This morning at the lake

Taking down another tree...

We came up to the lake house this morning, by way of Weight Watchers, Walmart, and Hearth and Home.  We had a couple of rather inactive hours and then J decided to tell me he was planning to take down 1/2 a tree.  Well, he didn't tell me, really.  I heard a familiar rattle and looked out the window only to see the ladder leaning against a tree.

After 1/2 an hour of me complaining, begging, crying, he won.  "Fine.  Cut the tree down if you're convinced it won't hit our house, our neighbor's house or you!"  I wasn't real enthusiastic about this project.

So here's photographic record that he got the tree down.  Of course, it wasn't easy...

First he ties a rope above the place where he's going to cut so I can pull the tree in the direction we want it to fall, which is away from the houses.  I was supposed to duck behind another tree to make sure I wasn't hurt once we heard the ominous CRACK that meant it was on its way down.

We heard a small crack so he scampered down the ladder and ran over to me to take the rope and pull.  "HEAVE!  HO!"  And the tree didn't come down.

And that happened several times.  He'd cut more, he'd hear a cracking sound (he was up close and personal with the tree when he was on the ladder) so he'd quick come down off the ladder, run over and take the rope from me and try pulling.  To no avail.  That tree wasn't going anywhere!

He finally decided it wasn't coming down because it was caught in the twin tree next to it.  I wasn't that convinced that was the reason; the weight of the part he was cutting down should have been enough to make it fall... 

So after some serious contemplation...

He decided to cut the tree lower to the ground, make that bottom piece fall in the opposite direction from where he wanted the top piece to fall, and he started cutting...  And it worked.

That was one LOUD CRACK and he ran for cover on the other side of the tree trunk, away from the falling trunkS and the falling ladder and the falling SawzAll blade that was stuck in the trunk of the tree 25' above our heads!

So now he's out there cutting the trunks and branches into more manageable pieces, stacking the trunks for lumber for our wood-burning fireplace, and dragging the branches up into the woods.

And he's taking me to Olive Garden for dinner because I want a Sangria. 

Need a dock???

This is what our dock looks like down, post-iced-over-lake.

Wanna buy it? Best offer gets it. Pick up only.

No takers?

Okay. It's firewood next year!!!

I'm traveling this week (to Chicago and Wisconsin) so J's job is to call a couple of dock guys and see if they can come out and take a look and give us at least an idea, even if all we decide to do is replace the one that was there. Although we are thinking about expanding it to be about 20' long by 10' wide for the biggest part, and u-shaped with only a 2' or 3' wide by 20' long for the other long part of the U. And we're thinking about spacing it to accommodate a pontoon boat like this one:

We're hoping to get one used here at the lake at some point in the future. 

We certainly don't need it now, since we don't have a dock...

But I can imagine it...  wind in my hair, sun on my shoulders, book in my hand, iced tea at my side, lounging on my lounge chair in the middle of the lake on my pontoon boat, or if we're lucky and get the version of the boat that has two built-in lounges....

Welcome to my retirement, boys and girls!  Hope you have as nice a time as I plan to...

Now if only I could win that MegaMillions/Powerball...

He had nothing to do, so...

... he cut down a tree...

See those three trunks, right in the middle of the photo?

Well, you won't see the left one of the three anymore.

It's cut down for next year's firewood...

That's me, walking toward him, out on the lake. It was REALLY slippery out on the ice!

After 65+ degrees on Friday, the temperature dropped to 20+ degrees yesterday, and it was 17 degrees when we got up this morning. The water that was melted on the surface of the lake froze solid, and VERY smooth, so it was great for ice skating.
IF you ice skate.
Which I don't.
The ice is about 16"-18" thick, so it's safe to be out on the ice, but I admit I was surprised when that tree came down it didn't even make a dent or a crack in the surface of the ice...

Lions and Tigers and BEARS, OH MY!!!

