We started our boat work on Wednesday, retrieving the power boat from the shop, and putting it in its winter home in the front of the yard.

Thanksgiving afternoon we took the sailboat out of the water. It was not really windy enough, so there was a little paddling by the crew, but it was lovely and warm (55), so we thought that was a better day. No ( Read more... )

We took the power boat out of the lake today. It has an appt at the shop Tuesday to get its (as Ken put it) "neonatal appointment" (plus winterizing.) Supposed to be at 20 hours of operation, but we've only had about 12. They said it made sense given that it's winterize time and half the stuff's the same.

Then we used the sailboat to haul up one ( Read more... )

The sunset this evening (afternoon? it was after all before 5...) was spectacular.


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So I always say, at the end of the season, "it is never a good idea to waterski in November".

But, this year is an exception. Just had a beautiful last run in 56° water, and 54° air. Completely flat water, nearly cloudless sky, and beautiful fall colors. (I was surprised the water hadn't dropped more given that we have now had two nights below ( Read more... )

So we never get trick-or-treaters, because our house is on a street which is really unpromising - houses fairly far apart, fairly far set back, and only on one side of the road. This time we didn't even buy any candy. If anybody comes, they're going to get $3/bar fancy fair trade chocolate. I'm betting I get to keep my chocolate.

However, I decided ( Read more... )

Normally when I start a post with "the boat is broken" it's not a good thing, but this time it's "the boat is broken-in"! We've gone the requisite 10 hours, and we actually did follow the rules, pretty much. In any case, we no longer have to restrict the length of time that we run at full power, or dork around at slow speeds for eight minutes in ( Read more... )

I got the sim for my iPhone, and got it enabled with my phone number! I'm still working on customizing it to my liking. I have a lame plan (I just recharge it with $100 periodically, and pay per minute/text/megabyte), and thus I do not like my apps to use mobile data. So I'm turning them off, and then periodically they pop up a little notice saying ( Read more... )

I picked up the boat yesterday with the new motor! A thing of beauty. It's white, and the boat is off-white, so it makes the boat look dirty.

So now there's the drive around slowly part. So, I emailed the moms club, and said "anybody's kids want a slow boat ride?" I got four families interested, and gave them each about a half an hour ride. ( Read more... )

I called boat places about repowering, and one of them actually had the motor that we were thinking might be best based on online research. For somewhat less money than we had been quoted in the spring (though still substantial). So we are going for it!

We hauled the boat this evening so I can drive it to the boat place tomorrow. This had an ( Read more... )

We decided to try skiing behind the untrustworthy boat. It was difficult to get going, but it did eventually pull me at some partial power (but enough for me to ski). But then it decided it was done for the day, and would not pull Ken. If we try this again, he will get the first crack. I really need to call some boat places about repowering!

This ( Read more... )