Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i Cottage Life

Win a pair of Maxtrax! Dockside DIY, our newest newsletter, has the best solutions, projects, and how-tos for cottagers, because even seasoned DIYers need advice sometimes. Subscribe now for a chance to win a pair of Maxtrax to help you out the next time you’re stuck in a bind (or the snow)*. Enter at cottagelife.com/maxtrax. The play list Have you visited our YouTube channel lately? We’ve got a ton of DIY projects, real estate tips, and Q&A videos, and we’re constantly adding content. Plus, you can watch episodes of Cottage Coach and our new web series, Brojects Re:Builds. Find it all at youtube.com/cottagelife. (And, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe.) TICKETS, GET YOUR TICKETS The best part of closing season is upon us—the Fall Cottage Life Show returns to…

When Hilo sniffs boats for zebra and quagga mussels at roadside checkstops in Alberta, most people get out of their vehicles to watch the dog, hard at work keeping the province’s lakes and rivers safe from these invasive species. Along with his handler, Cindy Sawchuk, the five-year-old black Lab–golden retriever mix is one of three teams on the payroll of Alberta’s Environment and Parks department who can sniff out the tiniest trace of mussel. How does Hilo stay motivated on the job for eight hours a day, five days a week? Cindy plants a mussel on about every fifth watercraft that Hilo inspects. That allows him to earn his reward, a chance to play with his favourite toy—a ball on a string. “It keeps him enthused. He’s always searching, always…

Q: “My neighbour at the lake is always naked. I mean outside, during the day, not just to go skinny-dipping. I know this because I can see his whole property from my dock. Am I the only one who is uncomfortable with this level of nakedness at the cottage?” A: As a tweenager, I was fortunate to spend all summer at the family cottage. I had my own boat, but I couldn’t roam as far afield as my older brothers, who once came back from a fishing venture far up the Georgian Bay coast where they had seen—pause for effect—a young woman sunbathing nude on the deck of a boat as it slowly cruised around the shoals. This news made my mind reel, as if someone had told me Godzilla…

Time for a snooze… Small is beautiful. But when your cottage feels like a can with too many sardines, you’re not living small, you’re living cramped. No wonder shut-eye space “is something I’m sure everybody who owns a cabin has thought about,” says Dale Parkes, a B.C. cottager and a senior lecturer in architectural and engineering technology at Thompson Rivers University. When the guilt from handing guests the air mattress with the slow leak gnaws at your soul—and you lie awake wondering: Where can I put these extra people? And how? And what are the rules, anyway?—the good news is we’ve got answers. And if you really can’t sleep, the building code is better than counting sheep. 5 questions about adding sleep space Q: We have a small cottage without…

Here’s how to prepare your building for the next one Jeff Blackmer remembers the time Robertson Point, N.B., was covered in water and his family cottage nearly didn’t make it. During the massive flood of 2008, the rising waters of Grand Lake climbed three feet up the walls and sloshed through the modest two-bedroom bungalow, destroying furniture and flooring. The cottage survived, but just barely. The structure narrowly missed complete destruction, but Jeff’s father, John, who still owned it then, faced a difficult decision. Should he simply repair the damages to his beloved cottage, which he’d purchased in 1957, or should he go farther and invest more heavily to prepare for possible future floods? In the end, he decided to go all the way. He moved the cottage 20 feet…

This summer, I had the surprisingly fraught experience of dropping my young kids off at sleepaway camp for the first time. It was so hard. I knew they’d love it, but as I drove away, I felt like I was leaving my arm behind. This, despite the fact that I believe so strongly in the camp experience; it’s one I cherished myself for a decade. Spending summer weeks outdoors exploring the forest and swimming in lakes without the safety net of my family was a precious gift. I deeply value the lessons I learned at camp—how to get along with people, even when you don’t agree with them; how to be independent; and how to contribute to a community in meaningful ways. Beyond that, and perhaps most importantly, it was…

REPORTERFollowing bug speed, cabin country fight & the scoop on lakefront septics The fast and the fashionable Butterflies and dragonflies don’t mind a little rain. According to a recent study in the journal Biology Letters, temperature and wind play a role in the bugs’ flying speed during fall migration. But precipitation? Not so much. Researchers fit monarchs and green darner dragonflies with tiny radio-tracker fanny packs to chart their speed as they journeyed south. Rain had no impact on how fast the bugs flew, while warmth and wind made them speedier. One dragonfly clocked in at 77 km/h! Maybe it was trying to ditch the fanny pack. Which would have been a misstep: those things are actually in style now. Zero to brawling, real quick At least your lake’s loud…

When it was time for Nevil Knupp to demolish the garage on his Crystal Lake, Ont., property, the sauna inside had to come down too. “I knew we needed another one,” says Nevil. “But I couldn’t fit one in the new garage, and I didn’t want to clutter the shoreline with another building. I also didn’t want it to be a major trek from the water.” That left one solution: build a sauna on the water. “No permit necessary, as long as I kept it under 16 square metres,” he says. (Readers should check with their municipality about permits before starting a build.) Nevil started building in the winter of 2014, right on the ice. He used pressure-treated lumber for the dock frame, cedar for the deck and the sauna…

