THOUGHTS ON BATHING IN THE LAKE

Sea-Enna and I went for a swim tonight.  My favorite thing to do.  I love to swim before bed it cools me right down and I sleep so well afterwards. 

I think it all goes back to when I was a kid.  We had a cottage at Grand Beach and went out to the cottage the day that school ended and did not return to the city until we had to go back to school. 

During that time we would have breakfast, then pack a snack and head down to the main "Front Beach".  We would spend the entire day in and out of the lake until it was time to go home for supper.  (No worry about sun screen or hats in those days.)  After supper we would go down to the "Back Beach" (very rocky, but very close to the cottage)  for a final swim before bed.  So, for me it's kind of a nostalgic thing. 

Now that I give it some thought, we had no indoor plumbing in those days, just an outhouse.  We got our drinking water from the pump at the bottom of the hill and the water for our dishes and laundry came from the rain barrel.  We had no shower and no bathtub.  I don't ever remember having a bath at the beach.  The whole time, through July and August you swam in the lake and if you wanted to wash your hair, you took the shampoo with you when you went for your evening swim, and that probably only occurred on Thursday nights before the weekend.  There was a wash basin that you could take into a bedroom if you felt the need, which I never did until I got to be a teenager. 

I guess that's the reason I have never been all that concerned about not having a shower on our boat.  I can swim, bathe and wash my hair in the lake until the weather makes it prohibitive, then I do have hot a cold running water on the boat, so I can have a sponge bath.  Like my auntie Toni defined it, "A sponge bath is when you wash down as far as possible, then you wash up as far as possible, then you wash "Possible", when you get home." 

A CRUISE TO THE EAST SIDE OF THE LAKE

We set off in the morning for a cruise to the far side of the lake. 

It was around 10:00 am as we left the harbour and the west shore started to disappear off our back deck. 

Our boat has 10 mph top speed so, we left early and Sharon and Casey said they would catch up with us later. 

When we were about half way across the lake, there comes Sharon and Casey right on schedule.  She had given me the co-ordinates earlier, so we took pictures of each other as they passed us and said we will meet you later at 50'47.37 N     96'31.39 W    and they carried on to get anchored. 

As we rounded the last large point on Elk Island there was Loafhaven, at anchor waiting for us.  Sharon's enthusiasm for this spot was absolutely contagious, so we had to see it.   

We hooked up the re Boarding ladder we made for Sea-Enna, as this is the first time we have been out of the harbour since we finished building it. 

Sea-Enna took one look at it, barked and would not go near it again.  We are obviously going to have to work on this.       But, not today. 

Casey and Sharon climbed the huge sand hill that backs this beach.  They challenged Dan & I to do it, but we declined.    I did give Sharon my camera when she climbed up again and she got some great pictures for me. 

The is one I took of "The Bird", at anchor. 

We all relaxed on the Beach.  Even Sea-Enna relaxed and enjoyed the swimming and chasing her floater. 

Here is Sharon and Casey with Loafhaven in the back ground. 

Then Sharon climbed that big hill and took these great pictures. 

This time Sea-Enna followed her all the way up,  We never would have gotten all of these great shots of our dog and our boat  from such a great perspective. 

I think Sea-Enna liked the perspective too. 

She also loved the in and out of the water at her leisure.  

It was a wonderful day of Sun, Surf and Cruising.  Sharon's descriptions were not overstated.  Beautiful sand beach, no sand flies, the water was lovely an clean and no horse flies either.  We relaxed and had drinks and snacks on the beach,  all in all it was ideal. 

But as 4:00pm approached we know it was time to call it a day and head back across the lake.  It took us 3 hours to get here, there is no short cut to get home.  So we upped anchor and headed west. 

It was so calm and sunny on the lake you could hardly tell where the sky ended and the lake began.  As Elk Island disappeared in our wake. 

So with an hour under our belts and 2 more hours of travel to go, Dan started the new Bar-B-Q for me and I put a roast on to cook as we crossed the lake.    

Then I took over the helm so Dan could stow the anchor. 

When it's clear but has that sun haze out on the lake, you really have to rely on your instruments. And of course just like happened to Sharon & Casey last weekend, our GPS went out in the middle of the lake.  We do have a good compass though so we just carried on and in about 20 minutes it came back on.  But it's eerie when you can't see the normal things that tell you where you are, like the familiar shoreline etc.  But when the GPS came back on there we were right on course. 

Then our familiar landmark came into view right on cue. 

It's that little stick, sticking up on this horizon picture. 

The good old Winnipeg Beach water tower,  familiar to all us boaters.  It's what we head for from anywhere on the lake.  It means home to us. 

