Charles W. Moore

Fall Color Tour – Day 2

We took lots of pictures of new and old haunts.  We left Petoskey 10 AM and proceeded South on US31 to Charlevoix where we stayed almost two hours touring the town,  harbor and some artist shops.  We like it and promised to visit next summer on our cruise.

Continuing South on M31 to Elk Rapids and spent some time at Grand Travis Bay Resort & Spa, touring the town and harbor areas plus we went to the library.  This is on our cruise tour also.

From Elk Rapids south on US31 we proceeded to Mission Peninsula and got a lot of pictures on the grape vines, beautiful panoramas and Chateau Chateau.  We consider this a particularly beautiful area and we know lots of beautiful geography.

From there, we backtracked and went via M-72 and a circuitous rout to Chateau Fontaine to reunite with the owner we met this summer at the  Northport Harbor Festival.  From the Chateau we went to Northport to see the harbor and our old swimming area.  Then we proceeded south again on M-22 to our old haunt of Leland (the harbor was empty).

SAM & I were tired about this time and we decided to drive the 22 miles to Beulah and the Best Western (at $80 per night).  This drive was done entirely on GPS and it was a trip all in itself.  And lead us via a 3 mile dirt road to M-31 again and unto Beulah Best Western (it is pretty new and has all the amenities).  We ate dinner at a good place and returned tired and happy.  As I write now I fear I am going to bed pretty soon.

Tomorrow will bring new adventures as we return to Sleeping Bear and the Platte.  Moore later………

Color Tour – Day 1

We departed Saugatuck about 10:00 AM and after an abortive start we definitely traveled through peak color. By the time we passed through Kalkaska the trees were past peak color. Peak color started just north of Grand Rapids and continued for the next 75 miles – a beautiful drive along US-131. As we arrived in Petoskey the color was back again and we made a side trip on M-119 past Harbor Springs – it is a tree canopy drive and the sunlight filtered through – beautiful is the term for this drive. I have some pictures with SAM’s new 12MPx Kodak camera but no cable to upload them so I’ll have to wait until I get home to post to this blog.

10/10/10

emacedgame.net

SeaPerch – how to

Packing out

Today we filled the car with items from the boat:  Tools, clothes and items we have not used for a couple 0f seasons.  We ate lunch on the boat and headed for PL.  What a bittersweet time – the end of the boating season.  We came back to PL because the new 4″ well is supposed to be drilled tomorrow.  Rick called and said there was a problem with the pump install so it might have to be done later  because he is using a new subcontractor.  I do not know what that means but it does not sound so positive.

Anyway, we have to be in Saugatuck on Friday because SAM’s new glasses arrive and they are to be fitted.  Thursday I have a hangar association board meeting that is a must attend.  However, tomorrow is filled with washing the vehicles, starting all the machinery to get ready for the Fall work season and general cleanup.

We are trying to find some time do do the northern Michigan Fall color tour which is now in full swing.  We want to visit the places we saw this summer on our “cruise”.  Time flies so fast in the Fall that it is hard to get everything done.  The leaves will be falling in the next 3 -4 weeks so that will take some time to  rake, blow, mulch and vacuum all the 30 – 40 loads of leaves.    We can do about 5 loads a day so that gives you an idea of how many days it takes to complete the job.  It usually takes about 2 -3 weeks to for most all the leaves to fall to the ground and we hope for a strong South wind to help the process of  getting the leaves down to the bottom of the hill where we can get at them with the mulcher/vacuum.

A fun day

This will be the first frost of the year if predictions come true.  We have the dorades plugged up, wicks trimmed and the electric heater ready to keep the boat warm tonight as the first sub-40’s temperatures arrive for tonight and tomorrow night.  Winds are still moderate from the north under rising barometric pressure.

Today we went to the Douglas October Fest but it was a bust and we did not even pay the $10 fee to enter.  Instead we went the back way to Holland and came upon the Farmers Market there so we bought some greens and other items.

After that we drove to the north side of Lake Macatawa to the Yacht Basin marina just to look around and really liked the place.  They have deep enough water to float our boat so we will call them tomorrow to see about slip prices for next year.  Moore on this later.

Last Sail of 2010

We took our last sail of this year yesterday.  Winds 13-15kt from the SW and 1 -2′ seas under bright sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-60’s.  In other words – perfect.  On return to port we removed the sails and stored them below because they were dry and the temperatures and winds were conducive to that type of work.  The boat looks sort of bare and forlorn without the sails.  This weekend it is supposed to be in the mid-30’s and widespread frost prevails.  Our little heater should be able to keep up with those temperatures OK.

Back at the PL house we are having a new 4″ well installed by Rick Boyer because of recurrent problems with a cycling pump turn o then off then on.  The well is over 40 years old and needs to be replaced.  Hopefully the new one lasts that long too but then again I will not be around to see that.

Boring & also sad

[singlepic id=242 w=240 h=180 float=left]Not much new news.  We went to the KANQ hangar owners annual event last night and Republican Sheriff hopeful was there to give us a talk on security of the airport.  Several owners had comments; however, it did not appear to me that Troyer had a good idea of his audience.  This said, I like the man and could support his election.

After arriving back at the pad, I fiddled with the new 12MP Kodak camera I bought SAM.  The camera takes brighter and more clear pictures than my 7MP Samsung.  The Cannon 3MP camera took better pictures also.  I installed a 8GB SDHC external card in the Kodak and when I fired it up it said we had room for 3800+ pictures.  With that kind of memory we should have ample space to decent length videos.

The sun is out now but the radar shows that Saugatuck/Douglas is getting really pounded by rain and wind.  Glad I am not on the boat as it would be another slow day.  SAM is messing with the sewing machine and I loaded a few free embroidery files on the Compact Flash card this morning and the machine is doing the work right now.

This afternoon, I will go to a classmates “Celebration of Life”.  I played football with Mike Sapp at AHS.  He was always the gifted athlete and he was a genuine war hero too – Bronze Star (V) plus several Purple Hearts.

Falling Barometer

The day awoke to overcast skies, dreary and easterly winds.  It got worse from there on the falling barometer and rained the remainder of the day on very cool low overcast skies.

The admiral left the ship on the mid-day break in the rain.  Tires were filled with air at the Shell station  under rainy skies and a green & white golf  umbrella in one hand while filling with the other plus juggling the umbrella and the tire caps.

The Capt. watched Rookie Blues episode 12 n 13.  Also watched Human Target episodes 10 n 11.  The boiled some spaghetti with mushrooms and salsa over the top.  Mumm.

Wind, water n Holland

The barometer has remained steady in the 29.7x’s with strong SW’ish winds that are gusty and more or less clear skies to finish the afternoon.  We spent a lot of time in Holland buying waterproof  nylon fabric, nylon thread, D-rings, nylon black webbing and some food.  Of course, we tried to get the absolute best bargain and used lots of gas, more than the buys were worth, to achieve the best price point.

Late in the day we removed the Wind Bugger wind generator and its mounting mast. Believe me it came down lots easier than it went up, even in this gale, just by using the topping lift and a few clove hitches on the entire pole and generator.  The day was a success.

We now listen to the gusty 35kt gale whistling through the rigging and are glad to be inside and tied to the dock with lots of strong, stretchable lines plying us with a gentle rocking motion.  The noise is loud at times but is comforting in spite of its intensity.  Moore later…