My Dad's New Boat - Part 2

Click here if you missed Part 1 of My Dad's New Boat.

Mom and Dad's Cabin

We needed to take the boat out of water in order to install the new propeller that was personally delivered by the boat sales guy. That's pretty impressive service when a sales guy personally delivers a part! Mom and I thought we could handle driving the boat about a mile across the lake, so Dad took the truck and trailer to meet us at the ramp. Dad had given Mom a quick driving lesson on the new boat. We got it off the lift and pointed toward the ramp. We knew something was wrong right away because the nose of the boat went right up in the air. We stopped and tried again. I got in the nose of the boat to try to weigh it down. It was scary up there! Almost everyone was out on their docks because it was the 4^thof July weekend. We were obviously having trouble, and there was nowhere for us to hide. Mom said we needed to get it up to 20 miles per hour, and it would level out. I was still up (literally) in the nose of the boat with the whole lake watching. We got it up to about 18 miles per hour, but I yelled to stop because I seriously thought we were going to flip over backwards. I bet we were moving along at about a forty degree angle.

We decided to take it slow, and stopped quite often to try to figure out the problem. Neither one of us had our cell phones. We finally got within sight of the ramp, and my dad was standing there, frantically waving his arms in an up and down motion. He was yelling something that sounded like, “Swim!” We looked at each other and decided that was a bad idea. When we got a little closer, we heard, “Trim!” That didn’t mean anything to me, but a lightbulb went off for Mom. She remembered that we should have put the trim down, which lowers the motor down into the water. That made a huge difference!

The weekend did get better. The new propeller worked great and we had many hours of tubing and skiing. And I don’t think my mom or I will ever forget about the trim. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way!

My favorite lake in all the land!

My Dad's New Boat - Part 1

I’m super fortunate to have wonderful parents. They have given me more opportunities than I’ve deserved, have been wonderful role models and are active grandparents. One of their best decisions ever was to build a cabin on Ponto Lake in Minnesota. They call it the Looney Bin. Get it? Because there are birds called loons that live on the lake. Ha! How lucky am I? My mom started going to Ponto Lake with her friend when she was in third grade. I think it’s really cool to know that so far, three generations of girls have loved these same waters. It’s timeless.

Here are Mom and Dad with Paul Bunyan's sweetheart in Hackensack, Minnesota. The person who made the statue of Lucette didn't do a great job, but I'm sure they put a lot of time and effort into it. Hopefully statue-making isn't their number one talent.

Last year, my parents got a new boat just before the 4^th of July, which is traditionally the weekend we spend together with my parents and both of my siblings’ families. We were all excited!

Stan and his boat

 The boat ran fine, but there was something minor wrong with the propeller, and it didn’t have enough power to pull a skiier. My dad was pretty mad. So he and TJ hopped into the truck to get it taken care of. Pretty soon they were driving slowly around a neighboring lake and my dad was looking awfully interested in driveways. TJ was starting to think they weren’t going to the marina. It turns out that my dad remembered what lake the sales guy lived on. And he remembered what kind of truck the sales guy drove. Oh boy.

My dad is one of the nicest 70-year-olds you’d ever meet, but he's not a pushover. TJ was hoping they wouldn’t be able to find the sales guy's house. But my dad is pretty astute, and it didn’t take him long to find the place. TJ followed my dad through the party that the sales guy was having (probably to celebrate selling a boat to my dad). Dad walked right up to the sales guy who was enjoying a beer. TJ was pretty uncomfortable at this point. The sales guy put his beer down and said he’d bring a new propeller out the next day. My dad said he would be back if that propeller didn’t show up. It’s never good when customers know where you live.

The guy brought the propeller and it all turned out fine. Come back tomorrow for Part 2 to find out what happened when we tried to take the boat out of the water. It's one of my better stories!

Pish the Fish is Very Cool

{Click here if you missed the introduction to Pish the Fish.}

When I woke up Gwen yesterday morning she told me Pishy was in the freezer. She said she was hot and Pish wanted to make her cold. 

So I went to the freezer and found him under an ice pack that I’m pretty sure I left in a cooler.

Pish isn't in the best shape of his life, so I carefully worked through the layers, as if I were removing an Egyptian mummy from a tomb. Here's how he looked when I removed the ice pack.

I also found a ducky neck pillow on the top shelf that I’m pretty sure I did not put in the freezer. I guess that's the back up plan. Or maybe the decoy.

I left the neck pillow in the freezer and brought Pish to Gwen. I have a feeling Pish will be spending more time in the freezer, and I really hope he keeps his fins off my ice cream!

Potential Spa Treatment

I was poking around the website of the Riverside Casino and Resort while I was making a reservation for Kelly’s wedding. The first thing that caught my interest was the spa. I briefly wondered if I should ask them to comp me a massage in exchange for a detailed review on my blog. But then I remembered that they might read my blog and realize:

A) I don’t reach a huge audience

B) Most of my readers would not be in the market for their classy spa services

C) Chances are high that I would not give a serious review

D) All of the above

D is correct.

One spa service in the massage category caught my eye: Tranquillescense. I’m sure I’m behind the times, but I have never heard of it before. Here’s the description:

Tranquillescense~30 Min $45

This treatment involves a constant stream of warm oil over your forehead. Designed to relieve stress and anxiety while bringing clarity to the mind.

Doesn’t it sound a little like water boarding? But I do kind of want to try it, just because it’s fun to try new things. Remember how much fun I had with eyebrow threading? Too bad about the $45 though. I’d be in for $15. I wonder if they’d give me 10 minutes for $15. It seems fair.

