Log 11; Day 37; June 27, 2008; Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL

Log 11 Day 37

Friday, June 27, 2008

1:00 PM CDT

Location: Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL.

Weather: 82* hot and muggy...storms predicted

Here are a few words from Debbie...

Hey all you Landlubbers! Debbie here...just putting in my 2 cents. It’s raining right now and Bob has spent the morning watching the weather channel (with the sound down), tracking the storm cells on his computer, checking Looper blogs, and listening to channel 128 on Sirius (the NASCAR station)...……I’ve been reading. About 15 minutes ago, he decided since it was raining, it would be a good time to drive to Seneca to pick up some bilge cleaner and other misc. boating stuff and then maybe swing by to pick up the boat trailer that he had dropped off last week for repairs................I think I’ll read.

In Bob’s latest log (doesn’t he do a great job on those?) he covered a lot of events in his short note. We are indeed happy in retirement. There certainly is a lot of cleaning and organizing to do and there have been a few repairs that Bob is great about taking care of right away. But there's always cleaning and organizing at a house too...for some reason, on a boat is WAY more fun! And it's been great to spend this time in Ottawa (my home town) and visit with my family and our friends without having to watch the clock anticipating the long drive home. The Whaler has been a great bonus to our time here and Bob really did go fishing! He got a license and everything! And taking Zack out was a lot of fun for both of them. Watching them putt-putt out of the harbor I could just imagine the conversations they must be having. “Grandpa…do you think we’ll catch any fish?” “Well Zack…the thing about fishing is…” (Just like Barney Fife!)

Here are Bob and Zac heading off fishing

We had a great time at our nephew’s wedding…those guys sure know how to throw a party! It was good to get to the house in Chillicothe and make sure everything was in order (the roof didn't leak and the plumbing didn't burst). And as BK said, we were able to do a little work around the house. Oh yeah...about that outside yard work Bob mentioned...here's how it actually went.

When we got to the house, we found a lot of wasps inside and determined that they were coming in around the window air conditioner in the dining room. Bob decided to remove the unit, found an annoyingly large bush at the window, decided it needed to be cut back and “while I’m at it” he also figured he’d pull out some other annoying bushes (to make it easier to mow around), trim some shrubs, hit all the borders with the weed whacker and then spray the heck out of anything green that may have escaped the whacking (to make it easier to mow). He walked down to bro-in-law Terry’s house to borrow some clippers, spotted a Kubota tractor with a scoop, his eyes lit up and he asked Terry, "So how long are you going to have that tractor?”
Bottom line: He borrowed the tractor and pulled out those bushes, hauled out a bunch of limestone rocks and dumped them at the back of the house, then leveled out the place where the stones were. With the help of 2 bros-in-law, Terry & Les, (and with the tractor) he pulled down an old redbud tree and hauled it to the beach for burning later. This took multiple trips and the only path to the beach for the tractor was the road. So picture this…two guys stopping holding traffic back and one guy on a tractor dragging a tree down the middle of the road! Ah-h…life in a small town! Well – the lawn will definitely be easier to mow now!

Bob thinks he needs one of these!

Only in a small town can you get away with this.

Okay – the skies are clearing…I’d better get going. There might be a Whaler ride in my future and I need to get my gear ready.............I think I’ll bring my book.
I’ll chime in again soon. Hope all’s well with you and yours!-----

DK

Log 10; Day 36; June 26, 2008; Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL

Zac fishing with me and a friend (John Mobely) on a small lake on the Illinois River Another fishing shot...
Log 10
Day 36
Thursday, June 26, 2008

12:00 PM CDT
Location: Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL.
Weather: 87* hot and sunny...storms predicted for this evening

I hope this note finds everyone as happy as we are. Hard to believe it’s been 36 days since we got on the boat. On one hand it seems much longer...and another seems like yesterday (does that make any sense to anyone but me?)

What we’ve been doing...Fishing with grandson Zac was great. We didn’t catch many fish (only 3) but enjoyed our time together. After he left last week (on Thursday), we packed up and headed to our home in Chillicothe, IL. Debbie’s sister’s son (Andy Ruhland) got married and we wanted to be there for that. We also took the time to do a lot of work around the house. Mostly outside yard work so the neighbors didn’t turn us in to the authorities. We came back to the boat on Tuesday (June 24) and have been doing chores since then. There is always something to clean or fix. It’s not as if we do this 8 hours a day, but it does seem to be a constant effort...but we are not complaining, we love it. I also finally went to the doctor (local medical clinic) to have them look at my thumb. Before we got on the boat I had a cut on my thumb that somehow got infected, and it has not healed yet...so the doctor said I need a dose of penicillin. It’s been a couple of days now...and it seems to be getting better.

The boat...everything is working perfectly (although I have not started it since we got to Ottawa 25 days ago). As I said, I clean everyday to keep up with things and it has never looked better. I even waxed a couple of places to stay ahead of that chore. The Whaler is working great as well, and is a joy to jump in and head out on the river. It is parked right behind Headquarters, so it could not be better.

The cruising life...we have absolutely no complaints, and are actually kind of “giddy” about our life at this point. Not sure, we are in any type of routine yet, and maybe will not be for some time. I have a long list of things I am doing to the boat while we’re here and enjoy doing each of them (someone asked me...is this a written list?...absolutely...updated daily). I miss moving the boat often...but that will come soon enough. The thing we have not really done yet is get into a relaxing mode. I thought we’d read more and lay around more. Has not happened yet.

The weather...it’s been pretty good. You learn very quickly that when you live on a boat weather is much more important. In a home it can be a distraction...on a boat it can be a big issue. Many storms (the ones that have caused such a mess with the Mississippi River), but they have seemed to go around us most of the time. Last night we had another one about 3:30 am. I got up and got on the computer to check the radar, and it was a nasty storm but went south of us. We only got a little wind and some rain. As I write this there is a line of storms coming across Iowa, heading our way. Could be an interesting evening.

What’s coming up...tonight we are going out to dinner with the owner of Heritage Harbor (the marina we are staying in) and another couple from the Ottawa area we know well. I’m looking forward to hearing the stories of what the plans are for this place. The potential is unbelievable...but the timing (economy) is tough. Next week I’m going to see my Mom (about 1 hour from here) and start to get the Whaler ready for our trip to Kentucky Lake where we will meet our daughter and her family for a week on a houseboat. We’ll trailer the Whaler down and pull it behind the houseboat so we can have it to run around in. Some folks would say we were crazy. We live on a boat and when we take a vacation, we go and rent a houseboat. Boating...we have it bad.

When are we leaving here...I don’t want to leave too early because the southern heat can be tough, and also we have to monitor the Mississippi River to see when that gets back to normal. Most places (along the Mississippi) have crested now or in the next few days. 1993 was the worst flood in history in that area and most of the area did not get water that high...but within 6 to 8 feet of a record. I just hope they don’t get too much more rain for a while.

I'll keep you posted.

BK.