Thursday, September 18

Fishing with Tim


Tim Came home for a weekend visit in August and we took him sailing to Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island for an overnight. We left on Friday, August 22, in the mid-morning and had a nice breeze, on the nose of course all the way across the bay to Woods Hole. Had to make a couple of tacks to clear Penzance Point to get into the passage. Current was running with us and Tim took us through without any trouble and then down Vineyard sound to the cove. We dropped the hook and took the dinghy ashore so Nell could pee & poop. Can't get her do do it onboard the boat so I run her in, in the morning, before we go to bed, before we get underway. Ellen & Neilli walked the beach while Tim & I walked around the shore and then up to the lighthouse. We had a nice view down the sound and then returned to the boat for cocktails, fishing off the stern, and a wonderful Swordfish dinner. The next morning we got up, I took the dog ashore of course,came back and had breakfast, we all went for a swim, some briefly, I to scrub the bottom, (the water was some chilly, colder than Flathead Lake)and without any wind cranked up the engine and headed home. We took a swing into Little harbor to check the remodeled Christian Homestead before heading back through the Hole into Buzzards Bay. Did not put the sails up until just off Cleveland's Ledge. Tim trolled all the way but never got a bite. Sunday we had a cookout with horseshoes in the backyard and on Monday he headed back to Florida.
Father's Day Present


Phase 2 of this took place the weekend of Sept 13 when, as part of a father's day present, I received a round trip air plane trip to Delray Beach for a weekend of fishing. Having only been to Florida in the winter, I had no idea how hot and muggy it could be in September. Friday we went to the International Fishing Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale. We saw John Mason's old boss's, (Frank Mather from the Woods Hole Oceanographic), fishing jacket and portrait. Lots of fish models hanging from the ceiling and exhibits to browse. Went out to lunch and went home to get ready for Saturday's fishing adventure. Tim's original plan was to take me fishing on his boat, but he was having problems with the engine. So we ended going on Option C. Option B was a friends boat, but the galley was torn up, Option D was a Head Boat which I am glad we did not use. We went out on the Venture Out II, a Blackfish 29, with Capt. Rex and Mate Jaime. We left the dock at a little after 8am and headed out into the Atlantic. Caught a couple small Skipjack Tuna on the way out. Jaime heard reports that their were Dolphin out around the 600 foot mark so we headed to deep water but found nothing so we headed back towards shore. I thought that it was interesting that all the communication was by cell phone. We would hook up and the phone would start ringing. It would be other mates noting that we had stopped and asking what we were catching and how it was going. Used to be tons of chatter on the VHF radios but now it is all by cell. It's also more private. It was a good thing we were on the bigger boat because it was still lumpy from the Hurricane. It was off the Ritz where we really got into the fish. We had been towing a lure that was held down to about 30 feet with a plane devise on wire line. This was for the illusive Wahoo. That line went off and immediately one of the outrigger lines went off and I was struggling with the wire and Tim was on a Dolphin. We finally got both fish in, mine ended up being the largest for the day. After that it was more Black fish Tuna and more Dolphin. Joe with Tuna

Jaime's laughing because the fish was some slippery and did not want to be held

We had decided to go in around noon but the skipper kept us out until 1pm. Just as we were getting ready to head home both rods went off and Tim & I had fish on. But they wrapped the lines and both broke off. It certainly was the best fishing that I have ever had. 5 Dolphin, 11 Blackfish Tuna, 2 Skipjack Tuna and a couple of undersize Dolphin which wee returned.

Sunday Tim had friends over for a cookout and we smoked a bunch of fish. Altogether a great weekend and I headed back home on Monday. You can check out the fishes we caught in my stuff section. just click on Fishing with Tim will take you to the album.

