Almost Summer time

This weekend is coming and we are going up to the Lake. Since we are leaving from work a little early ( to beat the traffic) and it is out of our way to come back to the apartment we have to load the Jeep with whatever is going up north Thursday night. There is a load going this time. Margaret has the spare bedroom full of stuff headed for the Coach. Including the Basement refrigerator you see below along with a portable ice maker and assorted dishes, pot, pans, and other paraphernalia.

We arrived around 6:00PM and unloaded all our stuff. We had happy hour along with a dinner of cold chicken procured from Cub foods on the way out of the cities. The weather was cool and Saturday was suppose to be cool, but Sunday promised to be warm and sunny. Things are looking good.
Saturday morning was a bit brisk. There was a film of ice on the water in the bucket by the deck. So we headed into Park Rapids after breakfast to check out the Walmart. We needed some storage chests for the basement of the coach and we ran out of coffee this morning.
The first trip to Walmart procured a couple of nice gray tubs for storage of things in the basement of the coach however due to a minor miscalculation they were a bit tall and didn’t fit. The second trip back to Walmart to exchange the tubs for some shorter ones provided a much better fit. This time we got 4 clear tubs with top. 2 for under the middle section below.

And 2 more smaller ones for the back of the big slide out trays.

With all the stuff finally stored in the basement where it belongs Margaret started to take inventory of here purchased items over the winter for the coach. She laid them all out for pictures. ( a post from her to come in the future)

Since I hate to see something going to waste it seemed like we should make use of the items sitting on the lawn for something other than pictures, so I hopped into one of the chairs for some sun.

After the rest in the sunbeam I was ready for some work so I proceeded to put in the dock. The first section of the dock is easy. You don’t even have to get wet. Just bolt the two sections together and push it into the lake. After that it gets serious and you have to put the wet suit on because I’m going to have to get wet and while it looks sunny and nice its about 45 degrees out and the water is just a bit chilly!

Once suited up the big wide end section of the dock has to be rolled into the lake and positioned at the end of the firsts two sections and bolted in.

Once bolted in and leveled up its time to get out of the wet rubber suit and put the deck top on the aluminum framework.

Some times when its a bright sunny day and you are enjoying yourself you just have to do the dance.

After the dock was in the day was winding down and we wandered around the lot checking out the plants and trees. Margaret’s daffodils are up and smiling at the world. They will be deer chow shortly.

One of the purchases this winter for the Coach was a portable ice maker. Just plug it in, add water and 15 minutes later you have ice. No self respecting camper should be without! That would be just too primitive. Happy hour without ice in your drinks unheard of!

Notice the perfectly formed cubes of ice in the colorful drinks. What an icemaker!

Early the next morning the wind had died down and Margaret could start her fire. She’s lost unless she can burn a fire.

Sunday was shaping up to be a beautiful day sunny and 70 degrees at the lake. We might as well get the lawn mowed and fertilized. So while Margaret mowed the lawn I fertilized then started to put in the boat lift.

Back into the rubber suit. The water has not warmed up much since yesterday. The blue and red jugs are floatation devices that help float the lift out to the end of the dock.

The hard part of the dock and lift is the lift. Its big and heavy, but its much easier to put in than take out. The end of the year is always much worse, but now we have the summer to look forward to and putting in the dock and the lift is always enjoyable.

With the lift in position the top has to go on. The day has warmed up nicely and it must be 75 degrees down by the lake so off comes the warm cloths while we assemble the top.

Once the top is on its time to sit on the terrace and enjoy the sunshine. The rest of the day is for enjoyment!