Cottage Closing

Well, Paul and John AND Eileen and Brendan, instead of George and Ringo, went to Canada at the end of September to close the cottage.

Despite a brief but heavy downpour, we did enjoy a nice fall weekend. we didn't get in a last sail but 3 of us did get in a last swim. When you got out of the 63 degree water and into the 70 degree air, you realize the water is not too bad.

And speaking of water, Paul was quite the trouper when it came time to turn off the water and “winterize” the pumping station. He, with rubber-gloved hands, jumped right in to offer assistance. A key to this year’s process was dumping 10 or so buckets of lake water directly into the tank to load the pump to holding tank pipe with cleaner water. There was no screaming when it came time to trip the dreaded butterfly valve.

Somewhere along the way, the pump à tank pipe broke – so a repair must be made prior to turning the water on next spring.

On Saturday night, I played my only game of hearts the whole year. Paul, a first time player, won the game by shooting the moon on the last hand. We all saw it coming but John and Eileen didn’t want to make the sacrifice and take a heart.

As you know, the blue boat is gone, which was a great relief when it came time to close up shop. Although we had improved on that system, it was always a pain – even the Egyptians advanced from rolling heavy objects on logs after some time.

It’s 80 in VA today but we’ll be in the 50-60 range this weekend.

Fall is here.

bjm