Friday, August 29

Bound for Flathead Lake

After we left Glacier, we decided not to take The Highway to the Sun back across the park because of the construction delays. So from Babb we headed south on Rt 89 with a plan to drive around the outside of the park. After we left St. Mary we started to climb and we went thru a stretch of road, of about 10 miles where as far as you could see on either side of the road was utter devastation. This was one of the areas hard hit in 2007 by forest fires. Burnt trees everywhere for mile after mile and then we started down towards Kiowa. Open lands, hilly plains, I guess you would call it open range. I had planned to head for Browning , but when we got to Kiowa, we found that Rt 49 was open and because on the map it seemed to be a more direct route to East Glacier we took it. At one point when we were in the park, someone had commented that the 2 most beautiful roads in Montana, or maybe anywhere, were the Highway to the Sun and Rt 12 going over Lolo Pass. He missed the best road of all, because without a doubt Rt 49 from Kiowa to East Glacier has to be the most spectacular. There were no guardrails!! There were signs that said beware of falling rocks and they were correct. Little rocks, huge rocks, strewn over the road and scenery to take your breadth away. I would like to say I stopped and took a lot of pictures, but that's not the case.View from Rt 49

Mountain view from Rt 49


We drove around corners where the ground just fell off completely and we did stop occasionally, but only on the turnoffs that were very wide. We stopped in East Glacier for gas and saw the world's largest purple spoon and then had an uneventful ride to Bigfork, MT to rendezvous with Sean and Nicole for a day on Flathead lake. Woods Bay where we stayed is the home of Flathead Brewing. We went to the brewery and sampled their fare. I liked their Pale Ale the best.Family on Flathead lake

Relaxing on Flathead Lake, at Woods Bay

We did go for a swim in Flathead Lake and the water was some chilly, much more like Maine that the Cape. On Saturday we explored Bigfork, which is sort of like a large Marion. Nice downtown with shops and restaurants, a short walk to the start of the lake, a nice place to visit. We made reservations for dinner at the Showthyme Restaurant and then went for a swim in the lake. Well, Sean went for a swim, and I got wet briefly. We had a great dinner that evening, followed up with a walk under starry skies and Sunday, after Ellen, Nicole and Sean went for a swim at Woods Bay we headed back to Missoula. On Monday Nicole had to work so, Sean, Ellen & I headed for RT 12, and found out that it wasn't one of the most scenic roads in Montana, but at Lolo Pass on the Montana, Idaho border we were able to do the span of time. On Tuesday we headed home after a vacation to remember.Span of time

Reaching into different time Zones

Wednesday, August 27

Farewell to Glacier

This will be the last post on our trip to Glacier. Thursday evening, July 10, 2008, we headed off to Babb for dinner at the steak house, which turned out to be less than memorable. On the way back into the park we noticed a number of cars parked alongside the road and as we slowed to look we saw a pair of Grizzly's playing in the field. We pulled in and watched for about 20 minutes.
2 grizzley's in field
The first Bears we saw-2 Grizzly's playing in a field

We watched them until dusk had really settled in and then headed back to the hotel. When all of a sudden a black mama bear and 3 cubs crossed the road in front of us. I was barely able to stop and get the camera out the window to grab a photo. Missed the mother but got the cubs.
Black Bear cubs
3 Black Bear cubs crossing road

Friday morning we checked out of the hotel and then went on our last adventure in Glacier, for a short hike to Grinnell Lake. First we had to take 2 boat trips, first across Swiftwater lake, (the one in front of our hotel) and then another boat across Lake Josephine. The boat in Lake Josephine is stored in a shed for the winter. In the spring the shed has to be dug out by hand to get the boat ready for the summer season. It originally it was just hauled and covered, but one winter there was an avalanche and when the spring crew came to dig it out, they found it in the middle of the lake sitting on the ice. The hike to the lake was easy, nice trail with some boardwalks over wet areas and one trestle bridge. The trail to Grinnell glacier was closed, so the only glacier we saw was Salamander from a distance. There are some nice photos and descriptions of Salamander and Grinnell glacier at the slow hiker.

