I was anxious to get up and get moving early on this fine Saturday morning. To that end, I was up at 6:15am determined to be ran before 9am.
Starting out, I treated the morning almost like a work day except for maintaining a superior outlook. By 7:00am I had already exercised, walked Ykraps, and had sucked down the days first cup of coffee. At least during the early hours, clouds were king. However, that didn’t phase me as I knew that they were expected to give way to brilliant sunshine and exceptionally warm temperatures as the morning progressed. I was counting on it.
Mindy remained in bed while I blogged Friday and drank even more coffee. Somewhere close to 7:30am Mindy joined me downstairs and on the deck for some coffee and guitar. We decided that Mindy would cook breakfast while ran. I left for my run just after 8am.
It was extra steamy but I was full of energy, so the run went extra well. My dad passed me by on Trabue Rd as I ran along the golf course. After turning south on Hague Av. I stopped by his house since I could see him milling about around his boat. He showed me the progress he’s made on his homemade bimini boat top. Looks good. Most notably, he’s finally given in to using aluminum in lieu of plastic PVC for added rigidity. I didn’t stay long for not wanting to keep Mindy waiting. She was home making bacon and eggs.
Back at home I could smell the bacon and I was hungry. Everything was just about ready for our consumption. Soon we enjoyed a hot breakfast together, just Mindy and I. After cleaning up the breakfast dishes it was time to ready or boating. It didn’t take long. Mindy chose not to shower since we’d be in the lake in a short bit anyhow. I, however, did since I had the remnants of running about my body. Still, despite showering and readying the gear, we were all ready to roll and out the door by 10:00am.
We stopped at the corner AmeriStop Market for a bag of ice then headed to Lee’s RV’s to pick-up the boat. After picking up the boat we filled it up at the Mill Run Shell and finally hit I-270 destined for Alum Creek. We arrived at Alum Creek just before 11am and proceeded to prep the boat for launching. Because of our early preparedness, we were rewarded with a fairly light crowd at the dock. Mindy surmised that because of the haging cloud cover we might be this lucky all day. Although, while readying our boat two or three others arrived pulling in front of us as if they were already ready for the water. Turned out, however, that we were ready before them and we pulled around two of them to put our rig in the water.
Mindy’s getting the hang of being dockmate and knows pretty exactly what to do. Plus, she’s pretty good at double checking the critical things like putting in the plug. As I backed it in Mindy grabbed hold and walked the boat to the end of the dock affording others the opportunity to put-in. But apparently that wasn’t good enough for one fellow. He went ahead and backed his boat with a driver already on board. Instead of holding pat at the dock, he attempted to pull around my boat and get over to the guest dock. It appeared to me that he was trying to impress the ladies. However, in doing so, he nearly ripped the lower unit off of his boat as he narrowly missed the concrete steps just beneath the surface water. Several people, including me, were hollering for him to look out. Plus, his boat buddy was giving him hell. His ego was obviously crushed. Luckily, he escaped without incident. All I could do at that point was turn my head and cringe. I thought for certain that the next sound I would hear would be his unit scraping the steps and the propeller being sheared off.
Mindy and I pulled away without incident and headed north for boat swim. Even though the lake was sparsely populated, save for the numerous fishing boats scattered on the periphery, the lake was choppy. We bounced our way towards the Cheshire Rd bridge. We arrived at the swim area in a short amount of time. We cruised all the way to the back. By then, there were only a handful of boats there – probably no more than six or seven total. There we anchored and began to relax. Almost on queue, the thick cloud cover began to clear. An hour later, there were no clouds in the sky as far as we could see. It was sunny and hot and getting hotter. There we stayed for 3+ hours soaking up some sun and having fun in the water.