So we were at the lake this weekend.  We've had conversations like this one many times over the last nine years ---
Me:  I think it's really cool that a bear crossed the frozen lake and climbed up on to Bob and Chris' deck a few years before we moved next door.
Him:  It may be cool but we REALLY don't want a bear on our deck.
Me:  Well, okay, maybe not ON our deck, but I think it would be SO cool to see a bear up close.
Him:  Not TOO close.
Me:  Okay, not TOO close, but close enough so it's not, like on the other side of the lake.

FYI.  It's official.  In the bank parking lot IS.TOO.CLOSE.

It Feels Like Summer!

My face feels like that first day of summer when you get a little color and your skin feels warm and tight. Oh, wait! I was outsided today, sitting in the sun, hoping to get a little color! And then we went out on the rowboat for a little putt around our part of the lake. Of course, in the sun, I couldn't read any of the settings on my camera so the picture was taken in black and white... Too bad they don't have a button to go from b/w to color, like they do to go from color to b/w...

This picture is of Jack checking the rowboat out - I refused to get into it until he took it out for a spin and came back safe and dry. It's a rowboat he got as a trade for a kayak he got rid of and we'd never put it in the water... I wasn't taking any chances...

While the air was cool (glad I was wearing my sweatshirt, especially when I got splashed a little by the not-so-warm lake water!), the sun was so warm and welcome. After the snow and rain we've gotten these past several weeks, the sun looks that much MORE awesome!

So I just got off a webcam call with my sister in AZ. I must say I love being able to actually SEE my sister; we don't get together for years at a time so this is a way for us to "be" with each other while we're thousands of miles apart! (Shh, there's a rumor she might get to come east this summer for niece A's graduation... barring any acts of God, hurricanes or tornadoes or unexpected expenses...

Well, gotta run and feed the hubby - it's dinnertime and he's only had lunch all day...

My new window seats

So my sister has encouraged me to post a picture of my window-seats-to-be. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of them; the photo will look much better in my bright sunny sitting room this weekend; I'll post new pictures next week! But here's one:

That's two benches, lined up one next to the other, currently in our library, but soon to be relocated to the sitting room at the lake. I am SO very proud of how well I lined up the dragonflies on the fabric - check out the front of the 2 cushions! Of course, when we take these to Hopatcong, and put them in place in the sitting room and measure for the 3rd unit that goes inbetween these two, you KNOW I'll never get the fabric to line up so well... I bought a little extra, just in case, and I hope I can make it work. The middle unit will be closed, with a lift-up lid for closed storage. And yes, I did manage to find more of the same baskets to fill those 3 empty spaces... Another story that I should share...

Okay, here goes... We found these closed fabric storage boxes in WalMart. I suggested we buy the four we needed because, you know, they won't be there when I need them in two weeks. "No," Jack said, "don't waste your money, they're new, we'll get them later. What if you find baskets you like better somewhere else?"

I KNEW he was wrong. I KNEW I should have bought them that day. But I didn't. And he built the window seats to fit those baskets.

And then I went online to order three more to be delivered to the local WalMart and there were none available online to order! I checked around and the only store that had any in stock was North Bergen, so we went there last night, on a mission. We walked in, went right to homegoods, and searched high and low until we found them. There were five left, one unpackaged. I bought four. I have one extra that I can actually store inside the closed seat, in case I need one. Thank goodness I got them!!!

Sad news on the work front: today is the last day my friend E will be working here at our unnamed publishing house. She's moving on to bigger and better (hopefully!) things at another company which will be referred to by its initials: WG. They offered her $20K more than she was making here, a "life-changing number," in E's words. Heck, yea, it's life-changing! That's MORE THAN $1000 MORE A MONTH!!! What I couldn't do with that kind of raise!!! Anyway, we'll miss you, E!!!

Went to the W Hotel here in town to celebrate her new job. I'm just old, folks, just plain old, and it has nothing to do with my chronological age. That hotel is dark, with dim lights, modern furnishings, and I just didn't like it. I did like the Mango-Pom drink I had, not too tart, not too sweet! I didn't see the rooms, of course, but I'm just not that into dark and dim and yuppie...

Well, gotta run and do some work before it's lunch time! Later!

Labor Day Weekend 2009 - A Recap

So nothing's ever easy...

