Life on an Island
I don’t know why, but people are often surprised when they ask about the size of our little island and we tell them. For some inexplicable reason, they think an island suitable to live on should be the size of a small town. I think they watch too much TV and have us confused with Richard Branson.
The fact is Honey Bee is larger than the vast majority of city lots that they live on. Next, they worry about it ‘sinking’ or if a big wave will wash over us. They forget that for one we are in fresh water so there are no tides and for another it doesn’t float, as it is largely a granite outcrop with a thick layer of ‘duff’. Incidentally, water levels are controlled by the locks in the St. Lawrence River and happen to be at their lowest levels since 1928. Finally, it has been around for a gazillion years and unless North America sinks, we are unlikely to go down either. C’mon people, let’s get real!
What island life is really like is waking up with the sun shining brightly through our bedroom window as it faces east. The Canadian geese often honk loud enough to wake us much like our church bell rings in our little village in France. The area is awash in wildlife with ducks, mink, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, beavers, otter, weasels, wood chucks, turtles and on and on. Yesterday I heard a loud splash like a small child had jumped in the river. As I looked up a large Peregrine Falcon had dove in and was flying off with a 10-inch (25 centimeter) fish in his talons.
This summer the Rideau Canal became a new UNESCO World Heritage Site as “the best preserved canal in North America remaining operational with most or it’s original structures intact” This, in addition to the Thousand Island area having already been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The area has a very cool pedigree
Surprisingly few private islands in this area come up for sale. Aside from the fact that real estate prices have gone to the moon in the past few years, most island properties seem to stay within the families. Our property came up for sale as the previous owner was single, without children and elderly. We felt very fortunate to acquire Honey Bee as we have yet to meet an owner that has said of his property “I want to sell this thing!” We do see properties for sale on islands but most often they are one of many lots on the island. Recently we saw a rock in the river half the size of our living room with a tree on it (it qualified as an island) for sale for $50,000. (37,000 Euros) [See pictured] Incredibly, they advertised it as a place you could “dock your boat, hunt and fish”.
Hunt? It reminded me of two gay convicts I once knew playing “hide-n’-seek” in their cell.
Now that we have the basic amenities of any home, much of our day is spent as it would anywhere. With a fully functional kitchen and bathroom, satellite TV and wireless Internet throughout the island, a comfortable living room with fireplace and new windows and doors throughout, we no longer live like refugees. Notice that no glowing mention is made of our bedrooms or porch here, as they are still a work in progress. This the first year that we have gone way out of our comfort zone to explore new areas of the river and its staggering number of islands. We have allowed ourselves more time to go out and play and have begun to get to know a larger geographic footprint of the Thousand Islands. In the past, the lack of a flushing toilet and a wife cooking under a tarp for a couple of summers tended to focus a mans mind as to what his priorities should be.
Someone asked if we had been building for 7 years since we bought the property in 2000. Actually, it took us 18 month to get the submarine cables brought over for power and phone so we did not even show up until the summer of 2002. We spent a month per summer here while I was still working but with travel time back and forth and visiting family we only got 2 weeks of ‘work’ in each summer. This is actually our 3rd summer here so I figure that by the time we leave we will have spent the equivalent of a full year working on the property since we bought it.
One year, not 7.
We certainly have gotten over the novelty of jumping in the boat to go to the mainland although we still meet some people who are incredulous that there is no bridge for us to cross to get home. “So, how do you get there?” they ask.
Duh?
While there is not that much of a physical barrier to the island itself, there is a substantial psychological one. We enjoy great privacy without isolation. We feel that it has meet all of our expectations and it’s a living fantasy. We love being able to run down and leap off the dock into incredibly clear, clean, comfortable (temperature) water. Even the current is gentle, flowing at less than a foot per second. (4 seconds per meter)
Day or night the boat ride is just like a car ride with the life jacket acting as a substitute for the seat belt during nighttime crossings. Speaking of nights, we enjoy spectacular sunsets as we also have a wonderful Western view. Come to think of it, we have a wonderful Southern and Northern view too!
Many families have a renegade or a looser in their mists so we are quick to chime up because we have a winner. Recently, we were pleased to have my aunt Monique come spend the day with us. (We are still not at a point where we can have overnight guests, but we are getting a lot closer.) She is a Canadian supervising Federal judge and was scheduled to hear a case in a town nearby the next day. My uncle was playing in a golf tournament so was out of town.
