Category: Lake

Apr 30, 2011

Launch day.

After little over six months in dry dock, today was the day we relaunched Cupholder.  Thanks to Marty and Sue for the ramp duties.  Here she goes!  She’s back in her slip where she belongs.

This auspicious occasion also marks the beginning of lake playtime.   We had a great turnout today:  Joe, Kurt, Wally, Kevin, Shannon, Lori, Dave, Marty & Sue, and we even had a drive by from Ken and Chris.

We missed you Teri & Ace!

Oh, yes, she is a sailboat, but we still have a little work to do on the masts, so we may need to do the next raftup as a motor yacht 🙂

Mar 20, 2011

Chillin.

For the first time I can recall, at 9 AM in the morning, Monte and I were the only ones up.   That was SOME party last night.

Eventually heads started popping up on deck.

We had a great day, just chilling out.  The water is still too cold for swimming, but everyone was more than happy to sit around visiting with eachother.

As late afternoon rolled around, everyone reluctantly started peeling off to head home.

We had another great sail on the way home.  We didn’t have to tack once on the trip from Bee Creek back to the marina.  Very nice.

Oh, and today is the first day of Spring!!!!!  yeah!

Mar 8, 2011

Happy 1st blogoversary!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my starting this blog.   To mark the occasion, I made a collage using all 365 of the moments that I’ve posted here.

I can recall taking each one.   🙂

I started this in early March last year, in time to capture the signs of Spring, and into the Summer as things began to warm up and as we spend so much time on the lake… then through the changes in Fall and Winter when we spend more of our time on projects and playing with friends on land.  I’ve come full circle, and am looking forward all the moments from the coming year.

Happy Mardi Gras!   and  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lori and to Mary!

Mar 7, 2011

Day #365!!!

Today’s post makes the 365th moment that I have shared with you.  This is a shot of one of the geraniums I planted yesterday that I took today during a break between conference calls.

I’m very pleased that I have stuck with this post-a-photo-per-day-for-a-year project.  There were some days that I found it difficult to see something worth sharing.   But I have to say that most days I looked forward to toting my camera around with me, and was usually pleased to find a moment that was either a photo that I liked or at least made for a nice story to share.

Wow, a year.   365 moments.   It goes by fast.

I look forward to keeping my blog going.  I don’t know that I will be posting something every day, but I am definitely looking forward to posting more moments worth sharing.

A colleague of mine passed away over the weekend after a fight with cancer.  He was only 51.

I can only hope that you all have many more years left on this earth to share with your friends and family.   But since we never know when our time will be up, we have to take the time to enjoy and be thankful for each and every day that we get to spend with them.   I have done that for a year.   And I hope to from here on out…

Nov 13, 2010

Smoke on the water

This weekend is the Annual Birthday Raftup.   This year we anchored in Cow Creek, at mile marker 32.  We had 5 boats:  Robert, Jay and Bridget on Moon Rock;  Michelle, Tony and Dali on Caribbean Run; Teri, Ace, Monte and I on Island Time;  Dennis and Christine on Lone Spar; and Sarah and Mark on Serenade.

Temps got down into the 40’s tonight.    But that didn’t keep the sailors from staying up playing iPod wars into the wee hours – again.  Everyone was in fine form.

We sorely missed the rest of our 1st string raftup team members Marty, Sue, Joe, Kurt, Wally, Lori & Dave.

This was a shot of Tony & Michelle on the way back from a shore run for Dali late in the evening.   The mist on the water lit up as they made their way back to the boats.

Oct 9, 2010

Wing on wing

On Saturday afternoons we race in a informal regatta with friends — aka the Beer Can regatta.   This is a shot of the field today.   Left to right – Dancer, Caribbean Hug and Spike (and far right is another b-docker, Dave,  that wasn’t racing, can’t remember his boat’s name at the moment).

Oh, why are we in the front, you ask?   Well, each boat has a different start time, slowest boats first, fastest boats last.    We didn’t stay in front.   The finish order was Caribbean Hug, Spike, Dancer and Cupholder.

A nice day on the lake.  Devin, the son of a good friend of Monte’s was visiting from Cincinnati, and joined us for the sail.

Sep 26, 2010

What a difference a day makes

The temperatures were cooler today, and the wind showed up.  We spent the afternoon sailing up and down the lake.   We made a quick stop to pick up Joe and Wally at the dock.  Kurt was dragging several kids behind his boat and Marty & Sue showed up to play as well.

