Fall Is Here

And I've been busy. Fall for me means boats to put away for the winter, docks and lifts to take out of frigid waters, leaves to rake, and doughnuts to eat. The last boat was tucked in next to my house tonight so I finally have time to post a few photos.

Blazing maple. This tree had been red for a long time. I would pass it every day and contemplate stopping to take a photo. I finally did on my way to the launch to pick up the boat. It's a fine specimen exhibiting near perfect symmetry and the brilliant red hue of it's foliage as the chlorophyll fades away. It's bare now...and rather sad looking.

Ford Lake in the fall looks like this. No algae, no other boats, no one else dumb enough to wakeboard on 50 degree days.

Bye bye. Emily making the final trip of the year across the lake. I love the way this boat looks in the water...especially with a fine, sophisticated lady behind the wheel... she's a lady, woh woh woh, she's a lady...

It's all over. T-minus 5 months till April...

Jetta Gone

Sad day for Emily. Happy day for me (yes, that is my happy face).

Wedding In Chicago

This past weekend we traveled to Chicago to be part of the wedding of my very good friend Albert Bot and his lovely wife Cathy.
Everything about the weekend and the wedding from the food to the people to the overall environment was just wonderful. Cathy is one hell of a wedding planner and no detail was left to chance...she even made snack bags for the out of towners...she's a keeper for sure.

Emily posing outside the bat cave. Entrance to Al & Cathy's condo's parking garage. Where is your motorcycle??
Pass the cream. This is Al's good friend Chuck who broke his arm as a kid and now has an amazing talent.

Seneca Hotel. This was our home for the weekend. Typical high rise Chicago hotel (so I'm told). It is a renovated apartment building so our room was huge complete with living room and kitchen with 50's cupboards. I dig it.

Museum of Contemporary Art. Location of the reception and home to large masses of painted aluminum and colored Plexiglas. I very much enjoy large industrial sculptures that really have no point but are very interesting nonetheless. I also like how well it hides my big, dumb head.

Dinner. Sea bass with mashed potatoes and all the other good stuff you see. The food all weekend was absolutely fantastic and I ate more than I probably should have. This plate was the finale to 3 days of gastronomic delight. Thanks again Al & Cathy, the next Thad burgers are on me.

Al and Cathy. Taken during their traditional Korean tea ceremony. The goal is to get your in laws drunk on rice wine until they hurl chestnuts and dates at you. If you catch them in your mouth it means they forgive you for stealing their beautiful daughter. After all this, the groom gives the bride a piggy back ride around the tea table...no one knows how this got started.

The last Manhattan. I woke up on Sunday to see this sitting on the bedside table. I took it with me after the reception because I was in the mood to party and wanted to be extra hungover on Sunday. That speech really did tie the whole thing together...

Dock Out 2009

October is here and soon snow may start falling in northern Michigan. That means it's time again to head up to Hillman to take the dock and boat lift out and put the boats to bed for the winter. My dad and I had a very enjoyable long weekend doing just that.

Fuel for the weekend. Courtesy of my mom who is the best cook I know and always makes sure we're well fed (It's amazing that I'm not 300 pounds). Her chili is one of my favorites and when you combine that with ritz and franks and cold beer, it's enough to make me eat myself sick...which I did.

Rice crispy treats for desert. Made by you know who. So simple, yet so perfect and delicious. I averaged about 10 a day over the weekend.

Bloody Mary's. It takes a lot of shit to make a bad ass cocktail (expletives added for effect).

Slug on fish head. The fish head was found on my boat cover. Most likely the fish was eaten and the head either dropped or excreted by a seagull. I thought it was kind of cool and set it on this old railroad tie to photograph the next day. The next day it was on the ground with this big slug suckin' on it...circle of life...

Deer Scull. This deer died by the lake last winter. Over the summer the birds and bugs and what not cleaned the bones completely. One thing I really noticed was how tiny the cranium was in comparison to the eye sockets and olfactory cavity. It's probably all that pea brain can do to process the input from it's nose and eyes.

Mystery scull. Maybe a fox, maybe a dog, maybe a chupacabra. Whatever it is seemed to have been shot in the head execution style as evidenced by the round hole in the scull. Found by my dad near the tile field.

Cloudy. This was about the best the sky looked all weekend. We were dodging rain drops trying to get the boats put away and sneaking in wakeboard sets...pretty much the story of the summer. For the last set of the summer we went out 50 yards from the lift, got rained on hard, back in to cover up and hide under the cedars, back out 15 minutes later for a few laps. Sure, we could have packed it in but, we had to wait out the rain just to stick it to crummy weather we had this summer.

Dock Stack. It should be noted that this stack is perfectly level in all 3 axes. Trademark of my dad, "the pile master", and enemy of holes everywhere. No, we're not trying to land the space shuttle on this thing. But, it's nice to know that you could.
Well done.

Shiny Nautique. All waxed up and ready for a long winters nap.

Patent

On 9/29/2009 I was awarded a US patent for an umbrella holder in a door trim panel of a vehicle. That's right US 7,594,686 B2 Belongs to me. Don't try to copy it or you'll have a lawsuit on your hands. I applied for this more than 2 years ago...it takes a really long time for the government to process. Anyway, I don't usually like to toot my own horn...but, beep beep!!!