Finally an update.

We have had some people asking to see some updates on the work that has happened at the cottage since January.  We have been working on fixing a retaining wall, finishing the basement, getting some decks and stairs built outside, have had the basement parged and gotten the landscaper in to finish the lake side.  So here are some pictures of the nearly completed cottage.

The BBQ deck on the road side.  We are hoping to get some landscaping done next spring on this side.

The basement rumpus room.  Most of the furniture is from the old Pink Palace.  Bob the Moose has proudly taken up a portion of wall above the TV.

Here are a couple of pictures of the wine room/basement kitchen.  The appliances, dishes and kitchen items are also from the Pink Palace.  We kept a lot of the palace items knowing that we would have a complete suite in the basement to outfit.  It has worked out well.

Guest bedroom.  This room has a lovely bookcase headboard with built in lights for reading.

 This is the other guest bedroom.  Lots of room for grandkids in this one!

The downstairs washroom.  This room is situated between the two bedrooms for easy night access.  Love the design of this house.

Herman's workshop.  

More workshop.  The counter top and cupboards are from the Pink Palace.
It is nice to have some of the original cottage incorporated into the new cottage.

The parging and landscaping on the beach side.  Much better than trying to slog through good old Saskatchewan mud!

 

 This family of barn swallows decided it was a good idea to nest under the veranda.  We have watched this little family from the first bits of mud they placed on the beam to build their nest -  to the four babies flying out into the world in the last couple of days.

Cheers

Basement Update

It has been a while since my last posting.  There have been a few things going on with the house.  The basement is nearing completion.  We will be moving in furniture and appliances over the course of the winter and spring.  All systems should be a go come this summer.

Here are some shots of the nearly finished basement.

This is looking across the rumpus room from the pump room door.

The wine room.  We will be using the gas stove/range and fridge from the pink palace in here.  

The basement washroom.  Still needs some trimming out and the toilet is set too far out into the room.  But that will work well since we will build a shelving unit behind the toilet and up the wall to hold items.

Basement bedroom 1.  This room will have a double bed and a lovely bookcase headboard with a built in light.

Another view of bedroom 1.  Still need to get baseboards installed and to paint the closet door.  But getting there.

Basement bedroom 2.  This room will have the twin over double bunk bed.  Good for lots of grandkids.  The colour is a bit off in this pic, but the room is a nice green colour.
  

Looking across the rumpus room towards the wine room wall on the right.  We will be putting up wine racks along this wall and hope to have a bar built in front of the wall in the future.  The  wall to the left will have the gas fireplace and tv system set up along the wall.

A little storage space.

Looking across the rumpus room and wine room wall towards Herman's workshop and the pod.  

A closer look at the flooring.  It needs a good cleaning, but I really like this fibre floor for the beach.

Herman's workshop.  He is ready to order his work benches and tool shelves.

While out at Pelican Pointe this weekend Herman put on his chest waders and walked into the lake.  Normally the lake is frozen solid this time of year.  Not this year though.  The weather has been really warm and the pointe is not freezing over at all.  As you can see in the next few pictures, we have open water, yet there are vehicles and ice shacks on the lake.  Wouldn't catch me out there this year.  Not until we get a solid week of minus twenty weather.

The ice slabs along shore are just incredible.  

In the nearly thirty years I have owned this property I have never seen the pointe with open water in January.  Maybe we will be swimming in February.  Might be a tad chilly though.

Cheers till next time.

Starting on the basement

We finally are starting on finishing the basement.  It is a contractor's bad dream out there.  Mud all over and the rain will not end.  Soon I hope.  Since the yard is basically a mud bog, the contractor's trucks have trouble delivering and parking.  Everyone is praying that this rainy, wet spring will not turn into a repeat of the rainy, wet summer and fall we had last year.  Amazing we even got this house in.

We finally have some furniture in the loft.  I purchased the sectional and the old chair was my uncle's.  Herman will put his little ham radio up here and we can sit here in the evening listening and talking to strangers from all over the world.  Really is interesting and the propagation on the air waves is really good since we have amazing quiet and very little noisy air interference at the Pointe.

Heading downstairs.

Herman's future workshop.  This room is 17" by 20" and we may turn it into a large bedroom down the road.  For now though, a workshop it is.

