August 2007

One Hot Party

Celebrate Cottage Life’s 20 years with 20 ideas for a great campfire fest: s’more tips, smoke charmers, music makers, flame facts, and our anniversary cocktail. Plus…

Pick the Perfect Spot

By Andrea Curtis

And finesse the perfect fire.

Play by Smokey’s Rules

By Ray Ford

No point in burning down the neighbourhood.

Tell a Really Scary Story

By Diane Forrest

It was a dark and stormy night…

Honour the Fire

By David Macfarlane

Why are campfires so captivating?

Take a Shot in the Dark

By Bonnie Schiedel

Make memorable fireside photos.

Click here for more campfire fun with great content, exclusive to cottagelife.com

A Diamond in the Rough

By Carolyn Kennedy

How a dedicated cottager, fresh paint, and lots of elbow grease brought this little Lake Joseph gem back to life.

Theory of Relativity

By Gwen Smith

These families stayed together by moving apart, into cottages on the same lake.

Your Waterfront’s Secret Service

By Brian Riley

Build a dock seat double agent. It also hauls your canoe up out of the water.

First Principles

By Ruth Gangbar

Great new recipes for the campfire, where cooking began.

Puttering

Task Master: Outdoor ground-fault circuit breakers
Real Tools: Professional-grade wire strippers
Bright Idea: One-time exterior wood finish and preservative
Cottage Plans: A compact, timber-frame tower
Hit List: Are dollar-store tools worth the savings?
Job Jar: A substitute for pilot-hole drill bits
Great Inventions: Backwoods AC; bungee-cord plant hangers

Also in this issue:

On the Waterfront

Muskoka running mates; a boat reno surprise; tiny cottages; canoes from the House of Windsor; potato gun initiation; beach mystery; S.O.S. for Clean Marine; cedar waxwing babies; what you didn’t know about beer; a decoy for wasps; Post Cards from Lake of Bays book review; Zimmer rants on the apocalypse and family feuds.

Cottage Q&A

By Christine Langlois

Telephone party lines; tax breaks for forests; how to fix slippery steps; rules for road rights; sheeko or chicot?

Cottage Finds

By Leslie Young

All bases covered: By the dock or on a deck, choose from a variety of umbrellas to fit your cottage needs.