Salamander Glacier
Salamander is at the top, Grinnell is below it
and not visible from the lake
The trail to Grinnell Lake crossed a couple of streams, one by a suspension bridge and then thru a wet area on raised planks. We then had a nice walk back to the boats, back to the hotel and headed down to Flathead lake to get together with Sean & Nicole. The suspension bridge although not long was hard to walk across. You had to walk like on a line, because if if you stepped to the side the bridge swayed the opposite direction. We both had a hard time crossing the first time until we figured out what not to do. Coming back was much easier. When I was taking the video of Ellen crossing the bridge, the man standing next to me asked if he should shake the top wire. I said if he did it he was taking his life in his hands. Certainly looks easy but it was hard walking across. So we said good by to Glacier and the Many Glacier hotel and headed South.
Many Glacier Hotel
Many Glacier Hotel on Swiftwater Lake

Wednesday, July 30

Bears & Meeses



The trail to Red Rock Falls Thursday July 10, 2008

Thursday's hike was just a short hike to a nice set of falls with plenty of wildflowers along the way on a relatively flat trail. The falls was 2 miles from the parking lot in Swiftwater with an elevation gain of only 200' . An easy hike after after the 10 mile Iceberg Lake hike. We did the usual breakfast in the canteen, picked up lunch and headed out. The trail started easy but in short order we ran into some returning hikers who said that there was a ranger up ahead and the trail was closed because of bears. We debated what to do and decided that maybe this was our chance to see some bears so we headed on. Ran into another group who told us the same thing and then we came to a trail on our left that ran down to Fishercap Lake. My guidebook said that it was a small lake with minimal views, but being a good redliner ,(no trail left un-walked), we took a chance and headed down.Bull Moose Feeding in Fishercap Lake And lo and behold when we got to the lake there was a bull Moose feeding in the middle of the lake. He was walking along, sticking his head under water and feeding and then coming back up for air. We watched until he got to the other side of the lake. Then we went back to the main trail to the falls. We never ran into the ranger nor did we see any other wildlife on our way to the falls.
View along the trail to Red Rocks FallsWe were up on top of the falls around 1 pm. Ellen took a break and I walked on to see how far the next lake was. I came back and told her that I thought we could make it there in about 15 minutes, but she decided it was time for lunch, so we went back to the the bottom of the falls, for a much better view, and enjoyed the water falling down the rocks. Soon some more hikers joined us and told of their bear sighting just up the trail. A Grizzly and her cub crossed the stream and headed up the mountain. We were beginning to think that we would never see any bears while we were in Glacier. After lunch we headed back, planning on the great dinner we were going to have later , when all of a sudden Ellen screamed "Did you see that moose?", Nope, never saw it, even though it crossed right in front of us and headed down the slope toward the lake. There was a man up in front of us who said that he was practically run over when the moose crossed the trail. So when we came up on the Fishercap trail again, we took it to the lake, passing a white tail doe and her fawn, (no big thing we see them at home all the time). At the lake the cow moose was out in the lake eating the bottom grass just as the bull had been doing that morning. And shortly after that another cow and her calf came out of the bulrushes and into the lake. It was very windy so the calf did not venture into the lake, but mama did. She heard some noisemakers up on the trail and started towards us, perked up her ears, but then moved into feeding.

Fishercap mooseIn our family one moose is a "Moose". 2 or more are "Meese". Like 1 goose is a "goose" and 2 or more are "geese". Over the years we have talked about Meese but this is the first time that we have actually seen them. So on the trail we have seen 2 cow, 1 bull and 1 calf Meese, mountain goats, a black snake, and a coyote. Surprisingly we did not see any hawks or eagles soaring around the peaks. We watched the Meese for a while and then headed back to Swiftwater for some more Huckleberry ice cream and then back to the Many Glacier Hotel for a short nap before dinner.

