June 3oth: Getting settled into the island house on Lake Temagami

 

It seemed like nothing was easy! We wanted to get the propane system working for the main house. It runs the refrigerator/freezer, hot water heater, room heaters, propane lanterns for lighting and the stove. There were two big propane tanks behind the house. We turned on the propane and tried to light the pilot light for the hot water heater. Nothing. Hmmm, let's try the hot water heater. Nothing. We spent quite a bit of time trying to determine the problem. We checked on line and found directions for the pretty old propane stove. Finally left a message for the original owners and moved on to the next project.

There is a bedroom in the main house that had built in closets. The plan is to have the grandkids stay in that room on bunk beds. R&C said we should start with that project so I could have a bed in the main house until the grandkids came.

Closet removal

Randy made short work of tearing out the closets with a little help from Cindy and me. Then we had to take apart one of the bunkbeds and bring it down from the guest house. The mattress and bottom board were surprisingly heavy but we had a small wagon to help.

The trail is quite uneven with a lot of roots. It is downhill from the guest house to the main house which helped. 

Bunk bed room is ready

By that afternoon my temporary bedroom was completed.

We hadn't heard anything about the propane so we tried again. We looked for another valve somewhere around the cabin. Randy was able to trace a gas line and discovered the feed for the main house was coming from behind the shower building. The tanks behind the main house were for heaters. Problem solved. Got the pilot lights for the stove, refrigerator and hot water heater lit. Nice improvement.

Turned out there was a learning curve on the propane refrigerator. We set it half way for temperature and the next morning everything was frozen! Lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, etc don't do well when frozen.

We decided to get the refrigerator in the guest cabin going. It's a lot newer. We tried to light the pilot light. It started but the main burner would not ignite. Tried several times with no luck. We looked up the instruction manual and discovered the carbon monoxide sensor no longer worked. It is a safety mechanism that turns off the propane if carbon monoxide is sensed, or the sensor stops working. Carbon monoxide could build up if the venting was blocked in some way. Randy checked the venting and it was free and clear so we temporarily worked around the sensor. A new one is coming Friday.

Small mouth bass

Cindy told Randy he was working me too hard. Actually we were all working quite a lot. Fishing was suggested. We decided to try fishing off the dock by the lake house. Also, we wanted to dine on fresh fish! I caught a small bass. Too small but a good sign. A little while later I caught a very nice bass. Supper!  We kept fishing and Cindy caught and I caught a couple more small ones. Randy caught a tree and his line which became so messed up he decided he was going back to work. Randy likes to catch, not to fish.

Cindy's first catch

First fresh fish dinner 

I cleaned the fish and Cindy prepared it. We were all amazed at how good it was. We need to catch more!

Main cabin buck stove

The weather had been quite cool, mid 40's at night, which was fine for working and sleeping. In the evenings, we enjoyed sitting around the main cabin with the buck stove keeping us warm. 

But then it started warming up. And the mosquitoes seemed to be getting much worse. Somehow they were getting into the main house, especially at night. We tried to figure out how they were getting in, but couldn't find any openings. 

Switched to plan B. Sleeping without mosquitoes became the highest priority. R&C could move to the guest house and I could sleep in the Bunky. That meant hauling the king size bed up to the guest house. The bed was designed for transport. The frame was in two pieces and the mattress was compressed into a large but heavy box. Randy was still on the recovering list, no lifting!  But Cindy and I were able to get the bed up to the guest house. 

At this point we all acknowledged we needed a shower. Time to get the hot water up and running. The shower is in a separate building with its own on demand hot water heater. Randy was able to light the pilot but we couldn't get the burner to ignite. After some research we learned that the burner won't ignite until the hot water faucet runs to let the heater know its time to heat water. Turned the water feed valve on and water came running out the drain hole meant for winterizing. The other water heater drain plug was left right next to the heater. Should be one right here. We looked everywhere in the heater room. Nothing. 

 I checked on line and was able to find a picture of what we were looking for. Looked by the other water heater, searched the shower room, looked in the shop building, went through all the plumbing stuff. The drain plug is a special design but the threads appeared to be standard pipe thread. I finally found a brass bolt which we made work. We still couldn't get the burner to come on. Thank heavens for the internet. We checked and it suggested changing the two small batteries that controlled the electronics. Randy opened the little box for the batteries and there was the drain plug! A good place to keep it if you know you put it there! Better late than never. Batteries were installed. Still not working. 

