It’s true that malfunctioning or poorly maintained septic systems can increase the amount of phosphorus in a lake and fuel algae growth (other culprits are runoff from lawn fertilizers and putting soap in the lake). But before you start giving your lake neighbours—and their old, metal tank—the stink eye, know that this year’s algae explosion could just as easily be natural.

“The amount of algae seen within a particular lake can vary tremendously from year to year,” says Paul Frost, a professor of aquatic science with Trent University. “It’s a fairly common occurrence even for lakes that are relatively untouched by human activity. The precise explanation would depend on the type of algae growing in the lake and its particular life cycle.”

Along with water chemistry—including the levels of phosphorus and nitrogen—climatic factors such as water temperature, water turbidity, light levels, rainfall, and cloud cover can all affect algae growth, says Jennifer Winter, a research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (moe). Since these conditions fluctuate, the algae growth also fluctuates. Don’t panic just because you’ve got algae in your water. Even in large amounts, algae may still be harmless.

However, you probably know that some growths, such as certain dreaded, toxin-releasing blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), can be hazardous to the ecosystem and human health. If your lake has large algal blooms that persist for several days (look for blueish-green water that resembles pea soup, lots of floating particles, or surface films), then—Holy Water Contamination, Batman! Better call the MOE’s Spills Action Centre, at (800) 268-6060, just to be safe.

For now, you don’t need to do anything except pat yourself on the back, because you have a properly designed crawl space. (Many cottages don’t.)

“Hallelujah—he’s done the right thing,” says Kim Pressnail, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto. Thanks to the insulation, the plastic on the floor to keep moisture from coming up from the ground, and the heat on in winter, “it’s a dry space,” he adds. “There’s no need to ventilate. I can’t imagine he’s going to have problems.”

Don Fugler, a building science researcher in Ottawa, agrees. Assuming your crawl space hasn’t shown any signs of excessive moisture so far, he recommends you wait a year, then reassess.

If, on the other hand, you’ve already seen signs of dampness, staining, or mould (and you’ve reduced or ruled out any sources of moisture, such as leaks), your first defence would be a small exhaust fan that draws the air from the crawl space and sends it outside, says Fugler. Choose an exhaust fan suitable for a bathroom (20 to 30 cubic feet per minute). “It doesn’t need to be big, but it does need to run continuously.” This should be enough to get rid of excessive humidity in the winter. Another, even more efficient ventilation option, according to Pressnail, is an air-to-air heat exchanger (a.k.a. a heat-recovery ventilator). “This is basically an exhaust fan, but it captures some of the heat from the outgoing air to warm the fresh air that it brings in.” In the meantime, regardless of whether or not you’ve noticed any moisture, it may not hurt to keep the humidity down (lower than 70 per cent), by installing a dehumidifier and running it through late spring, summer, and fall.

It depends on why the nest fell down in the first place, and if the tree is still a suitable nesting site. Sometimes nests are blown down in a windstorm, the tree is old or dying and can’t support a nest anymore, or, since ospreys add materials to their nests every year, the nest becomes too enormous for the tree, says Myles Falconer, a biologist with Bird Studies Canada. “It’s not common for nests to fall, but it does happen. I wouldn’t give the birds credit for knowing how big to build a nest. They can maybe get a little carried away.” If the birds decide the tree is no longer feasible as a nest site, they’ll move on and build elsewhere, says Barb Puxley, founder of Friends of the Osprey, a volunteer non-profit preservation society in the Kawartha Lakes. They likely won’t leave your lake, though. “They always try to nest nearby.” If you’re concerned that your ospreys won’t find another spot, Friends of the Osprey (friendsoftheosprey.org) can advise you on building a nesting platform.

For the sake of the ecosystem, you wouldn’t want to get rid of wasps completely: They eat other annoying insects, such as flies and slugs; they’re prey for small mammals and birds; plus, they act as pollinators. But you can discourage them, and hopefully keep the population from getting so out of control that they torment your dog, terrify your kids, and ruin every single barbecue of the summer.

In spring, check around your cottage for signs of wasp activity or any nests taking shape (the queen begins building the nest early in the season). An incomplete nest is easier and safer to remove than one that’s established. (Still, be careful, and do it at night, when wasps are less active.) Wasps would prefer to build nests in areas that are sheltered, dark, and secluded, such as under eavestroughs or beams, or in the corners of sheds and garages, so try to make these places less attractive (or unavaible) by lighting them, or blocking them with mesh wire. And this tip is probably obvious: Avoid leaving out anything that will attract the wasps to your property, especially sweet-smelling food, meat, or garbage. You can also buy commercial wasp traps, sprays, repellents, or decoy nests.  