We decided while there, that later tonight we would cook a meal at home in lieu of going out. We planned to stop at Giant Eagle and get some of those giant shrimp and hopefully some great big ol’ steaks. We’d mix some pina coladas in the blender too. We left the boat swim area around 3pm and went for a boat ride. After a half hour of riding around the lake Mindy thought it might be good to leave. I could’ve and would’ve stayed a couple more hours, but I also knew that the crowd would only intensify around the dock unless we waited until after 6pm. Plus, from the time you pull up to the dock you can add two hours before you’re home with everything put away. Leaving now did seem like the best option given our evening plans.
Getting out took a while but nothing too out of the ordinary. It was 6pm by the time we had the boat back in storage and were home and settled. Before heading off to the grocery I wanted/needed a little nap. I must have rested for nothing more than five minutes. Regardless, it felt really good. After the short rest we took a shower, dressed, and then took Ykraps on his evening walk. At 6:30pm we left for Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle.
At Wal-Mart we bought torch parts to restore each of the four we have around the deck. We also bought a cheap small charcoal grill to take camping later this week. By the time we left we had dumped $100. Onto Giant Eagle.
At Giant Eagle we bought some veggies, steaks, shrimp, beer, and wine, as well as a few other assorted items. By now we were both really hungry and tired from a day in the sun and on the lake.
Finally back at home we unloaded all of our rewards and proceeded to start dinner. I whipped up a marinate for the shrimp (orange/pine apple juice, cumin, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt), and Mindy whipped up a salad. After finishing the marinate, I fired up the grill then concocted a pitcher of pina coladas with coconut rum, spiced rum, pine apple chunks and pina colada mix, and ice. After one drink all the day’s little problems went bye-bye. Soon I had the 1-1/2” thick t-bones grilling away along with the giant shrimp. Twenty minutes and another pina colada later everything was ready. In addition to the salads, Mindy made fresh green beans and melted some butter and garlic salt to drizzle on the shrimp. Everything as you might have assumed was delicious and cooked to perfection.
After dinner, I poured yet another pina colada. Couldn’t allow that yummy frozen concoction to go to waste! Our tummy’s now full, our eyes getting heavier by the minute, we opted for an early bedtime. We’d have yet another day to play in the sun tomorrow.
I was anxious to get up and get moving early on this fine Saturday morning. To that end, I was up at 6:15am determined to be ran before 9am.
Starting out, I treated the morning almost like a work day except for maintaining a superior outlook. By 7:00am I had already exercised, walked Ykraps, and had sucked down the days first cup of coffee. At least during the early hours, clouds were king. However, that didn’t phase me as I knew that they were expected to give way to brilliant sunshine and exceptionally warm temperatures as the morning progressed. I was counting on it.
Mindy remained in bed while I blogged Friday and drank even more coffee. Somewhere close to 7:30am Mindy joined me downstairs and on the deck for some coffee and guitar. We decided that Mindy would cook breakfast while ran. I left for my run just after 8am.
It was extra steamy but I was full of energy, so the run went extra well. My dad passed me by on Trabue Rd as I ran along the golf course. After turning south on Hague Av. I stopped by his house since I could see him milling about around his boat. He showed me the progress he’s made on his homemade bimini boat top. Looks good. Most notably, he’s finally given in to using aluminum in lieu of plastic PVC for added rigidity. I didn’t stay long for not wanting to keep Mindy waiting. She was home making bacon and eggs.
Back at home I could smell the bacon and I was hungry. Everything was just about ready for our consumption. Soon we enjoyed a hot breakfast together, just Mindy and I. After cleaning up the breakfast dishes it was time to ready or boating. It didn’t take long. Mindy chose not to shower since we’d be in the lake in a short bit anyhow. I, however, did since I had the remnants of running about my body. Still, despite showering and readying the gear, we were all ready to roll and out the door by 10:00am.
We stopped at the corner AmeriStop Market for a bag of ice then headed to Lee’s RV’s to pick-up the boat. After picking up the boat we filled it up at the Mill Run Shell and finally hit I-270 destined for Alum Creek. We arrived at Alum Creek just before 11am and proceeded to prep the boat for launching. Because of our early preparedness, we were rewarded with a fairly light crowd at the dock. Mindy surmised that because of the haging cloud cover we might be this lucky all day. Although, while readying our boat two or three others arrived pulling in front of us as if they were already ready for the water. Turned out, however, that we were ready before them and we pulled around two of them to put our rig in the water.
