Thursday, October 11, 2018

YOLO folks at Higgins Lake early summer 2018

For those of you who don't know where our cottage is, I've notated a Google Earth shot to show you where we are.  We drove back from Colorado after the snow and ice season was done in Michigan so we could enjoy the lake for the summer.
As you can see, some of the shoreline rocks tumble from the ice movement during the winter.  We'll have to get in and throw them back up onto the shore again.
Jason and the neighbor men from both sides of us yacking while our tree issues were being taken care of.  They also had trees cut down while the tree guys were here.
Two guys to carry the broken branch of the pine tree that cracked off in a wind one day to the chipper unit on their truck.
The truck was definitely overloaded when it left.
We had a furnace guy come to maintain/repair our touchy furnace and this is the yucky stuff that blew out of the pipe.  Like rust cement!  No wonder it was clogged up.  He put on a new piece of pipe and all is well.
Some bright yellow lillies finally bloomed.  Most of my flowers were victims of hungry deer.
These flowers are frosted cupcakes at Eric's wedding in Iowa.  We drove there to partake of Jason's nephew's wedding ceremonies, but the heat and booze did the groom in and he ended up in the hospital.  Not a fun night for the newlyweds, but the cupcakes were delicious.
The only photo of the wedding party that isn't blurry.  Constant motion. 







A photo booth was set up in one corner of the reception room, complete with props, so we took some silly photos.
Back at Higgins Lake, we didn't put a dock or boat into the water this summer.  Too many other things to deal with, but our friends Floyd and Cathy took us out for a ride around the lake on their pontoon boat.
It was a gorgeous day and we had a lovely time out on the water.
I cleared out a bunch of stuff from the cottage and disposed of things that were taking up space, including one of my favorite memento wine bottles from South Africa.  I just loved this cute toad on the label of Splattered Toad wine.
Even the back label is humorous.  How can you not love this for less than $4/bottle?
We ordered new driveway road mix for the cottage and the dump truck tried to spread it as she drove out, but most of it landed in a huge pile.
We had to spread it with shovels and a wheelbarrow and rakes.  Hard work.  You can see our footprints in the newly raked surface.
 A shot of the interior of our cottage.  It really is a 1940's log cabin that was sided on the outside, but left original in much of the interior.
You can see some of the books off of YOLO that we just don't have room to store in the cottage.  Lots of stuff in that category these days.
A flock of geese out in front.  I run flapping my arms and yelling to scare them away.  Don't want that poop in our front yard or the shallows of the lake.
Jason enjoying a fire in the front yard and using his new smartphone.
 A purple Columbine that bloomed next to the house.
One of the neighbors was throwing these bins out, so we salvaged them and washed them all out and set them in the sun to dry.  We used these a lot to hold stuff on the boat and keep it organized and out of the way.  Rural dumpster diving treasure.
We bought a couple of these and planted them out by the lakefront.  They are a native species that is recommended for lakeshore properties here as they have a good root system to hold the soil in place to prevent erosion.  Lucky we had this photo of what they looked like as the deer ate all but the stalk and leaves.
Jason's partial high school class reunion downstate at Crystal Lake.
The reunion group with spouses that also attended.  A fun group and a perfect day and setting for the great food and memories.
One of the few times Jason actually got in the lake.  The water warmed up early this year and it was very pleasant all summer.
We hadn't seen a frog at the cottage in years.  But this one had taken up residence and cooled himself off in the foot tub by our cottage door.  I nearly stepped on him another day out in the long grass by the shore.
One of the few day lillies to escape the munching deer.
The neighbor and his dog got out on his newly repaired Hobie Cat.
Mama black squirrel checks to see if I'm putting out any more goodies for her.
Little red squirrel comes to munch the sunflower seeds, too.
I missed the birds and critters when we were out cruising and we've been enjoying them coming to feed and take baths outside our dining room window.  This blue jay jumps into the water to start his splashy bath.

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