So, that was our wonderful day on the lake.  The only full day we have had on the lake this year.  But then again we were rather distracted early in the summer, with our out of town guests, and Anniversary Party.  We are still thinking about a fall cruise on the Red River, but haven't made up our minds yet. 

HANGING AROUND THE HARBOUR

It's kind of a dull day, here in the harbour.
In the sense that it is rather boring.   It clouds over, then the sun comes out again, then it clouds over again.  We had a little rain this morning, but that seems to be all well passed us now. 


It's also still a little breezy, I'm hoping it is going to calm right down so I can go swimming. 

We are docked in the inner harbour, so I cannot see the lake conditions from here. 

So, here I sit watching the flags fluttering and trying to interpret what conditions on the lake, that each flutter indicates. 

If it's a little choppy, we could go for a cruise, but to swim off of the boat, I like it nice and calm. 

We would also like to test out our newly conceived and built "Doggie Re boarding Ladder", for Sea-Enna. 

So, we will wait for the calm. 

HIGH WINDS IN THE HARBOUR

We had some really high winds here over the last couple of days, which did some damage in the harbour. 







One of the docks broke loose with two boats attached.  That houseboat really catches the wind. 

They ended up against the shore.  It's a good thing it was a north wind that pushed them against the shore.  

If it had been a west wind they might have crashed into other boats and sailed right out of the harbour.

Like the ramps did.  A lot of the outer harbour have no ramps as they have sailed away. 

Some of them almost right out to sea. 

 Dean arrived, this morning and got some volunteers to help pull everything back into shape. 

A NICE WEEKEND

We had a very pleasant weekend.  We didn't go very far, just out of the harbour, on Saturday evening, to take my Son-in-law and Grandson fishing.  Blake is kinda stuck high and dry and out of the water, as he just got a very large tattoo on his leg and can't take the risk of an infection for a few more weeks.  So, fishing was the choice for him and his dad for this weekend. 

Rochelle and I, on the other hand, preferred to go swimming.  Sea-Enna did too.  The water was lovely.  It always is at this time of the year, after all that heat in July.  There's nothing I enjoy more than an evening swim, before bedtime. 

 

Murray and Blake didn't have much luck with their fishing, all they caught were a couple of snags. 

Misty didn't have much luck either, she fell in the water just after this picture was taken.  It's a good thing I put the life jacket on her when she insisted on walking around the walk around.  She slipped on the wet walk around and fell on her side on the swim platform and when she wiggled around to right herself, she rolled right off the swim platform into the lake.  She doesn't really need the life jacket for swimming, because she can swim just fine, but the padding protected her when she hit the swim platform and the jacket gave us a handle to grab her with and swoop her up out of the water a little surprised and a lot wet.  .  She quickly shook it off (all over my hardwood floors) and went on her merry way. 

So the guys were done with fishing and we had had our swim, so we headed on back into the harbour.  No matter how much fishing tackle you have there's never a guarantee of a catch, but hey, "That's Fishing" for you. 

I can't believe we are well into August already.  The summer is just speeding by.  For me, I look forward to it so much, and it just never seems long enough. 

CRUISING

Since the storm did all the damage to the trees in Winnipeg Beach, it also knocked out our Internet relay to the inner harbour. We could only get reception if we went up and sat on the deck next to the club house. So, all I did during this past week was check "The Essentials", my Facebook and emails.

During this past week we went out on a couple of cruises.  We enjoyed the sunshine when it appeared, which was occasionally.  And we swam off of the boat, which is my favorite past time.  

It was all very relaxing after all the hectic activity we had leading up to our Anniversary Party. 

I even tried to get creative with my camera and took a picture of myself reflected in our front hatch air vent, like my niece Lisa did when she was here. 

And a picture of "Captain Dan", through the windshield.  I think I should have cleaned the windshield first.  Oh Well, some of that is cloud reflections, not dirt. 







On one of our cruises, we cruised to Gimli.










We stopped in for a drink and a little visit with Linda and Wayne Engstrom of "Ludacryst".  That's the large boat in this picture. 

Then we putted on back to Winnipeg Beach and our home port of Boundary Creek Yacht Club. 

So That's the latest update of what we have been up to since the Internet went out.  From us aboard "The Thunderbird". 

STORM DAMAGE IN WINNIPEG BEACH

This one is straight up from our boat

This is in the treed area of the marina

These are some pictures of some of the damage here at the beach from last nights storm. It was mostly trees down. Bob Inkster's dock was damaged a little, but no boat damage at all.  I hope everyone is really careful when clearing up so no one get hurt.   

More in the wooded area

This was sawed up from someones yard

This one was on a car until they got the car out

Beach area, more trees down

More trees down, Downtown

This one was across the road into the campground

Other campground damage

Lots of damage but no one hurt.