Monday, July 28

Iceberg Lake Trail

View to Iceberg Lake
Wednesday July 9, 2008.
When we made plans for going to Glacier National Park, one of the the things we really wanted to do was a day hike. There are a lot of very short trails(nature trails) and a lot of very long trails,(backpacking overnights), but not a lot in between. I was looking for a trail with some elevation gain and more than 1 or 2 miles long. In the Many Glacier area the only trail that met the elevation profile was the trail to Iceberg Lake. 1,200' of elevation gain with a one way distance of 4.6 miles. Ellen had never hiked that far before, so she bought a new pair of boots and we started hiking around home before we actually went. Wednesday morning we got up early, had breakfast and bought sandwiches for lunch at the canteen, and headed off to Swiftwater for the beginning of our hike. We had asked at the desk about trail conditions and were told that on Saturday the lake had still been frozen solid, there was snow still on the ground in the vicinity of the lake and there were several other places where we would have to cross snow areas. But the ice bridge that we had read about before we came, had melted and it was safe to now get to the lake. I had picked up a can of bear spray in Missoula and it was at the ready in my pack. Bears, Moose, Mountain Lions, Deer, Mountain goats, Big Horn Sheep are all a big part of being at Glacier. All promotional literature at Glacier has sections that are devoted to what to do if,(when), you encounter a bear on the trail. Bear spray is a last ditch, if all else fails, item, but at least one person in every group we met had a can on their belt or readily accessible, like me, on their pack. The bear spray industry must be really raking in the money at $34. per can. It's only good for 30' and should only be fired downwind, because if it blows back in your face or eyes you'll need to get to a hospital quickly. We never used ours and Sean now has a can for his hikes.The other thing that you should do when you are on the trail is make noise, talking, singing, whistling, yodeling, anything human to make sure that the bears hear you so they can run away. Bears don't like people and want to know when they are in the vicinity. We were told that bear bells do not work. I don't think that the bear bell industry does as well as the bear spray industry, but there were a lot of people with bells on. The bells are a lot cheaper than spray at $8. per bell. . We did not have bells, we talked we sang, Ellen Yoo Hooed a lot. We did not see any bears on our hike to Iceberg.Wildflower Field Wild flowers we did see.We picked a good time to come to Glacier. The wild flowers were in full bloom as this picture shows. The white flowers are Bear grass and the red Fireweed. Both flowers bloom in areas that have had fires. There were many other varieties that we saw as we hiked along.

Ptarmigan Falls was the halfway point in our hike. We had decided that when we got there we would decide whether or not we would go all the way to the lake or call it a day.The first part of the trail is the hardest because you hike up 200' in a very short distance. It wasn't vertical, like some of the trails in NH but it was steep. After that it was a gradual elevation gain to the falls. So we started at at an elevation of 4,960, jumped right up to 5,200 and then a gradual increase over the next 2.5 miles to 5,680 at the falls.Ptarmigan Falls Bridge We were concerned about breathing in the higher altitude , but did not experience any difficulties. Took a break at the falls and decided to keep on going. You can hear the falls, you can sort of see it thru the trees as you approach but there is no where you can stand and look up at it. At least not from the trail. So we headed out and bumped up another 400 feet in about a mile and after that with one large snowfield to cross, down a hill and and the across the snowfield just before the lake, we arrived there at 1:30pm. There were a lot of open stretches of water and it was Coold. We sat on the rocks and had lunch.Ellen at the Lake It certainly was well worth the effort as the views were absolutely spectacular.After lunch and a rest we headed back with a little hike up to the trail. The snowfield going to the lake, judging by the trees, was a least 6-8 feet deep. The trip back to the trail head was uneventful. We did see some mountain goats way up high on one of the mountain faces and heard stories of a Grizzly sow and her cub who passed thru an area we had just crossed. We would see bears before we left Glacier though. After coming off the trail, a little after 5 pm, we treated ourselves to a little huckleberry ice cream.


