Epic Cottage Fails

For the most part I like to write about stuff going well.  Granted life here has been one long learning curve but no one really likes to own up to all the failures it takes to get the knowledge that we now take for granted.

So – I thought it might be fun to write a bit of a summary of Epic Cottage Fails

Failure #1 – Gardening for vegetables

Our year's harvest (in total)

First a confession.  I love to garden – but – and it is a big but, I am really, truly, bad at it.  I love the feeling of the dirt on my hands, watering, trimming, putting in new plants, moving the older ones that I should never have put there in the first place, but for the most part am more adept at killing the plants slowly than nurturing them to anything beyond a starter.

We originally placed our solar panels by the lake as we are on the north end and look to the south over open water.  So – there is an unencumbered light path to the panels.  The idea was to soften the appearance of the panels when seen from the lake by planting a raised bed with raspberry bushes which would grow to the right height and provide nature’s candy as a bonus.  Sounds good right?  

All was going well until we came up one weekend, went down to the bed and every last plant, leaf, root, stem, was gone.  It was as if they had never been there.  Odd.

Which beget the idea of using the bed for vegetables instead but putting in a chicken wire type fence around it.  Nothing did very well.  The final (and total) harvest for that year is shown here in this photo.  Each veggie perfectly shaped, the exact right colour, and in miniature.  We are definitively not going to feed ourselves in the coming zombie apocalypse. 

Failure #2 - Opening beaver dams

Over the years we have learned to live with the beavers and more specifically with their incessant dam making.  Beavers are quite amazing creatures and of course make beaver dams.  They are attracted to the sound of running water and work diligently to stop it, building dams until the water is contained not flowing.  They mostly work at night (but can do day shifts as well).  Typically, if one opens a dam in the morning it will be completely repaired by the next morning.  Now opening a dam is a learned skill. The dams are made of twigs, branches and mud, and are surprisingly solid.  As you attempt to break through there is a very real likelihood that the water flowing through the breech will be far more than you intended and will wash away everything in its path.  Getting just enough flow that it will continue most of the day without losing control is tricky.

One day I headed out to town knowing that my husband was working on a dam near the road.  Some water had to be let out of the pond there as it had risen to a level that was threatening the road.  To fix the problem required the dam to be opened (a bit) to let some of the water out.

However, on my return from town this scene met me coming down the road.    

Yes, the dam had opened up too much and the water from the (large) pond was now flowing down the road (in addition to where it had been intended to go).  Yikes !!  How deep was it?  Had it washed away anything important?  When was it going to stop?  Could I just drive through?  Ultimately all was OK and I did drive through and on home.  It had washed away the gravel which was a hassle but fixable.  Lesson learned.

Failure #3 – Where did the dog go?

Up until recently we had a very quiet, and much loved, miniature schnauzer named Blackjack.  Unfortunately the little guy got a bit too sick this past winter (and well, you know..).  

Anyway this failure was back when we were still in build mode and digging for our shore well.  At this point we were doing test holes and the object was to go as deep as possible with the backhoe to see if putting the well there was a possibility.  The chosen location was close to the lakeshore so the water should be at the same level as the lake. 
The test hole we had just dug was not particularly successful (apparently a bit too far back from the lake).  It was time for a break and my husband and I hopped into the water with a few pool noodles and goofed around floating from the dock along our property, maybe 100 m.  

The dog, who had been on the dock (he did not like the water so was not swimming with us) was keeping pace on shore.  When we ultimately got out – no dog.  We called and called and still no dog.  This was very unusual.  He would normally come running when called (at least when called by me).  Had he wandered into the woods?  Down the road?  We checked the roads in both directions, and at the neighbours over the next 2 hours.  Still no Blackjack.  This was getting very worrisome.  Then a brainwave.  We checked the well, and lo and behold there he was.  Paws up against the side of the well, standing on his back feet with water up to his midsection, shivering like crazy.   Had he barked?  Not a peep!  Now this was not a barky dog but come on….

It was very tricky getting him out of there.  The hole was narrow – only the width of the backhoe scoop so not wide enough for a ladder.  Attempts to lower a basket that he could step into failed too – no amount of coaxing would induce him to move.  Finally, hoping his neck was a strong as we thought it was, Bob looped a rope around it and pulled the little guy up smoothly.

So glad we found him when we did, safe and sound.  It would have been very awful to find him later and not OK.  It appears that in his running to keep pace with us he fell right into the open hole.  Now if we had had children around the hole would certainly have been covered – but with 2 adults and a dog corners were cut.  Lesson learned.

Failure #4 – Growing potted herbs on the deck

With an aim to get more colour on our deck I purchased 2 planters.  The idea was to plant some flowers, maybe herbs …  As it turns out potting soil from a garden centre is a chipmunk’s idea of a spa.  They roll in it, dig in it and fling it around.  It can also be a good source for snacks it seems.  This year I planted one container with basil and flowers and the other with cilantro and flowers.  






The basil looks and tastes wonderful.  





The cilantro on the other hand…. (not so good).  My assumption is that cilantro root is tasty to a chipmunk and basil root is not.  Guess I need to plan more Italian and less Mexican in the upcoming menus.

Failure #5 – and finally - you have seen this before ! 

Kubotas going off the road and on to their sides are not quite what is meant by the term “off road”.  But alas this has now happened twice where our wonderful orange friend has landed off the road and needed a very big assist to get upright and back on terra firma.  Lessons learned? – we can only hope.

I know there are more failures – but I am feeling humbled enough right now