Sunny and rainy

Catching up with friends and family are still a big part of our time while we're back in the area, especially as the summer winds down.   Yearly appointments, motorhome and Jeep upgrades, fishing, boating and relaxing take up the rest of our days.   They're flying by.    I just finished planning most of our fall/winter travels.

We've had some gloriously sunny and warm days with some very unpleasantly wet and stormy ones in between.

gesundheit!

On the sunny days it's a pleasure to entertain.   Cindy and Norm came down last week and we enjoyed a nice boat ride and a steak dinner outside.

Dave bought a winch and when it finally arrived he spent a few sunny days in the driveway installing it.

off comes the bumper

the mounting plate, mounted

He had a minor engineering problem but was able to reach Mr. David's A-1 Engineered Solutions and they talked him through the problem using 3/8" PEX
tubing as an alignment aid.

Voila!

The new winch makes the Jeep look out of place here in the land of the paved road, but it will be a cheap insurance policy for us in our other, off road life.

On nice days Lewis enjoys spending time outside.   A nasty squirrel has discovered that he can get Lewis' s goat if he sits in the bushes and chitters loudly at him.  He has a perverse sense of humor.   Lewis falls for it every time.

On rainy, stormy days we just throw up our hands and wait it out.  Much reading is done by me and much puttering is done by Dave.....having a basement and tools is a good thing on a rainy day.

patterns of grey

the Mergansers don't mind the rain 

When we have company coming and it's raining.....we visit inside and enjoy ourselves just the same.

Cousin Bill and Patty getting ready to dig into the yummy
Victoria Sponge she made for us

And when the rain stops, we dry things off, empty things out and start all over again.