This is a shot of Caribbean Hug getting ready to wash the decks.

It’s fun to be on the lake on a day like today, but it’s even better with friends.

Sep 25, 2010

Now we're moving

The first weekend of Fall.   A coldfront dropped in this afternoon.  We headed to the lake to sail the Beer Can, and then anchor up overnight in a cove with friends.  We had a bit of wind when the race started, but as you can see, we weren’t breaking any records.   Marty won, and Teri/Jim and Monte and I decided to skip the finish and get the raftup started early.

Lori & Dave joined us before too long and a good time was had by all.

Sep 5, 2010

Labor Day Eve

Another fun day spent on the lake with friends.  Julie, Monte and I gave Laura and Dolya a ride out to the raftup in Arky North.   We missed Michelle & Tony, passing them as we were entering the cove.  We joined Camelot, Dancer, Island Time, Prelude, and Caribbean Hug and played until after sunset.   This is a shot from our bow looking out of the cove.  There are quite a few other boats enjoying a quiet night on the lake.

Julie’s taking to this Austin way of life really quickly 😉

Aug 8, 2010

Just a typical Sunday

We enjoyed another great morning on the lake.  Seven boats in this raftup – Tippy, Cupholder, Prelude, Caribbean Hug, Dancer, Cool Breeze, and Y No Hago Mas Na.  12 big kids, 11 young kids and 2 dogs.

Jul 4, 2010

Flyin' the colors

Happy 4th of July!!  Wow.  What can I say?   We had a blast yesterday.   An excellent morning, too.   We were joined later in the day by Joe on Prelude, Kurt, Wally & Greg on Dancer and Marty & Sue on Caribbean Hug.    I guess I saw this coming, but we ended up having so much fun that we stayed another night — yet another accidental raft-up.

I love it that we have found such a fun bunch of big kids to spend our time on the lake with.    If laughter is the best medicine, I’m set.

As the song says:

“….the road goes on forever and the party never ends!“

This is a shot of the official portion of our burgee collection — flown proudly on Cupholder this July 4th.   The burgee on the bottom is a “B” signal flag, for B-Dock, of course.

Jun 14, 2010

Trail's end

After work today I met Monte at the marina to help schlep the remnants of a 4-day weekend back home.

Joe was awesome to tow Porter Belle and the kayak up and down the lake for us.  It sure saved time for the catboat to not have to drag those behind us.

This is a shot of our awesome trailer and the 2 littlest members of our fleet, after returning home tonight.  The boat on the bottom is a wooden sailing dinghy, called a shellback-dinghy.   We built it as our practice boat before building the catboat.

Here’s to a quick week and fair weather for the weekend.

Jun 13, 2010

Floating fun

Day 3 – This morning the plan is to head downriver to Cow Creek at mile marker 32.    Kurt will head out today and join the raftup there.

I have to work tomorrow, so I am catching a ride with Tony and Michelle back to the marina.  Monte will come back with everyone else tomorrow night.

This is a shot from this AM.   The kayaks got a lot of use this trip.   Monte and Alex sailed around the cove in Porter Belle.

The winds are still blowing.   It will be another long day on Caribbean Run back to the marina.   But for now, it’s nice to enjoy the water.

Jun 12, 2010

Cast of characters

Day 2 of the trip.  Another windy, sunny day on the lake.   Today the plan is to pile on 2 boats and head even farther up river for a daysail.   The part of the river at Mile marker 55 is called the Narrows, and is about as far as a sailboat should venture up the lake.   We’ll anchor there, swim a bit, eat lunch and head back to the raftup at mile marker 47 for a second night.

This AM Mark and Pam drove to the park to spend the day with us.  They brought 100+ pounds of ice with them to replenish the coolers, which was AWESOME!

7 boats, 5 kayaks, a rubber dinghy and a sailing dinghy.

This is a shot of the boats rafted up outside Krause springs.

From left to right:   Pat &  Dave on Va Bene, Robert & Tasha on their latest Beneteau 34, Bay on Red Sky, Tony & Michelle on Caribbean Run, Joe & Alex on Prelude, Marty, Sue & Koko on Caribbean Hug, and Monte & me on Cupholder.  The sailing dinghy on the far right is our homebuilt Porter Belle.