I took the 11:20am train from Hoboken to Lake Hopatcong, with a transfer scheduled for 1pm in Dover. We got in to Dover at 12:47. The 1pm train never came. We waited and I checked the schedule and called Customer Service and guess what! The next train was 3:19pm! I called Jack and he came to pick me up - thanks for not making me wait, hon!!!

We spent Saturday and Sunday outside on the lake, cutting down trees and paddleboating and suntanning, and then had dinner at the Olive Garden (mmm!) on Sunday. We went back to the house, and laid down to watch some TV on our one channel. Jack fell asleep right away and I turned the TV off at 10:30pm and was out cold by 10:45! That's unheard of for me!!! I slept in 'til the ungodly hour of 8:10am on Monday and by then, of course, 1/2 the day was over! We came home, did 4 loads of laundry, went to Shop Rite, and had Mom over for dinner. Then we watched a little TV, and went to bed, ready to start this short (thank God!) week!

A few of the hightlights:

1. Jack was cutting down that tree I mentioned, and part of the trunk fell onto his toe. We're talking a major blood blister here!
2. Then I was walking of the house and tripped on the mat. It's a good thing the screen door doesn't latch closed too securely or I'd have been cut in half by the screen door frame as I went careening through it, arms and legs windmilling to catch my balance. Totally hurt my big toe - sympathy pains for Jack? Nope. Just clumsy!
3. Ordered invitations for the engagement party we're throwing for my daughter - ordered them online. They looked great in the photo - hope they come out as nice in person!
4. Read a new Kathy Reichs book: 206 Bones. It was a good one. I sort of strayed away from a couple of her more recent books but this one caught my attention and I did enjoy it. That television show Bones is based on the main character in the series.
5. Started Richard North Patterson's new book, The Spire. So far, it's great! Of course, I left it on the bed at the lake, and I'm halfway through it so I won't be able to finish it until next weekend at the earliest, possibly the weekend after that if we don't go to the lake next week!
6. Ordered our new dryer - yay! No more hanging clothes to dry. Which, by the way, totally worked over the summer while Jack was home to put them out during the day and take them down when they were dry. But with both of us now gone all day at work, we need that dryer! It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow, don't know what time yet. Will have to reschedule if it's not first thing in the morning, 'cause of Mom's surgery.
7. Packed up for my all day crop this weekend - 10am to 10pm on Saturday, all meals and snacks included. Will most likely leave soon after dinner... if Jack doesn't come to the lake but stays home to install the dryer, I'll have a 1/2 hour ride home at 10pm so I might leave a little earlier...
8. Dinner out on 09/18 with the Credit Union - we always go to a nice restaurant.
9. Possible dinner out on 10/8 with my old bosses and a couple of former coworkers - that will be fun so I hope the day works out for all of us!

Jack starts After-School on Wednesday, and my mom's having surgery that same day. She's having 2 stents put into arteries in her legs and hopefully staying in the hospital only one day or so - she's hoping to come home but I have a funny feeling she's going to be in there at least overnight... She's been 39 years old for a while now, so they might be a bit leery of her bouncing back from major surgery quite as easily as she used to...

We're going to meet one of the new fiance's parental units on Thursday - we're going to go to the Cheesecake factory for dessert. YUM! Have to plan a VERY light lunch and dinner that day!

Well, will be downloading some photos sometime this week, hopefully - will post a few here if they turn out okay...

More soon...

Better Late Than Never

I was sans computer for the whole weekend (definitely need to buy a laptop post cruise!)...

Happy 4th of July!! And a special thanks to the military, active and retired!

Had a lovely weekend - for a change, the bulk of the long weekend was without rain. It seems as though it's been raining here in NJ for months; actually it's only been one month...

Here's the story of the weekend: Daughter and her boyfriend and a girlfriend came up on Saturday, and I picked Mom up so she could celebrate the 4th with us. We sunbathed, ate, sunbathed some more.

In between sunbathing and eating, hubby and daughter's boyfriend decided to take the paddleboat out into the lake. A little while later, my daughter asked me where they were. We looked up and saw them waaaaay out on the other side of the lake. "Oh," she said, "there they are." I looked up a minute or two later and saw a cabin cruiser passing in the general area where the men were, then I kept reading my book.

