EVEN NOW; WITH A THOUSAND LITTLE VOYAGES UNDER MY BELT.
I STILL FEEL A MEMORIAL CHILL ON CASTING OFF.
-E.B. White

Sunday, March 8, 2020

WHAT CAN I SAY WE'VE BEEN BUSY - LETS START WITH APRIL 2019


Last anchorage of the season April 6, 2019 heading to River Forest for haulout


Broulee heading for the barn April 9, 2019, then its pedal to the metal for a three day run back to Minnesota.  Of, course, major snow storm in Minnesota and Wisconsin caused us to change our route and come up thru Iowa.  


On April 27th we had a memorial service for Deb's beautiful sister Joni who passed away in February.


then we caught the red eye to New York on April 28th for a memorial service for Rick's brother-in-law, Don Nice who passed away in March.  Pictured here with niece Leslie and her children, Macdera, Devin and Samantha.


May was time to get a to-do list in order.  Probably will not get all this done, but its a goal.  


May 21st we flew to AZ to check on Deb's dads little house in the desert.  Catching up on news from the wrinkle ranch with Deb's parents friend Ruth.  Cheers!!!








By June the gardens are flourishing, which really means, let the weeding and yard work begins.


For three weeks in June we are in our raspberry garden picking berries for our infamous Raspberry wine.  If you have been lucky enough to get a bottle, you know what we are talking about. 


Bottling wine at friends Bob & Pams.  The best part of bottling, is the sampling to get it just right, then its bottle and cork.


  1st two cases of  a total of 10 for the season.


Deb and her dad enjoying a fun day together at a family appreciation gathering at his new digs for senior living.


End of June we decided to do a road trip to visit friends and family.  Taking a break/leg stretch at Chautauqua Lake in Jameston, New York


Lake is 17 miles long and two miles wide with a surface area of 13,000 acres, breathtaking!


Spent a couple days visiting boating friends Jim & Andy in their beautiful home in the Catskills.  Of, course, ice cream is always on the agenda.

Cute little Airbnb in the Catskills owned by friends of Jim & Andy


View from the airbnb cabin of their friends farm, and below their cute highland cows.




Very friendly - well we did have apple chips to feed them.


Then a quick couple day visit with boating friends Vince & Mary on the Jersey Shore


Board walk near Toms River, NJ


Restoration of Jersey shoreline after hurricane Sandy


Enjoying some beach time with Vince and Mary.  Thanks for the downtime everyone. 


Stopping next to visit nephew Brian in Cold Spring, New York.  


Brian knows that his Uncle Rick is type "A" and doesn't really enjoy downtime so he enlisted him in a project to oil his coffee table - Rick is just the guy for this fun vacation project.


Nice job Uncle Rick!!


July was a time for Debs sister Gail and her family to have a reunion up north in Brainerd, MN. Great niece Elin and  Debs niece Ali made the trek here from Texas.  Elin is the dose of medicine we need right now.  Thank you Josh for letting them come and brighten our lives.  


Deb's beautiful sister Gail and her beautiful granddaughter Elin enjoying an outing on the pontoon in Brainerd.


August, September and October were project months.  We decided to get rid of carpeting on the second floor and revert back to the original fir flooring.  The problem was sometime in the 80's the floor on the landing was tore up to put a support beam on first floor to correct a sagging ceiling.  Rick is tearing up the plywood to re insulate and lay new plywood to level the floor.  (House built in 1895)  


New plywood and leveling in process


One of three bedrooms upstairs.  This room required some replacement boards also as part of the beam installation downstairs.  We found a supplier in our area that had fir flooring.  The fun part will be trying to match the new portion stain with old portion. 


Small bedroom that we use as an office - old floors are looking good after sanding an re staining.   The master bedroom is done, also, but did'nt get pic before leaving.  The second bedroom and landing are also done, lots of trim work and some staining left to do (2020 to do list) but everything is functional.  They make it look so easy on HGTV, NOT!!!


November 15th we were back at Broulee for her launch.  Will see how this season goes.


Once again, firing right up and ready to go!


Good to be back in Marco Island.  


Izzy is busy making friends with boaters.  Driving back to Minnesota for Xmas with family & friends December 12th till December 25th - next adventure to follow.