Miss Friday renovation continues

4-21-17

 Well it is almost sailing season here in southern Indiana but we are not quite ready to hit the water yet. We have a few weeks to go yet before we can take the Memory Maker back to her slip on Lake Monroe and work is still progressing on Miss Friday.
 I have continued to sand down the hull to get most of the paint off and I am down to the wood in a lot of areas.

 I sanded down to the wood here first to see what I was working with. It looks like the only areas to have any fiberglass on them are the seams. It almost looks like the rest of the boat was just sealed with paint.
 I continued to sand on her with my palm sander and 60 grit whenever I had time to get covered in sanding dust. By last Saturday I was almost done.

 I had seen an area on her stern when we picked her up that appeared to be cracked so I wanted to make sure I checked that area out and repaired it. Once I got the paint sanded off that area I could see we had bigger issues.

 This much polyester body filler is never a good thing to see. It all had to come out and  be repaired correctly if I was going to do this. So I gave up the sander and broke out the angle grinder with a fiber wheel because it was so darn thick. It took a while but I was finally able to get down to the wood under the repair.

 If she could only talk I would love to know what caused this damage. I just can't imagine it happen through normal use. I asked Adrian but he had no idea nor did he remember her ever being yellow either. That was her original color as the hull sides and stern where yellow with an off white bottom. Later she was painted off white all over.
 Who ever repaired her damage got rather creative as they used a piece of what I call chicken wire mesh as a back up for the fiberglass cloth and filler they used. I could not figure out what we would be causing the sparks as I was grinding the filler out with the fiber wheel.

 Once I got all the filler removed I could easily see where the sparks were coming from. I am in the process of getting the area all cleaned out and cutting a patch to go in that hole and will epoxy it into place once it is all ready.
 We plan on adding deck hatches to all 4 of the sealed areas both for access to storage space but also so I can epoxy the inside of those areas as well. It really looks like it is just raw wood inside the sealed area. Granted it has lasted 50 years like this but I would really like to see her last 50 more.
 I am hoping to get the patch glued in place tomorrow since it looks the weather will not be conducive to outside activity. That will give me time to work on her a bit before we go off to a disco party. Long story.
 I did fire up the motor for the Memory Maker last night and got her ready to go for another season. I know I should probably change the oil but it doesn't have 10 hours on it, it is as clean as it was the day I put it in, and is just as full. I am not doing it. She fired right up on the second pull. Thank God for Avgas. As long as I have access to aviation fuel I will never worry about fuel related issues with my small engines.
 Hopefully the next up date will show a repaired hole in Miss Friday's stern and we will be closer to actually sailing her.

Meet Mirror 1675

4-5-2017

 Mirror 1675, or Miss Friday as we have come to know her, is a very special little sailboat. Not only is she a 53 year old handmade wood sailboat but she was built in England in 1965 by the grandfather of a good friend of ours. She was handed down through the family to his parents who sailed her often in their younger days. Sadly his father passed away and his mother chose to downsize houses which meant Miss Friday would no longer have a spot to hang in the garage. That's where we entered the picture. Once we heard the story of the little sailboat we had to see her. As the story goes Adrian's grandfather who built her did not have to work on Friday's in England. Once he got her built she became his "Friday Mistress" as he was sailing her every Friday when the weather permitted. So his Friday Mistress turned into Miss Friday and the name stuck.
  Adrian loaded her up and brought her to his house where Cindy and I could meet the little girl. We found her sitting in the grass by his garage in pieces. I had done a little research on the model and knew just enough to be dangerous but in about 10 mins I had her all rigged and ready to hit the water!

 She is just the neatest little sailboat! Not bad for 53 year old sails!  It is so simplistic that it cracked me up how some of it worked. Between that and the fact that I am a sucker for a good story I had to have her! Adrian said his mum really wanted to see her go to someone who was going to fix her up and sail her again. I assured him that was our intention because to just look at her she was ready to sail away if she only had water and wind. We agreed on a price and then returned the next day with our flat bed trailer to take her to her new home. Lets see, that makes watercraft number #9 for us. Must be like shoes, you can never have enough.
 I could see a few areas of concern that needed to be addressed before we tried her out but I was hopeful we could at least sail her once to see how she did before we really dove into the restoration process. After making a few repairs I thought she was ready to give it a go so we loaded her back up on the trailer behind Juicy the Jeep and off we went to Starve Hollow state park. Again, it only took a few minutes to get her rigged and ready. Life jackets on, just in case. Time to splash her in the water.

 Cindy and I carried her down the boat ramp and set her in the water. Before we could even get our first foot in her she started taking on water, at a rather brisk rate I might add. It became apparent in just mere seconds we were not going to be able to sail her and if we did not hurry up and get her out of the water quickly we might have to drag her out with Juicy! Well Buggers!
 Back home we went, a bit bummed we did not get to sail her but excited at the prospect that we could eventually sail just mere minutes from our house instead of having to drive an hour to sail the Memory Maker at Lake Monroe. Don't worry. Were keeping the Memory maker, for now at least.
 With other projects to do first, Miss Friday sat patiently in the garage with the Memory Maker all winter waiting on me to get time to fix her. Well After finishing our bedroom built ins I finally made the time to get started on her. The first thing to do was to get her flipped over so I could start stripping away all the layers of paint from the last 50 years. Luckily she is very light, maybe 90 lbs, and I was able to get her set up on saw horses by myself as Cindy is still recovering from her ACL surgery.