Mindy’s getting the hang of being dockmate and knows pretty exactly what to do. Plus, she’s pretty good at double checking the critical things like putting in the plug. As I backed it in Mindy grabbed hold and walked the boat to the end of the dock affording others the opportunity to put-in. But apparently that wasn’t good enough for one fellow. He went ahead and backed his boat with a driver already on board. Instead of holding pat at the dock, he attempted to pull around my boat and get over to the guest dock. It appeared to me that he was trying to impress the ladies. However, in doing so, he nearly ripped the lower unit off of his boat as he narrowly missed the concrete steps just beneath the surface water. Several people, including me, were hollering for him to look out. Plus, his boat buddy was giving him hell. His ego was obviously crushed. Luckily, he escaped without incident. All I could do at that point was turn my head and cringe. I thought for certain that the next sound I would hear would be his unit scraping the steps and the propeller being sheared off.
Mindy and I pulled away without incident and headed north for boat swim. Even though the lake was sparsely populated, save for the numerous fishing boats scattered on the periphery, the lake was choppy. We bounced our way towards the Cheshire Rd bridge. We arrived at the swim area in a short amount of time. We cruised all the way to the back. By then, there were only a handful of boats there – probably no more than six or seven total. There we anchored and began to relax. Almost on queue, the thick cloud cover began to clear. An hour later, there were no clouds in the sky as far as we could see. It was sunny and hot and getting hotter. There we stayed for 3+ hours soaking up some sun and having fun in the water.
We decided while there, that later tonight we would cook a meal at home in lieu of going out. We planned to stop at Giant Eagle and get some of those giant shrimp and hopefully some great big ol’ steaks. We’d mix some pina coladas in the blender too. We left the boat swim area around 3pm and went for a boat ride. After a half hour of riding around the lake Mindy thought it might be good to leave. I could’ve and would’ve stayed a couple more hours, but I also knew that the crowd would only intensify around the dock unless we waited until after 6pm. Plus, from the time you pull up to the dock you can add two hours before you’re home with everything put away. Leaving now did seem like the best option given our evening plans.
Getting out took a while but nothing too out of the ordinary. It was 6pm by the time we had the boat back in storage and were home and settled. Before heading off to the grocery I wanted/needed a little nap. I must have rested for nothing more than five minutes. Regardless, it felt really good. After the short rest we took a shower, dressed, and then took Ykraps on his evening walk. At 6:30pm we left for Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle.
At Wal-Mart we bought torch parts to restore each of the four we have around the deck. We also bought a cheap small charcoal grill to take camping later this week. By the time we left we had dumped $100. Onto Giant Eagle.
At Giant Eagle we bought some veggies, steaks, shrimp, beer, and wine, as well as a few other assorted items. By now we were both really hungry and tired from a day in the sun and on the lake.
Finally back at home we unloaded all of our rewards and proceeded to start dinner. I whipped up a marinate for the shrimp (orange/pine apple juice, cumin, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt), and Mindy whipped up a salad. After finishing the marinate, I fired up the grill then concocted a pitcher of pina coladas with coconut rum, spiced rum, pine apple chunks and pina colada mix, and ice. After one drink all the day’s little problems went bye-bye. Soon I had the 1-1/2” thick t-bones grilling away along with the giant shrimp. Twenty minutes and another pina colada later everything was ready. In addition to the salads, Mindy made fresh green beans and melted some butter and garlic salt to drizzle on the shrimp. Everything as you might have assumed was delicious and cooked to perfection.
After dinner, I poured yet another pina colada. Couldn’t allow that yummy frozen concoction to go to waste! Our tummy’s now full, our eyes getting heavier by the minute, we opted for an early bedtime. We’d have yet another day to play in the sun tomorrow.
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