THE POT LUCK DINNER IS COMING UP ON SATURDAY

This weekend is our "Deep Fried Turkey Pot Luck Dinner".  Is everyone signed up?   Please check with everyone around your dock to make sure they know about it and have signed up.  We wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.  If you find someone that still wants to sign up, send then to Linda on Thunderbird. 

I've never had Deep Fried Turkey, so I'm really looking forward to it. 

See you all at the Gazebo Saturday at 7:00 PM

 

And this weekend I guess we should all start stringing the lights on our boats for next weekends Light Parade.  It's best to test them out this weekend in case something doesn't work you still have time to fix things.   

 

 

 

MORE FUN WEEKENDS COMING UP. 

 

 

 



MY DOG'S "BATHING SUIT"

It all started when we discovered our dog loves to swim.  Sea-Enna is a Golden Retriever and the first couple of summers she seemed to fear the water. 

We could understand that in her first summer as she was only 8 weeks old, but in her second summer when she was just over 1 year, we began to wonder is we had some kind of dud retriever. 

Well, in her third summer, when she was just over 2 years old.  My daughter visited us with her Labrador retriever Daisy, who followed my daughter into the water without hesitation and Sea-Enna followed along without a thought, and she loved it.  All she needed was someone to show her what to do. 

So, now we had a problem.  We live in a harbour.  We live on a boat.  And we certainly did not want to have to live with a constantly wet dog.  The first time we let her swim off of the boat, we also discovered it was difficult to get her back up onto the swim platform.  Even at 2 years old she was over 55 pounds. 

Her "Bathing Suit" became the solution to both problems.  It is a large strong dog harness that has a good strong strap across her back and under her belly, so that when she swims up to the boat Dan can heft her back up onto the swim platform. 

We have been very consistent in never, never, never letting her go in the water without that harness on. 

Even if we are going swimming at a beach, she must have her "Bathing Suit"  on.  Not that she NEEDS to have it on then, but it makes her associate it with being allowed to go in the water. 

That consistency means she never goes near the water around the harbour.  No jumping off docks, wading into the mud or reeds, nor do we have to fear her jumping off of the boat without permission.  It also means when we get out her "Bathing Suit"  she gets very excited and can hardly contain her excitement. 

If we pull out her "Bathing Suit" while we are in port she runs to the truck the minute she gets it on, because she knows she is going to the beach. 

Or if we stop on a cruise and get out her "Bathing Suit" she knows she gets to swim off of the boat.  It works great. 



All in all the "Bathing Suit" harness and consistency, have been a wonderful solution to what could have been a BIG problem for us. 

SEA-ENNA LOVES TO SWIM

 

 

 

 



LAKE WINNIPEG - OUR CRUISING GROUNDS

According to Blogger Statistics supplied to me, I have many readers that are not from the area so, for the non local readers, Wikipedia states, Lake Winnipeg is a large, 24,514-square-kilometre (9,465 sq mi) lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of the city of Winnipeg.

It is part of the most undeveloped large watershed of southern Canada.
Lake Winnipeg is the sixth-largest freshwater lake in Canada, but it is relatively shallow (mean depth of 12 m (39 ft)) excluding a narrow 36 m (118 ft) deep channel between the northern and southern basins. It is the eleventh-largest freshwater lake on Earth.

The east side of the lake has pristine boreal forests and rivers that are being promoted as a potential United Nations World Heritage Park. The lake is elongated in shape and is 416 km (258 mi) from north to south, with remote sandy beaches, large limestone cliffs, and many bat caves in some areas. The Manitoba Hydro Electric Co. uses the lake as one of the largest reservoirs in the world. There are many islands in the lake, most of them undeveloped.

THIS IS WHERE WE SPEND OUR TIME IN THE SUMMER

 

 

 

 



AH...... SUNDAY

I love Sundays.  The hustle and bustle of the weekend continues for most of the day, but come supper time things take a gradual turn.      . 

Today started off with another re-naming ceremony.  This time for Derek Debets.  Many of us turned out to celebrate this occasion with him.  Most of us put on silly nautical hats supplied by Boyd and Gayle.   

 

 

 

Derek (with the help of his Dad) has made many changes to the vessel previously know as "Margaret" and is today re-naming her "Double D's".   

 

 

The Captain ceremoniously discarded the previous name, into the Seas. 

 

 

And everyone in attendance toasted the new name from shore. 

 

 

 

"Here's to Double D's"

 

Some champagne was poured for luck and a lot more was drunk in celebration of this occasion. 

 

 

 

 

and a good time was had by all. 

 

The party then moved onto the island where there was wonderful food and more good times. 

 

Then as usual come Sunday afternoon, things started to wind down and the normal Sunday evening hush falls over the beach as everyone prepares and resigns themselves to getting back to their weekly routines. 

 

IT'S GREAT TO BE RETIRED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER WONDERFUL WEEKEND (CRUISE)

It was such a wonderful day on Saturday that we decided to go out for an afternoon cruise. 

 

 

 

We followed Kevaghn's Tiki Lounge out of the harbour. 

 

There were a lot of boats out enjoying the day. 