We next learned that sometimes you need to turn the hot water faucet on and off several times to get the heater started. Tried that and it worked! I went through this lengthy description so you can more fully appreciate your next hot water shower. We certainly enjoyed ours! As you can see, it is a very nice shower with a new shower head.

Helpful to our projects is a very nice, well equipped maintenance building. There are many tools, power tools, all kinds of hardware, etc.

It was time to review the extensive list Randy keeps for projects. We knew Nick, Nicki, Liam and Mia were coming for the weekend. We wanted to have all the systems up and running upon their arrival. We wanted Nick and Nicki to be able to relax and enjoy the weekend without having to do a lot of work.

Generator left, water pump right

A large generator provides electrical power for the water pump that draw water from the lake. It can also provide power if the solar panels cannot keep up. The lake water is fine for washing dishes, bathing etc., but not drinking.

Randy had worked hard to prime the pump and he gotten water flowing nicely.

The propane systems were all up and running well, but the propane tanks for the main house seemed almost empty. There was a note on the refrigerator providing the propane delivering boat peoples' phone number. The next day was Friday, we hoped they could help us before the weekend. Randy talked with the man for a while and it turned out he knew Nick. He said he could help us out by delivering 4 propane tanks Friday afternoon. Nice to know people who know locals! The propane tanks weigh 200 lbs. Fortunately, the delivery men place the tanks where they belong. They also gave us a quick lesson on use, replacement, and trouble shooting propane appliances. There are a number of valves and hoses involved that are not necessarily intuitive. 

So the critical systems were all up and running. We moved another one of the bunk beds to the main house for the grand kids. Randy caulked a major gap in the floor that we hoped was where the mosquitoes were getting in. 

Natural spring water

The only thing left to do was to make a run in to town to get water. Drinking water is free at the town natural spring. The Lion's Club provided the little shelter and pipe which delivers spring water 24/7. We took 6, 6 gallons containers and filled them all. We decided we were as ready as we were going to get.

We picked up Chinese food, which surprisingly was available in the very small town of Temagami, and cruised back to our island home.

I am again behind on the blog. There has been a great deal of work and fun going on. Tomorrow is Canada Day, similar to the US 4th of July. It will take a while for me to catch up but I will!

June 22nd: Lake Temagami, ontario, Canada

 

Randy and Cindy's daughter and son-in-law bought an island Lake house on Lake Temagami Ontario. There were numerous projects and upgrades planned and I was invited to come along. Anything I do with Randy and Cindy (R&C) is always fun so of course I was in. Randy was sufficiently recovered from kidney stone surgery that we were able to head north to the island.

Supplies going to
the Island house

We spent a couple days shopping for food and supplies. Cindy pre-cooked a lot of meals because there is no electricity to the island. There are propane stoves, refrigerators, a large generator and solar panels but we weren't sure what to expect. All systems would need to be checked, fired up and figured out.

We would be opening the property for the season so we had a great deal of stuff. Fortunately R&C have a nice truck. But we still couldn't fit everything in the truck bed. So Randy decided we would go up! Cover everything with a tarp. My experience with covering stuff with a tarp on the highway doesn't go well, but he was in charge.  

Loaded truck at Temagami Marina

Randy is a master at packing. I couldn't believe how much stuff we got into the truck. Cindy sat in the back seat in about 2 feet of space while holding her 3 foot tall tomato plant. Fortunately, the trip was only about 2&1/2 hours to get to the marina. Of course, then we needed to unload everything into two boats and transport it to the island, unload again and put all the stuff somewhere.

We arrived at the marina. Nick and Nikki (N&N)'s island house included four boats. We took two of them to the island house. I neglected to take pictures but you can imagine how filled they were. It was pretty windy but we were taking it easy so it was okay. One thing I know is to always familiarize yourself with a boat before driving it. I only sort of did that and set off following R&C. Once we were in deeper water I wanted to put the lower unit lower in the water to ride better. I looked at the dash, saw "Down" and thought that must be it. As soon as I did that the anchor dropped off the front of the boat. Uh, oh, it had a power winch. Before I could stop the engine, the anchor rope wound around the prop and stalled the engine. Not good. R&C were pretty far ahead of me so I tried calling. Went to voicemail. I knew they would eventually look back and notice I had trouble.