 Here she is with all the keel strips removed and waiting for the temps to warm up enough that I can start stripping the paint. I had to make some measurements so I knew were the stern hardware went once I am done with the fiberglass and epoxy.

 It finally warmed up enough and the fun began.

 If you have stripped paint before you know it is far from fun. As I stripped off the layers I could see numerous stress cracks in the hull from age and a few areas of damage that had been repaired with what looks like JB weld. No wonder she made a better watering can than a boat when we put her in the water.
 I am down to the original paint on the bottom now but the stripper wont touch it.

 Once I get to that point on all the sides and stern I will start sanding with 60 grit and make the needed repairs to get her water tight again. Once that is done then I can cover her with 6 oz fiberglass cloth and start rolling on the epoxy.
 Cindy has already picked out the color of blue she wants me to paint the hull so hopefully in a month or so we will be ready to head back to a local lake and give her another try. If your wondering why I am trying to protect the gravel in the garage with the tarp it isn't so much about protecting the gravel as it is being able to clean up all the pieces of paint that I scrap off her. We are finally going to pour the concrete in the garage this year and I can't wait!!! We just hope we can still get the Memory Maker in the garage door once we do as it will be a bit shorter opening with the concrete.
 Hopefully the next time you see Miss Friday she will be naked!!!

Fishing in the Smokey's

3-22-17

 With Cindy off to Key West with her girlfriends on their annual spring break get away Bill and I finally go to take a fishing trip that we have been trying to do for several years now. We loaded up Shifty Sunday morning with our hiking packs loaded with camping and fishing gear then headed off to Townsend Tennessee to hike, camp, and fish for wild trout in the streams. We had been talking about and preparing for this trip for months and were really excited that the stars all aligned and we got to go.

                                                              Were going fishing!!!

 We left bill's house at 4:30 am and after a quick stop for breakfast at a local Waffle House were on our way. Our first stop was going to be Little River Outfitters in Townsend TN to pickup our fishing licenses and some new flies. We rolled into there about 10 am and were met at the door by these two sweeties.

 Gotta love shop doggies! Little River Outfitters is a really really nice fly fishing shop with great service. We picked up our flies, license, and very cool combination fly threader and knot tying tool. Bill might be able to fish without me being there to tie his flies on for him now but we will have to see LOL!
 After a quick sandwich at Subway it was time to head to Elkmont and get started on the hike in. We finished getting our gear all rigged up and then loaded up. Here we are all smiles before we headed up the trail.

 I don't know how are packs got so darn heavy but we were both hauling 45 pounds plus of gear. Granted it was still cold weather so we had more stuff to stay warm with, and our fishing gear, plus our hip waders. Ounces turn into pounds very quickly.
 We saw one fisherman on the hike in pretty close to the trail head but that was it. Not a good sign but too late now as we were committed. Here is Bill on one of the bridges on the way in.

 It was a very pretty hike and the temps were such that we did not get too hot. As we got closer to campsite 24 the trail narrowed down a bit and got a bit more adventurous. First there was the rock garden we had to rock hop across.

Then there was the water stepping stones.

 One more crossing to go and it was a log crossing. I hopped up on it and trotted across like a squirrel but Bill thought better of it with the way his waders we hopping around so I dropped my pack and went back across to carry his across. My legs did not realize I had dropped my pack and I nearly shot over the log when I went to hop up on it. that must have been what walking on the moon felt like as I felt like I could jump 10 feet straight up. Bill followed me across after I got his pack.

 We got to back country site 24 which some refer to as 3 forks due to three streams that come together. Neither of us had gotten wet so far so that was good. We picked a campsite and got the tents set up.

That is my little one man tent in the rear. Not only was it lighter than my two man tent but I thought I might be able to keep it half a degree warmer at night. It has plenty of room for one very limber person. Once camp was and the beer was in the natural cooler

 it was time to get to fishing! But first Bill had to tie one on

 If you look above Bill's right shoulder you can see my pack hanging on the bear cable system they provide for you to hang your pack and food with. Much easier than throwing bags full of rocks over tree limbs to hand your pack with.
 Once Bill was all setup we headed off for a couple of hours on the water in hopes of catching dinner. The scenery was very beautiful with the water cascading down the rocks

and we just knew there was a fish hiding behind each rock. Well, there should have been, and maybe there was but with the water temp barely above the 40 degree mark they were just not very interested in eating. I did manage to catch this small Brook Trout

 Sadly that would be the only one to grace the lenses of our cameras! Bill did catch one as well but his pic did not turn out due to the phone case. I guess it was a good thing i pack other food just in case we did not catch enough to eat.
 After fishing for a while it was time to start the fire and get supper cooking. We decided on Alfredo pasta with grilled chunk chicken breast. There was a couple of nice rocks that made great cook tables.

 Dinner was pretty darn tasty even if the noodles were not quite as soft as I would have liked for them to be. It was cooling off pretty quick since the sky had cleared off and we both knew it was going to get pretty chilly that night.
 Our only neighbors came by for a visit apologizing for bugging us but they wanted to ask us a question. Seems they were 6 college students from Chicago and they were curious how to get a fire to burn. First thing we asked was if they had dry wood. They responded, "What is that?". After a quick lesson on the best type of wood to find they went off in search of better fuel. It must have helped as we saw flames dancing over their fire pit soon there after.
 As the sun got lower in the sky the fire felt better and better. Here we are warming/drying our socks out over the fire.

