Ahhh...The Cottage Life!

Close your eyes and wish for the one thing
You cannot do without, and when you do,
Near your heart you'll find it, always there,
Treasure that is dear but not so rare,
Held in the mesh that all your dreams flow through.
In truth, no gift more happiness can bring,
And so this day I give my love to you.
(Unknown author)


I went to Port Credit today to see my Mom and supposedly to help her plant the new garden that my brother in his infinite wisdom had cut out but had no idea how to plant. I had purchased a Mothers Day card and a few little things (slippers, sachets, candy) that I know she likes. When I got down there my brother had heard there might be a frost tonight so he decided we were not planting today.
I had worn my working clothes! I was prepped to dig in the garden and make something beautiful. It was not to happen.
My Mom was telling me about her new friend who was coming over to play cards and visit once in awhile. A friend of the opposite gender. Now my Mom has always been a great housekeeper and quite fastidious but her eye sight is not very good any more and she has a really bad shoulder that prevents her from getting to physical. I noticed the Family room needed a vacuum and the tables needed a dusting and there was the odd dust bunny under the couch. And I did come down to work....

I told my Mom that since she had a new friend coming over the place should look it's best. I didn't want to insult her so suggested that since her shoulder was bad I would do a quick vacuum for her. It turned into a little more than that.I had her "goffer" for me as I vacuumed, dusted, washed and generally cleaned the room over and under. It took awhile, but as we worked we talked. We talked about her apartment and what she was to do next with it, my Dad when he was alive and the cottage opening this year. We had a sherry together, we talked a lot more.

We spent the afternoon together, me cleaning and my 83 year old Mom helping out. I really enjoyed just being there with her and I know she felt the same. She lives about an hour away so we don't get to see each other as often as we should.
The best was when I was ready to leave after the day and she said that what I had done was way better than planting the garden for her. She said she finds it really hard to get up and down now, so it is pretty hard for her to clean as well as she would like. She was absolutely thrilled!

Mom you are welcome! I need to get there more often, I need to help out more often. We take our Mom's for granted and we never should. They won't be around forever. It wasn't much, what I did today, but it was greatly appreciated. Mom's "No spring Chick" anymore as my Dad would have put it. It is past due to return the care she always gave me.

I found out something really disturbing to those of us with cottages in Haliburton. The Haliburton and Bancroft areas are actively being staked and claimed for potential uranium mining and exploration!
Currently, roughly 17% of Monmouth township has been staked (approx. 8500 acres). This includes both private property and crown land. What really shook me up was that with out your knowledge your land could be staked!

In rural Ontario, many property owners hold only the surface rights and not the mineral rights to their land. This means a prospector (anyone who applies and pays the $25 license fee) could come on to your land without being required to notify you and claim the mineral rights. The mineral rights holder can then start exploring (this could include drilling, digging, stripping, building roads, etc.) on your land. They need only to provide 24 hours advance notice to the landowner before commencing exploration activities. Under the Ontario Mining Act, there is nothing the surface rights owner can do to stop this!
I checked this out, I went to the Ontario Mining Act and read it through and it is true.

This is a write up from Cottage Life magazine:

"Geologists first discovered uranium in Haliburton in 1922; work began on the initial mine, known as Bicroft, 31 years later. Three others soon followed. Between 1956 and 1982, almost 7,000 tonnes of uranium oxide, or “yellowcake,” was extracted from the four mines. Local people welcomed those mines, which brought hundreds of jobs to the poor, thinly populated area. The main centre, Bancroft, in next-door Hastings County, proudly proclaimed itself the “Mineral Capital of Canada.”

As the mines’ brief heyday ended in the mid-1960s, a cottage boom began. First in a trickle, then in a flood, city dwellers erected summer retreats on Haliburton’s 65 pristine lakes. The cottagers, in summer now vastly outnumbering the permanent population of about 16,000, came to escape work and industry and prized the area’s natural beauty. So the new mining companies—Bancroft Uranium of Scottsdale, Ariz., and El Niño Ventures and Abitibi Mining, both based in Vancouver—entered a radically altered landscape when, four years ago, with uranium prices soaring amid worldwide plans for nuclear power plants, they arrived to resurrect the industry."