Towards the end of summer, some wasps, such as the German yellow jacket, run low on insect food sources. That means they’re more likely to crash your dock parties, cookouts, and picnics, looking to mooch. One strategy is to lure them away from the action by filling a few narrow-necked bottles with a syrup-water solution. The wasps fly in and drown. Meanwhile, you get a few minutes alone to enjoy your burger and beer.
 

Be unafraid. Be very unafraid: Water snakes—like all snakes, really—would rather avoid you. It’s true that a water snake might come near a splashing person (or a dangling limb), but once it realized that the activity wasn’t caused by a potential food source (a frog, tadpole, or small fish), it would probably just swim away.

You should know that if you do see a water snake in your lake, it’s a good thing. Water snakes are very sensitive to environmental degredation, so their presence means your water’s health is in decent shape. Plus, northern water snakes eat diseased fish (they’re easier to catch), which helps to keep the fish population strong.

So what happened to this cottager and his dangling leg? We assume, nothing. Sure, it’s possible he was accosted by a water snake…or maybe it was just an aquatic weed.

The proper ventilation. “Direct cross-ventilation is a must after each sauna,” says David Salmela, an architect and sauna designer in Duluth, Minn. Without ventilation—at minimum, enough to create a cross-draft in a stand-alone sauna building—you won’t be able to get rid of the humidity post-session. Plus, if it’s too airtight, the people inside won’t get enough oxygen. (The sauna is for relaxation, not nausea and blackouts.) If the sauna is indoors—in the basement, with no opportunity for exterior windows—you need an exhaust fan.

So, assuming your sauna was properly designed and you air it out after use, there’s no reason it should get mouldy. “I haven’t ever really seen mould in a sauna,” Salmela says. “The air is dry from the heat, so the steam dissipates.”

According to Eija Pyykkonen, who operates Finntastic Sauna in Thunder Bay with her husband, David, “it’s really no more moisture than would be generated during a long, hot shower.”

Proper sauna care will help too. It’s a good idea to clean the surfaces inside (if your benches are removable, dry them in 
the sun periodically). Pyykkonen suggests using a mild wood cleaner such as Murphy Oil Soap diluted with water. And for the love of all that is hygienic—ask sauna users to sit on towels and wipe down the benches and backrests after every session. As Pyykkonen points out, “you don’t really want to sit in someone else’s sweat.”
   

We assume you had the same reaction that we did upon seeing this sucker: horror, revulsion, and then, finally, 
curiosity. Unfortunately, it’s tough to definitively i.d. leeches from photos because they’re able to expand and contract, explains Jacqueline Madill, a senior research assistant at the Canadian Museum of Nature, who studied leeches for 15 years. “It’s really difficult 
to get a good measure.”

That said, Tom Mason, the curator of invertebrates and birds at the Toronto Zoo, believes that this one is native, and probably from the genus Haemopis, a.k.a. a horse or ribbon leech.

Of the 30 or so kinds of leeches found in Ontario, most are less than a few 
centimetres long. But some are huge. The largest in Ontario, the giant horse leech, can reach 36 cm. (Think: the length of your laptop screen…or a small, legless dachshund.) You may have never seen the large ones in your lake before because they’ve been avoiding you. Most large species don’t feed on people. They prefer to hide from fish predators in weedy habitats or look for their own sources of food: dead fish, snails, worms, and aquatic insects. “They’re generally harmless,” says Mason. “They’re scary to look at, but they will not eat children.”

Unfortunately, it’s not an easy stench 
to banish, say our experts, and it’s especially rank when the dog is wet. “I know exactly what she’s talking about,” says Ruth Goodwin, the owner of Aragon Pet Grooming in Seguin Township. “It tends to happen in this area, especially when the water warms up.”

Fido’s fur coat, which traps bacteria and organic matter from the water, is the problem. “Dog hair is quite conducive to absorbing stuff,” explains Jeff Simmons, a vet at Peterborough Pet Hospital.
Goodwin recommends you keep your pooch’s fur short. “That allows the coat and skin to dry out more quickly.” And when he gets out of the water for the day, try rubbing baking soda or cornstarch into his coat when it’s still slightly damp, and then brushing it out. “That’ll help keep the smell down…at least until the dog swims again.”

