July 17, 2015
We slept in and joined the others in the house for breakfast. Mary made some great pumpkin bread and fruit salad to share. After breakfast, Dave and Bob were going to try their hand at kayak fishing. Oh my! Would Bob be able to fish and keep himself dry? Time will tell. Bob was dressed for the part with his color-coordinated Crocs, shirt, and kayak.
Dave gave Bob “the little pecker” rod to take with him in case he needed a spare.
The guys headed off with Jean and I helping to carry the kayaks across the road to Mirror Lake.
The guys scooted themselves across the swampy isthmus to the lake.
While the guys went fishing, Mary, Jean, Auggie, and I took a walk down the lane to the highway. We ran into Bob who showed us that he had caught a couple of blue gills.
We returned to the house and waited for Steve(brother), Janet(sister-in-law), and John(brother) to arrive. The guys came back from fishing around noon. Dave caught 5 blue gills to bring home and Bob had two.
Dave and Bob cleaned and filleted the fish in the garage which we would have for dinner tonight.
They added the newly caught fish to the previous catch to make enough for dinner. Steve, Janet, and John arrived from Madison around 12:30. We said our hellos and had lunch on the deck. After lunch, we all took a ride out on the lake in the pontoon boat.
It was a beautiful day to be out on the water.
The sun was shining with “cotton puff” clouds in the sky. The temp was in the mid to upper 70’s. It was a relaxing ride and actually hot at times when we were out of the wind.
Back at the dock, Mary and John changed clothes to go water skiing.
I went in the boat with them as “official photographer” and spotter. Mary was a little hesitant to get in the water because of the temperature, but she volunteered to be the first to ski.
She had trouble getting the ski on in the water, but before long, she was up and skiing around the lake.
She did a great job on two skis and made it around the lake past the house.
Jean and Janet were sitting on the dock and held up a score card that showed an “8” for her effort.
John was next to ski.
He wanted to slalom, so after two tries, he was up and looking like a pro on one ski.
John made some really nice turns and water sprayed high into the air.
He skied past everyone back at the dock who was waiting to see him glide on by. They had score cards and gave John a “9” for his efforts. After Mary and John were finished skiing, we returned to the dock where everyone was waiting. They had done well and put the rest of us to shame.
We all hung out for awhile and then Mary wanted everyone to try out her electric bike (E-bike).
John also brought his E-bike along from home so Janet and Steve took them for a ride. Then Bob and I gave it a whirl. It was such fun! The bikes are really cool to ride and might spoil me from riding my regular mountain bike. How cool not to have break a sweat going up a hill! I could easily get used to riding like that! After our ride, some of us hung out on the deck for awhile enjoying the day. Steve and Janet took a paddle boat ride around the lake.
Jean tried her hand at fishing off of the dock, but she had no luck catching anything to keep.
Later David showed us how to play Bahamian Lawn Darts. It’s quite an unusual game. It’s all about drinking, throwing a frisbee, and catching a beer bottle before it hits the ground. John and Dave played against Steve and Bob. Janet and I watched the fun from up on the deck.
Everyone pitched in to prepare dinner. We had fresh caught fish, corn straight off-the-cob, Yukon gold baby potatotes, and Thai salad.
Everything was absolutely delicious and we ate together on the deck.
After dinner and clean-up, we took a cocktail cruise on the pontoon before sunset. We took a slow ride around the lake and saw 3 or 4 sunsets, depending on which direction we were going and how many times we could make the sun go behind the trees. Auggie got to go with us and enjoyed the ride and the attention he got.
After we docked the boat, Jean started a bonfire with Mary’s help using egg cartons, dryer lint, discarded old wax candles, and wet wood.
We had mostly smoke for awhile until they added some cedar planks. Then the fire was outrageous!
Mary and Bob decided that the clothes hanging on the clothesline next door for the last two days needed rearranging on the line. Under the cover of darkness and Mary’s direction, they arranged the clothes from light colors to dark colors. The neighbors haven’t been around for days so would they even notice when they got back?
Dave continued to stoke the fire and adjust the twigs with the very long, Hoe Joe until the mosquitoes chased us inside. The ladies were the first to come inside and after awhile the guys joined us. Dave played some golden oldies on his tablet as we sang and even danced along.
A few of us played a game of Hearts before turning in for the night. We had an action-filled day and it was so much fun with lots of laughs!