Too bad we could not take that nice toasty feeling into our tents with us. Before long it was dark and with the fire dying down it was time to turn in. I always thought it would be very relaxing to sleep next to a babbling brook. It might be, but sleeping next to a thousand waterfalls was just down right annoying!!! I tossed and turned from 9 till probably 11 as I felt like I had two white noise machines strapped to my ears. I finally dozed off only to wake up needing to go #1. Darn beer.
 By now it was pretty darn chilly out and my upper body was cold. As I got out of my bag I realized my sleeping bag liner was not up all the way so I made sure to get it up further when I got back in. It made a huge difference and I am very glad I spent the money on the liner or I would have froze. A little while later my left should was cold and I discovered I did not have my my mummy bag zipped all the way up. After a few tries I was able to get it. I have to say my bag is none to long or wide as I fit nice and snugly in it. Once everything was pulled up and sealed up I was able to stay warm enough till about three when I woke up with cold feet. I put on a second pair of socks and tried to go back to sleep. By 6 am I had to pottie again and as I laid there trying to convince my self to get up I decided to just get up and go collect some more firewood and get the fire going again in hopes of getting warmed back up. The moon was only about 1/2 out but it was plenty bright to see and soon I had a nice stockpile of limbs for wood. By the time Bill finally crawled out of his castle I had a nice fire going. He wasted no time getting over by it to warm up. Seems someone forgot to pack their sleeping bag liner and he wound up putting on all the clothes he had to stay warm.
 Since we were not slaying the fish it was spam and eggs for breakfast cooked on the granite counter top.

I bought that light weight alloy skillet to cook fish in, not spam. But seeing how we were hungry and we did not catch any fish spam it was!
 Our original plan was to break camp and hike to site 23 but the last weather forecast was for strong storms that night so between that and the lack of fish we decided to fish till noon then head back down the trail and get a room in town and afterwards fish the lower levels of the river in hopes of finding warmer water and some fish. After cleaning up our breakfast dishes we hung out bags back up and headed down the trail to the intersection of the Goshen trail. Fish Camp Prong hits the little river there so we gave fishing that area a go. Still no fish but plenty of beautiful views.

 This one was from the bridge on the Goshen trail looking up the Little River.

This is looking across the Little River at Fish camp Prong where the two intersect. Not every where was rushing white water like that but pools we could fish were few and far between due to the elevated water levels.
 After a couple of hours of fruitlessly whipping the air with our fly rods we headed back to camp to pack up and head down. We ran into the college kids as they were heading out and wished them a safe trip as they thanked us for the fire tips. Why does breaking camp always go quicker than setting up?

 Here is Bill taking down his tent on the way out. Notice mine is already gone and hanging on the back of my pack LOL! While Bill worked on getting everything stuffed back in his pack I figured the load would be lighter if I had another refreshing adult beverage

 Behind my left should you can see out packs hanging on the tree. Not sure where I read that tip but I would like to shout out a thank you to whoever suggested a simple loop of cord tied in a not then looped around the tree with a carabiner hooked to your pack. Much nicer than sitting it on the ground when it come times to start digging through it to find something.
 With Bill all packed up it was time to head down the trail.

 I think I must have slept on my hat as the brim looks a little worse for wear but it still works. I will have to see if I can flatten it back out. You can see my waders strapped down on top of my pack. That was 4 lbs of weight right there. But poor Bill's hip waders are twice that weight. We hooked them to his tent on the bottom of his pack to keep the weight as low as possible.
 Shortly after crossing back over the log crossing and the rock garden I saw a bright read bag laying in the trail. Once I got to it I saw the letters ENO and knew right way one of the college kids had dropped their hammock system off their pack. I picked it up and hoped that we ran into them on the way down but with an hour's head start on us that was probably unlikely. If we did not see them I was going to turn it at the ranger's station in hopes they might stop there looking for it. If nothing else the ranger could contact them and let them know he had it. As luck turned out we actually caught up with them a little past half way. They were stopped at a trail intersection just getting ready to head off to another campsite. The boy who lost it did not even realize it had fallen off. Needless to say he was very happy to get it back!
 We made really good time getting back to Shifty, being downhill really helped.

Were still able to smile so that was good. Time to get a room and try fishing another location! It took a bit to find a place open as it is still early in the season but we finally got a room then headed back into the park to fish the lower levels of the Little River. Sadly there was not much difference as we still were unable to convince, trick, or beg a fish into taking out flies.
 Luckily we were still able to have fish for dinner, all be it at the Steak and Trout house down the street from our hotel. Even though we did not catch it personally ourselves it was still very tasty!

 Blackened trout with a good old baked potato. Just pretty darn hard to beat. Cap that off with a cold beer and bourbon pecan pie and that can only equal one thing, going to bed stuffed to the gills!
 Over dinner we discussed our options for Tuesday which would be out last day there. We decided to roll the dice and drive the hour and half across the ridge to the North Carolina side in hopes of finding warmer water and hungrier trout. I did not make it very long once we got back to the room and crawled into bed. I remember the TV was on but I have no idea what was on as I was out like a light.
 We headed out about 6:30 the next morning headed to Gatlinburg then down 441 to the Cherokee area. We stopped for breakfast on the south side of Gatlinburg at Crocketts Breakfast Camp restaurant. OH WHAT A FIND!!!! I ordered a breakfast skillet meal thinking I got to choose a couple of items from a long list of sides but turns out I got it all! It took two frames to get a pic of all my breakfast!