Notice none of the mining companies are from Ontario. Who gives a crap if they destroy land, homes and pollute for thousands of years an area as long as it isn't in their backyard! Always the way.

"The tailings from uranium mining have a half life of a half million years. Since there is no ideal way of storing radioactive waste, the waste dumps will need to be managed by future generations in perpetuity to avoid environmental disaster. If we mine uranium now, we leave a colossal mess for future generations".

In the spring of 2007, when Roger Young’s friends Robin Simpson and Christine Atrill went hiking their picturesque 40 hectares they stumbled across claim stakes. Taking advantage of the “free entry” provision of Ontario’s Mining Act—similar to laws in every province and territory—a prospector had entered the private property, unannounced, and carved it into 16-hectare claim blocks.

I couldn't believe that! Not a word said to these folks. They go for a hike on their own land and find it sectioned off for mineral exploration! I would have entirely lost it!

There is now a campaign from cottagers to have the Mining Act Reviewed and changed for the protections of cottager rights.
The fuel for the campaign is Haliburton’s second identity, forged in the last half of the 20th century. The area is no longer either remote or wilderness. The lake-filled region boasts more than 14,000 recreational homes, and villages with city-size supermarkets, cute cafes, and weekend traffic jams dot the landscape. Despite a growing “quantification,” though, the area is a vacation gem, where many have made substantial financial and emotional investments.

We built our cottage in 1964. Our heart and souls live in the cottage country. We work hard to be able to go to the cottage and enjoy our time there and the relaxation. I don't want to hear the sounds of earth movers and stone crushers instead of the Loons!

Uranium exploration should be suspended in Ontario until its impact on health, the environment and aboriginal land rights is properly addressed, said a report released yesterday by the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium. Cottagers against Uranium Mining and Exploration. http://www.ccnr.org/bcma.html#pub

From this?

To This?

This morning I got up early as I had promised my mother and brother I would come down to Port Credit and help them to start planting a new garden my brother had made for my Mom. I put the coffee on, let the cat in and when I saw the sky I thought to my self "Wow that sky looks really dark!" A few minutes later it started to rain, buckets full, the wind was howling and there was lightening, thunder rumbling across the sky. The wind had picked up and was blowing my flag perpendicular. Then I heard a tick and then another. All of a sudden there were hundreds!~ I looked out side and it was raining and hailing so hard it was bouncing in the air 2-3 feet. I thought it was going to break the window!



It was deafening, even inside. I watched as the herbs in my planter flattened! As it hit my tomato plants that I had been lovingly taking in every night to be safe. As it hit my lovely garden with all the new spring plants that I had been tenderly caring for.

It was bouncing off our cars. I really thought it may dent the cars it was coming down so hard.

This is our neighbors front lawn. Usually there is a little water coming through the ditch with a rain storm, this was a torrent! My back yard was flooded. I was really glad I cut the grass yesterday as now it will be too wet to cut for days as the ground was already saturated. When it had calmed down I went out and got my herb garden, the tomato plants inside. The temperature had dropped 10 degrees Celsius.The planters were full of hail! I had to scoop the ice balls out as my herbs were on ice! They are bruised and battered but they will make it. There is a couple of broken branches on the tomato plants but they also will make it. All the daffodil and tulips are broken and flat. My Sedum, bruised and sorry looking. Hens and chicks with chunks missing and Hosta with leaves that are torn. That was some storm! I knew the good weather we had lately was too good to be true for this early in the year!

This morning I was awakened at 7:30 by a neighbor, a couple of doors down from me, who was pounding on the glass in my front door.

