1987 Pine Island July 15 Wednesday

July 15th 1987 Wednesday 

    Jimmy was here Wednesday to Sunday last week. We were up and down to the cottage. Suzanne was off Friday Saturday and Sunday, so she stayed here with the children and I went into town on Friday. Jim and Sue and family were doing the malls on Saturday, and going to 7 PM mass, then to the cottage for Sunday and home from there.

    Suzanne and I, Steven, Brendon, Joanna, Christina, Kristine Stortini and I were all set to go to mass on Saturday in Echo Bay. The boys were ready early so went for a ride in the boat.  Suddenly all hell broke loose in the atmosphere. It had been threatening all day, but it exploded about ten to seven and “exploded” was the word. The boys were on their way to shore and saw what looked like a great white wall of water coming down towards them between the Pine Island shore and our shore. They made it to land, about 30 seconds before we were hit. The water in front of us seemed to rise to meet the oncoming wall of water. The winds became hurricane force, small branches flew off the trees, and the river was a wild churning tumult of waves. The sailboat tipped until the mast touch the water. Brendon and Steven saw the keel bared then it slowly righted itself.

    We huddled together on the old porch until it blew over and past us, then the thunder and lightning began. There were tornadoes in Michigan and we were on the edge of the turbulence. For a while it seemed as if we were right in the middle. The television warned us that there was a severe storm watch on until 9 PM on Sunday.

     On Sunday we drove to Bruce mines for a communion service at 11 AM. Nicole and Margie Irwin were there too, and they invited Brendon, Christina, and Kristine, to come over to their cottage for water skiing in the afternoon.

    Jim and Susan Jennifer Sarah and Angela were at the cottage and Jennifer took off with the teens. Will didn't come down until 330. Catherine and Tarryn and her friend Lisa from Toronto arrived so we had our usual gang.

    The weather was threatening again and Donna, Michael, Kyle and Rachel were down too. The teenagers arrived in time for supper with extra friends, spaghetti and meatballs for all.

    The sky darkened and everything was still. Then a cloud came in the corridor between the island and the mainland, black, black cloud with an under cloud that snaked close to the water. The lightning and thunder exploded at one and the same time. Fork lightning all around us, then a couple of whacks that made Jimmy say “it is right here!”

    It roared around us and over us, Rachel was almost hysterical and then the rain. Huge splashing drops then a downpour, then again the wind.  The teens did a wild mud dance in the puddle that formed on the lawn, and took a shower to clean off where the water spouted off the corner of the porch. That was the third storm in as many days.

Showering in the drain runoff in the rain

Puddle mud in the storm

Dancing in the rain

    The first was a mere shower compared to the other two. Steven and I tried to photograph the lightning in the first one, he used Suzanne super-duper camera with the zoom lens, and I use my wide-angle. I haven't got the results yet but I don't think my trigger finger was fast enough.

     After the storm everyone had left, Jimmy and family for home, Wilf for the Sault, with Donna Michael and Kyle. Mary Jane and John were in a baseball tournament all weekend, so didn't we didn't see them until late Sunday.

    Oh on Sunday just before the storm Brendon his first year driving left in the truck with Kristine Stortini heading for the Sault. Only a few minutes later they arrived back. Brendon had wisely decided to get off the highway because of the downpour and the nil visibility. They were drenched just running from the car to the cottage. After everyone disbursed to Elliot Lake and the Sault the ones left were Steven, Michael, Joanna, Rachel and me.

    Mrs. Ross our landlady has a cottage just back of us across the road and on a higher point of land. She came to the door and told me we were having too many people, and she had no idea we had so many children, are such a big family and if I continue to have my family using the cottage she would have to charge me another hundred dollars a week. She is concerned about the use of the toilet (I will only allow it to be flushed after # 2 use) and the amount of power we are using for hot water and cooking.

     I was very upset by her visit and told her on the phone when I agreed to rent it that there would be a constant flow of people, and she said she understood that. I told her I would have my grandchildren with me, that my daughters would be down on weekends, and that my son-in-law would be here on holiday and would be there at other times too. She mentioned that there would be a charge of $25 per person a day if an extra couple was sharing it all the time.

    I said on the phone that wouldn't happen and it hasn't happened. I told her on Sunday we had always rented a cottage for family use and had paid $250 a week.

     She mentioned the fact that her husband had had a heart attack and I assured her I didn't want to upset him that I would see what I could do about limiting the use somewhat.

    On Monday John came down to go sailing, his boat is anchored in front of the cottage, and that had been mentioned in my original visit down here in the spring when Mr. Ross showed us through.

     Mary Jane phoned to say she and Suzanne wouldn't be down. We were to have the use of Ross's phone whenever we needed it according to the original conversation. It had been locked inside twice when I went up to use it, but Mrs. Ross came down with the message. She informed me that she had told Mary Jane she would have to charge $25 per day extra.

    I was upset by her but I will not be drawn into a confrontation. The next thing I see, Mary Jane and Suzanne coming around the side of the cottage to make sure, they said, that I didn't get my check book out.

     I had considered another hundred dollars but then decided “NO”. I am not doing anything that wasn't agreed to in my original contract with Mr. Ross.

     We have a barbecue which is our gas, I brought Mary Jane's microwave for quick little energy cooking, and we stripped the beds of all their linens packed them and their towels away, and I brought my own small TV and put theirs away. We are using paper plates most of the time and plastic glasses.

     I spent over an hour on Monday afternoon on my knees taking stains off the carpet. Stains that were here when we came, Wilf repaired a chair that was sagging and spreading straw all over the floor, and we have our own outdoor chairs. The two wood and canvas ones here were unusable.

    We have to bring our own water and I brought a roll away because one beds is very uncomfortable. This is an old family style three bedroom cottage. It has a cot on the enclosed porch. What on earth would one couple have need for the facilities!

    That was one of the things that attracted me when going through with Mr. Ross in the spring. I was delighted with the sleeping facilities and he did not object or mention numbers. We have always taken excellent care of our rented cottages and have left them in better condition than when we arrived. I feel very badly that this has happened. I rented a cottage for the family and certainly won't restrict its careful use by me and by them.

    On Sunday night Steven, Michael, Joanna, Rachel and I slept here. On Monday night Steven, Joanna Rachel and I.

     Tuesday morning the weather was cold and miserable so we went into town at 10 AM and did not return until 12 noon on Wednesday.

     Wilf and I drove down on Tuesday evening to lock the door and check the boats. This afternoon, Wednesday, Steven, Rachel, Joanna and I are here and tonight Kyle will join us. Donna will bring him down after the sailing races instruction. I will go out with Kyle tomorrow for 2 PM for his lesson and I will go to the library board meeting. Wilf will come down for 2 PM to be with the children and I will pick Kyle up and bring him down again for the night.

     Brendon Mary Jane and Michael are away all weekend at a baseball tournament and John is racing, so is Michael and Donna, so the weekend will be quiet. Mrs. Ross has taken a lot of joy out of this holiday. Could she be trying to take advantage of me and get more money?