Cletus the slack-jawed yokel

Dear lord. I'm related to BOTH of them! 

This is my Dad and caro sposo suited up in their spiffy chest waders about to go work on installing the dock. 

I'm so proud. 

"I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl." Dangit. I forgot how funny that show was. They don't make them like they used to.

That's right folks. They're standing in the "living room" at the Lodge! 

We made our first trip out to the cottage as a family this past Sunday. Very. Exciting. Stuff. 

Our goals for this trip were fairly simple: get the boat into the water, and set up the dock. Marvin at Wood Duck helped Dad and the Captain-o-cheap get the boat into the water while the kids and I waited at Mom's. The Captain called once he and Dad got the boat in and running, and we drove up to join them.

We were fortunate that our neighbor Ron allowed us to moor at his dock for the day while we set ours up. Dad and Sposo got to work on the dock, section by section.

As it turns out, the dock is considerably longer than I remembered. That's a good thing! The wind and waves picked up yesterday, so it'll be interesting to see how well it handles the continual pounding. We need to buy some cleats or rings for it, though, because right now the only place to tie up your boat is around the uprights. A ladder or hand rail is also probably going to be a good idea.

While the boys were up to their middles in icy water, Mom and I remained in the chilly cabin emptying out the cupboards. We wanted to inventory what was there, but also needed remove some items in preparation for painting. I'm amazed that, in such a tiny space, there were three coffee makers (one still had a moldy filter and grounds in it. Yuck), two toasters, 27 coffee mugs, six pot lids that had no matching pot, and eight frying pans. I took the opportunity to jettison the fly swatter and burger flipper that were hanging beside each other. Ick. I also discovered that we have an entire chest of drawers filled to the brim with ancient VHS tapes. Joy.

I generated three bags full of garbage and moved three good-sized Rubbermaid bins of dishes out into peaky for short-term storage. I'm not convinced all of it will find its way back into the cabin, but it's out of the way for now. I also have an extensive shopping list of things I need to pick up.

Whilst Mom and I emptied and sorted, the kids ran amok and fell on their heads. Literally. Mostly they played on the swings. They played off the swings. They rolled down the hill. They played in Slanty. They drilled under the cottage. They drilled into the dirt (scowl!). And then the princess fell off the swings and landed hard on her head and that was pretty much the end of the outside play time.

We enjoyed our first family supper (re-heated chili. Not glamorous, but it was warm) and then packed up to head home before the sun set. (side note: that's not the moldy coffee perk on the counter. It's one of the other ones.)

I think we'll be out again this coming weekend to work at washing off some of the grime before we start to paint. We might also see about getting the former owner out to help us hook up the water supply. Running water = good.

Until next time....