When I, in my pajamas, opened the door the neighbour asked me to come quickly as her 93 year old mother had collapsed. Why me? It was a skill she knew I had and that was Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. I put on my shoes, I asked her if she had called for an ambulance and she said yes. I went to her house opened up the door and followed her into a back room. As I went into the room I saw an elderly woman lying on the floor of her bedroom.
I checked for a pulse and there wasn't one. I rechecked that the ambulance had been called and started into CPR. The neighbour knew how to give ventilations so I had her help out with that. After a few minutes I had the neighbour go and check if the ambulance had arrived as being out in the country sometimes you have to flag them down. She yelled back they were just arriving so I said to lead them in.
The medics came in and asked if I was alright while they set up, which is the usual format. I said I was and to continue setup of the defibrillator and the oxygen delivery system. Two more medics showed up to assist at this time.
After a couple of more minutes the paramedics took over and I was free to go to the neighbour and help out. The Police had arrived as well by this time and were asking a few questions. I also wanted to keep the neighbour out side on the porch so she did not have to see all of what was going on with her Mom. The police had the same idea and so we stayed with her outside but you could see through the screen what the Paramedics were doing inside so she wasn't entirely out of the loop.
The medics worked on the elderly lady for about 15 minutes at which time she had not responded to treatment and still was not breathing and had no heart beat. The female Paramedic came out and spoke very kindly to the neighbour informing her that her mother had not responded to any of the treatments they had tried and had passed away. The neighbour thanked the Paramedics for all their help. The police had phoned the husband of the neighbour and he arrived at this time as well. I took my leave after giving my condolences and offering any other help if needed.
As I walked back to my house, still in my pajamas (I was the only one in pajamas) I hoped they were going to be OK. She had passed away very quickly so there is no time to get used to the idea and it tends to hit you like a lead ball a later. I will check on them later and see if I can help.

What has this got to do with the cottage life? Everything! I believe EVERYONE should know how to provide CPR. I was a paramedic for several years and I saw first hand the difference it can make. CPR pushes the oxygen in the blood around in the arteries to provide oxygen to the vital organs. CPR does not always start the heart beating again but it buys time for the casualty so the possibility that the defibrillator and/or cardiac drugs will work. This works best and gives the best chance for survival if CPR is applied to keep the organs alive by providing that oxygen! Some situations, like this one it is too late to help but it is tried any way. It also gives the relatives time to start to reason what is going on, time to start to grieve. Most of the time though it does help and in fact is the only hope that more can be done for them.

The only way to our cottage is by boat. A lot of cottages and homes are isolated and it would take some time to get an ambulance into these areas. Knowing CPR can make all the difference. There are many ways to learn CPR. You can even learn it online now. Learn CPR. You could save a life!

Listed below are the 4 easy steps for adult CPR.

A favorite treat at bonfires is S'mores.

S'mores are a sticky gooey treat made of marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate. They are wonderful!

You will need:

-Sticks (live, green sticks) long enough to hold the marshmallows in the fire without burning yourself and shaved off at the end to take off the bark and make a point.

-A fire with lots of red coals

Ingredients for each S’more:

1. 1 whole Graham cracker
2. ¼ of a chocolate bar where ¼ is 4 pieces
3. 1 marshmallow

Making the S’mores

1. Take ½ of the Graham cracker and lay the chocolate piece on it ready to go.
2. Take 1 marshmallow and jam it onto the end of a stick.
3. Cook the marshmallow until golden brown.
4. Take the cooked marshmallow still on the stick over to the prepared Graham cracker.
5. Carefully lay the marshmallow down onto the graham cracker and chocolate.
6. Place the other Graham cracker on top and remove the stick from the marshmallow (Hopefully without burning yourself) and smoosh together.
7. Eat the ooey gooey sticky mess!

You want S'more?

Does anyone like the smell of a wood fire?

Do you like marshmallows roasted to a perfect brown crust over that same wood fire?
Who named marshmallows, marshmallows?

I have allows loved the smell of a wood fire. At home and at the cottage there is a fireplace inside and a fire pit outside. When I was a child, growing up in an older tree neighborhood and walking around in the fall when everyone was burning the leaves and branches was pure bliss. If I am driving down the road and smell a wood fire I will open my window wider so I can smell the smoke.
Yes... I am a Wood smoke smell addict!! The smell of wood smoke is comfort. It is curling up with a good book on a rainy day by the fire, it is having friends over for a bonfire, it is coming in to its aroma after ski-dooing and knowing your can "Toast your buns" by the fire. It never fails to make me feel calm and warm and fuzzy.

