Thursday 09.30.2010

We were busy today, starting at 8:30 for Daniel and 9:00 for me. He had breakfasted and was outside when I was fixing my food. He installed a cell phone signal repeater thing, which has improved our signal. We still don't have full signal, but it's better than the intermittent service that it was.

He came inside and tackled those pesky outlets that would go off and on. He had to go to Hale to get more receptacles, and now they are repaired. Go Dan! While he was gone, I cleaned up the dirt and leaves from the access area to the crawlspace, where the deteriorating wooden box was, swept out and moved things around in the garage for the big boat to go into, and the semi truck backed down our road to deliver the 286 pound "portable shelter"--treated fabric over a steel frame--that we will be assembling. I opened the boxes and found the assembly instructions while he finished his electrical project.

We wanted to get the speedboat out today, but I wanted to take a boat ride first, and he wanted to get the shelter going. Before we did anything else, though, it was already after 1 o'clock, and I fixed us some lunch.

It was a beautiful blue sky day, with some clouds now and then, and mid 60's. And a bit breezy. Our bay had whitecaps at times. I uncovered the boat while he familiarized himself with the pieces and parts of the boxes.

We had a short ride, zooming around our half of the lake. It was so pretty out, but the wind was a little cool. I dropped Dan at our dock; he took the van and the boat trailer to the launch and I enjoyed the boat ride down there. Surprisingly, the other half of the lake wasn't as rough. I soaked up the sun while I waited.

Dan backed the trailer into the water, I drove the boat on, and all went very well.

Back at the JC, I got the boat backed down the driveway, and started on the cleaning project, using a product I had gotten last year, called Toon Bright. Spray on, wait, hose it off. Well, the hosing it off part didn't remove the lake crud on the hull of the boat. But to my most pleasant surprise, with just a light rubbing with a green scrubby, everything came off, even the previous years' stains at the water line! Remarkable! I'm sure that the easy removal of algae and crud can also be credited to the Waxing Crew that did a great job in the early summer. Thanks again to Aaron, Jacob, Jim, and Polly for their efforts. Maybe there will be a Crew available next season...

Dan busied himself assembling the multitude of pipes and nuts and bolts of the frame. Tom and Kathy pulled in the driveway when I was about 3/4 done with the boat; KS kept me company, while Tom helped Dan do whatever they were doing. I couldn't see them, because I was close to and almost underneath the boat, getting dripped on, sprayed from the hose (like when it drops and the handle is pressed on the ground--oh yeah, it was spraying right up my back), and the wind would blow the spray back at me, too. I was pretty wet. I was happy that Tom took the time to help Dan--Thank you, Tom, he needed the help.

I was finished with the boat, getting ready to back it into the garage, when Jim called Tom. We all went up to the Long Lake Bar for dinner, which was yummy. I had to change clothes first; I was wet all the way to the underwear.

Tom and Kathy left to go home, Jim and Polly went back to the GC, and we went back to the JC. After sitting that little bit, we both stiffened up, but got the hose put away and other things picked up for the night. Dan showered first before watching a movie, and I enjoyed a shower, too.

Only one more chipmunk in the bucket today, and that was this morning. Total=21. And we saw one go under the back porch after that, so there's still more.

Tomorrow the insulation guy is coming back to go over his bid. Dan has changed his mind about taking the pontoon out tomorrow (Yay!!), and we will finish the "portable shelter" (really? something that's 12 x 20 x 10 is portable?), hopefully with a little help from our friends. Oh, and we have to clean and go home tomorrow, too.

Needless to say, tylenol and motrin are my friends, too.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.