Munchkin Invasion

We've been busy with company the past week. First came Matt & Mandy and the Munchkins. (Franklin & Ellie). The first order of business was to get the two little ones acclimated to their life jackets. Surprisingly they wore them without any objection.

Ready for the pool.

The temps have been in the low 90's here and humid making the swimming pool a real oasis when two small children are on the boat. Since it was early in the week we pretty much had the pool to ourselves.

Pool Time.

At ages two and three these two are in the Go position all the time. It didn't take long for them to discover the water slide.

Don't let that innocent face fool you. A little flirt resides just behind it!

Franklin was a bit cautious going down the slide but enjoyed it none the less. Ellie on the other hand after one slow trip down decided to just lay back on the life jacket and rocket down the slide and fly off into the water. Both would come up spitting and sputtering and ready for more.

Franklin trying to talk GramPam into going down the slide.

One afternoon we rented a golf cart and drove into town for ice cream.

Craig's Dairy. The ice cream was good but the server was less than happy to be there. Seems we interrupted her texting. What were we thinking?

Of course no visit to Grand Rivers is complete without a visit to Patti's. There's no way to describe Patti's other than to say it's a tourist trap that serves a whopping sized pork chop and a variety of other tasty dishes.

Riding the horse. Still only a quarter at Patti's!

Patti's 2" thick pork chop.

The kids love turtles and they weren't disappointed during their visit. They swim right up to the back of the boat every day. We became even more popular when the kids started feeding them crackers.

Turtle feeding time.

They found even more turtles under the Commonwealth Yacht Club along with the resident geese.

Before any day could get underway it became a ritual for the munchkins to watch the DVD, Despicable Me 2.

Pacifier.

I even got trapped into watching it. Thank God for Animal Crackers! 

We spent another afternoon at the pool and one day we took Tourist out and anchored in a nearby cove where the kids wore us out.

Taking a trip around the boat. Ellie in true priss fashion spent the time looking at herself in my sunglasses.

 By mid afternoon it was time to head back in to get ready for dinner at The Catfish Kitchen in nearby Benton, Ky.

Country dining at it's best!

Friday morning the troops were up early and on the road back home. Pam immediately went into clean up mode determined to get every smudge and fingerprint erased as well as the bedding cleaned and back on in time for our next guests to arrive. Friday afternoon.


Our second set of visitors, Pam's sister Barb and her husband Bill arrived Friday afternoon. So what did we do with them? We put them in our car and drove back to Paducah to get groceries and have dinner.

Saturday we lazed around in the morning and decided to take the boat out for an overnight. Still hot outside, it didn't take long to find the water once we were anchored.

Diaper dipping.

Barb peeking over the transom.

Snack time!

Followed by nap time.

Before dinner Bill gave Pam a lesson in playing Cribbage after letting her win the first game (his story). Pam was excited to be playing anything since I'd rather listen to my arteries harden than play board games or cards.

We had steaks on the grill for dinner and watched highlights from the Johnny Carson era of the Tonight Show before collapsing into bed.

Sunday Pam made a great breakfast before we pulled the anchor and took a little ride through the Barkley Canal into Kentucky Lake. Once we returned to the dock we got cleaned up and went to dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club.

We made a stop at the bar before going to our table and were greeted by one of the rudest individuals I've encountered in quite awhile. We no sooner took our seats at the bar next to this guy when he starts screaming at the soccer match on TV. I might expect that in a sports bar but not here and certainly not right in your ear! This moron carried on for the remainder of the match and at one time slammed his stool so hard I thought he'd broken it. He was the only one there watching the game while everyone else just looked at him and what an ass he was making of himself. Everyone was glad to see him leave.

We were happy to find our table!

Monday all of us jumped in the car and headed to Nashville.

We're in Tennessee!

Our landing place in town was just off Broadway. Our interest for the day was to explore the  haunts along Broadway. We started with lunch at Rippy's and then off we went.

Lunch at Rippy's.

Looking down Broadway.

Been there for years!

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge with the Ryman Auditorium behind.

Inside Tootsie's.

Inside Legends Corner.

Broadway is lined with bars featuring live music at all hours of the day.

A few of the clubs along 3rd street.

We stumbled into Coyote Ugly where we had to drag Barb & Pam off the bar.

Dancers!

Our walk took us into Printers Alley which years ago was the late night spot to be but is now a spattering of strip clubs.

Still historic but not what it once was.

Not all of Nashville is dedicated to music.

We even found the replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park.

It was a fun day walking the streets of Music City and listening to the variety of musicians hoping to be discovered.

We made the drive back to Tourist and had baked ziti for dinner.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Docker's before saying goodbye to Barb & Bill.

Dockers Bayside Grill.

On the road to home.

It was fun having company for a few days and provided a nice distraction from the variety of chores we have on our list for the summer.

One thing leads to two

Originally we were going to spend a week at home before returning to GTB. As is usually the case that plan changed. My Dad went in to have a spot on his ear checked out and found out it was cancerous. A few phone calls and he had an appointment at Mayo Clinic to have it removed the following week.
While we waited for his appointment day to arrive we were able to catch up on a few things around the house and also get out for a little fun.

