Summer 2017
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Winter 2016
Autumn 2016
Gardening 2016
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Summer 2016
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June 2016
Spring 2016
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December 2015 ~ New Year's Eve
December 2015 ~
November 2015 ~ Gardener's Retreat with Lyndon Penner
JULY 2015 ~ MARIA DUNN & SHANNON JOHNSON
Spring 2015~ New Cottage
Construction on the new cottage began on April 3, 2015.
May 1, 2015 and the roof is on before any rain! It is progressing quickly.
All the ice came off the Lake April 30th, bring on Summer!
Spring 2015 ~ Garden
March 2014 ~ Home Routes Concertwith Tim Readman & Shannon Johnson
February 2014 ~ Home Routes Concert with Lynne Hanson and Fraser Holmes
Our First Wedding of 2015! ~ January 3rd
The Great Room setup for an intimate ceremony in front of the fireplace.
The Indoor Events Room all ready for the reception.
Photos courtesy of Kerry Swallow
November 2014 ~ Home Routes Concert with Ken Hamm and Linda McRae
September 2014 ~ Weddings
Photos by Brenda Meier Rutz
OUR ORGANIC GARDEN
Outdoor concert featuring DAVE GUNNING
We are very grateful that Dave was able to come visit us in between the Camrose Folk Fest and Edmonton Folk Fest!
our first outdoor concert featuring SWEET ALIBI
Grand opening-July 17, 2014 *photos by patty thomas
Grand opening ceremony on the outdoor stage
Ribbon cutting
Our wonderful MC, Maxine
Minister of Sport, Culture and Parks, Mark Docherty
Our talented musician for this event
Visiting in the Lodge
Construction Progress
To read our journey as we progressed through the construction phase of Waters Edge Eco Lodge, please scroll to the bottom of this page and begin at our start date.
May 23rd, 2014
We did it ! We are now taking guests and the place looks amazing ! Its hard to believe a year ago we began our construction journey. We do still have some finishing to be done but we are open for business.
Our beautiful Great Room for dining and lounging.
The commercial Kitchen is Health Inspector approved and we are ready to cook for our guests!
Your piece of paradise should you chose to stay with us.
Guest room decks.
March 23rd, 2014
It is a very exciting time in our construction progress as we are beginning to see everything taking shape. The drywall is now complete and all the wall boards have been put up so painting can begin. After painting we can begin laying the pine flooring. Our local mason has completed the field stone fireplace with our reclaimed wood beam mantel and Shelly and I are heading on a shopping trip to find some comfy chairs to place in front of it. We have been doing a lot of shopping lately picking out furniture and lighting and we can't wait to see it all together!
February 6, 2014
The first month of 2014 has blown by and like most of you, we are on the countdown to Spring. The lack of progress updates does not mean we have not been making progress! On the contrary construction is on schedule and recently we have been finishing our private living quarters. We have been focusing on our private suites so the Lodge can become Shelly's permanent residence and so Kelly and I can stay up there to work reducing the commuting back and forth. Working on our private suites has also allowed us to experiment with materials and techniques to determine what we want to use throughout the rest of the Lodge. This has been especially useful in determining the flooring and wall materials.
For the flooring we will be having wood throughout with the exception of the bathrooms. The flooring is unfinished White Pine milled in Saskatchewan from a company in Tisdale, SK.. Pine is a soft wood therefore it scratches and dents easily so we have decided to embrace this by scratching and denting the floor with chains before we stain it. This gives a worn and aged look that we think adds a beautiful and rustic element. As for the walls some walls are drywalled and others have locally reclaimed barn boards, tongue and groove pine painted white or rough spruce lumber acquired from a mill in Glaslyn, Sk. Some boards will be left in their natural state and some will be painted white. Currently throughout the Lodge we have been putting up pine. So far the Great Room walls have been covered, the ceilings in the guest bathrooms on the main level have been done and the stairwell ceilings as well.
Pine Flooring
Rough Spruce Lumber painted white
Natural Rough Spruce Lumber
November 12, 2013
Well the snow has arrived and the lake is starting to freeze over! We raced through the Fall to beat the snow and were able to get the Lodge closed in, 98% of the siding up, the bore well installed, the mechanical room for the water treatment center built on, our outdoor events venue named 'Nature's Stage' framed in and were able to do some landscaping with spruce trees to maintain the natural environment. Inside the Lodge we have most of the electrical and plumbing complete and are finishing putting up the insulation and poly. For those of you who have visited us, you will be happy to know we now have 3 sets of stairs replacing the ladders to the second story.