The wind was blowing me backwards toward a rocky shore but fortunately the anchor caught. I waited for R&C and they gave me a tow line so they could pull me forward to take the pressure off of the anchor line. That worked but I couldn't get the outdrive high enough to try to get the anchor line off of the prop. Finally I climbed over the transom and sat on the outdrive, wondering about how to get back in with no swim platform. I was able to unwind the anchor line with my foot and was able to get back in the boat. It was quite chilly but I had an enclosed cabin. Disaster averted thanks to help from friends and we proceeded to the island house.

Boat house and unloaded boats

By this time we were all very tired. We unloaded only what was necessary. My boat was completely enclosed and the other boat was in the boat house. We knew all the systems were shut down for winter. No electricity, but we did have a large generator and solar power converted to 120 volts. Also had a propane stove and refrigerator. We came prepared to not need the propane systems which was good because we had trouble getting it started. A nice little butane camp stove served us well and a giant Yeti cooler took care of protecting our food.

It was pretty cold, in the 40's but the buck stove made the cabin toasty. It was a good first day. We only toured the main house. I slept on the comfy couch and R&C had a nice bedroom.

The next day I was given a tour of the island. The property was much larger than I expected. There was the boathouse, the main house, a guest house for R&C when the kids arrived, a "Bunky" for me, a Sauna and shower building, a maintenance building, a lean-to which housed supplies and a snowmobile.

The adventure was under way. We have been very busy. Nick, Nikki, Liam and Mia will arrive Friday and we want to have everything up and running. More to follow in the next blog, but here are a lot of pictures.

Main House living room 

Main house

Main House Kitchen
Open concept, dogsled on ceiling

Screened in porch

Main house front deck

Guest House

View from the front deck
 of the guest house

Guest house

The Bunky

The Bunky, my place
to sleep

The Bunky, top of the hill overlooking the water

View from my window in the Bunky

Sauna and shower building

Outhouse - to be replaced with
 inside incinerator toilets

Maintenance and tool building

Path to the guest house.

June 12th: St. Louis, JP's high school graduation, the annual paella party and on to Canada!

 

My sister Terri identified the bird in my blog about the Bambic trip. It is an Eastern Towee.

I flew in to St.Louis at 9:30 PM. Christi picked me up at the airport. When we returned to her home there was a flurry of activity. Will, Kaitlyn and JP all had lists of things to accomplish. Christi had not made a list for me so I mostly watched. I did get involved when it came time to move the furniture to place the new rug. There were many opinions and ideas for how best to do it. 

Not wanting to tell them how to do it, I said, "If it were me, I would just tip the sofa on its back instead of moving it out." Eventually my contribution paid off. Kaitlyn did a lot of math to find the exact center. We all recognized that the path of least resistance was to put the rug where Christi wanted it! It turned out great. It was now about 11:30PM and I said I was going to bed. The work continued well into the night. 

The next day, I knew that we drew the best "Work list" for the day! Will and I picked up his brother's truck so we could put the Torack's Lake house boat in  the water and bring it to the dock. Will suggested I come in the house even though his brother wasn't home. The house was the original house built on the street many years ago. It was quite interesting. His brother had a friend paint the entrance and stairs. Quite striking when I walked in. 

Will's brother is a lawyer and a judge and also an excellent wood worker. He restored and added many wood features. He built these book cases from scratch. Notice the detail at the top.

The Lake house is a wonderful place to relax and get away. Here are a couple pictures from my last visit.  

Putting the boat in was high on the priority list because Christi was anxious to use it as soon as possible. Also she and Will knew I have extensive experience in launching boats and it's a two person job. We put the boat in the water at the public ramp and Will drove the truck back to the Lake house. It was very cold and sort of drizzling so I basically rode around long enough to make sure it was running fine and then drove it across the lake to their dock

Will getting the back yard ready

There were 60 people coming for the party so the main reason for the 90 minute drive was to collect all their tables and chairs to bring them back to their St. Louis home. When we arrived, the preparations continued. My brother John and Daisey were also staying at the Torack home. They showed up Friday. 

Will was responsible for the back yard. 

 

Kaitlyn directed making a very cool fruit bouquet.

John, Daisy and I worked on the fruit kebabs. 

The entire party was a group effort.