Similarly, Simmons suggests a lanolin-based deodorant spray or an oatmeal-based non-soap cleanser (you can find them both at pet stores). “These products bind to the hair and mask the smell,” he says.
But they won’t eradicate it. Only bathing will do that. Of course, too many baths with soap-based shampoo can strip the dog’s natural oils and leave the skin dry and itchy. “But if the smell is so bad that you can’t let the dog into the cottage, then, by all means, give him a bath,” says Goodwin.

Though Post-Lake Dog Stink is a common phenomenon, its pungency can depend on your lake and your dog breed. Labradoodles and other dogs with thick coats are the reekiest. “That’s the problem with these dogs,” says Simmons. “They’re really good at bringing in smell.”

Now, if only they were really good at bringing in the newspaper too…

Though the dimensions may depend on a few site-specific details, Garry Best, the owner of Garry Best and Sons Carpentry in Lake of Bays, Ont., says you’ll need four cribs, roughly 10 feet apart. “One at the shore, one at the end, and two evenly spaced in between.”

The cribs need to be as wide as the dock: six feet, in your case. Paul Bell, the owner of PBCarpentry in Lake of the Woods, Ont., says the simplest option is to make the cribs 6′ by 6′ (buy 12′ timbers and cut them in two). Ideally, for the most dock stability, you should make the width and length of the crib at least as large as its height.

The total size of your project may be restricted by local bylaws and other regulations, so if you haven’t done so yet, check with your building department to find out about size limitations. “It’s easier to design a crib dock to already fit within the township’s parameters,” explains Best.

Other limiting factors when it comes to cribs? The depth of your lake—crib docks aren’t practical in water deeper than eight feet (see the above width-length-height rule of thumb). They’re also not great on lakes with severe winter ice, wildly fluctuating water levels, or a very squishy bottom.

“A soft bottom is just not good footing for a crib, since it may lean or shift after it’s filled with rock,” says Bell. “And it will likely continue to sink year after year.”

Also, don’t forget about the aquatic creatures that these big honkin’ containers of rocks may disturb: According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, crib docks are more environmentally disruptive than other docks because they can interfere with fish spawning habitats. So, no surprise: As you would with any project that requires work in or near water, you’ll need the proper permits and approvals from, potentially, several environmental bodies and levels of government. This doesn’t mean you can’t build the dock of your dreams, but if it involves cribs, you may have to deal with a little extra red tape.a

Without seeing a specimen or a photo, or at least having more information about the situation—knowing when the insects came inside, what they’re attracted to, or how they behave—it’s impossible to know exactly what kind of bugs you’re dealing with.

According to Doug Currie, the curator of entomology at the Royal Ontario Museum, “the only flies that habitually come into the cottage in the fall and overwinter are cluster flies.” However, cluster flies are large—on an insect scale, at least—and they’re often mistaken for houseflies.

If your guests are tiny and look like fruit flies, it’s possible they are fruit flies. Other candidates include phorid flies (they’re small and humpbacked, and resemble fruit flies) and midges (they look like mosquitoes, but with shorter wings and no visible proboscis).  Or they may not be flies at all. “A lot of things can find their way into your home,” says Currie. “Insects are very resourceful.”

However, Bob Anderson, an entomologist with the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, suspects your intruders are fuzzy, grey-brown moth flies (also called marl or drain flies), whose larvae feed on the “debris and gunk” in household drains. The layer of gelatinous organic scum that accumulates in a grimy kitchen sink drain makes an ideal egg-laying spot for the females. The larvae pupate, emerge into the kitchen, go through their life cycles, and hang out in your cottage until they die. (Worst guests ever.)

Before you close up in the fall, make sure the drains are clean (scrub down as far as you can with a stiff, long-handled brush). Anderson suggests you pour a 1/2-cup of bleach down to kill any larvae and pupae. (If you’re on a septic system, be sure to use bleach sparingly, as it can destroy important bacteria in the tank.)

And, of course, follow all the usual pest-prevention measures recommended for the cottage: Seal up cracks and crevices; get rid of moisture sources inside and standing water outside; make sure there is no organic material or compost left in the kitchen; and tightly seal up all food, including dry goods such as dog food. After all, as Currie points out, “if it’s not fodder for flies, it’s fodder for something else.”