In an effort to thoroughly research my posting, I googled Tranquillescense. There was only one result found, for Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. Hmmmmm...I take back that comment about being behind the times. I think Riverside Casino and Golf Resort might have invented it. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to be catching on.

Next, I googled "warm oil constant forehead". It looks like the more common word for the treatment is shirodhara, and it's supposed to awaken your third eye.

In truth, the Riverside Resort and Casino looks exceptionally nice, and I’m looking forward to staying there!

By the way, I know of a farmer who paid for his daughter’s wedding by selling some sheep semen because he had a very fine ram. (At first I wrote seaman, but that didn’t look right. I also learned from the Internet that a male sheep with testicles is called a ram, and one without is called a wether. Spell check does not recognize wether or Tranquillescense, but I assure you that I have spelled both correctly. Also, spell check did not catch my seaman error.)

PS. For those of you who normally buy me birthday presents, I would like a Tranquillescense. If it’s more money than you’d like to spend, please email me and I will coordinate a group gift.

Car Alarm in the Middle of the Night

A couple years ago, TJ and I woke up in the middle of the night because a car alarm was going off in our driveway. TJ went out to investigate. After a few minutes, I went to see what was taking him so long to disable the alarm. Our SUV was sitting in the driveway, behaving like a spoiled child in the stuffed animal aisle of the Toys R Us. (Stuffed animals: every child wants another one, no matter how many they have at home, and every parent hates them because of their ability to overtake closets, rooms and homes.) The car alarm was altering the sleepy peacefulness of our quiet street, and the flashing lights were sending an SOS message through our neighbors windows.

The problem was that SUV doors were all locked and the keys were hanging in the ignition. We desperately searched for the spare keys. It was complete chaos, and we couldn't get it to stop! And then...it stopped. We were starting to calm down when it started back up again. I'm not sure if this kind of thing has ever happened to you, but a car alarm going off in the middle of the night sounds ten times louder than it sounds in daylight hours.

As we were waiting for the locksmith, the alarm would alternate every few minutes between off and on.TJ was pacing around the living room and peeking out the window watching for the locksmith. Lights were coming on in our neighbor's homes as our little emergency disturbed their sleep.I was on the computer desperately googling things like "car alarm keys locked inside" and "car alarm won't stop." The only advice I found was to disconnect the battery, but we couldn't even open the hood without the keys.It was a helpless feeling!

Finally the locksmith arrived. He lifted the door handle of the SUV, and to our surprise, it opened right up! TJ took it for a little drive and parked it inside the garage to deaden the noise if the alarm went off again.

We solved the mystery the next day. TJ had put a load of laundry in the dryer before going to bed. The laundry included a little stowaway. The missing spare keys! All the buttons were getting hit in the dryer, which explains the alarm, locking and unlocking. It also explains why I couldn't find a solution on google.

Pish the Fish

Pish is Gwen's very best friend.

Pish and Gwen

Pish used to be a vivid orange and white clownfish. He's lost most of his color and microbeads over the years, but he's still beautiful to Gwen!

Moshi, the company who made Pish, went out of business, so we can't exactly replace him. We've tried similar toys over the years.

Gwen likes all of them, but her heart belongs to Pish. What's not to love?

Gwen has been asking all summer long for a Pish windsock that she sees swimming in the breeze outside the Flowerama. I surprised her with it last week.

I didn't realize what a good value this was until I got home. This is a direct quote from the packaging:

Premier's Swimming Fish, designed by Christophe Goy of Switzerland, are a cross between a weather vane, a windsock, and a pet.

"And a PET?" Seriously? I'm in marketing, but I think that's stretching it, don't you?

Here's a link if you think I'm making this up!

Please let me know if you happen to have a Moshi microbead clown fish pillow. I would love to have a new one! Then again, I suspect she will always prefer the original, ragged Pishy the Fishy.

Weird Crafts that Inspire

All of my girls like to make crafts, but 7-year-old Gwen is the craftiest. She once cut a piece out of the blanket on our bed because she needed a piece of fabric to glue on a picture.

I find crafting evidence nearly every day when I come home. Today It was this.

I normally "file away" things that look similar to this Styrofoam plate project. (Shhhh! I file them in the garbage!) But today I took time to figure out what this was supposed to be. I struggled.

A Sophisticated British Easter Hat?

An Intimidating Super Hero Mask?

A Weird Lion's Mane?

There was only one person who could tell me what It was supposed to be. Gwen. She told me it's an M. As in M, the 14th letter of the alphabet. M because it's the first letter of Mom. :) See?

The rest of the stuff on there is just to help it stand up. "What is it for," I asked. "It's a sculpture," she explained. Huh. That there M sculpture is a craft that could only come from the mind of a child!

And then Gwen showed me the other craft she made today. She confiscated a magnet that came in the mail, soaked it in water, scratched off the ad and wrote a new message. She read it, pronouncing every punctuation mark. Mom is cool!!!!!!? Then she burst into an evil laugh when she got to the question mark.

Mom is cool!!!!!?

That Gwen makes me smile! AND she inspired me to reinvent magnets that come in the mail. I used scratch paper and markers to make designs that go with my kitchen's colors. Then I cut them out so they were slightly bigger than the magnets.

I attached the designs to the magnets with spray adhesive, and trimmed off the extra paper.

Ok, I know it looks like an elementary student did these, but I was going for a crafty look. That's kind of a lie. I was going for fast.

I should seal them with a little spray poly or Modge Podge. I might get around to that one of these days, but most likely I won't. Keeping it real.You could also use photos, scrapbook paper, a design printed from the computer, patterned duct tape, or anything else that suits your style. Try it!

PS. For those of you who normally buy us Christmas presents, we could use a new Queen size blanket.