New Deck

I am replacing the decks on the cabin now. All of the beams and joists are rotted away from being wet and laying in the dirt. It's spring time with great working weather and as you can see, snow in the mountains still. This time of the year we can burn so it is easy to dispose of the old wood. The demolition is always the hardest work but the end results are worth the effort.

Boat Lift

This is an essential part of living on a lake. Almost like punching your garage door opener, the lift has a remote control that will raise and lower the boat. Even in the worst storm you lift the boat with the push of a button and walk away without ever tying a line for safety. This is called a side lift which will give me 15 feet of lift, that allows me to use the boat with the lake level down about 8 feet. Here I installed some bracing to stabilize the lift. Even though the weather was gorgeous the water was just over 40 degrees so tightening bolts underwater with bare hands was miserable. Do I get any sympathy?

Visconti's

Wenatchee Washington USA, Our home town 9 years ago. This was our favorite Italian restaurant and it just gets better. Here I met up with some great friends last night and did a lot of catching up. As we move around the world it is more special to come back and reconnect with the people that have made our lives so much fun. The only thing wrong with this picture is that my bride Julie is not there, and I miss her already. I am here working on our Lake cabin for 2 months. I will keep the blog alive now as I have a wireless service for my laptop.

Scooter Man

Here is a business that is booming in the UK. You can call this man at any time and he comes on this little folding scooter, chucks it in the boot of your car and drives you home. For about 3600 pounds you can buy a franchise that gives you the training, marketing package, folding scooter, and insurance. YOU DRINK, WE DRIVE! Is their slogan. You can meet the most entertaining people in this business. They can pick your car up from the garage, or any place and bring it to you, or ride with you anywhere and bring your car home. I'm might be interested as I could drive this scooter home, into the lift and right into my flat.

Tenerife Fun

So here we are soaking up enough sun to get us to the next holiday. These vacations always come with some great fringe benefits for us, that we don't expect. I'm talking about the wonderful people that we meet. Chris and Ivy are a retired couple from southwest UK. We had so many laughs with them that we were sorry to see them leave. But we will stay connected and meet up again. Our gorgeous hotel had a different theme each night in the huge lounge for evening entertainment. The first night was a group playing Motown music. It never fails that I will get dragged into the act, and sure enough Ivy and I got hauled onto the stage for a dance with the group. What fun! So the next night was a Spanish group doing their native music and dancing, and we sat clear in the back of the lounge for some privacy. I'll be dammed if this pretty senorita didn't walk through 150 people and latch onto me to me for a Spanish dance. Aren't I lucky. Now Chris was needing some attention so he tripped at night in his dark room and busted his head open. He got patched up in the local hospital and survived. Click on the picture to enlarge. Julie was not about to be outdone, and needed some recognition. After we got dressed up for an evening dinner, Julie looked beautiful as ever with her hair done, a stunning short summer dress with all of the bobbles on. We dished up out dinner salad and Julie slipped and landed on her face in front of a huge dinner crowd. Waiters ran to help, with legs in the air, salad everywhere, and her back-side hanging out, she won the prize. My bride is ok I'm happy to report, but she wouldn't stay on the floor long enough for a Kodak moment.

Tenerife Spain

Tenerife is the largest and most populated of the Spanish owned Canary Islands. It is located south of Spain in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Africa. This sunny get-away is very popular for Europeans and reminds us of Hawaii with the palm trees and beautiful beaches. We stayed in the Arona Grand Hotel shown here, with the meals included with the room. Julie and I enjoyed a week in the sun which was great medicine after a cold UK winter. As Americans we don't see women laying in public without tops on. So I spent the week tripping over everything trying not to notice. There's always new problems to deal with. Our ocean view from the room showed us this massive car eating ferry that transported people trucks and autos to the other islands