Building The Love Shack

As I do these blogs each month it shows me how time passes. It’s hard to believe we have hit November already.  This month’s questions are about closing up the cottage.

1)Which do you find harder, opening or closing?

They are both harder in some ways, but also different.

Spring brings excitement and the clean up of old Winter dust. The cottage has to be aired out. I have to stock up all the food and cleaning supplies. The beds have to be remade. The walls have to be vacuumed to get rid of the spiders who have moved in over the Winter.

The water has to be turned back on and the levels of the cistern and holding tank need to be checked, emptied or filled.  The lawn will need its first mow. And the fuel tank will need to be filled.

All the lawn furniture has to be brought out and anything we use over the season has to be unpacked.  Add in anything Winter has done has to be repaired, plus we plan and collect all the materials for the next project. Spring is busy.

Fall brings vacuuming and emptying the cupboards and the frig. Stripping the beds. The last law mow of the year and closing up the water and blowing out the lines. We have to refill the fuel. All the lawn furniture and anything we use over the season has to be packed.

Closing up takes less time than opening but the hardest part is to close the door and saying “See you in the Spring” to the Cottage Friends and the Lady herself.  I actually have a blog coming up this week on closing the cottage.

2) Do you mouse or rodent proof the cottage?

I do. That is the reason I vacuum the house. First, this gets rid of any spiders or insects that have moved in with the cool weather so they don’t multiply, it also gets rid of crumbs that could feed any critters. We have bed bug covers on the mattress so nothing can move into the beds over winter and nest there.

I set mouse traps with peanut butter because I don’t want anyone eating poison and moving into my walls and dying and rotting in the house.

We check the windows to make sure they are properly closed and under the sink for any small gaps that could be entered.

I have friends who swear by Irish Spring soap, mothballs and fabric softener sheets. I have never used them as so far besides the few spiders and the one mouse a year we find in the trap, we have never had anything move in.

3)You work on the cottage from May till October, what do you do the rest of the time?

We have a house that was built-in 1955. When we bought it nothing had been done in over thirty years in the house or outside. We purchased it from an elderly woman who was the first and only owner of the home. Her husband had passed away many years before. Like the Love Shack, it’s a project. When we are not working on the Love Shack we are working on the house. Construction for us is a twelve month of the year project.

Thank you for your questions. As always it’s a pleasure to receive them. Keep sending them, I enjoy hearing from you.