Up to the cottage

The first time up to the cottage is always a little stressful. You wonder how it survived the winter. Did the water pipes break or did a tree fall on the roof and do a lot of damage? How about mice getting into the house or the foundation of the cottage shifting.... This year the cottage survived. A birch tree did fall on the garage roof and did some minor damage. Everything else looks great. I always have Tim go into the cottage first and inspect it because you never know what you might find. In the past we have found dead mice, a bat, and even a mummified chipmunk. Yuk!
The lake is still down. Our neighbor said they got half the snow that Milwaukee received. The good thing about the low water line is we now have a nice sandy beach. The area of the beach that has been out of the water for awhile is now growing grass. We'll have to decide if we want that to grow natural or get out the lawn mower and cut it.
First thing Saturday morning was to start spring clean up. Tim raked all the leaves which took a good part of the day. I had the fun job of cleaning the inside of the cottage from months of dust and cobwebs. I also put out all the bird houses, gnomies and hummingbird feeders. As soon as the feeders were put out the hummingbirds were out in full force drinking the special sugar mixture.
THe loons are back. The people who live up here all year long say as soon as there is a hole in the ice in spring, the loons come back. Here is a nice picture of them. On Sunday I saw them on the nest so now it is a waiting game to see if a baby loon will survive this year. I'll get you updated on any baby loons.



These are two of our gnomes. Tim likes to call them gnomies. They stand guard at the gate keeping the cottage safe.
On Monday morning it was time to leave and go back home. Spring cleaning was done. Next time we go up there we'll be able to enjoy ourselves.