

Taking us along on your and Megan’s new adventure is a pleasurable journey.

If I was closer to you, I would be the first to come and watch you!😜

[Grant Lamontagne]

Glad to have you aboard for the ride!  It's not as much fun without having friends to share it with.   

When I was around 8 years old I had a shirt that read "Hard Work Fascinates Me. I Could Sit And Watch It All Day."

Which I think explains why I went into government work now that I think about it.  :-)

Still, after doing very little all day it feels good to work up a sweat on the weekends!

Def

[ThundahBeagle]

Yeah, NS is a small province and there hasn't been a confirmed wolf sighting in years.

Coy-wolves are everywhere, even in the city.

They also tell us there are no bobcats left in NS, but I've seen enough tracks and know enough people  who have shot them to believe that is even remotely true.

Another week and the house should be habitable again, so I'm getting less and less concerned about wildlife as they all tend to prefer to hunt at night

Other than smurfing out for a quick pee before bed I don't see my snack sized dog being exposed to bobcats or coy wolves too significantly.  Eagles, hawks and owls are really the biggest concern for the most part.

But, a shotgun is a great insurance policy for a lot of stuff, so it's well worth having.

Def

We have Bobcats here as well.  Scary.  Scout was on point about a month ago while we held an outdoor party for Lady Beagle one evening.  He would not stop looking and pointing into the woods.

Going up the road later I saw the Bobcat run across the road.

We are constantly told there are no mountain lions left in Massachusetts but here in central/west, some neighbors keep telling me they've seen em.

Shotgun IS a good insurance policy but if my dog or significant other were out in the yard and being threatened by a Bob or Coywolf, I'd rather have a .22.  I've got an old (1950's?) Mossberg bolt action with pan sights, and an old (1980?) Remington Nylon 66 with 4 power scope in case of such an event.

At our Beagle club, we use plasti-dipped chicken fence, run about 6 to 8 feet high to fence of running and competition areas.  It has to be dug down and buried as well but does a good job keeping 'yotes and coywolves out.  Maybe you can set aside an area for dash, then put the netting they use to cover blueberry farms up top?

[ThundahBeagle]

Friday evening was absolutely gorgeous out and we were finally able to spend the night inside the cabin.  As you can see, sunset was amazing, and as usual, my pictures don't do it justice.

As we still currently don't have plumbing set up in the house we had to venture outside in the middle of the night to pee... And what a freaking show that was!

No, not that....

It was a perfectly clear night and we are right near a dark sky preserve at Kejimkujik park.  If you can't pronounce that, most people here just call it Keji (pronounced Kejjy).

https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/activ/reserve-etoile-sky-preserve

At any rate the stars were mesmerizing with no light pollution.  Just like at my father's place, there is no light pollution for miles and you really get to see the night sky in all it's brilliance.

Unfortunately no photos, sorry.  I will research camera settings on my phone for trying to take pictures of a starry sky so I'll be better prepared for next time.

Meanwhile, this was like a top ten pee for me. 

The next morning we had to hurry and get to the dump as Megan had an event in town we needed to get back for, but even so I managed to get rid of the last major inside issue- the green carpet.

I often joked that I wasn't sure if it was ugly green carpet from the 70's or whether there was just moss growing on the floor, but I'll tell you, when I hauled that thing up it would have smelled much better if it was moss.   

Def

I bet the Perseid Meteor shower must have been spectacular up there.  A caught a glimpse of wuite a few over the course of 3 or 4 nights here.  It's over now though.  And the Aurora view must be stunning, when that happens.  Head up tonight if you can, and you might see it

[LoopCutter]

“ We are constantly told there are no mountain lions left in Massachusetts but here in central/west, some neighbors keep telling me they've seen em.”

Here NE INDIANA was told the same thing.  People in one area kept reporting to DNR, and told no mountain lions are in Indiana!

The a dog was mauled, while staked out in the yard. The dog survived.  Trail cams then were put up by by DNR as d private citizens.   Yep, a big cat was roaming that area every evening till early morning.   

Then a raining evening calls came in again as a couple cameras were cellular types.   They located tracks, and were able to find the cat, a 90+ lb pet cougar.  Unauthorized, pet.  The owner, a former ranch hand from NW Montana, had returned home to care for his mother, who recently past away. He had raised it from a kitten after apparently momma cat had been trapped off the ranch’s upper pastures.

The cat now or was at a volunteer preserve called BLACK PINES that rescues large cats from circuses or zoos that have failed.  Located in northern Indiana.

[LoopCutter]

I bet the Perseid Meteor shower must have been spectacular up there.  A caught a glimpse of wuite a few over the course of 3 or 4 nights here.  It's over now though.  And the Aurora view must be stunning, when that happens.  Head up tonight if you can, and you might see it

I was thinking the same.  Light pollution in my part of the world spoils these shows provided naturally.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Unfortunately we missed the Perseids this year due to smoke over the camp.  I did get some cool pictures, including more wildlife this time- even more terrifying than coyotes when you have a small dog, but also a damned sight more beautiful. 

I'll post pics ASAP.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Dasher may be a bit of a princess most of the time, but he's using the cottage to get in touch with his terrier side.

Unfortunately his fur seems to attract everything he comes in contact with and it sticks to him like Velcro. 

And yes, he does have his own camp chair.  He can't be expected to lay on the ground like some kind of dog. 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

We didn't hear a lot of coyotes this time which was nice, but we did hear something even more dangerous to a snack sized dog like Dash- I've actually never heard so many owls hooting all night long.

The only thing more rare than hearing the owls is seeing them, but I managed to spot this one the next morning.  I was amazed to actually see one!  I am pretty sure it was sleeping in a tree at the side of the road, and the only reason I saw it was because it swooped out in front of the truck as we explored a back road on the opposite side of the lake.

I also managed to snap a photo of one of the many toads that live on our property.  Not very exciting, but still a fun little critter to have wandering around.

Next up is a Northern Flicker, which is a type of woodpecker.  We heard these guys constantly as well.  Sorry for the not so great picture, but these guys stay pretty high up in the trees.

And a little less wild than the others, while our for a drive we passed by these ladies.  These five turkey hens were out for a walk at the side of the road.  There aren't any wild turkeys in NS so these ladies must belong to someone locally.

Def