 They brought out this 14" cast iron skillet full of country fried steak, fried taters, two eggs, bacon, cone pone, and grave. Then on another plate I had a biscuit and the thickest pan cake I have ever seen. I managed to clean my skillet but there just was not room for very much of the pan cake even thought it was really tasty!
 Bill got the ham and eggs and said the ham was delicious but those fried potatoes were just nothing short of incredible!!!! We both said we could have just gotten a big plate of them covered with gravy! Somehow we managed to walk out of there and made it to the car once we finished stuffing our faces. I was just glad my chest waders are kind of stretchy LOL!
 On the way over the mountain we discussed fishing on the tribal section of the Raven's fork as they stock it twice a week. I was not opposed to catching stocked fish at this point. Turns out that the catch and keep area of the river was closed till the end of March but the "trophy fish" section which is catch and release only was open. Only problem was that they wanted 85 dollars each to fish that section. Call us cheap, but we said no way. Actually it was probably more like "Oh hell no!".
 Giving up on that idea we went back up to the Smokemount campground to fish the Bradly fork prong. Along the way up 441 I saw a large deer standing in the Oconaluftee river so I pulled off. I quickly realized it was not a deer but a elk and he had friends with him. A lot of friends, as there may have been two dozen in the woods.  That was pretty neat to see as I don't think I had ever seen elk in the wild before.
 We got to the campgrounds and got all decked out to go fish again. I was first to hit the water and on maybe my 5th cast I hooked a nice brown trout and managed to get him turned before he spit the hook out. I was bummed I lost him but pumped up that maybe we found a place that would finally produce some fish. That hope was short lived as that was the last strike either of us would get. I made the best of it and had a good time exploring my way up the stream along the edge of the rocks. I worked my way up to this pool and tried my luck one more time.

 Then just kept working my way up through water like this.

Hard to believe that was about 4 feet deep as you can see the bottom everywhere in the streams. I could not get any further up stream without getting in water deeper than my waders and there were other people fishing up stream so I went back and got a action shot of Bill.

 No one ever said fishing was easy or a sure thing. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. Sure we would have loved to caught a lot of fish but we still had a great time and laughed almost constantly at one thing or another. I am just glad we finally got to go give it a try. Next time we will hopefully have better conditions.
 Ironically, the temp was 83 as we headed back north. The sun was out and the waters had just started to warm. Like it so often seems, the fish started biting the day after we were there...

Skier on the mend

3-14-2017

 Just a quick update to all of you who thought we had disappeared. Were still here and I am glad to report Cindy is recovering from her ACL reconstruction surgery she had on Feb 22nd. Fortunately it has been almost a totally snowless winter so we have not missed out on any great conditions. I think we are both starting to show signs of cabin fever though as we have not been able to do anything outside since the accident.
 Cindy was really hoping her knee damage was just a MCL sprain but after 5 weeks it was still hurting and starting to lock up. I finally convinced her that we needed to get it looked at again. She had to change doctors and I think she got a really good one the second time. After looking at her knee he told her he was 99% sure she had internal damage, most likely a torn meniscus and ordered a MRI. Well he himself was surprised when we looked at the MRI because the meniscus was fine but then as he scanned down he saw that the ACL was missing. Cindy wound up having a 99% tear.
 The surgery was scheduled for the morning of 22nd so we were up early and heading to the surgery center. They made quick work of getting my little lady ready for surgery and let me see her for just a few minutes before they wheeled her back. Doesn't she make a cute little patient?

 She will kill me for that pic but I think it is priceless.

 After about an hour and half the surgeon met with me to discuss the procedure and show me some pics. the ACL was all but gone which made less work for him cleaning out the damaged tissue. He showed me pics of the drilled holes in her bones and the new cadaver tendon they inserted into her knee. He assured me all went great and went over the rehab details.
 I got to help Cindy to the car about 45 mins later then carefully took her home. She was super tired from the pain meds so I got her setup in front of the fire and that is pretty much where she camped out for the first week or so.

 The bag of ice got replaced the next day with a really cool Cryo Therm chiller that pumped cool fluid around her knee which really did a nice job of keeping the swelling down.
  I had to take her back the next day for a post op check up and she was barely able to stay awake long enough to get to the car. She went right back to sleep once I got her belted in and then struggled to stay awake to get into the office. She went right back to sleep sitting in the waiting room and then once she saw the pillow on the exam table she went right back to sleep again.

 The Doc woke her up and asked if the pain meds were making her drowsy? Just a little LOL! They reduced her dosage and checked out her knee. All looked well and they gave her the green light to start exercising it daily to get her range of motion back.
 Cindy started working her knee that night and had plenty of help from the boys as they wanted to make sure she was doing them right.

