Home after a week away at a cottage on Six Mile Lake in the Muskoka region of Ontario. Overall it was a great week. We were blessed with mainly good weather and no significant issues. Anyway, here is a day by day of the past week.
Saturday
Regardless how much pre-packing we do, it always seems to take hours to get going. There is always a lot to load: bikes, canoes, bedding, clothes, food, dog, dog stuff… We had a stop in Barrie to pick up some Mmmm Donuts. That is some truth in advertising. They are very sweet and very mmm. (Their bread is exceptional too!) We were starving in Barrie and bdot spotted a chip truck – so we took a chance. It was rewarded! We enjoyed the crispy fries and tasty burgers from Josie’s Place. The staff was very too. We arrived at the cottage mid-afternoon. It was a beautiful day. The cottage is on Six Mile Lake and looked to be about 70 or so years old and it sure looked like it. The electrical work is sketchy, and I feared I would fall through the bathroom floor but it is still a comfortable spot and the location is lovely. I was suffering from bandwidth withdrawal for sure. I couldn’t get any information, no sports scores. UGH. (ya ya, it is hard to disconnect from the information super highway) The dog loved the new environment. New places to hunt, hunt, hunt… The sunset was rather spectacular.
Sunday
We started the day with some exceptional adulting and had donuts and coffee for breakfast. Yes sir! We chilled most of the morning on the dock. Post-lunch we did a paddle. Tried all morning to complete a google search just to determine if we are surrounded by poison ivy (we probably are) and what the final score in the Tottenham game is (I still don’t know 100% the final score)… Withdrawal is bad. First world problems for sure but you sure get used to instant answers for anything. We started getting ready for a paddle, then sat down in lounge chairs for a minute. The minute turned into about 2h of lakeside chilling then we paddled. It is a really good area for paddling. There are lots of narrow (but deep) areas to explore. I was surprised we got the sketchy old BBQ lit. Ended the evening with some Big Bang Theory and Civ VI.
Monday
It was heartbreaking not to have donuts for breakfast today. It is really difficult to communicate here with anyone online. I guess we take a lot for granted in the ‘city’. So when we got some troubling news about my BiL getting hit while biking — it was both concerning and frustrating. He is very sore and broke his hand. I don’t have many details as, like I said, data comes down in a trickle at best here. I’ve never been fond of road riding. I’ll take my chances with the trees and rocks. Makes me pause for a moment as I was planning on bike riding today too. Hmm…We ended up just biking, uneventfully, up and down our laneway. The afternoon was, once again, spent along the shoreline chilling. Average sunset. Bugs are really bad just after the sunset forcing us in every night. Captain Snoog was unrelentless in her efforts to kayak with me. She is a funny dog.
Tuesday
We had a morning paddle. We discovered that somehow we lost Bdot’s life jacket. We could not figure out how it could have disappeared without us noticing. Hmmm. The mystery of the missing life jacket. There was a storm in the afternoon. Lightning struck really close to the cottage. It scared the bejesus out of us. 10m later my heart is still beating. In the evening we ventured over to Anita’s cottage. It was a pretty full house with Bill’s family over. We were shown many of their new landscaping and cottage improvements. They were truly awesome – they added an entire outside level below their deck. The appointments were very complimentary to the area. Dinner was an incredible fish fry. It was another great evening at the cottage.
Wednesday
Another lakeside chill morning. Seems to be the norm. It looked like rain so we drove over to Midland. Bdot finally got her Kawartha Diary Ice cream for the season. Ha, it started to rain the moment we got in line. We walked around the docks and found we had a very popular dog. Everyone wanted to see Snoog. Snoog is typically indifferent to most people however. *shrug* It seems the more excited they get, the more distant she becomes. After we got home we had a short paddle. And *fanfare with horns * we found lifejacket. It was in the opposite direction we usually paddle along the shoreline. We still have no idea HOW it got there but we sure are happy it was found. Dinner I used the cottage BBQ. I was shocked it lit and the burgers got waterlogged from the cooler. In spite of it all the burgers were still delicious. In the evening we enjoyed a nice sunset. We watched some Big Bang and destroyed a bag of Sunchips in under 10 minutes. Is that a record?
Thursday
Yes, you guessed it, we spent the morning by the water. In the afternoon we returned to the cottage. This visit was very different as only Anita was there. We spent the afternoon talking, drinking (watermelon blender drinks!), eating (nachos then hotdogs for dinner) and enjoying the new deck area. We stopped in Coldwater for Ice Cream. More Blackberry Thunder? Yes please.
Friday
Typically morning before we started packing. I’ve been reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I’m about 80% through – I wish I was a better reader. We kayaked over to the ‘Falls’ area. It is really interesting and pretty area. There were some people setting up to camp there on the Crown land. They said they have been camping there for 20 years or so…The pack-up was a slog as usual. We temporarily lost the shed key which wasn’t lost just in an unexpected found location. We stopped at Josie’s again on the way home for poutine. It was good even though it didn’t have the Quebec squeaky cheese. It started to rain as soon as we started to unpack the car. I’m starting to wonder if we have a rain curse. Happy to be home for sure but it was a great week away.
We are starting to entertain the idea of getting a cat…
After a WEEK away there is NO update on my Ubiquiti support ticket. Wow. I’ve dealt with a lot of tech support, being ignored and given ZERO to go on is the worst. I’m shocked at the inept and incompetent level of support from Ubiquiti. And I’ve been escalated to a manager!
UPDATE!
That was a crazzzzzzzzzy OT! Who doesn’t love 3 on 3. What a save by McTavish. Highlight reel! GOOOOLD! 🥇 Great game by 🇫🇮.