Island Sunrise #16

Island Sunrise #15

Little Things - Little Guy

Those few dedicated followers of Kinda Fuzzy will remember our Pond Project out here in the woods.  Of course that has been pretty much finished (if these things ever are) for a while now.

The Fuzz and His Sweetie enjoy breakfast down there most mornings-

weather permitting.

 
One consideration has been "topping off" the pond as some water is lost by evaporation.  And there is a slight amount of leakage from the small stream when the fountain pump is operating.

The Fuzz had been using a hosepipe to add water when needed; but this was rather crude, and tended to stir up sediment from the bottom.

So The Fuzz and His Sweetie decided to add this guy.

He is a bit slower than the old system, but much cooler!

 

A couple of days ago, The Fuzz was just chilling there with a glass of tea on a hot afternoon.

Something on one of the plants caught his attention.

At first he didn't think much of it...

But then he took a closer look.

This little fellow was only about ½ in long.

Maybe he felt inspired to come out by that big guy on the rock.

But at his size, he better watch out for those fishes!

 

Shakedown Cruise II

Last time we saw Our Fuzz a bit disappointed with the performance of his not exactly new outboard motor.

But we also saw that the mechanically minded fellow had succeeded in locating and correcting the problem.

His Sweetie was game to give it another shot, so a few days later they headed back up to the lake.

This time things went a bit better.

Here is a rare look at The Fuzz himself, heading out to "see what she'll do" as they say.

So where is His Sweetie in this pix?

Well, the truth is that she is not quite the Puddleduck that Our Fuzz is.

Her idea of a day at the lake is to be dropped off on a nice secluded shore with her paints and easel.

So with her happily situated, The Fuzz took off up the lake for some exploring and a bit of fishing.

This lake like most of them in this area is really a dammed up river.  A lot of the shoreline in this area is rather steep with few places to land.

But there are a few...

Mostly private property!

This one looks like a pretty nice set-up.

These folks seem to have solved the problem of finding a place to land.

The Fuzz did eventually find a place and settle down to "feed the fish" as he puts it.

He tied up to a branch sticking out of the water and threw out a line.

This is what comes of trying to do two things at the same time.

Note the ring of ripples in the center of this pix.

The Fuzz was trying to get a picture of his little bobber floating there.  It turned out that this was the moment that it took a nice dive!

So of course he missed that one.

But he did get a couple of the little buggers.

The operative word here is little!

But it was fun.

His Sweetie was set up just on the other side of those trees and they had set up a rendezvous for lunch.

The fish had already had theirs.

The Fuzz beached the boat and joined her in the cool shade of the woods above this small beach.

He had to include this bit of fungus with these pix.

But it was time to leave now.

So they loaded up and had a short cruise back to the boat ramp...

And then back to the woods.

It was a nice day.

Shakedown Cruise I

In a previous post, The Fuzz mentioned a new "Tin Boat".

Well, first there was a bit of official paperwork to take care of.  But getting it home out here in the woods was only the start.  Some more equipment had to be scrounged up.  While perhaps a paddle might satisfy any "requirements" The Fuzz would not be satisfied without a real set of oars.  And these had to be ordered.  And of course life jackets - or rather "PFDs"*

Finally the stuff was gathered and it was time for a shakedown cruise.
And it turned out that there was a lot to shakedown!

Lake Rhodhiss was selected for this...

And the ramp at Castle Bridge.

 The Fuzz and Family had been here some years before on a few canoe outings, and it was not too far to drive.

The Boat made it into the water OK and neither car nor trailer was lost in the lake.

But when The Fuzz tried to crank up the motor...

all he did was exercise his arm.

His Sweetie said they could just go back home if he wanted-

In truth, he was just a mite disappointed.

But he did have those oars.

And he did not want to waste a trip and a chance to get out on the lake.

So they rowed a short way up the lake, tied up to a tree branch and did spend some time fishing and painting.

Back home again, The Fuzz was determined to find out what went wrong.  He had seen the motor running fine before he bought the thing!  Was he doing something wrong?

After going over it a few times in his head, he decided to have a look at the darn thing.  When he tore into it, he discovered that the choke had been somehow disconnected.

That was not hard to fix, and now he could crank it fine.

And so another excursion was planned.

 * "Personal Flotation Device"

Island Sunrise #14

Island Sunrise #13

Shifting Gears

While The Fuzz and His Sweetie were camping at the lake the subject of boats naturally came up.  And while it's never been a subject of this blog, The Fuzz has been contemplating trying to put one together.

And while he has never considered his skills anything like expert, he was confident that he could knock together something out of plywood that would float.

So he has been studying various websites, books and plans.

Of course while he had been making various preparations and gathering tools with this in mind, he had never quite gotten to the point of actually cutting a board.

This would certainly end up as a long term project.

And at The Fuzz's age he had to ask the question-

"Is the point the actual building, or getting out on the water?"

And as much as he admires fine craftsmanship in the boatyard, and those wonderful traditional wooden boats; he reluctantly had to admit that at this point, what he really wanted was to be floating again.

"Again..."
The Fuzz actually did grow up on a lake back in the Old Country.  And it seems he has never really gotten that out of his system as it were.
So once they were back home he went on into town to visit the local Marine Dealer/Pawn Shop.
That sounds like quite a combination and of course it is.

But all that aside, they just so happened to have on the lot almost exactly what he had grown up with.
So now he was torn with the decision, to hold out and go with a classic somewhere, or just cave in for this "Grumpier Old Men" style aluminum skiff.

The skiff won.  

Island Sunrise #12