Cabana Chronicles

We were up at the cottage for the long weekend. On Saturday (my regular garage sale day), my father, decided early in the morning that the cabana MUST be put up. I think, in retrospect, he did not want me to find a double mantle Coleman lantern. You do not want to mess with my father when he has a mission. It is evident when my father has a "project" in mind because his eyes become the size of gobstoppers. Remember the father in a Christmas Story? Every curse word known to man, even ones that could be concocted were used. I made my self the sacrificial lamb. Through the windows of the cottage I mouthed to others. . ."Leave. . .leave while you still can", to those that were still eating breakfast. Now, this "cabana" sits on the front deck of the cottage. This is the type of cabana that one is supposed to be able to put up by tourists for a day at the beach, for a goat roast (lol), but my father has improvised, so it stands attached to the main cottage during the summer months. It keeps the sun out of the cottage in the summer, otherwise, inside would be very hot. Regardless, this thing was supposed to be easy to put up. It wasn't. "Dad why couldn't you get one of those senior citizen retractable awnings?" "SNOW LOAD, DROPPING ICE, CAN'T DO IT, GET THE RED ROBBY". " Ummm Dad. . ." "DO YOU EVER STOP TALKING?" This cabana banana was such a pain in the ass to put up, I think we were both on the verge of tears. "I NEED MORE HANDS". Thank god he does not have four, he would be akin to the Terminator, or in his case the Projectinator. As my brother so wisely said, he should go on Survivor, he would have a whole city built, with flushing toilets and a factory that made bumwaddo. Memories of childhood flooded through my brain "Lisa. . .I have a project for you, paint the garage with creosote". I only went to a few garage sales, and did not buy a thing. What I did find was an ancient serpentine dresser or buffet (not sure until I put it back together), not in the best shape, some veneer was falling off, and the original finish had been stripped. Part of it was lying in a stream amongst the marsh marigold. I asked Addled to go to the cottage that it sat in front of and ask them if it was free. It was, so we gathered the the main dresser, and then the bits from the top, there were some corbel type pieces and frame that were in the stream. My hope is to use this for my bathroom vanity. I think it will be painted. Paint covers a multitude of sins. I may just use milk paint, and then get a top to overlay on it. Who knows, right now it is sitting in the back of my truck still, as there is no place to put it inside. The weekend was nice, although, cold and wet. We tried to sneak the dogs down to the beach, but there was a windstorm and the sand was flying through the air even before we got to Lakeshore. On Sunday, Addled went four wheeling, returned and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning. Dad was coddling Addled by putting lubricating drops into Addled's eyes, as my honey bunny had grit and grime in his little peepers. Had a good walk with Onyx and Blaster through Walker's Woods with my Dad. More on this later. . . actually I may have to take the post down, Dad wouldn't talk to me for a month after mentioning he talks through his mustache. Dad, it's all written in love, really. Heehehe.