Update on the Lake George Property

We just returned from our trip to the Adirondacks and I thought it was time for an update on the purchase of the property we’re buying near Lake George.

The perc test is done, and the soil tested well. (For those who don’t know what a perc test is, it’s a test to see how well water “percolates” through the soil). This is something that is necessary if you want to put in a septic system. The cabin we’re buying doesn’t have one; it has a simple holding tank. We wanted to know whether we could upgrade to a septic system one day, and were glad to hear that we could.

We have also hired the surveyor to survey the property; he is supposed to be doing this in the next week or so. And we got the word today that our attorney has received the results of the title search, and all is well in that regard.

While we were in the area over Labor Day weekend, we took the opportunity to visit the property a few times.

The first time was to test whether our car can get up the steep gravel roadway. When we first went to the property with the realtor, she drove us up in her 4-wheel-drive SUV, as she wasn’t sure our car could make it. We were very pleased to find that our Saab 9-5 wagon went up the road with no problem whatsoever. In the winter, it might be another story, but we’ll worry about that later!

The first visit was on a cloudy day, with slightly threatening skies. When we pulled into the yard, we were surprised to see that the pond’s look had changed since our last visit – no longer looking like primordial pea soup, the pond was now clear and dark, still mysterious, but with no algae bloom at all. Apparently it is only a seasonal problem.

As we got out of the car, we noticed several disturbed areas of the water, and realized there were several small heads poking above the surface. As we watched, they swam around, and one of the creatures started squeaking at us. Apparently we had disturbed a family of otters that like to visit our pond! They were not happy about our appearance. Two of them disappeared from view, but the head of the clan continued to express his (her?) displeasure at us and at Diva, who was quite interested in his presence! From what we can figure out now that we’ve Googled them, they are apparently Northern River Otters. If anyone else has any idea whether we are correct or not, please let us know. It's kind of hard to see in this picture as the closeup is blurry but they have little narrow heads that stick out of the water like miniature Loch Ness Monster heads.

We took a walk around the pond and scores of tiny frogs hopped before us, jumping into the water, while an Eastern Wood Peewee called in the woods. (He later appeared in person to sit on a dead branch overlooking the pond, periodically leaping from his perch to catch insects in the air.)

On the outer wall of the house facing the deck, we had noticed at our first visit that there were areas where the paint and part of the wood had been worn off. We had speculated that perhaps deer come up and rub their antlers there. When we returned this time, there were further areas worn off. Diva was extremely interested in these areas, and sniffed and rubbed her own shoulders on them, and finally decided it was worth rolling around on her back about.

The next two times we visited the property were for no good reason except to walk around and look at it again. Both of these visits were on beautiful sunny days, so DH took a few more pictures of the pond and the cabin.

Updated: One more of Miss Diva, impatiently waiting to go on a walk!
I’ll continue to keep you posted!

For those of you who are fans of Baxter, he will be posting in the next entry, including his special view of the latest political scene.