End of trail

Thursday, July 24

Glacier National Park



We left Sean & Nicole's on Tuesday morning, Picked up the rental car, (Ford Focus), and headed north to Glacier National Park. We drove up alongside the Mission Mountains and then along the east side of Flathead Lake. We checked out the motel in Woods Bay where we were going to meet Sean & Nicole on Friday and continued to head north, passing the Flathead Brewery,Bigfork and onto Hungry Horse and the entrance to the park. The Highway to the Sun road had only just opened the week before we arrived. Montana had a late snow fall and there had been a lot of snow on the roads. The Highway to the Sun crosses the park from the SW to the NE side, sort of diagonally and crosses the continental divide with only one switchback. The drive is spectacular going alongside the mountains and through the valleys. The stone guardrails were being rebuilt in a number of areas, so in places there weren't any and the road had been damaged by avalanches during the winter. As we headed up for the continental divide we were in the lane next to the mountain. There was plenty of roadway on my side of the road, (driver's side), before the valley drop offs, however after we left Logan pass and started down we were on the outside of the road and Ellen had the best view. A Ford Focus will not figure as one of our future cars, as there are no grab handles above the door. There were signs that said we should expect up to a 4 hour delay in crossing the park, but we lucked out and got in on the tail end of a group that had already been waiting. It was one way traffic for a couple of miles.
When we reached Logan Pass on the Continental divide there was still snow on the ground. In fact the trail to a lake that we had wanted to go to was impassable without crampons, which we of course did not bring. From Logan pass we headed to Lake Saint Mary and the end of the road. We then traveled out of the park and drove north to Babb and re-entered the park and headed for our hotel.
The Many Glacier Hotel is located along the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake with panoramic views of Grinnell Point and Mt. Henkel. It was built in 1915 by the Great Northern Rail Road and has 208 rooms.
This view of the hotel was taken from the parking lot. In the 3 days we were here, the daily hike to the parking lot was the hardest climb I had to make. I never made it up in less than 3 stops to catch my breadth. The view from our room looked right out on the lake and the mountains beyond. We were right on the first floor, a short hop to the lobby. With only one uncomfortable chair in our room the lobby, with a huge fireplace and plenty of comfortable seating, turned out to be a great place to read in the evenings. As an aside, it would also be a great place to have a USCGAA reunion!! I can't figure out why they have this absolutely beautiful hotel in the middle of a grand National Park and have mediocre dining. I mean there was really no place else to go. It was the only disappointment in the trip. Our dinner waiter on Tuesday night recommended a restaurant in Babb for a great place for steak. After our long hike on Wednesday we ate in the bar and on Thursday we ate in Babb. On Thursday I was looking forward to a great meal and a nice cold draft. When we arrived at the restaurant we found out that it was on the Blackfeet reservation and because it was the time of their Pow Wow no alcohol was being served. The steaks were only so-so. Sean & Nicole took us to a much better Steak House in Lolo. We had good lunches while we were hiking and breakfasts were from the canteen-coffee and egg Mc'Muffins. A little protein to start off the days hike. There always seemed to be good crowds going to breakfast in the dining room, which we skipped because they only offered a buffet. Lunch's we purchased in the canteen and ate on the trail. We never could figure out what all the people did for dinner. I have decided to split our stay at Glacier into our arrival and our hiking, so this will be the end of this post and the next will cover the hikes.

Saturday, July 5

Rafting on The Blackfoot River

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We arrived in Missoula after 2 uneventful flights from Boston. What a difference traveling on a holiday. No crowds and no lines. We went thru check-in in about 3 minutes. Hardest thing was taking off and putting on our shoes. We were picked up by Sean & Nicole who then took us home and put on a great fourth of July barbecue - ribs, chicken, fresh coleslaw, the works. We played stump in the backyard and watched the Missoula fireworks shows from Mount Jumbo, which is the mountain alongside their house.

