How my Lake "to do" list went.

As usual,  I was a bit over optimistic with my plans, but it was still a great weekend at the Lake. The weather was absolutely perfect and having time alone with my husband was very very nice.

My favorite place to be.

We got the laminate flooring down on the screen porch and the difference is unbelievable. We have had an unfinished wood board surface and it was starting to rot a bit around the edges.  We have gone back and forth about what to do about that floor for 25 years now .. we think it is not worth installing good wood planking  but we are still a little worried that laminate won't hold up to weather exposure.

The way this worked was I bent over, picked up a board, waited until I stopped feeling dizzy and then hauled in one laminate plank at a time from the other room. My husband fitted them together, marked and cut them and then I helped him guide the far end of the board into the right spot for a final click into place. I also sat on a chair a lot,  supervised, and admired Bob's hard work. Bob wouldn't let me play with the power tools-- this time.

The dock partially cleaned.

The next big job was the dock.  I actually like  power washing. You stand there and the water pressure does most of the work and it is so satisfying to  see the color of the wood changing. We took turns cleaning  but the work load was a little more even with this project. Mainly I held the sprayer with my strong hand and waved it around and I would switch to my left when my right got tired ---- and 2 minutes later think that was a bad idea when the water started spaying around randomly in the air and I would switch hands back again.  We got the first third of the dock done. I hope the nice weather lasts long enough for me to get the rest of the dock finished. We need to get some sealer/preservative on the wood and repair some weak spots in the planking.

Home exercise was planned.. to heck with that silly idea!  I had done lots of real life exercise and sore enough to prove it! I did do my leg and hip stretches because they actually help lessen my pain.

Guitar.. nope ..... I didn't even take it out of it's case...

My Christmas crafting  is slow and gradual and satisfying. Next week it will involve a hot glue gun.


I wish I could show you a picture of the big pile of branches I clipped for the fire place (no axe or chainsaws involved).. but we burned them as we cuddled by the fire each night. It is now Fall in Manitoba and the nights are getting very chilly.

My dock, ladder and old blue boat.

Last on my list was the swimming. Well, I did climb down my new dock ladder  and I got on to the rock at the base in waist deep water with Bob watching me for safety.  I chickened out of actually swimming, partly because it was freaking cold, and partly because I didn't want to go swimming by myself. Bob apparently figured out the cold part long before me and wouldn't get on a bathing suit. Getting out of the lake was a LOT harder than getting in and involved some panicking on my part. It is very obvious that I still need to work on getting a whole lot more strength in my weak left arm and hand. I don't think I will try this again any time soon.

The approach to my beautiful old swimming spot.