It certainly was the perfect day for boating. 

 

 

I went for a swim and Ken went for a swim, and of course Sea-Enna went for a swim. 



In fact we find it difficult to keep her out of the water once she has her "Bathing Suit" on. 

So after a couple of hours of bobbing around out there, it was time to return to harbour. 

And judging by the empty docks we passed on our way in, there were a lot of boats still out there. 

 

 

 

 

 

IT WAS AN EXCELLENT DAY TO OWN A BOAT

 

TGIF

Things have been so boring this week I'm really looking forward to the weekend.   


We have another boat ready to have a renaming ceremony. After all the improvements and work done on her, the boat previously known as "Margaret" is being renamed.  Join us on Sunday at 1:00 pm. In the inner harbour at the empty dock between "Misprint" and "Thunderbird". Everyone is invited to attend and join Derek in this symbolic ceremony . 
 


I will be coming around to get some more volunteers for our upcoming Deep Fried Turkey Pot Luck Dinner to be held  July 20th at 7:00 pm.  in and around the Gazebo. 

We have an abundance of Desserts promised.  We need some more Appetizers, more Salads and a few Vegetable dishes.  I don't know why people are reluctant to do vegetables?  Open a couple of bags of frozen vegetables, dump them in a casserole dish or bowl with a gob of butter and nuke them for 10 min.  and your done.  Easy Peezy.  

There were so many boaters not here last weekend, that I didn't catch up with many of you.  Hopefully we will all be here this weekend.    







The next event coming up after that is,The Light Parade, on July 27th.  We will go out to watch the Boardwalk Days Fire Works display then, do our light parade down the beach right after.  This years theme is Caribbean, Carnival, Reggae Music, etc.   I'm really looking forward to that.  It should be lots of fun.  I love that kind of music.   

 

 

 

 

COME JOIN THE FUN

 

 

 

 

 



DIY: MY TWO UPHOLSTERED SALON CHAIRS

There is quite a story behind the two upholstered chairs I have in my Salon.  Ever since we started the refit on Thunderbird, I had been looking for two chairs that would suit the Salon area.  I had fashioned a little game table with a chess board on top and I needed a couple of chairs to use with it.  Everything I looked at was always too large.  Then I finally came across a pattern to make fitted covers for plastic lawn chairs.  I tried a lawn chair and it was the right size so I purchased the pattern and some fabric that would go well with the Salon Couch.  I would make those covers as soon as we finished the new floors.  So, that was settled. 

Then low, and behold, one day I walked into the hangar and sitting in the kitchen were two small upholstered chairs.  I asked "What are these?"  and someone said "Oh, those are Scotties old chairs." Now there is a tradition in the storage hangar that if there is something you are disposing of, you "Donate it" to the galley and see if someone else wants it.  If nobody wants it, it eventually gets used in the galley or thrown out.  That's where a lot of the galley supplies came from.  When I redid my Condo kitchen, I even donated a a section of cabinets and countertop.  But, I digress. 

These chairs just sitting there and up for grabs were a perfect size.  There wasn't a break in the leather and the leather colour matched the accent colour in my Salon Couch.  The woodwork was a little the worse for wear, all dark wood who's finish was cracked and peeling, but that could  be dealt with, so I grabbed them.  I took them on board and found that they fit nicely, so I got busy.  Took the back and seats off and went to work on the wood.  I sanded and sanded and sanded, right down to raw wood.  Then I put a light stain on them to match my interior, then three coats of Spar varnish with sanding in between.  After three weekends they looked great sitting in my Salon.  I was so pleased,  I chucked the lawn chairs and gave away the fabric that I was going to use to pad and cover them. 

Then one day Bill Chatterly and I were sitting in the galley chatting and he asked me if I had heard what happened.  I asked "What?" and he proceeded to tell me that "Bill Phillip (Better known as Scottie) had his chairs stolen right out of the galley." Again I said "What?"  He said, "Yeah, he put his chairs from his back deck in the galley here, while he laid new carpets down on his deck and someone stole them on him."   Needless to say my heart was up in my throat and my stomach did a flip flop.  I felt sick. 

I went back to my boat and stared at my beloved chairs and thought about what I had done, and what I had to do next.  I don't lie and I don't steal, so I somehow had to fix this. 

Maybe I could offer to buy them?  If he wanted them back maybe he wouldn't like how I had stained them?  Maybe he didn't really want them anymore?  Maybe he had already bought replacements?  I knew for sure I had to go and apologize to him for stealing his chairs and offer to make whatever amends he wanted. 

So, I climbed the ladder up to his boat and asked permission to come aboard.  I was welcomed aboard and as I gave him  my description of what had happened, and started into my apology, the two Bills (Phillip and Chatterly) could no longer contain their laughter.  What started out as snickers, turned into roars of laughter, before I realized I'D BEEN HAD. 

It seems they knew I had refinished the chairs and had concocted this story to get a rise out of me.  I wasn't the least bit embarrassed or angry at their prank.  I was just happy that I got to keep my prized Salon chairs.  And lets face it. 

THEY GOT ME GOOD