Saturday morning, we got up early,(sort of) met up with Elliot,(the Guide) Caitlin, and 2 of their friends, Nick and Madeline, loaded the raft in the back of Elliot's car and the cooler in ours and headed off for the Blackfoot River. The Blackfoot was the river that the movie "A River Run's Through it" took place on. Although I have been told that it wasn't actually used in the movie. We dropped off the raft and Elliot and Nicole took one car down to the take out place, and we started pumping up the raft. Elliot gets the raft from Univ of Montana where he is now a guide for freshmen trips. By the time they got back we had the raft pumped up and our life jackets on and ready to go.
The trip we took was about 11 river miles long with 4 sections of rapids, Ellliot said they were rated 2-3 and the river was moving along at about 4mph. We stopped for lunch just before the Clearwater river and just after we had gotten soaked in the rapids. Lunch was Barbecued ribs, chicken and peanut butter cookies. The whole package of cookies disappeared. We put back in and drifted down the river with one more long set of rapids before we took out at Roundup. It was a great day and lot's of fun.

Sunday we had a quiet day. Sean & I did a short hike up in the Blue Mountain recreation area. Nice views from the top looking back towards Missoula from the West.
If you enlarge the picture and look to Sean's right there is a large brown hill with a white spot in it. That is Mount Jumbo and their house is just below it.

Today was a rest day, work in the garden and Ellen & I are going for a short hike up in the Rattlesnake Recreation Area and then on to Glacier tomorrow. We will be back in touch in a week. Make sure you check out our Blackfoot river rafting adventure in the Link section.

Tuesday, June 24

Quissett Harbor first overnight 2008


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We left Marion on Saturday morning with Neilli aboard for a cruise to Quissett for an overnight and to check out our new inflatable dinghy's performance. It took us 2 hours to cross the bay and find a mooring in the harbor. The boatyard at Quissett would prefer that you pick one of it's moorings rather than anchor because of their underwater grid. The moorings are free during the day and for an overnight they charge $30 in the outer harbor, where we stayed this time, and $40 in the inner harbor. We have always been able to find a mooring the times we have been here. The dinghy towed well with 2 lines on the way over. On the way home I decided to only use the bow line and it worked as well. The two lines are to stop the dinghy from flipping in high winds, but we certainly had strong breezes and waves all the way home on Sunday and there never was an indication that the dinghy was going to turn over. Our hard dinghy weighs about the same and we have never had any trouble towing it with only one line. The picture is of an old USCG 52' Buoy Tender moored in Quissett. Some of you may recognize it as a boat that was once owned by Dick Edwards. It's now owned by the boatyard and he has plans of restoring it. Quissett is a nice overnight for us, easy to get to, usually one tack from Marion, it is quiet, has a nice conservation area walk that goes out to a knob in the bay. We loaded everyone in the dink for a ride up the harbor and to take Nel for a walk. I would like to say that the Seagull engine worked flawlessly but that wasn't the case. I nearly had to row us back but finally got to start. Next year we are going to upgrade the motor.

When we got to the head of the harbor there was a group of well dressed people standing around.We thought that their might be a wedding in the making. We headed out for the knob, and the group shortly followed us. Instead of a wedding it was a baby naming ceremony. The baby , (at least a year old)was in a white dress with a herb garland on her head. There were two people using bodrun drums(traditional Irish drums) and one carrying burning herbs. It was a pagan/druid ceremony we guessed. I got in a little trouble for pulling Ellen off the knob early before the ceremony was completed and it turned out that we had friends out in the harbor who saw us on the knob , heard the drums, saw the smoke, but did not know what was going on. We had a great dinner on board thanks in part to the Marion General Store and on Sunday Omelets and Italian bacon for breakfast before we headed home.

Tuesday, June 10

Group Mail test

This is really just a test to see if the new notification system is up and running. In actuality my posting has been few and far between in the past, but this summer we plan to be hither and yon and now that I am retired??, I shall have more time. The boat is in the water, we are heading to Missoula in early July, NH in Early August, USCGAA reunion late August, and then hopefully some more weekend trips. Hope you all are having a nice day and we will be talking.