All of a sudden daughter says, "Hey, what are they doing? Are they standing up?"

It turns out they were standing up, to put on their life jackets! That cabin cruiser swamped the little paddleboat and they were submerged for a moment, then they were really low in the water! And they started bailing with their hands! Several boats passed them; the one that caused it didn't even stop! Eventually a party boat stopped, offered them a cup to bail with, then offered to tow them home!

So they got towed home by three young 20-somethings, each drinking a beer, and 4 dogs!

It was better than TV!!!

Thank goodness of course that no one was drowned or panicked out there in the water, but from shore? How funny!!!!

Three Good Deeds and a Wildlife Suicide...

Intriguing blog post title, don't you think?

So here's the kind of weekend I had...

On Saturday we had our annual family picnic. In the rain. 'Cause we've been doing everything in the rain lately 'cause it hasn't stopped raining for it seems like three weeks! But anyway, the picnic was at the home of one of Jack's cousins, and we hadn't seen the house yet. They bought it about a year and a half ago and were able to take advantage of the housing market before the official slump began... It's a $1.4 million dollar home that they got for the bargain price of around $750K! Anyway, they have an absolute dream of a master suite, a beautiful kitchen, and absolutely gorgeous landscaping (including a screened in porch and a multi-tiered koi pond!). Of course, I didn't have my camera with me...

After the picnic we went on to the lake, only to find that thanks to the conversion from analog to digital, we have ABSOLUTELY.NO.RECEPTION.AT.ALL.AT.THE.LAKE. And I refuse to pay for cable for a home we spend 1-2 nights in each week, so we will either watch movies, or find some other way to entertain ourselves.

On Sunday morning, we got up, went to church, went for breakfast at Bagels on the Hill, and then drove back home. Surprisingly, the sun, that big warm yellow orb in the sky we haven't seen in years (okay, I'm exaggerating!) was out. So Jack fiddled around outside while I went upstairs and started some more cleaning/purging of my scrapping room. At 10:30 we left for a rally at Kabob's. It was a rally for the Lake Hopatcong Alliance. The lake isn't in too good a shape this season - there are a lot of businesses failing 'cause there are very few tourists 'cause the lake is almost 2' below normal. This is and will continue to seriously impact the environment and the economy in the lake communities. The state is apparently letting 4.2 million gallons of water out of the lake a day, to feed the rivers and streams. After releasing 1.26 billion gallons too much water in December alone! The weeds are a problem, the town's budget was cut so the weed harvester operators were let go, there's no funding to operate the harvesters and the weeds are already high. With the water low, you can just imagine...

Anyway, off my soapbox...

We went to the rally and I went inside to buy a sticker for my car. They asked for a $5 donation so I paid with a $20 bill. As we turned to walk out, Jack asked how I paid for the sticker. I said, "With a $20 bill." "Well, they gave you $100 in change!"

????????????????????????????

I quickly turned around and gave them the money back - I hadn't even looked at the change and probably wouldn't have noticed 'til I got outside... I told the girls at the table what happened and they were so grateful; that was probably a 1/4 of their take for the whole rally! I got the correct change and we left. [Good deed #1]

We got back in the car and drove home. It wasn't far but it was up and down a couple of very steep hills so we drove. We turned onto our street and as I came around the first bend, there was a turtle crossing the road! I stopped the car and Jack got out, grabbed his gloves from the back of the truck and picked up the turtle to move him off the street. [Good deed #2] He needed gloves 'cause we have snapping turtles in the lake; better safe than sorry! Of course, being a scrapper, I wanted pictures so Jack walked over to the side of the car so I could take a picture or two. All of a sudden we heard a "tick, tick, tick, tick" from my engine. Our eyes met - I'm married to a part-time certified mechanic - my car just doesn't make strange noises for no reason!!! He thought perhaps there was a stick or something caught in the fan.

We drove home and I parked the car and went inside. I went back upstairs to work a bit and after 20 minutes or so, Jack shouted up at me, "Come down here now!"