The entire John Franko Family and my cousin Marialice were attending and Christi had planned dinner for everyone on Saturday. Will, Christi and JP went to the baccalaureate mass so Kaitlyn was in charge of dinner. I was designated her assistant. I made some salmon with dill sauce as an appetizer because I know many of us enjoy it. Everything went well. We enjoyed a fun reunion that night.

JP, ready for the graduation Ceremony

JP (3rd from the left) and his friends

The graduation was well done. It was inside a big theater so it was very comfortable. 

 

Christi beside the Theater
 "Bear"

.Outside the Theatre are two large bear sculptures. The graduates were told, "Do not climb on the bears for pictures." Christi decided not to climb on the bear either but it looks very tempting!

Paella chef Ray Muniz

The graduation was scheduled Sunday at 1:00 PM and the Paella party was to follow at 4:00 PM. Good friends, Ray Muniz, wife Trina and Daughter Abbey were preparing the Paella during the graduation ceremony.

Ray has been doing paella for Toracks for JP's whole life. They had a picture of him holding JP as a baby at his first Paella party. Christi thought it would be fun to re-enact the picture. There was some concern, but it went well.

The graduation cake was excellent. The school mascot is a Billiken. I never heard of one so I looked it up. Here is more info. Billiken

All of my great niece's and Great nephews on my older brother John were in attendance. It had been over three years since I saw them in person. They certainly have grown up!

My next stop was Cleveland to visit with the Drouhard family and Julie and Jim. The day after I arrived, I learned that my great niece had contracted COVID. Turned out there was a large increase in the number of new cases in Ashland county where the Drouhard farm is located. We determined to wait for a later time to get together. In particular I was being very careful as I was very anxious to get into Canada.

I enjoyed a few days laying low with Julie and Jim. Jim had been working with a physical therapist and I was happy to see he is doing his exercises and is getting around pretty well. I included this video to give him credit! Good work Jim.

My plan for getting into Canada was to meet my great friends Cindy and Randy in Detroit. They are Canadian residents and were going to be in Detroit for Cindy's high school reunion. They suggested I just meet them in Detroit instead of flying into Toronto and dealing with the crowded customs process. Plus I wouldn't need to rent a car.

Mia Steve and Liam

Cindy told me that they were watching their grandkids, Mia and Liam while their parents Nick and Niki were on a pleasure/business trip to Europe. They would be with them in Detroit. She said we should surprise them with me joining them in Detroit. We surprised them at a restaurant where we met for lunch. Linda and I had a lot of fun boating with them and I missed seeing them the last two summers. They were very surprised. It was fun to finally get together in person. They are great kids.

On the way back to Canada we stopped to see some of Cindy's relatives. At the first stop I saw a work in progress. The couple is restoring an old school house and putting on a major addition. It's quite ambitious. Then we went to a second home that was renovated and modernized by her cousins. It had a great rural setting. 

They had just finished putting a gazebo bar in the back yard. It is made from an old corn crib. It's very creative and fun.

Next we headed to the border. Cindy had completed all our paper work including vaccination records and we breezed through in record time. I finally made it back to Canada. Here is a view of the back yard with the tree house Randy built, and a view out the front yard.

Back yard and tree house

View from the second floor
screened in porch on front

We were watching Mia and Liam until their parents returned from a trip Thursday night. Then we planned to go up to the Island Lake house on Lake Temagami. Randy had been having some stomach pain issues. It wasn't COVID, but it was getting worse. Went to the doctor and discovered he had a large kidney stone. Definitely needed to come out before going to the lake. 

Meanwhile, Cindy and I watched Liam's baseball game and Randy wisely stayed home. Nick and Niki returned home and we enjoyed a couple nice days with everyone. 

Nick and Liam

Nick and Niki brought Liam a new cap and Mia a new necklace from Ireland.

Mia

Niki, Mia and Cindy picking strawberries

Niki, Cindy, Mia and I went to pick Strawberries Saturday morning. The strawberry farm also had a nice market. The strawberries are delicious.

Randy had some pain medicines so he was mostly okay except at night. We spent part of the time buying supplies for the lake and packing the truck. We have a lot of stuff to take up because this is the opening of the Lake House for the season. 

It took a couple days to get things arranged, and fortunately the kidney stone was removed this morning. We plan to head to Lake Temagami Tuesday morning.