beluga

beluga

Sunday, June 24, 2018

We're still here......



even his hair is dripping.....


It's raining - raining straight down, all day long.  This is probably a good thing because we need it, our grass is starting to look like it does mid-August, and  I haven't stayed inside to do a blog....or do laundry.    So guess what I'm doing today?

Once again we've been busy but not with anything extremely exciting.   Nothing new and beautiful and unexpected or awe inspiring like when we're on the road.  Most of our time is pleasant and we're content.    Doctor's appointments are clicking buy without anything unexpected - a good thing.   






the web of a spider on drugs....what other explanation could there be?



a gratuitous picture of Lewis trying to sneak out the sliding door.....

On Father's Day we had old friends Cindy and Norm over for dinner.   Their daughter lives in Virginia and Jesse is in Denver so both father's were without child that day.   It was very very hot but we had a nice time, drank chilled Rose, ate and talked and enjoyed a cheery evening fire in the chimmanea.   I took no pictures of our visit or of dinner.   But.....I did manage to take a picture of Dave's  Father's Day lunch - a special request.

Dave's requested lunch......
Wardynski's Polish Sausage on rye and hard boiled egg


Beluga is back home again.   She had a rather expensive physical and is now sporting a new turbo charger and exhaust manifold.  She also had a complete valve adjustment, a NYS inspection, new belts, oil change and analysis,  transmission fluid and filter service, and her shift sequence was reprogrammed.
She was pronounced ready to go another 100,000 miles!    Now the question is, will we?

She arrived home just in time.   My (actually, our) friend Judi came for a few day's visit and Beluga is her guest suite.    We had dinner at our favorite restaurant, the Rabbit Room, one night and cooked home the next evening.

Judi gives Dave grilling instuctions

Dave is thrilled with his new Copper grilling mat -
Thanks Lisa!



Beluga has a new (and by "new" I mean "old" but don't tell her) friend beside her in the driveway.

Mrs. Rinker asked that we don't photograph her too closely -
she feels her best days are behind her....

A boat!    We call her Mrs. Rinker and she came to us from just down the road.   Her owner's no longer wanted her, they had a new party boat to enjoy so they let us have her for a relatively nominal fee.    She's rather an old girl and needs some TLC and freshening before she moves to her new home alongside our dock.


Dave has been cleaning her carpets (she endured years of scattered mothballs in an effort to repel the inevitable winter mouse invasion), reinforcing her seat bottoms (she's embarrassed by this, so don't mention it to her), cleaning and polishing, tuning her engine (she sputters a bit) and getting her a spanking new cover to keep her dry and warm in the rain.     He's also been sanding her very nasty and neglected teak trim pieces.   They may be beyond his help, but we won't tell her.


She came to us just as we had firmly decided against looking for a boat.
We'd been going back and forth about it for awhile.      When we sold the farm and went on the road we sold our boat, boat hoist, sailboat, and canoe - we wouldn't need them in Beluga and they were just more things to store.
   But, now that we've come back to the area for summer, we've both been missing being able to get out on the water.

We were sitting out on the dock, enjoying second cup together, dangling our feet in the water when we made the final decision NOT to look for a boat.   It wasn't in the budget....Beluga had just cost us about $7000 and we do have to eat for the rest of the summer!


Ah well, best laid plans.   Life is to short we said.    We really want a simple boat and why shouldn't we have it!    Mrs. Rinker was really cheap, boat, motor and trailer....she was just down the street.....if we don't come back to the lake next summer we won't feel bad leaving her there, she was (shhhhh) cheap. 
So that very afternoon we dragged her home.      Dave is enjoying his project, he's out there in the rain as we speak!

Last week our friend JoAnn's daughter and husband, came for lunch and a little lake fun.   JoAnn was also to join us but she felt ill at the last minute so it was just the four of us.

Beth tries out the SUP while Von encourages from the kayak

conversation

That's about it from us.   I can't believe it's almost the 4th of July already.   We're looking forward to our annual Ring of Fire party on the 3rd, our visit from Pam and John later that week and the Pond's arrival for a week in August.   The summer is flying by.







8 comments:

  1. I was surprised to read that you needed the rain. It seems every time I talk to my mother, it is raining or had rained. Hope Dave has Mrs. Rinker ready soon!!! If you get my drift:) Love those feet, especially those furry ones. I'm sure you had a great time with Judi. Good someone is helping Dave with his grilling! We had Kielbasa for dinner last night...yum! I do believe your spider has a problem...haha! See you in just a couple weeks...wahoo!!

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  2. Much needed rain is the best. How fun Mrs Rinker will be when her face and body work is done. Lucky girl!! I think your spider was following the GPS :-)) Love the feet pic! That last shot is so pretty.

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  3. Oh my...to hear the sound of rain would be sooooo wonderful! Sounds like your summer has been perfect so far. Love Mrs. Rinker...and what fun you will have on the water. Cool spider web!

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  4. It's crazy how half the bloggers I follow are noting endless rain and the other half are noting endless drought. Can't we all meet somewhere in the middle? Yikes. Crazy summer.

    Speaking of crazy, I agree, that spider is on something. I'm impressed you stuck around long enough to take a picture. I would have burned the place down immediately. :)

    I am endlessly jealous of you guys for having that character of a dog to hang out with every day. I can tell he is one fun puppy. Give him a belly rub for me. And enjoy the boat! Hopefully you all can get it out on the water sooner rather than later. Should make a fantastic lakefront summer place even better!

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  5. That anonymous comment was me by the way.... Computers are hard. :)

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  6. Oh how FUN, a boat!!! And I know Dave loves having a project and he will do a most excellent job of restoring Mrs. Rinker to her beautiful self. Seriously, is it really almost the fourth of July? I'm looking forward to your bonfire celebration, but I'm not ready for it to be July already.
    Those feet and paws, haha! So darned cute. Oh, and by the way, you guys are most definitely good for at least another 100,000 miles. :-)

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  7. Aahhh....the Banks' are at The Lake for the summer (complete with Mrs Rinker!) All is right with the world now. Feels like "old times" to me. Soak it up...all of the sweet nuances, memories, fun parties, lazy days and crazy days. But you better go a little less on the drugs with that spider!

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  8. The family by the lake is now complete with Mrs Rinker, for how good is it to live by a lake and no boat! I bet Mr David's Service is all gungho with all his modifying, beautifying, remodeling project this summer. You are keeping him busy!
    Wow that's a sticker shock for all of Belugas repair and maintenance but the upside is you get to travel another 100,000 miles more :)

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