Happy Anniversary!

So over December break, we decided to do some shopping in Albany. As we neared the turn-off for the road that goes to the lake, I suggested to Steve that, since it was just one year since we first saw the island, we drive by the same route, just to reminisce. Last year, the first trip was made by driving along all the little lake roads so we could view it from various angles. Since the lake level was lowered, we couldn't actually get onto it in winter.

This year we just drove to the nearest point of the nearest road. And, lo and behold, we could see, even without the binoculars that helped us make a decision last December, that the new shed was laying on its side, toppled over by the recent storm we had! Were the anti-plastic gods punishing us for erecting it last summer? We won't know till late May how all the now-exposed tools & thinking swing fared.

But the thing that surprised me most was how ugly everything looks in December -- the roads, the terrain, the dried-up lake bed. I can't believe we had enough foresight to buy it then!

Buttoning Up

Our last hurrah. Last weekend on the island for this season. Ostensibly to "button up".

If the lake looked wonderful in summer, it looks positively gorgeous in autumn, and once again reminded both us us, separately, of our visit to Lake Placid last September.

Did a few end-of-season chores: lime & fertilizer on the ground, put the Thinking Swing in the shed, but mostly it was just a chance to say goodbye. The thought did cross my usually optimistic mind that who knows what the future may bring, if something will intervene so we can't return, as it did with the previous owners. But for now, I'll just be grateful for the wonderful summer we had on the lake.

More on the Destroilet

It turned out the Destroilet was, in fact, put into production.

Ad for one: http://theimmaculateconsumption.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/introducing-the-destroilet/

Another person's reminiscences:

http://theworldwasturning.blogspot.com/2010/05/arriving-at-cabin-or-destroilet.html

And as recently as 2005, someone was looking for a replacement for his old Destroilet. Apparently it was still working, but he had to replace parts, including his squirrel cage(!)

http://www.kountrylife.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=forum&th=185444

And, the Pièce de résistance, a band which calls itself "Destroilet", which you can check out on youtube.

Scary, but not yet Halloween

Somehow Steven got loose on the island without me. True, the pontoon boat had to be taken out of the water before they lowered the lake level. He took Seth, purportedly to help do that, and "tighten up for the winter".

They were gone all day. I have no idea what I'll find either down or up next trip.

Hustle Time

Over the summer, we've named the major buildings on the island. Besides the obvious Outhouse, there's The Shed and The Shack. Well, ok, that's it. There's not much more there, except the wood piles.

Anyway, The Old Shed is down (now called the Wood Pile North), and The New Shed is up. We've decided to move The Shack forward more, closer to the water, but that's mostly next season's project. Meanwhile, remember those holes Steve dug earlier in the summer? Well, we've poured concrete in them, ready for the foundation of The New Shack.

Yesterday we loaded the barge and brought the old stove and a bunch of other assorted crap that couldn't burn to the dock, unloaded it onto the truck and hauled it away.

Reversing the order, we brought onto the island via a return trip the concrete bags, 6x6 posts, assorted tools, and I can't remember what all else, I was so beat. Steven's a crabby boss, and the pay sucks.

Other people at the dock usually look at us on our barge oddly, but they're too polite to voice their curiousity about the random assortment of flotsam and jetsam we surround ourselves with. Whereas other party boats hold better dressed people and beer, we look like a couple of old hoboes who've gone dumpster diving along the shore. There are only a couple of islands on the lake, and right now we're the only ones doing any work, so people undoubtedly aren't thinking along those lines. But I can still see their unspoken questions as to where the heck we got, and where the heck we're going, with all that crap. Couple of more forward people will inquire how the fishing is. Just for laughs, Steve simply says we weren't fishing, just "out on the lake". I smile, but never offer an answer. Just as with magic tricks, reality isn't as interesting as imagination.

But yesterday was the best. A group of about 5 older guys, all dressed chips ahoy, were taking a beautiful wood boat out of the water while I was sitting docked, surrounded by the detritus of the former owner's, and now my, life. This was their boat's maiden voyage after a summer-long restoration, and the contrast couldn't be more appalling. But they held their collective tongue.

Steven whispered that I should show some leg, and maybe they'd give me a hand hauling. But 1. maybe he didn't remember what my legs look like, and 2. they were all reaching for the hand sanitizer.

I never offered. My leg or an explanation. But just wait till they see the fridge coming ashore!

Plastic drifts onto the Island

Well, not exactly. We brought it on. Deliberately. The days are getting shorter, and there are a few projects we need to button up before winter.

There are three structures on the island: the shed, the shack, and the outhouse. And then there's the woodpile. Every week we find yet another piece of the shed and/or shack on the ground and relegate it to the wood pile. The shed is actually pulling away from the shack, to which it's attached. Or is it vice-versa? We don't know if one is actually holding up the other, or which one, or if they're co-dependent, but they're doing a pretty bad job of it in any case. And since all our tools, gadgets and gizmos are stored in one of those two, we have to "do something about it", as Steve would say.

So in the interest of time, last night we bought a Rubbermaid garden shed plus other wood stuff needed to stand it on, piled it all on the pontoon boat (work boat, party boat, barge, deck, or dining room, depending on what we're using it for) and hauled it out to the island to assemble.

It should be done tomorrow. I'm so ashamed, so very ashamed...

Hot Sh-t!

Was reading bio of Art Rouse, publisher of Trailer Life & Motorhome mags. There's a pic of a prototype self-contained toilet called -- no kidding -- "The Destroilet" -- which attempted to dispose of sewage by incinerating with propane flames!

Whoa! Better know which is the "flush" button!