Fair breezes.

We enjoyed a fun raft-up last night.   It’s been a long time since we’ve had 5 boats rafted up overnight.   Last night it was Monte and I on Nirvana.  Nick, Isabel, Lorene and Dimitri on Kalliopi.   Wally, Kurt and Kevin on Zen.   Kirk and Lilly on La Cima del Cielo.   And Brent and Lawrence on a Catalina 27 that came in under the veil of darkness before the near-full moon rose, so I didn’t catch their boat’s name.   We played ipod wars into the wee hours.    This morning we lounged around on deck and floated behind the boats till after noon.   Then Nirvana and Kalliopi sailed down to Carlos & Charlie’s, and then turned around to make way back up to our slips.    Isabel sent us this shot that they took on our way back to the marina.

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Back at the marina we checked out the boat to make sure everything was ship-shape, since our docks are now offshore by nearly a mile.   We will allegedly have power hooked up in a few weeks.  We shall see.   The lake is at about 621′.   Terribly low.   It’s no longer a lake.  It’s just a windy river with lots of new hazards around every corner.  I’m starting to think it will never rise again.

Joe came out visit with us on Nirvana for the afternoon.   It was really nice to get a visit in with him.

Not the hands of a girlie girl.

We’re at the lake for the night. We’ll have to wait and see who the wind will blow in tonight.
More owies for the collection. Oh well.
Looking forward to a nice night in our favorite cove.

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A boatload of kids. Seriously.

Julie joined us on Nirvana for a raftup last night in Arky South with Rory & Greg on Sapphire.  Kurt, Barbara and some of their friends came out on Dancer and tied up to us until after sunset.  Nick & Isabel came motoring into the cove on Kalliopi right before sunset to join us.  Even from a distance, we could see many people on the deck of their boat.  As they came closer, we counted 14 teenagers + Isabel, Nick and Dmitri.  Whoooa nelly, that’s a lot of people.   And they were staying the night!  It was a going away party for Morgan who is heading to college next week.   Everyone had lots of fun.  And we didn’t lose anyone!  Never a dull moment. 🙂
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Lovely day.

We headed to the lake today. Julie joined us. We saw Joe on the docks. And we floated with Rory and Greg for a bit in arky south. Tonight is a Texas Sailing raftup but have plans for tomorrow, so headed home tonight. I wish every day was a weekend. Cheers to my peeps. To those if you I haven’t seen in a while – I miss ya’ll !

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We made it home in time to grill up some yummy grub,too.

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How’s it hanging?

We had a great day on the lake today.   The winds picked up so we pulled anchor and sailed over to the Gnarly Gar and had lunch.    Jake did great at the helm.   On the way back to the marina, the winds were so light that Monte and Jake were able to jump in and be towed behind the boat, as we sailed along at about half a knot.

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When we got back home, Keeto was very happy to see the flock return, as usual.   He’s a funny bird.

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The evening was filled with Wii contests of strength and speed; a delicious spread of sauteed pork chops, pasta and kale that Jake prepared; and the mandatory showing of Captain Ron for new-sailor initiation.

A great weekend!

Pot o’sunshine.

Our nephew Jake is visiting for a week or so. We had pizza night last night and today we headed to the lake. Of course.
Jane and Jeff joined us on Destiny. It was a beautiful day. After last week’s rain a straggler shower or two dodged around on the horizon.
We didn’t get rain but were treated to this rainbow from arky south.

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My latest UBI.

After spending any time on a boat, most people come home with various and sundry cuts, bumps, scrapes, sprains and bruises. We call them “unexplainable boat injuries,” or UBIs. This is my latest one. I have no idea when it happened, and it never even hurt. Weird.

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Oh, and yes, you’re correct if you think I’m running out of material, and/or trying to avoid the pile of work in my inbox. Both are true today. Have a nice day! 🙂

Mid-week lake run.

We headed to the lake after work tonight to meet Lynn, Dan, and their niece Paige at the marina. We headed to the cove for a float and dinner on the boat. A good time was had by all. This is a shot after sunset with Venus to the right of the crescent moon.
Pretty sky.

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50 year low.

We spent a second night on the lake last night. Nick and family had peeled off, so we had the anchor to ourselves. Today I paddled around the cove again. I went all the way up to where Arky cove ends. This is as far as I can go. As much as we still enjoy the lake immensely, in spite of the low lake levels, it’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago we would be able to sail up in here and beyond, to anchor, with about 40 or 50 more feet of water above where my head is. The lake is at its lowest in 50 years, right now: 625.5 feet above sea level, as we speak. Very sad. The lake is dropping as rapidly or more rapidly than it ever has during the summer… a foot or more this week, already. I don’t know what to say at this point other than this really sucks.

Pray for rain.

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Happy July 5th!

We anchored in the cove last night. Camelot joined us for the night with Lori & Doray. Kalliopi joined us with nick, Isabel, their kids and about 4 other girls. Quite the raftup! We grilled cheeseburgers off the back of the boat, in true July 4th style. Because of the drought, fireworks were few and far between. But we caught a glimpse of some.

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We brought the kayak and the sailing dinghy. They’re getting used quite a bit.

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And, here’s the obligatory arky cove sunset shot:

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A Monday to remember.

We anchored out again last night in about the same place as the night before. A really pleasant night. This morning we headed back about 10am. And wouldn’t you know it…we hooked (we think) the same tree stump. This time we just snagged it. It didn’t catch us up, but it was a very heavy drag on the line. This time we tried to drag it close to shore before it fell off the anchor.
Back at home we put out the flag on the porch, grilled up some delicious cheeseburgers and are getting ready to snug in to watch a movie.

It’s not about the barbeque, though. So let me pause and say Thank You to those who bravely gave their lives in service to defend both the simple and the profound freedoms we enjoy every day.

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Lake view.

The full Flower Moon.

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We spent a nice day on the lake. We pulled anchor today and brought up a tree stump. I wish I had taken a picture but there wasn’t time. This stump was about 10-12 inches in diameter. A good 2 feet high. With roots, one of which was about 6 feet long. The windlass couldn’t handle the weight so I got to pull it up by hand. Whew!
We set anchor in the same cove tonight. Let’s see what we pull up tomorrow!

Colors a-flyin’.

Gettin’ our weekend on! Happy Saturday.

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Finally.

TGIF of a 3 day weekend. As much as I have been desperately awaiting this weekend to spend on the lake, I am ecstatic that we are finally getting some rain. It can rain all weekend as long as it all runs into the lake.

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