The Place

We own the little A-Frame at the tip of Preacher's Point on Redstone Lake in the Haliburton Highlands.  You can't build this close to the water any more.  Many say it is their landmark so they don't get lost on the lake.  

A neighbour says we should put walls under it instead of just living in an attic.

The truth is we call it "Tiny Perfect" and love it -- this is our idea of what cottaging is all about!

We can jump off the corner of our deck (a 15 foot drop in the late summer) into 10 feet of water.  We get the full glory of endless brilliant sunsets.  We get the fresh western breezes off the water.  This is heaven.

We are (left to right)... 

Stephanie, Chris, Rachel, Andrew, Dave, Marguerite 

(with our friends Frank and Tiiu from Canmore, Alberta)

The Stairs

The new road presented a huge problem for us.  Our spur road ended at the top of our 60 foot cliff.  The only access from the road down to our cottage was via a steep slope ending in an extension ladder.  Try carrying a generator down that!

The solution?  Well, build a stairway.  So we started from the deck at the bottom, put in a landing at the first available spot up the cliff, and built a stair up to it.  Then another landing.  Then another stair.  After 8 landings and nine stairs, well it took until August 2005 but now we have 94 steps from the road down to our cottage.  We call it the "Stairway Down to Heaven".  

Of course, it also goes UP, and that's a killer.

 The Sherpa

Of course, as we got older, carrying things DOWN the stairs was getting to be a burden, and carrying things UP the stairs was getting impossible (unless the sons-in-laws were around).  It was time to build a freight conveyor.  In honour of the  guides who  tirelessly carry supplies up Kathmandu, we nicknamed it the "Sherpa".

It can carry 400 pounds (or more) and takes one minute 15 seconds to climb the 112 feet of rail.

The rail, as it climbs the cliff, varies in angle from 56 degrees at the bottom to 22 degrees at the top -- a difference of 24 degrees and so the cart is tipped forward 12 degrees at the top and back 12 degrees at the bottom. 

Lots more Sherpa Pictures and movies here

 
The morning fog is magical, mysterious...

 
...and the sunsets are spectacular.

Summer of 2007...

Rachel and Andrew

Steph and Chris

Marguerite and Dave

All of us, with Tiiu and Frank

All of us, with guests

Late autumn, calm waters (Thanks, Boyd!)