Now, those of you who know me, well you know I took my sweet time 'cause I could tell he wasn't injured and I'm not one to come when called like the family pet... I got downstairs a minute or so later and went outside. He asked me to guess what was stuck in the car.

I immediately freaked out - "It had better not be a bird 'cause I've already had a bird stuck in my grill and that grossed me out!" "It's not a bird. Go look at the fan."

So I walked to the front of the car and looked down at the fan, but couldn't see anything. Jack said to just pull the shroud forward and peek down in there, so I did but I couldn't see anything.

As I bent closer to see if I could see, he said, "It's a snake."

Well, I must have jumped and screamed 'cause he started laughing and I started getting completely grossed out. I demanded (not my usual persona!) that he get that effin' snake out of my car 'cause I'm not effin' driving home with a snake wrapped around my fan and he'd better get the front end of my car off 'cause he's a mechanic and he can effin' do it....

Who knew Hyundai Santa Fes were so well-made? The pieces he needed to remove to get the snake out were all welded together! He called KD, our friend and the most awesome body shop guy on earth, and KD told him that all he could think of, if Jack couldn't get the front end off, was for Jack to take a knife and...

YUK! I told Jack to wash up for lunch, even though I was totally skeeved out! I told him to sterilize himselg - "I didn't touch the snake, Krys!" - but I wasn't buying it and said he'd better wash up the best he ever did...

We had lunch, then Jack took a wire hanger outside while I sat in the dining room and enjoyed some Roasted Pineapple and Poblano salsa with some chips and read Dean Koontz's Relentless. All of a sudden Jack called me outside again.

He had managed to hook it with the end of the hanger and get it out of the car.

IT.WAS.TWENTY-NINE.INCHES.LONG.

WITHOUT.ITS.HEAD.

YUK! [Wildlife Suicide referred to in blog post title.]

After we went home, I took Mom to Shop Rite and while I was waiting for her, I noticed that a woman was shopping in the same aisle as I was, with her twins in a double stroller and a toddler in the oversized shopping cart with the plastic car on the front end which is supposed to entertain your child but really only serves to get in the way of every other shopper in the store... She had her husband along to help but I heard one of the babies crying and I heard something fall out of the cart and she was looking but couldn't see what it was. I told the lady that the baby had dropped his rattle. She thanked me and said that the rattle wasn't really a problem but that he had lost his blankie somewhere and he was never going to go to sleep again 'cause he couldn't sleep without it.

"Was it small and green?" I asked. YES! I had seen another customer pick it up off the floor in the last aisle but I didn't know if she'd put it on the shelf or taken it to Customer Service... It didn't matter - that lady took off so fast! Mom and I moved on, but then I realized the mother hadn't come back in a while and the father was standing there with the three kids, one still crying. I walked over and asked if she'd found it, and he said not yet, so I went to the other aisle to look for it. (I realized I hadn't told her where we were standing when the other lady found it...) I saw it on the shelf, and returned it to the dad then went to find the mom who was still searching aisle by aisle. [Good deed #3]

And after that sunny day, three good deeds, and a wildlife suicide (who'd have thought a snake would crawl up into my car?!?), it's been raining ever since and nothing outstandingly good has happened since - except that I haven't had a pressure headache all week (and I probably just jinxed myself good!).

How was YOUR Memorial Day weekend????!!!

Mine was, for lack of a better word, "interesting." (And let me warn you now, this will be a LONG post!!!)

Let's see. On Thursday night I went out to dinner with 5 women I used to work with, back in the day. We worked together for years and years and years, and we are all the best of friends. The company closed without warning and we scattered into the wind. We don't get a chance to get together very often, and the circumstances that got us together this time? Not so great, either. One of the companies that three of the women work for is closing their NJ office so 2 of them are once again unemployed. We took advantage of the fact that they would no longer be local once the office physically closed to make sure we met for dinner at the Barnyard in Totowa. We sat on the patio, ordered drinks and appetizers and food, and laughed and talked and laughed some more. There was a really good reason we all stayed working together for so many years, despite the horrors of that company itself - 'cause we all get along so well!!

