uncommonly feeble and random thoughts

My next door neighbors, and five others, all neighbors but one, decided it was a good idea to, well, what else, swim the English Channel. Bucket list? Mid-life whatever? An excuse for the wives to shop in Paris? All that shall remain a mystery. The fact of the matter is, six guys trained for months, and their shot came last night. The crossing has been planned for a long time, and requires joining the Channel Swim Association, finding domicile in Dover, and arranging for a boat. How hard could all that be? Well, let's start with the CSA. The rules are, no wetsuits. Yup. So notice I'm not on the trip. Sixty-seven degrees at the warmest. Kuh-razy, am I right? Well, and then you have to have swim chops, and again, I'm not on the trip. I did get invited to be the vid guy, but our budget isn't structured in that way. As in, Linda in Paris? Once again, kuh-razy, am I right? Back to the swim. They selected an award-winning captain on the Viking Princess . They pl...

Yes the boating is wonderful. The boat, the lake, the family, the friends... until Captain Crunch takes the helm. James went down wakeboarding, and I began the 180 turn process to retrieve him. I knew where the sand bar was and knew I should have turned right. But nooooo, I turned left. Ran aground. Prop damage, no powertrain damage. And Linda slammed into the handrail on the sink. Second time I've done this, second time she's been the vic. And yet she hasn't left me. Hey, she still gets on the boat! I had the upper prop on hold to send in for remanufacture. The bottom one took the hit: Neighbor Bruce talked me out of getting a stainless. He recommended a second aluminum. Much cheaper and you always can swap the other one in. Not sure they can really remanufacture this one. We'll see.

Can't get enough of the place!!  Labor Day 2016. Good friend Brooke, her bf Joe, and Danielle joined the merry Hecker band for two days of sun and booze. Day 1, Joe had to work: For more fun in the sun, just add Joe!! Fishing is an obligation. Dang. Gotta do it. James is the Absolute Angler: Got one!!! Joe had the moves too, but came up empty: Time to move on and Snapchat. Or Instagram. Or whatever... Let's head in for a bathroom break and ... ice cream!! Don't miss the wakeboard video... posted on Instagram and Facebook... And then, since we've been wakeboarding, tubing, sunning, fishing, and drinking, we need to hit the sand bar and take it easy... And of course, top it off with a little football. It is September after all:

Moved James from Hoyne to Oakley. 90 degrees plus. Thunderstorms. Hailstorm. Proof: This stuff had to go from old to new (not everything by any means!!):  Luke helped tremendously, so why not have a little food in the new place: And, we discovered Pete's Fresh Market where even the fruit behave properly: Then a couple weeks later it was time to build the booth in BR 2 (of 2) in the new place. A single wall with the door and window to isolate the talent. Here's the chief architect checking everything out. Yep, the fan clears, dad... : Just add drywall: And the finish, a panoramic shot (works best on a mobile device). Time to invite over JR and Shaheem, without whom the move never would have occurred, to see the completed booth and for burgers and brews: James tends toward artistry in sound and food. Behold, the burger creation of the evening: The day after, have to make the trek to Dark Matter  for the brew of the ...

Linda and I love Indian River, Burt and the Chain O' Lakes, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Mac City (sorta)... in short, the Tip of the Mitt. We try to make it yearly. We did this year. First up, our original cabin. Two queen beds, sofa... nice. We had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights there, but had to swap out as another guest had booked it for the weekend. So... we moved here:  One queen bed, barely enough space to walk around the bed. Would've been much better to do this in reverse! Also, the neighbors were having a family reunion and were super, super loud. Paper walls. Every word, we could hear... Luckily, one could escape... Little Traverse Bay from Sunset Park in Petoskey, looking east to Petoskey State Park: And, a panoramic shot of the park (works best on a mobile device)... Then we went from the bluff to the marina as the storm moved in... and this was the view across the Bay northward to Harbor Springs: During the...