Ok, so the were not much help but they were there to offer moral support. They have really liked having Cindy at home with them everyday. They love having someone else to take naps with them during the day.
 Cindy just had her two week checkup and the Doc said she was Rockstar because she was doing so well. Her range of motion was well past 90 degrees, probably close to 130. She was walking without much of a limp and he cleared her to not wear her brace all the time. He also said she could ride her bike on the stationary bike trainer stand without any resistance. Cindy still has some swelling if she is on it for very long or if she works it a lot but that is just part of it and will go away as the knee continues to heal.
 I have been trying to be the best nurse i can be for her during her recovery. I think I deserve an A for my nest building skills

 The curved foam pillow was just the ticket to keep Cindy's leg from rolling off when she slept.
 Sadly we chose to cancel our trip to the Rockies this summer. While her doctor said she should be fine to go it just isn't worth the risk of re injury so soon after surgery. Once I told the doc that we were going to be backpacking in and fly fishing in the streams he agreed that it might be best to postpone that trip till her knee is completely healed which will take up to a year. We were both really looking forward to going and had already started getting all the gear we would need. We can use the gear kayak camping as well so it will get used one way or another and we really hope to be able to go out next summer and see the Rockies. It just wasn't worth the risk of Cindy slipping or stepping on a rock and stressing the new tendon as it heals. Plus I did not want to have to carry her out 6 miles at 10,000 feet. I would have done it but I would much rather not doing it if at all possible.
 As long as Cindy continues to heal at the rate she is healing she should be good to go when sailing season arrives in a couple of months. She will still need to be really careful crawling around on the boat to make sure she does not slip and take a spill. I will do my best to keep her somewhat under control.
 We are getting ready for our spring break trips as Cindy is going to Key West with her girlfriends and I am hoping to head down to the Smokies for a few days with my fishing buddy Bill to backpack in and fly fish for trout. The forecast looks great for Cindy's trip but it is still kind of iffy for our fishing trip. They just had snow in the mountains and now the temps are really dropping with a low in the teens tonight. That will make the water temps drop as well and we really need the water to be 50 or close to it for the trout to be active. There is a warm up forecasted to start a few days before we are scheduled to go so hopefully it warms the water back up.
 I know Cindy did not enjoy getting hurt and we both really missed not being able to take our normal ski trips to Michigan. But I know she has really enjoyed being at home the past few weeks. She started cranking out the sewing projects once her knee got well enough for her to be a little mobile. I think it has given her a taste of what retirement will be like and from all impressions I get she really really likes it!

Skier down!

1-5-17

 Well we finally got some snow, if you can call a 1/2" of fluffy white powder snow. This is southern IN so by the way people freak out over a little dusting you would have thought it was a blizzard! Needless to say they called school off so Cindy got a day off from work extending her Christmas vacation by another day. She was a happy camper even if we did not get enough snow to dust off the xc skis.
 At least the temperature had been cold enough for Paoli to fire up the snow makers and with the 1 inch of real snow that they got we thought we would take advantage of the cold and snow and take a quick trip down to Paoli to do a little downhill. I took the afternoon off and went home to pick up my little lady then head south, yes south, to get in a few runs.
 We arrived about 2 and were quickly ready to hit the hill. They were surprisingly busy for midweek which we were happy to see. We made a couple run down the west side and then the power line run. They had some of the blowers running on those runs but for the most part the snow was actually in pretty good shape. Cindy did have one small mishap at the top of the power line run and went down. I stopped to wait on her and got totally encrusted by ice thanks to the wind and the snow blower.
 It was our first experience with the snow makers being on while we skied so we were learning as we went. First important observation was that it is not totally frozen when it comes out of the blower even when the outside air temp is a balmy 14 degrees. That would explain why I was covered in ice by the time Cindy got back up on her skis.
 Second observation was that not all the blowers oscillated. Some were fixed units, which would later prove to be our undoing.
 Here we are a bit iced over riding the ski lift back up.