Sunday, June 8

Back in the Water

We are in the water. It's tough to tell the difference but we have a new dodger and sailcover. I think it makes the boat look a lot better. The sailcover actually fits this time and is easy to put on. The dodger is about 8 inches lower than the previous one that came with the boat. Both were built by Sperry Sails here in Marion. Ben Sperry built them this past winter and did a really nice job. Ellen can see over it now and the glass is clear so you can actually see out of it. On the old one we always had to open the center portion to see where we were going. Now we have protection and visibility. Norm Methot also built us a new shelf for little stuff that sits under the Depth/Speedo instruments. Looks like it was a part of the original boat and takes care of car keys, cell phone and other small stuff that we want to get out of our pockets. Certainly one of the best additions we have installed. I have also added a davit (removable), for lifting the outboard out of the inflatable, so we will only be towing the inflatable. I am selling the hard dinghy that I put together while still at Edey & Duff. Any one looking for a nice little 8' row boat let me know.

Tuesday, June 3

Loading up and getting ready to head for the water. The boat is all set, engine runs, the sails are on and we are just about ready to go. A few little things to take care of and we should be underway this weekend. Off to a new season. This year we have a new dodger, sail cover and a new Aakron inflatable.(Thought it might have come from Ohio, but actually China via New Zealand) The inflatable came from Florida, saw it with Tim at the Dania flea Market. We will have to get some pictures to send along it is going to be interesting we will be powering it with the old Seagull outboard. Could be my downfall.
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Monday, April 21

I had this old Seagull outboard kicking around the basement for I figure at least 20 years. John Mason had given it to me to put up on the wall with some other relics at Edey & Duff when I worked there. I did not think that a motor fitted in with sailing hardware, so I kept it in the basement. This year I decided that I would try to get it going and sell it, or take it to the dump. I am trying to raise money to buy another short shaft outboard for the new inflatable I am planning on buying this spring. Quite a bit of rust had found its way onto various parts,but after a lot of WD40 I was finally able to remove the sparkplug. I also loosened up all the brackets in the same way. Bought a new plug and gas and this weekend took the engine outside and put it in a tank. Pulled, and pulled, and zip. The owners manual says that you should never have to attempt to start it more than 4 timesor you will end fouling the plug and flooding it. So when I pulled the plug I found it was clean and no burning. Cleaned out the gas line and I was sure I was getting gas into the cylinder but no spark. Went back on line and found a site that suggested spinning the engine with an electric drill for 10 minutes to excite the coil. Also to adjust the points and reset them. Did that and opened the throttle, pulled the cord, and Ta da, it stated on the first pull. So it is pumping water, goes into gear and the prop turns and pushes a lot of water out. Now I have to find a buyer.

Saturday, April 5


It's time to pull in the Triceratops snow measuring device for another year. We did get measurable snow this year but not much. 2 storms each about 6 inches. Spring is here, the weather is actually getting warmer and it is getting time to take the cover off the boat. We will be putting it in the first week of June. The water is still too cold in May to swim or sail and we usually get a bad storm around the middle of the month. I am working for the UPS store for 1 more week while the new owner in in training in San Diego. I will be really done on April 11. Need to find another part time job to generate some extra funds for beer making and travel during retirement. I am also running for a position on the Open Space Acquisition Committee here in Marion. This will be the first town committee that I will actually be elected to. All the others have been appointed positions.

We were in Florida from March 7 to 17 visiting Tim. Sean & Nicole found us a Time Share Unit in Pompano Beach where we stayed for 7 days and spent the other days in Tim's Condo. Did some beaching, geocaching and fishing. Picture above is of Ellen & I at the South Boca Raton Beach Webcam Geocache, communicating with Tim on whether or not our picture had been taken. Had a great time at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Del ray. The weather was beautiful, nice and warm. It was tough to come back home to the cold weather.

When we were geocaching we went to this park where they do cable Water skiing. Really neat. The cable runs in a large oval and the skiers can do jumps. The lake was very shallow because they were able to walk ashore when they fell.