The pod (with door) that Conquest built and we had craned in.  The pod contains the furnace, water heater, Vanee air exchanger, etc.  It was nice to have all this come in at once and Conquest just hooked up everything.  The little room beside the pod houses the pump, pressure tank and sump pump.  

This will be the wine room/kitchen in the basement.  We have the old gas range and fridge from the pink palace that we will put in this room.  So guests can be self contained if they wish.  But they may have to put up with the brewing carboys.  We pick wild Saskatoons, chokecherries and soon my planted blueberries to make wine with.   Lots of berries out by us that we can just drive up to and start picking.  

Two bedrooms and a bathroom.  I really like the way Robinson Residential designed the bedroom doors so that they do not open into the rumpus room.

The rumpus room.  Takes a lot of imagination to visualize these rooms.  But we are getting there.

We had the first birthday party in the family at the lake this spring.

The four April birthday celebrants!  Grandchild number six arrives in August.  That will be five grandkids aged four and under.  This blended family just keeps growing.  And only three of six kids are married.  YIKES.

I hope to get some pictures of the yard progressing, should it ever quit raining so that we can progress.  

Cheers.

Flood of 2011

Well, it is the year of the flood in southern Saskatchewan this year.  Thankfully the house is built high enough above the lake that there is no danger of water in the house.  We are very fortunate, as many cottages and homes on lakes on the Qu'Appelle River system are in danger of being lost due to high water levels.  We can count our blessings on that front.
We have moved up the docks and tried to tie down anything that may float away.  The water has completely taken over the beach and there is now no point at Pelican Pointe.

The winds came up a week ago and the lake became a debris field.  There was wood, logs, telephone poles, boathouses, boats and railway ties being pushed along the lake by the wind and waves.

Normally there is about 40 or 50 feet of beach in front of the cottage.  Not this year!

Some of these boathouses are in danger of floating away.  This picture was taken on April 30.  The water was higher this past weekend is continuing to rise.

These are the steps that go down to the beach that used to be there.  Herman took off the submarine system he designed for the motor boat lift and sunk the lift so that it will not float off on us.  The dolly for the little sailboat (to right of picture) is even more under water this weekend.

You can see how high the water is if you compare this photo with the profile photo on this blog.  Normally the pointe is about a quarter mile out.  Now there is no pointe left.

This muskrat has been living in a pile of firewood that is on what used to be the beach.

The water on Last Mountain Lake is expected to peak in the next week or so.  Let's pray that not too many people lose their homes to this flood.

Chilling a bit till spring.

Herman relaxing on a Sunday afternoon.

Things have slowed down a bit with the build a Pelican Pointe.  We now have the outside walls wired in the basement and our contractor is coming out to start the interior walls on Thursday.  We spend most weekends out at the lake and are looking forward to spring and summer.  Will have lots to do and still need to get the beast out there and unloaded.

The table top is back from the refinisher and looks stunning.  He did a great job and the person that made the two leaves for the dining room table matched them up perfectly.  There really are some amazing craftsmen out there.

The dining room, looking from by the veranda doors.

The dining room table.

The buffet.  It sits really nicely between two windows.

While we were out last weekend I took some pictures of some of the fixtures.  Don't know if people are interested, but here they are.  

The guest washroom.  There is also a large shower with a seat in this room.  The laundry room and guest washroom can be entered from the mud room entrance door.

The laundry room.

Kitchen.  The big honking microwave is sitting on a piece of cardboard in the shelf until we get a piece of maple cut and stained to put in there.  That's what I get for not measuring before purchasing.

The en suite counter.  The spa tub and shower with the seat are on the other side.  A built in linen closet is to the left of the counter.  Very handy.

We had some of the family out on Sunday.  Had lots of fun trying to put together a train set the grandkids got for Christmas.  Since we are waiting for a sectional to be made for the loft, the grandkids have lots of fun running up there and playing with toys.  Mostly they are chasing each other in circles while giggling and screaming though!

Poppa Herman and Brody working on the train set in the loft.  

The stairs going to the loft and the same design of stairs go into the basement.

We are starting to see some signs of spring.  It is still very cold for March, but the snow is starting to melt off the roof and the ice fishing shacks should be off the lake soon.  Below is a picture of some people on the lake last weekend.  

Hard to believe that trucks are driving on the lake now and in a couple of months the boats will be on the water and soon we will be swimming in what is now a lake with four or five feet of ice on it.  Gotta love this province.  

Cheers till next time.