Diary of an Inheritance, continued...

(This continues a diary of the two week vacation in July 2001, when Heather and I entered into my inheritance – accepting, and beginning to transform, a dilapidated and mouse-infested shack, deep in the Québec woods.)

Day 4

The alert reader will have noticed that we’ve bought a lot of stuff at the Montreal IKEA.  Big stuff – like kitchen cabinets.

Oh yes, and perhaps you also noticed that we arrived back at the lake late at night in a thunderstorm!

How, you might ask, did we manage to row all that big stuff over the lake in the pouring rain in that tiny and unstable Fisher Price Boat???

We didn’t.

We waited in the car until there was no risk of being struck by lightning when we’re on the water, then got into the boat (without falling in), and rowed across – leaving all the stuff locked in the car.

A good night’s sleep and a leisurely morning later, I went and borrowed my brother-in-law’s proper sized boat, and used that as a freight hauler.

... I lugged the heavy cartons of disassembled cabinetry out of the car, through the trees, down to the dock, and managed to get them into this wonderful, stable, spacious boat.  Had to stop a lot to catch my breath.  At the age of sixty one becomes sadly aware of what “old and out of shape” really means!

Then once across the lake all that stuff had to be hefted out of the boat and up the path to the cottage.  By the time it was done, I was “done in.”

A quick lunch, and then it was back across the lake and off to the building supply people.  More money spent, and tomorrow a truck arrives with twenty packs of shingles, and numerous other things with which one replaces a roof.  These too shall be lugged down by hand into Ross’ boat, then lugged up to the cottage for the big project.

I am already stiff and sore (the constant rowing – about a quarter mile each way – is enough to burn a pile of calories in itself, not to mention the pack-horse style hauling)!

In the evening we assembled the biggest cabinet, and Heather happily put place mats and towels and other stuff in the mouse-proof drawers.  I also put up a fancy new light fixture we bought.  The place is being transformed.

Day 5

We didn’t sleep well.  There was a downpour which lasted the entire night.  Many places in the roof began to leak – even the part which I had tried to protect with plastic sheeting!  In the early morning, I was beginning to have visions of roads washing out (and we with no groceries!).  Visions?  Indeed, nightmares... also of trying to meet the truck containing a load of roofing material.

The sun came out about 11, and with some relief I bailed out Ross’ boat, took a book, and went over to the locked gate which gives access to the entire lake.  The truck was supposed to arrive between noon and 1 p.m., and indeed it showed up at 12:50!  He followed my car up the hill and down, through the twisty forest roads to our little parking lot.

My lack of experience in these things had led me to expect a flatbed trailer complete with a forklift.  I supposed the operator would get the forklift going with the push of button, then – with it – lift the pallet of shingles off the trailer and place them wherever I should indicate.

Instead, what I got was a strong delivery man in a smallish truck who clearly expected me to help him manhandle the shingle packets off the truck and onto the ground.  The first packet weighed a ton, and they got steadily heavier with each one I lugged off the truck.  The task of loading them into Ross’ boat, unloading them again and carrying them up the path to the cottage became more and more frightening.  Exhausted, I waved goodbye to the delivery man, and decided to take the plywood, the nails, the two-by-fours, and three packets of shingles over right away, then bring the rest along in stages.

I figured that even Ross’ very competent freight boat would sink under the weight of all twenty packets, so they would probably have to come over a maximum of four or five at a time.

By the time I had rowed this first load across, I hurt in every muscle, every joint.

The plywood, by the way, is for our bed.  We had known from the beginning that the existing bed was mouse-infested and crumbling, so we had brought an inflatable plastic mattress, and planned to lay plywood over the bedspring which was “built in” to the room.  Until the plywood arrived, however, we have had to retain the stinking and disintegrating mattress (underneath the new one) because the bedsprings alone would quickly rip holes in the inflatable one if there were not a protective layer of plywood in between.

There was no time to set any of this up, however, because once again we had to go to town!  You see, yesterday, when we bought the shingles, we had also planned to get groceries, but by the time the shingle purchase was complete at 6 p.m., we found that all sizeable grocery stores had closed for the day!

So I changed from my “carrying shingles” gear into something less smelly, and off we went.

Lots of groceries later, plus a trip to Canadian Tire and Zellers, we returned to the lake to deal with the bedroom (I also brought another pack of shingles across along with the groceries).  I removed the built-in spring, and Heather painted the entire room, then I put the spring back, and laid the plywood on top.  Perfect.  Two full length pieces of plywood.  All we need is duct tape to run down the crack in the middle.

You need to know that since arriving here, whenever we were in a store and passed duct tape, Heather would say “We need some of that,” and I would reply “No need, I brought a huge roll!” “Where?  I didn’t see it!” she’d say, and I would answer “It’s in my toolbox.”

It wasn’t in the toolbox.  We can’t find any... anywhere.  So I’m in trouble.

A piece of plastic sheeting was used instead, and now we’re waiting for the latex paint to dry a little more before putting the mattress back and making the bed.  It’s 12:20 a.m.

Tomorrow Ross comes up to the lake, and we’ll haul some more shingles.  I’m afraid that despite being as tired and sore as I am, I may not sleep very well again tonight, what with the smell of drying paint.

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Uh oh!  The paint is so wet we can’t possibly set up the bed in that room tonight!  By morning there would be paint all over the bedding, the mattress, and no doubt our hair.  We’re going to have to sleep on the floor in the main room... with the dog.  It doesn’t bode well...

Continued.... click here for next segment.