Now as for the marshmallows....
Marshmallows were around in ancient Egypt. Then it was mostly honey that was thickened and flavoured with the root sap of the marsh mallow, so named as it was found in marshes. This was all mixed together with nuts and served as candy.
In France store owners would spend huge amounts of time whipping the Marsh Mallow rootsap by hand. The mixture would then go into a mold.
19th century Doctors would prescribe Marshmallows as a cough suppressant. The Marsh Mallow sap would be whipped into a meringue that was used to soothe children s sore throats.
Marsh mallows are no good for that now as we use gelatin to make them instead of the marsh mallow sap.

Does any one like the smell when it first starts raining?

When I was at the cottage for the summers with my Mom and brother I spent 50% of my time in my little runabout boat. My first boat was so wide I swear it was untippable and I only had a 3HP on it so needless to say it was very slow. My first outings where only around the bay so my parents could watch me to make sure I could handle the boat and myself. Once I was up to their standards I was allowed to go a bit further into the bays off our bay.

It was though, my only source of travel. The only way to go anywhere on the lake was by boat. There was no road into our cottage and still isn't. Of course being new to the lake, to make friends, I had to boat around. I did make some great friends around the peninsula over the years. Slowly putting along in my little boat. I would go to one friends and then we would go get other friends and all go to the government docks and swim, sunbath,and listen to Rock and Roll on little portable radios. When we became bored we would go off to someones cottage to play games, or records or just raid their fridge!
I got to know the lake pretty well.

I remember in our group there was a girl that lived at the head of the lake, 12 miles away, so we didn't see her very often. I quite liked her and she said there wasn't anyone to be friends with where she was. I hadn't seen her in quite awhile and wondered where she was. I decided to take my boat up to where she lived and find out why she had not been around. I was not allowed to boat that far away so I told my parents some story to make them feel secure about my whereabouts and started off, with extra gas on my trip to the upper lake .This was going to take along time! Remember I only had a 3 HP at this time. I was a beautiful day and I started early. I was really enjoying my trip and feeling so adventurous and just a little bit naughty.I left at 8:30 and got there around noon. Sitting on the dock was my friend. She looked so sad! I pulled up and she started to laugh at me! She said"You are absolutely crazy coming this far in that boat!". I agreed and laughed too! We had a long conversation that day. It seems her Dad was in a foreign country and worked for Alcan Aluminum. That country had just started a civil war and they could not contact her Dad any more. They did not know where he was. The family was really upset. It had been two weeks since they had last heard from him. She was really glad to have some company that day and I was glad to be the company. I hoped I had made her at least feel that she had friends she could call on.

Going home was a different story all together. On our lake the weather can change quickly and as my friend and I talked the sunny day departed and a drizzling rain had taken it's place. No big deal I thought. I had been out boating in the rain before and it was warm. When I got about half way home the fog rolled in thick and heavy! Now when you go boating on a lake the way you know where you are is with landmarks. If you can't see the landmarks it becomes pretty tricky! (Picture courtesy Of Mike Baum}

I was scared but I was determined to get home as I didn't want to get into trouble! I remembered my Dad had said that if the weather was bad stay close to and follow the shore line. I was afraid I might hit a rocky area or a dead head (partially submerged log). I had to stop to put more gas in the motor so I pulled over into the shoreline and tied up to a overhanging tree. It's funny how sound travels especially when its foggy. I could hear people right across the bay talking and it sounded like they were right beside me. This actually made me feel a little better. When I was gassed up I continued my journey home, slowly following the shore lines. I made it home safely, late for dinner and exhausted. It took me in all 4 hours to get back. My parents were beside themselves when it turned foggy. There were no phones to phone other parents with and ask if I was there. So when I returned they were just very happy I was safe. I never did tell them that I had gone up the lake that far. Kept it my little secret! Until now!


Question: Is any one else a cottager and if so at what age did you start boating?