Boing! That's my sound of a spring - Boing! Yes, like the song goes - 'It's beginning to seem a lot like Spring Time . .' Forget about the -20 degrees from this morning and let's focus on the fact that it's already only next weekend that we set the clocks ahead an hour! That means we''ll be having daylight at 7:30. Great. AND, it's only another 2 weeks until the fish huts have to be off the lake. . . PLUS, tick-tock, tick-tock, Spring officially arrives in just THREE SHORT WEEKS :-)
As it's been for me all winter, there is yet so much to do in a short time. I'm happy to report that I was able to get the impellers checked in Boogaboo's drives and I should have them all painted and lubed up by tomorrow. I also changed the impeller in the outboard and gave everything a good once over.
Speaking of the outboard, A.G. & I headed up to West Marine in Barrie today for some bottom coat paint and a few incidentals, as I had a couple of $15 off coupons from the Boat Show that were to expire after today and were burning a hole in my pocket. Sooooooo, whilst up in the 'hood, we also dropped into Sandy Cove Marine & picked up some funky stickers to adorn the otherwise barren cowl and make it look spiffy :-) Oh! And after a significant amount of negotiating (read: hassling the sales guy into submission), I was able to secure a really bright floaty thing to use as a marker for our stern anchor.
Alas, as usual, I digress. . . . Back to the time passing quickly thing. The next item on the 'Gotta Get It Done Before The Ice Is Gone' agenda; I'm jumping head first into a complete bellows/gimbal bearing replacement project on both outdrives. That also involved a quick shopping stop at Princess Auto on the way home.
Finally, there's a couple of lumber related projects to do for one of our recently relocated Dock Crocs. That's the easy part. Hopefully the weather cooperates for all of the above.
Now, on to the question of the day, brought to us by the crew of Free Bird; How long until relaunch, and do any of us have a clue. Well, I can offer you the following bit of insight on both questions. First, if last year was any indication, we should be floating by the first weekend in May. See the following photos;
Fear not, my friends - this soggy, damp, wet, cold shot from last May will in no way reflect the hot, sunny, clear, beautiful conditions we are sure to be experiencing during this upcoming season;
Fear not, my friends - this dark, sad, wet, cold shot from last May will in no way reflect the partially sunken Sea Ray experienced on that first weekend.
Ok, back to the Springtime thing quickly. The photo at the top of this post and the next one down were both taken on April 20th, 2008. That was the first BBQ we had at the Cottage for the season. I mean check it out - the boats weren't even in the water yet and Anchor Girl is grabbing the condiments and utensils off the boat! How cool is that?!?!
Now, on to this year. While the rest of you have spent the last couple of weeks recovering from Frankie's Follies, A.G. & I have been busily and actively planing our summer holiday destinations. I gotta tell you, last year's trek was certainly a huge inspiration and we are so looking forward to this year's adventures!! Problem is that we have already picked out probably more places we'd like to get to than time will allow, but we do have a couple of 'must see' places. Most involve spending a lot of days & nights on the hook, allot of distance covered with the dinghy - one spot not even charted and one place clear off the charts!! Maybe even a bear or two. WOW! Hoo-Ha!! Can't wait!!!!!!
I have some more videos to further whet your appetites for the quickly approaching season. I just want to give you some viewing tips for these and subsequent video posts. As you are already aware, I use YouTube to host the clips, as they offer a high quality available experience. I've been messing with the codes in an attempt to present the High Quality option to all of our viewers, but it seems that for some folks this doesn't work on their computers. Me dunno why. So, I'm just going to embed the clips the way YouTube wants, but you can still watch in High Quality! Simply click on the little box at the bottom right of the video frame when the videos start and click on the 'HQ' button that pops up. Believe me, it's actually quite simpler that the long winded explanation . . .
Is it just me, or does it seem that sometimes I talk too much?? Maybe it is just that I say too much. . . .
This first video is actually the second part of a clip I posted here a few weeks back of a float plane leaving Henry's Fish Restaurant. This video is an edit of a few clips I put together and it runs just over six minutes. Over six minutes! Remember those days, Graham? Back to the long winded description of the video. Not only will you see that old DeHavilland Beaver taking off and flying overhead, but also THREE other planes taking off together. Or at least, trying. You see, the water runway cuts right through and across the main Small Craft Route, so you'll see a couple of the planes having to turn aside to allow the boat traffic to pass. One more of the hazards one encounters boating on the Bay ;-) [Remember to click the HQ button]