May we present at least anecdotal evidence that summer has indeed arrived with three spectacular days in a row over the holiday weekend. Let’s begin with the most recent and work our way back . . . because who doesn’t like a good fireworks display? Well, the kids and grandson – who are all of an age now where it’s “been there, done that.” For the supervisor and her sister Rita (a/k/a, The Biddies), and I, however, we are all of an age where it’s “how many of these do we have left?” So the three old(er) denizens of Darling Heights Place ventured out in the Moby Obie to enjoy the conclusion of the 4th on the lake at Arrowwood with thousands of our close personal friends. Here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/0/VdrVGLTIceg
[p.s. The voting so far in the “pick the columnist photo” have been for No. 7 from the top, and a split vote between Nos. 23 and 25. Voting has been light allegedly because of the fine holiday weather. Polls remain open until they are closed.]
[The Moby Obie by Grundei.]
Morning excitement on the 4th begins and ends with the Lake Carlos boat parade. This annual event of unknown origin is believed to go back to the time of the Vikings – hence, the popularity in the area of the “Johnson” outboard motor. Anyway, it’s an opportunity for we usually stolid Scandinavians to blow off a little steam before we go out later that night to . . . blow off a little steam. For this trip, we were joined by grandson who was coerced by an offer that he could drive the boat.
The video: http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/1/UfgjN_H7Us8
[Above: Neighbor “Dangerous” Dan’s family prepping their boat; kayakers were everywhere over the weekend; family traversing down to the Moby; neighbor Jo & Arnie’s pontoon ready; Tom cooling it till he takes the con; the channel from the Lake Carlos side.]
[More from parade assembling on Lake Carlos. The blog is behind schedule because of golf and family here, but family afar is demanding updates!]
[The shoreline attack squad masses – water cannons and water baloons are the weapons of choice.]
[The Vikings . . . or some “horny” guys.]
[Our next-door neighbors, the Lees.]
[Blog contributor, Al Grundei.]
[We motored past the Trumm compound . . .]
[ . . . then on past the Donley’s.]
[We passed the 43rd POTUS – it appears Jenna and Barbara were onboard.]
[Then the skipper pointed the Moby north – to the end of the lake and Carlos State Park, about an 8-mile boat ride from the Moby’s home port.]
[The other next-door neighbors, the Nelsons.]
[Moby at full throttle.]
[Carlos State Park was closed, of course. The State of Minnesota is closed. Still, these are not the signs one wants to see when you have have been on the boat for two hours. But we had lunch there – and there was walk-in use of the beach.]
[Looking south from the park.]
[The Moby and The Biddies beached.]
[When we returned from the wilds of northern Lake Carlos, The Biddies immediately commenced to chop. It’s what they do in lieu of therapy.]
Upon return from Lake Carlos, the Moby was parked thusly because – it is now time for another episode of . . . Mr. Maintenance! The light at the top of the canopy had broken loose from its moorings a couple years ago – again, another design flaw that was expected to stay attached with metal screws only (rather than bolts and nuts). By leaving the Moby at the end of the dock, handyman son-in-law and grandson could get at it for the fix prior to going out for the fireworks at night. The local constabulary frowns upon the idea of being out on the lake at night without such light prominently displayed and lit! Well, the Moby sat there all afternoon bouncing in the waves and wakes. When we went down at dusk, such lurching had pulled the dock post loose from the dock – it was dangling in the water attached to the mooring line. Rather than trying to figure it out in the relative darkness, we just laid the post on the dock behind the bench and went out to enjoy the fireworks. We when got back it was dark, of course, and when I stepped out of the Moby onto the dock I accidentally kicked the unseen dock post into the water. The supervisor spent a restless night worrying about the dock post.
Arising at oh-dark-thirty the next morning, as I usual do, I awaited the dawn’s early light for the attempted rescue. Hoping to not have venture into chest deep water, I went to the outside tool storage closet for a rake. The storage closet is one of those plastic put knob A into slot B configurations that seems perpetually on the verge of total collapse. The supervisor had joined me by now to . . . supervise. When I opened the closet to retrieve the rake, it’s removal caused me to accidentally lift the top of the closet thus causing the door to fall off. Another dismal project! Anyway, we went down to the dock – the rake worked as a retrieval device, and I was able to re-install the dock post in surprisingly minimal time.
[The Moby Obie’s maiden voyage of the year, July 3rd (remember, we’re working our way back in time), after being “installed” in April!]
[Jami netted a “16-ouncer.” We try to be green.]
[The grandson piloted us around beautiful Lake Darling. The Biddies went for a swim – and both subsequently got a smidgeon of lake itch.]
[The supervisor and I led the celebration of the Moby’s seasonal debut.]
Saturday, the 2nd, was the first day of the beautiful weekend. Danny was already here – Rita, Jami, and Tommy would be arriving from Indiana later that day. Early on Danny gave a shout out that there were two baby raccoons by the back door. We went out – got some photos and a video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/2/1xjn9f3Q-Rs
We later learned that “Dangerous” Dan captured them and will try to rehabilitate them (actually, they appear to be orphaned, and Dan needs to raise them until they can take of themselves before he releases them).
Before the late arrivals, Danny and I went over to hockey fest for a while – nothing like a little July hockey to bring one in out of the heat. Alex high school boys were playing for the orange team – they lost in a shoot-out:
[Danny . . . waiting on some “friends.” When they arrived, we all sat outside and witnessed the first really boat day of the season.]
Lake Darling: http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/3/jrFQ8HJb0B4
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