 We decided to go try out the east side of the hill and see how conditions were there as there are usually fewer people there. Cindy lost one of her ski poles on the way to Walnut Alley and I made a slick between the legs grab of her pole and handed it to her as I skied past. I stopped and waited on Cindy to catch up so she could go first and I could follow behind her just in case she needed any help. Standing at the top of the run we noticed that all the blowers were on and visibility was pretty bad. Not giving it any thought off we went. Cindy had about a 100 foot head start on me and just as I started down Cindy wend head over heals down the in a very nasty looking wipe out! It was a very helpless feeling just standing there watching her tumble onto her head. I took off and got to her as quickly as could to help her up and put her back together. I nearly wiped out as I reached her as a large pile of slush was what caused her to wiped out. It nearly got me but I made it to her. She was starting to get up when I got to her and I asked if she was ok. She said yes, not totally correct, and we went about gathering up her skis and poles and getting her put back together. She hit hard on the left side of the top of her helmet and I tried to get as much of the impacted snow and ice off of her helmet but we were getting pelted by the snow maker so I asked if she was good, again she said yes, totally not correct. She assured me she could get to the bottom so I let her take off first and tried to follow her down.
  I did not make it far before the tips of my skis sunk into another mound of slush from the one of the fixed blowers and down I went making me loose sight of Cindy. I scrambled back up as fast as I could but I went down again just rounding the last turn. Other skiers and boarders were going down all around me so I had plenty of company on the ground but my main concern was getting to Cindy as quickly as I could. Back on my skis I saw her laying on the ground about 300 feet up from the bottom of the run so I bee lined it to her and slid to stop next to her.
 Even with her face all covered with goggles and her balaclava I could tell she was hurt by her body actions. I asked her if she was ok and she said her knee went out! Oh crap. But then she said she could get to the lift. So I gather up her skis and got back together. I think she was worried about getting ran over so she took off pretty quickly after we got her back on her skis and I followed closely behind. I could hear her moans of pain as she made the turn at the bottom to get to the lift and could tell she was really hurting as she poled her way the last few feet to the chair. We managed to get her on the chair but by now she is really hurting. On the ride up we came up with the plan that if she could just get off the lift to stop as soon as she could and we we would pop out of our skis and I would get her inside then come back for our gear. As we got to the top and exited the lift she could not turn without extreme pain so she went straight and I was really worried she might ski off the edge of the edge and down the hill to the parking area. Luckily she stopped just short and we worked on getting her inside.
 Once inside and sitting down I finally got to see her face uncovered and I could tell she was in a lot of pain. I ran back out and gathered up our gear and took it all straight to Shiftie then returned to get Cindy. Once I got back to her is when she came clean and told me that she had hit her head so hard the first time that she saw starts but then by the time I got to her she was better. But then as she skied down the hill to the lift her vision worsened till all she saw was purple and that was when she went down hurting her knee. She said her vision came back to normal as she was sitting there waiting on me to get the gear loaded up.
 Her pupils looked ok so we elected to just get her to the car then go from there. I helped her get her ski boots and clothes off then helped get down the stairs as easily as she could. I had her wait for me by the side exit as there is a covered parking spot there with a side door that has no stairs. I pulled around and dodged the ambulance that was there to pick up someone else as I slipped into the covered spot. I got Cindy loaded up and we headed out.
 Cindy assured me it was not broken, like she has a built in xray. I stopped an got her some ibuprofen to hopefully help keep the swelling down then we stopped at Porkys to get her something to eat before she took the ibuprofen.
 We were back home about 4 hours after we left and I helped Cindy hop into the house and got her sitting in front of the fire to warm up as I unloaded all our ice covered gear. She tried to tell me it was fine but each time she tried to walk I could tell she was far from fine. I ran into town a bit later and retrieved the communal crutches from Libby as they seem to get passed around from injured person to injured person.
 Cindy was supposed to go to school the next day but driving into town I really doubted that they would have school as the roads were glazed in ice and temps were supposed to drop into the single digits. I was really hoping they called it off so Cindy could get some more rest.
 Back home Cindy hopped her way to bed and stayed there the rest of the night. She got the text about school being closed about 6 am the next morning so at least she dodged that bullet. I went to work and started calling the orthopedic doctor's office about 5 minutes before they opened hoping to get her an appointment. I lucked out and got her the only opening of the day at 11 am.
 I ran home and picked Cindy up before returning to the hospital where the ortho office is located. They got her in pretty quickly and after a quick xray the doc came in and checked out the damage.
 It did not appear to as bad as it could have been. He thinks she just has a grade one MCL sprain and elected not to do an MRI at this time as the swelling was not as bad as he thought it would have been had she had more severe internal damage to the knee. He had her fitted for a knee brace and told her to wear it until she comes back in 3 weeks at which time if she is still in pain they will do the MRI to see if there is any internal damage that needs repaired. Then something was mentioned about how hard she hit her head and he asked her quite a few questions about her symptoms she was having. He said she probably suffered a slight concussion and told me to get her to a prompt med or ER if any of her symptoms worsened.
 After picking up lunch I took Cindy back to our little lodge and got her set up in front of the fire with the boys before I headed back to work. Our friends Libby and Amy came out and kept her company till I got home which was really sweet of them. She did fine all day and her symptoms did not get any worse.
 By Saturday she was walking gingerly without the crutches and had just a slit headache. By the next day she did not even take them with her as we ventured out. Cindy really got lucky that it was not any worse but now it brings us to a fork in the road.
 Last ski season when she hurt her shoulder in a nasty fall up at Crystal Mountain in Michigan I told her that the next time she got hurt during downhill we were done with downhill skiing. She swears she did not agree to that, that she just did not feel like arguing with me and assumed she would not get hurt again. Well, it happened as now she is banged up again. Our skis season is over as I wont ski without my Bestie. I am ready to sell our down hill gear and the lift tickets that I had pre purchased but someone is not happy about that. Cindy seems to think that she will be fine in a few weeks and she will back on skis again yet this season. This is how I see it. Cindy and I are too active and she needs her knees to be healthy too much to risk hurting it again by trying to rush this recovery. The very last thing I want to see is her get hurt again. She seems to think that her goggles were what caused the first wipe out as she could not see. Now she wants to get some OTG (over the glasses goggles) so she can wear her glasses under them. It would have probably been wise of her to have had those before now as seeing is kind of important but I don't think that would have helped her very much as I went down twice myself as the conditions were treacherous on that run due to the snow making activity.
 There comes a point in everyone's life when they have to look at themselves in the mirror and say "Self, I think the time has come to maybe pick a new hobby with less chance for personal injury". I had to do this with myself when I decided to sell the Harley that I had built. I had totally rebuilt and customized my bike into a loud ass, go fast scooter that was probably just going to wind up either killing me or worse turning me into a vegetable. Cindy did not feel comfortable riding on it so I just stopped and asked myself what was more important to me, riding my Harley or being with my Bestie? Cindy won out, I sold my bike and all my gear, we bought a Jeep that she thoroughly enjoys, and we are both still alive. Do I miss my bike,? Sometimes, but I enjoy my time with Cindy much much more.
 I really hope Cindy comes to the conclusion that maybe downhill skiing is a bit too risky for us at this point in our lives. We both probably got started doing it too late in life and we just don't get to do it enough to get really good at it. As we both age our recovery time is just going to increase. So really, what fun is it constantly worrying about getting hurt or your loved one getting hurt as you watch it happen in front of you with nothing to do to stop it. We can still cross country ski which I totally enjoy. Yes, we have had a lot of fun down hill skiing, but I really think the time has come to let it go and concentrate on a little safer winter activity like xc and snow shoeing. I promised Cindy that when we got to where we could no longer ski we would transition into snowmobiles so we could still get out and enjoy the snow. Maybe this brings us one step closer to getting sleds.
 Here is wishing my little lady a speedy recovery and a heart felt I love you!

