Rope Swings

This is one of those things that goes hand in hand with summer at the cottage...a rope swing, preferably over water. Our own cottage lake has one, that is idea for swinging and jumping off from. It's a steep rock cliff that rises out of the lake and is surrounded by very deep water. There has been a rope swing on an overhanging tree as long as I can remember and I can remember back about 40 years.

Although I grew up around it, I only swung off the thing once, and because I was and still am a fraidy cat...I didn't let go of the rope, swung back and cut my foot open on a rock...first and last time for me on the old rope swing. I still have a pencil thin scar on the bottom of my foot to remind me.

But that was me and that was years ago. Here are a couple of girls enjoying a similar rope swing on their lake, looks like fun.



Remember kiddies, rope swings are lots of fun but are also very dangerous, be careful, always have a spotter in a boat and don't try any foolish stunts. And if you can't swim, stay off the rope swing....

Lots of Rain Means High Water

Yesterday we had about 100 millimeters of rain fall that brought our rivers, lakes and ponds up from what was becoming record low water levels for the month of July. So the rain was certainly a welcome weather happening, but during the rain I was looking out the window at my office and thinking about my aluminum boat and motor pulled up on the shore at the cottage and of course my old wharf which was built for low water conditions.

I've been down this road before at the cottage, a day a heavy rain and that lake is going to come up, fast. So I knew a cottage trip was in the offing. Knowing that it usually takes until at least the next day to see the water level rise any appreciable amount, I was able to put off my trip until tonight. But as soon as I got home I grabbed the wife, stuffed her in the car and we took off for the cottage. We are lucky that it is only about a 50 minute drive each way, so going down and back tonight was no problem.

Sure enough as we drove we noticed the washed out culverts, ponds overflowing, and lakes that had come up several feet on the shoreline already, so I pressed a little harder on the gas in my little Chev Tracker and we got there in record time.

The boat was on the shoreline where I left it, but the shoreline was all but gone as the rising lake encrouched on the lawn. The boat, with the outboard motor bolted to the back was full of water from in front of the middle seat to the stern and water was lapping over the top of the stern. Got there just in time.

I used a bucket to bail it out and then with the wife helping, we pulled the boat up on the shoreline, in fact right up on the lawn, and tied it up. It's a 14 foot Princecraft Fisherman model aluminum boat, so it isn't too heavy, very managable, especially in situations like this.

Once the boat was secured, I tied a few more ropes to the wharf which is now floating quite high and in danger of coming apart, so I tied it to keep it attached to the shore should it break up in high waves before I get back on the weekend.

I'm thankful for the small things, like remembering to get down there when I did and pull the boat up. There have been other instances where I wasn't thinking about it, and my wharf floated away and the boat is full of water which stresses the seams etc and does bad things to the outboard motor should it have become covered with water.

The sun was shining today, and it was flat calm on the lake making for a beautiful night to visit the camp. Going to pull the boat up was as much an excuse to go there as it was an emergency....

Cottage Insurance

Is it just me or does anyone else feel kind of ripped off after dealing with an insurance company? I am trying to get insurance on the cottage which is proving more difficult that you might imagine. Not only is it getting expensive, now the insurance company wants proof of W.E.T certification for my woodstove. W.E.T. stands for wood energy technology or some such thing. You either have your wood stove installed by someone WET certified, or you do it yourself and have to get it certified by someone who has the training and certification to do so....which is fine, except that costs money too.

When I said that to the insurance company, among other things, like, the stove has been there for several years, why is it going to cause a fire now? They said, "oh get the local fire department to certify it." Yeah...well the local fire department had no one certified to do it, so they send me to a company that does it....for a price....

That's not all, even with the certification, the insurance is getting pretty pricey, somewhere in the vicinity of $500 for a $130,000 of insurance coverage. Considering last year the insurance was about $274 I consider that quite a jump. But I can't get it without the W.E.T> certification first, and lord knows if that will even pass. It was installed to the specs, but it's been my experience that private inspectors often have lots to gain from doing inspections....

Insurance is becoming a white collar crime these days if you ask me. I'm starting to consider whether or not I actually need it. I know some of my other neighbors who have chosen to take the risk, not just because of the high cost, but also the demands of the insurers.

But of course they have ya where it counts because when I think about going without insurance I immediately start worrying that will be the time when something happens. But yet, I can't help thinking they want me money and they also want me to spend lots more essentially insuring them...WET certification on the woodstove, do you have a burglar alarm? How old is the oil tank? How close are the trees? How close is the lake? When was the septic tank pumped? What is floor made of? What are the walls covered with? How old is the roof? How often do you use it? Where is the nearest neighbor? Where is the nearest fire department? Any fire hydrants around? (It's on a lake for heaven's sake) By the time I satisfied all their issues I would spend a fortune and I bet they would still want close to $500 for insurance. It might be less hassle to buy life insurance on a crash test dummy...

But...tomorrow I will call the company that does the W.E.T. certifications, and I will pay whatever I have to in order to get the certification, then I will write them a cheque for the insurance....what can ya do?

AAAHHHHHHHHHGGGGGG !!!!!