We had a great day together and ended it with us taking her on a moonlight sunset boat ride on the way back to her car parked at our marina. The next day Janice and I got to sit as observers in her courtroom while she was hearing an appeal on a civil matter. Canadian courts have more pomp and ceremony than US courts, a holdover from Canada’s British ties. There were only 8 people in the courtroom. Her highnessness the judge, 3 staff members to her judgeshipness, the two attorneys and Janice and I in the public gallery. It was quite an impressive courtroom with a picture of Queen Elisabeth prominently displayed. I offered to provide an update replacement photo of President George W. Bush but she politely and firmly declined, citing some obscure reference to global warming “It will be a cold day in h…”
At some point during the proceedings, Janice reached in her purse to pull out an ink pen when it suddenly burst, covering both her hands in ink. As quietly as I could, I slithered out of my seat and left the court to go get her some paper towels from the men’s room. Returning within moments, I found the court had recessed for a short break and that her worshiphood had summoned us back to her chambers with talk of my being subject to contempt charges.
Excuse me?
What bogus charges were I being accused of now? Seems that I was unaware that protocol called for anyone leaving the courtroom (even quietly) to bow to the bench and that by simply walking out I had “turned my back on the monarchy”. Returning after the break I sought to prevent any further breaches by searching for any area where I was supposed to genuflect or any odd prayer rugs facing east. I plan to appeal my case over a bottle of wine and a BBQ the next time they are over. Meanwhile, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing her do her work and are very proud of her.
New dog learns old trick
(Or something like that)
For some time I have been wanting to get my feet wet, so to speak, and try my hand at water skiing. I found a pair of skis that had been left behind in the built in storage chest in the boat when we bought it so I didn’t have any excuses left to put it off any longer.
So, on a warm sunny day I got Fran and Tony to come along to captain the boat while I tried my hand at ‘walking on water’. I made some 30 attempts and discovered as many ….eh… reasons why I had other than success. On my first attempt, the boat was too slow. On the second, the water was too deep. On the third, the wind was coming from the wrong direction. On the forth the barometric pressure was off. On the fifth….well you get the idea.
Construction update
Without a doubt, we have had quite a month. Jam-packed with eye candy, it is the kind of month that leads people to say, “Wow, you finally got to work!” It is easy to spend a lot of time ‘preparing’ for something and in relatively little time pull it all together making it look like it was no big deal. For one thing we installed all of our Western Red Cedar wood ceilings and dry walled and painted both bedrooms. Then we put our circular staircase in. Whew!
Guest bedroom before
(Go on, double click on the pictures)
Bedroom "after" pic
The Cedar took me several days to coat with Polyurethane, as there was over 1200 linear feet of it needing 3 coats. Laid end to end this would be 2/3 of a mile of wood. (Over a kilometer!). The circular staircase was something else. I mentioned last month when we had returned from picking it up that it was a piece of utilitarian art. I knew that I was responsible for ‘finishing’ it but I did not realize that the artist’s idea of ‘finishing’ meant that I would spend more time on it than she did. I assumed that finishing meant that I would stain it or whatever but it required a considerable amount of finish sanding also.
Some people were surprised that it did not come all assembled ready to install. It does not take much thought though to realize that it would be difficult to transport it 500 miles (800 kilometers) and haul it by boat to the island---much less get it through the front door. No, it actually consisted of 71 Maple pieces including the 15’ X 8” (4.5 m X 20 cm) tree trunk that acts as the center post. It took me a boring 35 man-hours to put 3 coats of clear Polyurethane finish on each piece with sanding in between each coat. Almost a full week’s worth of your time sitting at your desk throwing darts at a world map to choose your next vacation destination! As the computer industry is fond of saying, this was not “plug and play”. I was now ready to put it together as “some assembly was required”. By far the most difficult part was aligning the handrail and spindles, a task that took 4 of us (thank you Wayne and Barb) an afternoon to do.
We were visiting our friends and neighbors Fran and Tony and I was bemoaning the fact that the house was a disaster zone with all the wood spread out over the porch, the living room and even on our dining room table. “In other words” Tony said, “everything is normal”. I was taken back for a moment but realized that he was right. They have know us since the day we bought the Bee and have only seen the place go from one mess to another, all in the name of progress.
We clean up as best we can when we have company but it’s a bit of a charade. No sooner are they off the dock that we pull bags of cement out of the shower, tools from under the sofa and more lumber from behind the bed. You can play this game with the occasional visitor but these guys know better. Our neighbors Malcolm and Rebecca in France have watched us do much the same there. They have all seen the place at it’s very worse, which it seems is most of the time. Come to think of it, it has been our M-O for the better part of our marriage. Are we crazy to think it is worth it?
Don’t bother writing if you have the wrong answer…