Back on real SNOW!!!

1-4-2017

 Finally! We were able to get back on real snow! Oh how great it was, to be able to watch snow fall from the sky and collect on the ground again. It had been way too long for sure.
 Even though  Cindy and I had been down to our local southern Indiana downhill ski hill, Paoli Peaks, twice so far this season, it is all man made snow this season and while it is much better than not getting to play on snow, it just is not the same. After watching the weather we decided to roll the dice and head north to the Grayling Michigan area over the New Year's weekend to do some cross country skiing. They had good snow till 5 days before we left when it warmed up and rained. They had been getting new snow but just not much. Fortunately for us they received 3 fresh inches the night before we got there so we had pretty good conditions waiting on us.
 We left our lodge on the hill at the very ungentlemanly time of 5 am. to head north. Cindy is like the best traveling companion ever. She never complains, always lets me pick the radio station, never says anythign about my driving, and pretty much is good with whatever I want to do. The fact that she spends most of the car trips like this probably has something to do with it

 See what I mean, you just don't get a more relaxed traveling partner than this ;-) Cindy hates it when I take her picture while she is sleeping but I have to do something to entertain myself.
 We had a uneventful drive even though conditions started out a bit icey in places. Luckily what few accidents we encountered were either old enough they had been cleared or fresh enough that the wrecker had not arrived yet. I really thought we were going to make it Higgins Lake with only one stop as Cindy was snoozing away and we had enough fuel. But with about 20 mins to go Cindy woke up, looked around, saw snow, and said she was thirsty. So one more quick stop for drinks and snacks before we arrived at the Northwinds Lodge.
 We quickly checked into our room and changed into our ski clothes then ran next door to XC Ski Headquarters to get in a quick lap or two before it got dark. We were both surprised at how many cars were in the parking lot when we pulled in. A lot of people must have had the day off for New Years. Lucky bums.
 We wasted no time and were on the snow as soon as we got our trail passes. It was good that they had received the new snow as you could tell it was icey under the new snow. The skiing was good and once we passed the Trapper's cabin it was like we had the trail to ourselves. Our friends Jerry and Amy were a couple of hours behind us and arrived at ski Headquarters just as we finished our first lap so we headed back across the road to meet up with them and grab a quick bit to eat.
 There is just something so refreshing about being around others who like snow as much as you do. Everyone that was there was there because they wanted to be out in the snow playing, just like us. I got our lunch while Cindy shopped a bit then we people watched as we enjoyed our grilled cheese sandwiches and chips.
 After our snack we headed back out to hit the Rolling Hills trail and then stopped at the Trapper's Cabin to enjoy a warm cup or two, of spiced wine by the fire.

My sweater looks like I have one large man boob for some strange reason LOL! After we warmed up a bit we made one more lap on the big trail and finished up just as the last few lumens of daylight faded to black. We met up with Jerry and Amy in the Stone Turle Cafe and made plans for dinner with them before headed back to our rooms.
 We were all staying at the Northwinds Lodge ran by Jim Tucker. Jim is a nice as they come and he keeps a very clean and neat hotel. He always turns the heat up for us before we arrive so our room is nice and toasty when we get there. He did the same for Jerry and Amy so I was surprised when they said at dinner their room was freezing when they got there. We all enjoyed a great dinner at the Stream Side Restaurant just down the road from the lodge. You just can't beat the North Winds lodge for location, price, or hospitality as it is conveniently located between food and skiing!
 Back at the room after dinner I received an alert on my phone for a winter weather advisory for the area as lake effect snow was going to develop after midnight with 1-3 inches forcasted. You know who was up every hour or so looking outside to see if it had started and how much we had gotten so far. It start between 12 and 1 am and by 6 am we had gotten 2 inches at the lodge.
 I tried to let Cindy sleep as long as I could but the kid in me was dying to get outside and start playing in the snow. I finally could not hold back any longer and woke my little lady up. I am pretty sure she could tell by my voice that it had snowed before I even shared the wonderful news with her. I am also pretty sure she knew I was up about a dozen times in the night looking out the window.
 While I was outside getting Pearl ready to roll Jim came over and shared his concern with me that he might have messed up and given Jerry and Amy the wrong room key. He told me he had turned the heat on in H but the blinds were still open there and he could see that there was no one in there. Then he noticed that they had parked in front of J. I started laughing and told him how it all made sense now after Jerry saying their room was freezing. Jim felt awful about it and asked how they took jokes. I assured him that since they hung out with us I was pretty sure they would see the humor in it. Plus this might have been a good way to promote cuddling all night long for the two of them LOL!
 Cindy and I headed off to Fred's Place in Roscommon for the weekend breakfast buffet. Let me just say that if your ever in the area, you have to get the breakfast buffet. The bacon is to die for and the cinnamon french toast is supper yummy. Needless to say, we both ate too much, but it was soooo goood.
 After stuffing ourselves at Fred's it was time to get serious and hit the trails. We headed north about 20 miles to Hartick Pines State Park and the closer we got the more snow we could see they had gotten overnight. By the time we got to the park there  was 5 to 6 inches of new snow on top of what they already had and it was oh sooo beautiful!

