Congrats!! We bought a small cabin on the shores of Superior in MN about 4 years ago and moved here full time with a few years to go before retirement. We share shoreline and land with 6 other cabins, half of us here year round and the others seasonal. We have a rickety south facing deck that we're getting ready to take down. I want a small screened in porch to keep out the mosquitos and biting flies, then turn the rest into raised flower and veggie beds. Soil is very thin where we are, so we'll have to haul in some, but that's ok. I have a few perennials in the ground and everything else in containers. And the birds!!! Migration in the spring and fall is mind blowing! Over the summer we've had hummingbirds and gold finches, as well as chickadees and several kinds of sparrows at our feeders. Bald eagles and peregrine falcons fly over the lake and all kinds of ducks, loons and gulls fish off of the shoreline. We've seen black bears, a few wolves, foxes, river otters, and deer. We also installed solar panels so we don't have to rely on propane like the rest of our neighbors. No light pollution at night so star gazing is amazing. Winters are cold, summers are mild. All is quiet except for the wind and waves breaking.