It’s a universal cottage problem. All manner of accoutrements make their way to the lakeside. And then Dad or Mom usually gets stuck with having to drag that stuff back up to the cottage at the end of the weekend. There’s gotta be some alternative, right? A utilitarian lakeside storage outbuilding is the answer. Our version is not only attractive, it has loads of features, such as built-in canoe/kayak racks, a work bench, shelving, and more—plus an optional accessory mini deck. Our build included two boat racks, but if you need more you could easily add two additional supports to your shed on the opposite wall. Floor 1 Cut all the 2x8s to length, excluding the bridging (as indicated in Fig. 8), and treat all end cuts before assembly. 2…

The world’s smallest true carnivore, only twice the weight of a deer mouse, is a nimble, ferocious terminator, so tiny and secretive that it patters largely unnoticed from Labrador to the Yukon. The stealthy least weasel ups its game by donning a pure white coat for the winter, sometime between September and November, over about three weeks. Least weasels prowl solo, mostly between dusk and dawn, under the cover of leaf litter, brushy forest edges, and long meadow grasses to avoid detection by birds of prey or foxes. Rapidly exploring every hole and hiding place, they pursue voles and mice beneath the ground and snow, through their tunnels and into their nests. Wrapping themselves around their prizes, they slay with a powerful bite into the throat or the back of…

On Facebook, we posted a story about why you should be drinking boxed wine at the cottage. John Sharpe was quick to respond: “My wine is boxed. The box just happens to have a dozen bottles in it.” A family jewel The piece on the Stevens family and their unique island rock chair (“One Hundred Years in the Making,” Aug/Sept ’19) really stuck with me. While we do love the comfort and look of the traditional Muskoka chair, and we have many versions of it, I was most intrigued to read about the changes that the Stevens family has made to it. We wish we could sit a bit more upright in our chairs so that we can read with our heads resting on the back, and, as we age,…

For wood, or hard materials such as metal, stone, or glass, the right sandpaper can help tackle myriad projects. Choosing an abrasive suited to the material will save you time in the long run. Consider the type of abrasive, the paper’s weight, and the grit to pick the perfect sandpaper for the job. The back side of sanding sheets tell you what the abrasive is: garnet (Gar), silicon carbide (SiC), or aluminum oxide (AlO). AlO has replaced garnet in general use because of its longevity and more gradual crystal fracturing. The paper’s weight will be graded from A for light and flexible to F for heavy and stiff. There are also cloth-backed sheets for extra flexibility (for getting into small corners) and durability. The grit will be a number, often…

Buh-bye, barbecues I’m having to replace my propane barbecues every two or three years because they keep rusting out. It’s expensive. What am I doing wrong?—MORRIS ROCK, VIA EMAIL Every two or three years? Unless you’re grilling your steak in the Dead Sea, that’s a freakishly short lifespan. Michael Rumolo, a part-owner of Dickson Barbeque Centre in Toronto, wonders if you might simply be buying the wrong models. “High-quality barbecues have a traditional replacement life of about 15 to 20 years,” he says. “Even if the owner isn’t doing regular cleanings or maintenance, we still see around 10 years before they need to be replaced.” Opt for stainless steel cooking grates instead of cast iron—less rust-prone—and be prepared to spend at least $550. Will forking out more cash guarantee that…

It all started with a coat. Black and white, wool buffalo check. No one can quite recall where it came from originally, and the tag is long gone. Just an old jacket, the sort of thing that might hang on a hook in the cottage mudroom or languish in a closet. But for Lyndsay Borschke, the most recent owner of the coat—she started wearing it soon after her mother-in-law handed it down to her—it was the Cottage Coat. And it was the coat that launched a business. Lyndsay, 40, is the founder of Tuck Shop Trading Co., a Toronto-based company that bridges the divide between cabin and city, with clothing that is rustic yet elegant, stylish yet simple. The aesthetic behind what she calls “Canadiana redefined” is rooted firmly in…

A beer for the cook, one for the pot. (And one for everyone standing around watching you whip up these yummy fall dishes.) Buzzard’s Breath Stout Chili Serves 4–6 In Texas, when it comes to chili, meat is the star of the show. No beans, no carrots, no peppers—just chunks of beef cooked low and slow until they’re so tender they start to fall apart. The recipe may look complicated, but it’s actually quite easy to make. ½ tsp smoked paprika½ tsp Cajun seasoning¼ tsp cayenne1 tsp sea salt1 tsp peppercorns, crushed2 lbs stewing beef, cut into cubes2 tbsp olive oil2 sweet onions, roughly chopped4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped1 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped2 large (28 oz) cans whole tomatoes, well drained and crushed (see Tips, opposite)3 chipotle peppers…