I went home, we packed up for the long weekend, and went to sleep. I woke up the next day and my throat was scratchy. In hindsight, it was probably 'cause I was outside, with allergies, and yelling and laughing, but I sure didn't want to get strep again (see my previous blog post!) so I called the doctor. They prescribed 10 days of emoxycillin, 500mg, 3 times a day! Can I just tell you that I haven't taken it 3 times a day YET! I am not sick, my throat no longer hurts, so I forget to take it. This 10 day prescription will take me 20 to finish!!! Speaking of which, I forgot to take it today, too, so I will take it at lunchtime...

We had a 1/2 day Friday so we packed the car, picked up that prescription, and left for the lake, which is 42 miles away. Which took us three hours to get to because of the holiday traffic. 3 hours to go 42 miles. 3 hours for a trip that normally takes us 45 minutes. Yuk.

Jack had gone to Boonton, NJ, on the Thursday night I was partying with my pals, and he bought a boat motor for $700. Not cheap. We got to the lake, he decided he wanted to go for a putt around the lake so he propped the motor on the back of the rowboat and ran inside to get a piece of wood. I did ask him if it was safe to leave the motor there, and he did say yes, but apparently the motor gods weren't listening. While I stood there, worried it would tilt and fall into the water... It tilted and started to fall into the water!!! I literally jumped into the lake, in my sundress and in my shoes, and tried to grab it before it went under. Now the motor weighs about 50 or 60 pounds, and I know that the propeller end goes in the water, but I didn't think the motor end should be submersed so I rescued it! I grabbed it and hoisted it up and yelled for Jack. He came running, took one look at me in the water and grabbed the motor from me! (He hates it when I'm right!)

We went for a putt (yay! the motor works!). We got back to the dock and Jack thought it would be okay to leave the motor in the boat while it was docked. But the water is 2' down, a HUGE deal at Lake Hopatcong this season! And there are some cement platforms and cinderblocks submerged at the end of our dock. And I was afraid the motor would hit the cement and get damaged but Jack didn't think so until he thought about it for a few moments, so he decided to take the motor in for the night. Yeah, okay. He decided to take the motor off the back of the rowboat while.he.was.in.the.rowboat. (Read that again.) So he hopped in, loosened the clamps that hold the motor on the back of the rowboat and tried to pick up the motor. The motor that weighs 50 to 60 pounds. While the motor was centered, Jack wasn't so when he picked it up the rowboat tilted up under the dock and Jack was losing his balance. (Yes, picture it!) I was laughing so hard it took me a minute to think to sit down on the dock and put my foot on the boat to steady it so he wouldn't fall in! He put the motor on the dock and climbed to safety!

We ran to the store for some things, and had dinner, then came home and put our pajamas on to watch some television. (Yes, we lead an exciting life!) I missed Numbers (we both like that show!) and the news and woke up at around 11:45pm; David Letterman was doing the Top Ten. I thought it would be a good idea to go brush my teeth and turn off the TV and go to bed, so I did. Go to try to brush my teeth, that is.

I put toothpaste on my toothbrush, and turned the faucet on, but there was no water. So I thought, "Hmm, probably forgot to turn the pump on!" So I ran downstairs and - the pump was on! So I went back upstairs and turned the faucet on again, thinking that probably we ran the water without the pump being on and needed to send water on up to the second floor... We pull our water from the lake, folks, we have no city water at the lake house.

No deal. No water. So I go and wake Jack up and he goes downstairs to turn the pump on. Yes, it was on already. So then he went into the basement to check on the little piece that sometimes pops off the top of the tank but it hadn't popped off. So he came upstairs, got dressed 'cause it was chilly in the basement, and we both went downstairs. He banged on the regulator a bit; it worked the last time we had no water. He checked the pressure in the tanks. Pressure was fine. We checked the breaker to be sure we had electric running to the tanks. He checked the wires to be sure all was well.

The pump in the lake blew. For no apparent reason. We'd used water earlier. We had water earlier. Now we didn't.

