Answers to a few frequently asked questions about the cottage
- Fire extinguisher is under the kitchen sink
- Emergency room/medical: The nearest hospital is Memorial Health on Columbus Road, which is less than 10 minutes from here at 206 Columbus Rd, Athens, OH 45701
- Towels: Can’t find them? Look behind the bathroom mirror (it opens out).
- Departure: I try to keep checking out as simple as possible. Please load and start the dishwasher if needed, gather garbage in the garbage can (there are extra bags in the bottom of the can if needed), and message me when you depart. Check out time is noon.
- Hiking: Please be careful to stay on our property, especially during deer season (November through February, more or less). Trails are not well marked. A nice, easy hike is to walk out the ridge and back. The trail starts west of the cottage (walk past the fire ring and you should spot it). Great place to walk your dogs.
- Bird seed and suet: I load the feeders before you check in, but if you want to refill during your stay, suet and seed are in metal cans in the garage. Please remember to replace the lids or you will be inviting the raccoons to party out there.
- Sheets: There are extra sets in the dressers in each bedroom if you need them.
- Cooking: If the gas goes off, walk around to the back of the cottage and you’ll see two large propane tanks. Turn off the empty tank. Turn on the full tank. And you’ll be cooking with gas again.
- Power outages: Being in the forest is fantastic, until trees fall and take out the power. It happens more than I’d prefer. There are candles and a flashlight in the drawer next to the silverware drawer, all the way to the right as you face the sink. When power goes out I get a text from the electric company with estimated restoration times, which I’ll forward to you.
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Turn the round switch to start the fan on the fireplace. Fireplace: It’s an insert. No need to open the damper. Just get a fire going and enjoy. Pro tip: There is a little ring in the lower right of the insert. Turn it to turn on the fan, which will make it MUCH easier to start and maintain a fire as well as redirecting the heat into the room.
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This is the “normal” position for door lock. It will lock whenever the door is closed. 
This is the position for the door lock if you DO NOT want it to lock automatically when closed. Front door lock: The door locks automatically when you close it. To stop this from happening, turn the switch that inside from the horizontal position to the vertical position. If the door isn’t locking when you close it and are ready to leave, check to make sure the switch is horizontal.
- Lights: It gets dark out here at night. Really dark. I recommend you leave the. porch light on when you go out if you’ll be returning after dark. The switch is next to the door and is labeled. I also eave the light on the table in the upstairs hallway on to make it easier to see when you go up there at night.
Inspired by the Athens Conservatory’s Bluebell Preserve along the bikeway, Laura-Sue and I planted some Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) above the creek area where we plan to locate a bench. It’s already a location with a lot of trillium and other wildflowers.
I love the way beech trees cling to the dry, sandy soil on the southwestern slope of the ridge. Feral Bends was heavily logged a few decades ago and they left behind most of the beech. At first