Some of that fun included a day of golf with Mike & Nancy. Two of the most patient people I know to put up with our lack of golf skills for 18 holes.

Don't we look the part!

In spite of our lack of skill we had a lot of fun on the links.

We also got to see the munchkins again and GramPam even got Ellie to go to a recital with her.

Turf war in the backyard.

A happy GramPam. She thinks Ellie's going to be a priss like her!

Friday came and we were sitting in the waiting room at Mayo 40 minutes before Dad's scheduled appointment. The whole procedure took less than 4 hours including the tissue biopsy. He was discharged with a clean bill of health for his ear and a nice sized bandage as a souvenir. We drove back along the Mississippi River with a stop in La Crosse for lunch.

Our one week stay at home turned into two but it was worth it for everyone's peace of mind.

On Sunday we threw a few things in the car and pointed the hood south, back to GTB and Tourist.
Upon our arrival back at the boat I was alarmed at how it had been taken over by spiders and their webs. Not since we left the boat at Atlantic Yacht Basin have we seen so many spiders and the mess that goes with them. I could hardly control the string of expletives spewing from Pam's mouth as we fought our way into the boat. Words like "Yuck" and "Ooey" and of course 'Get away you stupid idiot!" were being flung at the intruders.

This doesn't begin to capture the mess we came back to but you get the idea.

Needless to say I spent a few hours cleaning Tourist on Monday. I even found a couple of mud wasp nests around the boat.

Tuesday brought rain through the area and plenty of it. Nice to be in a covered slip in spite of the spiders and wasps.

Rain rolling off the adjoining dock.

The forecast for the remainder of the week looked pretty good with only a brief period of rain in it so we decided to leave the dock and find an anchorage for a few days. Of course any boat owner knows that a boat is always a work in progress and with that in mind we headed out knowing that our sump pump was acting a little sluggish.

We crossed over into Kentucky Lake and stuck our nose in a couple of places that sounded good but with the possibility of some wind in the forecast didn't provide us with enough swing room for our comfort. One cove when we got back into it had a campground and beach right off the anchorage. Not a bad spot but too many people with yelling kids and barking dogs.

Campground beach before the week-end crowd.

We moved on to a familiar spot in Duncan Bay after checking out one more place for future consideration. Once we were settled we dropped the dinghy into the water to go for a ride. Of course there's a certain amount of work required to get the dink ready and that normal job expanded when upon starting the motor I noticed it wasn't pumping water. WTF! It was pumping water the last time we used it. I tried sticking a toothpick up the discharge opening but felt no resistance. Only a little substance on the pick when I pulled it out that looked like a spider web. Hmmm!
I lowered the motor back into the water and let it sit for a few minutes thinking that maybe a spider decided to take up residence somewhere in the cooling system and I could soften it up.
Much to my amazement it worked! When I fired it back up a small glob came out of the discharge port. Maybe my assessment was correct! Whatever it was the motor worked for the remainder of our time out.

Tourist anchored in one of the coves of Duncan Bay.

The waters up a little above the summer pool stage in Ky. Lake.

So remember the sump I mentioned? Of course it decided to bite the dust. I suppose after 10 years of use it was living on borrowed time. This whole sump system on this boat has always been a thorn in my side from the time we purchased the boat. All sinks and showers drain into a common sump where it is pumped overboard except when we are under way at which time because of the attitude of the boat it runs through the overflow tube into another area under the bunks in the 3rd stateroom. Of course when this happens not all of it gets pumped out and starts to smell sour. As you would expect to get at this second sump you have to first move things off of the bunk then lift it up to get at the things under it that need to be moved so you can get to the floor to remove it so you can get at the sump with a shop vac to remove any remaining water. Brilliant!

The sump. The left side as you look at it is towards the bow. That's the float switch with the blue writing on it. It of course is mounted at the higher end of the sump and the pump in the deeper end. It never ever pumps the sump water to a point below the float switch. You can see the overflow drain hole to the right. Anything above a slow speed tilts the boat and sump sending the water to the overflow.

Enough whining. Fortunately I had another pump on board and replaced the old one with the thought to change the location of the float switch in the near future. Why this thought waited 10 years to surface I can't explain!?!

I'm happy to report that our Princess Chairs still work. We last had them out back in 2009 here in Ky. Lake.

Of course one thing leads to another. When I got the air pump out to inflate the chairs the switch wouldn't work causing me to cut out the switch and wire it direct.

Conditions were great for our time out. A brief period of rain one night but otherwise air temps were around 80 and the water temp was 81 with a clear sky overhead.

Morning view over the stern.

Sunday morning we woke up to an old familiar nemesis from our days on the Upper Mississippi. Fish Flies!

Not too bad. At times they're so thick it looks like the boat has a fur coat.

After a few Ooeys from Pam we pulled the anchor and headed back in before the Sunday crowd hit the water. Our next mission; get ready for the Franklin & Ellie invasion.