So on Saturday we went to Lowe's and bought a $14 regulator (just in case 'cause we'd already changed it three times so maybe we needed another new one) and a $333 water pump.

You guessed it. It wasn't the regulator. It was the water pump.

Now keep in mind it's Memorial Day weekend. If we call a pump guy we're not going to pay weekend rates. We'll be paying HOLIDAY weekend rates. So Mr. Fix-It decided to do it himself. Now he's perfectly capable. It's just that sometimes he makes some questionable decisions.

Like when he decided to change the pump without going into the lake. He was going to do it from the rowboat. The pump is at the end of a 40' hose that's wrapped in heating wire and electrical tape. It's about 6' down in the water. And to make the story even better? The pump guy who put it in for us about 6 years ago tied a cinderblock to it to keep it at the bottom of the lake. But one cinderblock wasn't enough for Jack!

If there was only one cinderblock attached to the end, the hose could float off the lake bottom and get cut by other boats' propellers, so Jack.tied.6.more.cinderblocks.to.the.hose. (Read that again!) Mm-hmm. There were a total of 7 cinderblocks that he decided he would pull out of the water, one at a time, while still attached to the hose, cut loose and put in the rowboat so he could get the one at the end, the one attached to the pump, up out of the water.

I calmly suggested he might want to just put his bathing suit on and his water shoes and just do it that way, but nooooooooooooooooo, he was going to do it from the rowboat.

I have pictures.

To top it all off, when he hopped back down in the rowboat to start the 1/2 half of this fiasco and return the new pump to the lake, there were lobsters in our boat!! Not really - crawfish of some kind, but boy, were we surprised! They were apparently living in or on one of the cinderblocks that Jack hauled up into the boat and he just didn't notice them until later...

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. We had water. No one fell or jumped into the lake. We came home and had a BBQ with my mom, and did some laundry, and went to my sister-in-law's for Monday Night Dessert.

And since then, blah, blah, blah, nothing to report!!!

Winter Photos on the Lake

This is our house, from the lake. The lake has been frozen over for a month or so now; actually it was a lot later this year than in previous years. Jack and I took a walk one day (it was SOOO darn cold!) and I took some nice photos...

Here's Jack, walking ahead of me. Or perhaps I should say I was walking behind him, like a good squaw. That's what I say when he takes off ahead of me and calls to me to catch up. He's usually on a mission, walking very quickly, while I stroll along, taking in the view... These tracks are from either a snowmobile or a quad - don't ask me which, I haven't a clue. And it's sort of irrelevant - to me it's just the coolness of driving on the lake!These are our footprints, headig out or coming back from our walk. (Our house is behind us in this picture.)
These are paw prints of something HUGE! They were literally about 7 or 8 inches across! So I know it's not a dog; could it be a bear? I'm no hunter so I haven't a clue! (Yes, again, I'm clueless!)

The new picture of us to the right of the page was taken this same day! I like it! We were having loads of fun on our walk!

Non-Turkey Photos

For those of you who like to see photos, even though they're not very good ones...

Here's Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor, a.ka. Jack, repairing our dock. Or at least, stabilizing it for winter! The Lake Commission drops the water level 5' every 5 years so that property owners can do repairs on their docks. When the lake freezes in the winter, the melting ice actually floats into our dock posts and breaks them, damaging the dock as well. We'll try calling the one dock repair company again but they have so much business they don't even bother to return phone calls! (After 26 years in the business world, I don't personally think that's very good business, but who am I?!?)
Here's another view of that same dock, the longer of our two, sans lawn chairs. In spring, summer, and fall, you can usually find me sitting on the dock with a cup of coffee or an iced tea, reading, listening to the sound of the water, watching Jack work at something 'cause the man just doesn't know how to sit still!

Here's a view of the water line on our bulkhead, or our seawall, as Jack likes to call it. (Never mind that we're not living on the sea...). You can really see where the water usually is, right to the bottom of our dock...

Here's are two shots of our other dock, the smaller shorter one. It gets knocked around a bit, too, but this year it didn't suffer as much damage as the larger one, which got pulled right out of the bulkhead.