Lake front view of the Lodge.
Side view with mechanical room for the water treatment center.
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October 14, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving! Waters Edge Eco Lodge has so many things to be thankful for this year. We are extremely grateful that we are able to build our dream on this beautiful piece of land in the Meadow Lake Provincial Park and begin this wonderful adventure. We are also very thankful for the amazing support and encouragement received from so many different people...family, friends, locals, strangers, politicians, trades people, and the Meadow Lake Provincial Park, just to name a few. And we are especially appreciative to those wonderful folks who come out and bring us hot meals and delicious goodies to eat, nothing is more comforting after a hard day’s work. The progress we have made and this year's Fall weather are also two things we are very grateful for. I think we have all experienced days of exhaustion with this project but it is the most gratifying kind of exhaustion. The kind that comes from giving your all, body, mind and spirit to something you are passionate about and for that we are thankful. We consider ourselves so very fortunate for all that we have and for all that is to come!
We are currently working on putting up our board and baton siding and are about 75% complete. Most days the place is busy with electricians and plumbers hard at work. We have all the tin on the roof and the soffit, fascia and eavestroughs are on. Almost all of the doors and windows are in and we are working towards getting the building closed in for winter. Most days come with many decisions to be made from the colour of stain to different types of door knobs to where the electrical should go. We love how things are taking shape and can’t wait to share it with you all!
Entrance view with veranda.
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Lakefront view. Decks are started for the guest rooms and the screened in deck.
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Side view.
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Entrance view.
The trades are hard at work. Electrical.
Plumbing.
Duct work.
August 29, 2013
Well we are happy to report that the roof rafters are up and we are now currently putting tin on the roof. The concrete footings for the deck and the outdoor events venue have been poured as well as the garage floor. The decks have been started and some interior walls have been built. Things have been progressing well and we hope to keep this momentum going.
2nd Storey
With construction some days we find ourselves going two steps forward and other days two steps back. We unfortunately experienced two steps back and hit our biggest disappointment when the second story floor joists were all nailed in place and braced only to discover that the joists were engineered incorrectly. Luckily this was discovered when Kelly started to question the strength of these joists. After much discussion the new plan was to have a new set of joists constructed. We then had to remove the incorrect joists and put up the new ones. This cost us a delay of about two weeks. Needless to say it was exciting to get back to where we once were. We then thankfully were able to go two steps forward and put on the second story floor and walls. To date we are now happy to report that the roof rafters are being put up!
We also have tried to drill a well but after 158ft and still hitting bedrock, we acknowledged a drilled well would be unsuccessful. So we will be seeking a solution to this and hope to have it dealt with shortly.
July 16, 2013
Well we have been busy! So busy that we haven't had a chance to update sooner. To date we are happy to report that the main floor walls are complete and the second floor joists are up!
The weather lately has not been ideal to work in. It seems to either be too hot or pouring rain and stormy so we are hoping to get some weather that is in between the two soon. During one of our many thunderstorms 130 feet of wall blew down even though it was properly braced! Needless to say Kelly was a bit discouraged and not too happy with Mother Nature however he got it all repaired and back up again.
With all the rain the road and landscape are still a work in progress but they are improving.
Electrical service and the septic tanks have been installed.
A large portion of caraganas along the shoreline that we were required to remove as per our lease have been piled for Sask Parks. We are currently looking into getting a mix of native wild grasses to be planted in this area so the land can go back to its natural state.
Shelly has been working at making wonderfully rich soil for our organic garden using the 'lasagna' gardening technique which requires layering of different materials such as hay, black dirt, cardboard, newspaper and manure. The picture on the side is to illustrate the many layers.
June 8, 2013
We are now at Kelly’s favorite phase of construction, framing. Kelly enjoys the challenge of construction and nothing makes him happier than when he starts nailing boards together.
June 5, 2013
To harness energy from the land geothermal loops have been installed underground. The following picture shows the lines coming into the foundation.
May 30, 2013
They say a solid foundation is the basis of strong bones and so is true for buildings as well. The footings were poured today with 31 meters of concrete.
May 21, 2013
After many months of paperwork we are elated to begin construction and start creating the unique sanctuary that will become Waters Edge Eco Lodge! Today we began upgrading the access road, excavation of the lodge footprint and constructing the raised garden beds. As well equipment arrived for the removal of the caragana which the Meadow Lake Provincial Park has requested we eradicate due to their being an invasive species not local to the region.
