Building The Love Shack

It’s hard to believe this is our fourth-year at the cottage. They say as you get older the time moves faster. Our time seems to now pass between Cottage Season and Non-Cottage Season.  

Each year at the Love Shack is filled with more accomplishments and more challenges. And there are the setbacks. After our first inspection, we don’t seem to have any major Winter Damage and so far, no setbacks.

We found the evidence of a mouse who had been in the house. Yes, in the same kitchen drawer that we have each year. There were a few dish towels torn up to make a bed for the squatter. But they had evacuated from the premises before we arrived.

Besides cleaning up three drawers each which had mouse dropping and throwing out and having to rewashing the dish towels, the squatter had done little damage.

The frig was wiped out and stocked along with the kitchen cupboards. The water was turned on giving us a flushing toilet and hot water and we have a functioning home for the season.

The spider count was down this year, with only a few. This made vacuuming up the house a simpler job. Then there the additional vacuuming up of the dust, wiping down the shelves and making fresh beds. The opening went like a breeze.

The tour of the outside required rubber boots. The steady rain we have had over the past few weeks along the Spring runoff made things wet. But on the happy note, the grass we have planted over the past two years was green and growing nicely.

There’s a small hole in the shed where someone had winterized. This critter apparently didn’t want to go out during the cold because it had left evidence on the shed floor.  A big pile of poop. We think maybe a raccoon. But they too had moved out before we arrived.

The tree of life had nests in it. The little chicks heads could be seen moving around as the Momma bird came carrying food. The sky was full of Purple Marlins who are back from South America, they are back to raise their young. The sounds of birds filled the air.

Then, of course, there are our cottage neighbors, who like us had carloads of boxes, bags and laundry basket along with a trailer or two.  All too who were opening and starting to get ready for this years season.

Hello’s and welcome back were shared. Happy faces were seen and the list of what needed to be fixed and what to add was discussed.

By the end of the day, all was quiet, expect this year we had a new experience.

At 10 PM we went out to look at the lights in the new window (next blog) and the fog had moved in over the area. The frogs were croaking, calling out their mating calling, and in the background, we heard the most awesome sound. There were two packs of coyotes in the wooden area talking to each other. We would hear them howling in different tones as they communicated.

We sat out and listened to them. What a beautiful sound. We laughed as the combination of the frogs, the fog and coyotes reminded us of a scary movie. Jodi said if something came out of the fog after us, she would be the first to go because she was too tired to run.

She was not the only one tired. We all were, but it was a good tired. We slept peacefully that night. I only woke once to find the sounds of the peaceful sleeper and was guided to the bathroom by the glow from the fire in the Cast Iron Stove.

It’s official, Cottage Season has begun.