 Can we say winter wonder land??? This was why we drove 7 hours north and the lake effect did not disappoint!
 We were only the third vehicle there when we pulled in and parked. A couple who was snow shoeing stop and wait on us to go ahead of them on the trail which was super nice of them. As we passed Cindy told them we had driven up from southern Indiana just to ski and they asked where. After telling them we were from Seymour they told us they were from Greenwood which is about a hour north of us. They drove all the way there just to snow show. People think I am crazy LOL!
 We got on the trail as quickly as we could not wanting to miss a minute of this awesome snow. One other person had been out on skis ahead of us but they turned left onto the main trail where as we went right. That meant that one of us was going to be breaking the trail. I was more than glad to make my tracks in the virgin snow. Genius me never thought that they would have enough snow that I would have needed my leg gators but I was I was wishing I had them with me instead of leaving them back in my ski bag in the room. Lesson learned.

 As you can see the snow stacked up onto my boots as I broke trail for Cindy. So glad I had my sock liners on as more snow than I would have liked wound up in my ski boots and although my socks were wet my feet were still warm.
 The scenery was just beautiful in the woods

 Luckily the wind that brought the lake effect snow had died down to almost nothing so it was very comfortable skiing temps. In fact I ditched my sweater shortly after we started and spent the rest of the day skiing in just my dry fit shirt.

 We skied about 6 miles there at Hartwick Pines breaking trail for about 4 1/2 miles of that so it was a good thing we had that extra plate of bacon at breakfast ;-)
 As the it got closer to noon the wind started blowing which made the snow on the trees fall off. At times it was near white out type conditions on the trail. Can you see Cindy on the trail in the picture below?

 Neither can I but she is in there somewhere. Had I taken this pic a few seconds earlier the visibility was so bad you cold not see the first tree on the left side of the pic. The other downside to the wind was large clumps of snow were now falling off the limbs above us. I took a big hit to the head here.

  That was chilly. But the great thing about cross country skiing is that as long as you keep moving your body is generating heat so you can keep warm. If you start to cool off, just ski faster!
 From Hartwick Pines we headed southeast to the Mason Tract Trail. this is one of my favorite trails up in that area as it is just so intimate and scenic. It runs along the Ausable river from the bridge on Chase Bridge road to M-72. We have skied on the west part of it twice, both times turning back before we reached the end. Once due to cold and running out of time, the other due to warming snow sticking to our skis. While it is not the type of trail where you are going to set speed records, it is a challenging trail due to the varying terrain. But all that aside, it is just a beautiful trail to ski with fresh snow slinging to the trees.

 We did make it to the first river access point where we walked the stairs down to the water's edge for this photo.

 The Ausable river is widely known as a excellent trout river and it looks like a fisherman's dream just standing next to it. Maybe someday we can make it back up in and fish parts of it.
 With the snow sticking to our skis we elected to head back to the car and do a little antiquing in Grayling. On our way Amy invited us to join them at the Paddlehard Brewing Company for snacks and a beverage. Drinks won out over antiques so off we went. We had a nice visit to the brewpub and enjoyed some cold beverages.
 Being the party animals that we are we finished off 2016 back at Fred's place with Jerry and Amy. All I can say is that Fred's does an awesome business as they are always crowded for dinner. The food was all very good and we all retired to our rooms well before midnight. Needless to say I failed to wake up to ring in the new year as I was out like a light once my head hit the pillow. I think we were going to watch a little tv but someone forgot to tell my body that.
 Sadly we woke up early and headed south back to Indiana with thoughts of hitting some antique shops in Allen MI on the way back. Being New Year's day several of the ones we wanted to visit were not open but we persevered on and found one open in Auburn IN and in Markle IN.
 After stopping at REI in Indy to get Cindy some new hiking shoes for our upcoming trip to the Rockies this summer we finally pulled in our driveway about dark. Knowing the boys were not going to be happy with us for going off and leaving them behind we got them junior back cheeseburgers from Wendy's to help smooth things over.

 In just a few seconds all was well again and I doubt they even remembered we had left.

 As we unpacked our gear we talked about when our next trip north was going to be and where we were going this time. While it is only 3 weeks away I am not sure I can hang on that long. Just knowing that they have awesome snow conditions up north is almost more than I can bare. Hopefully the lake effect continues and they have lots of powder when we arrive!
 It was another awesome ski trip to Michigan with my bestie. I cant wait till we load up and head north again!!!