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View Full Version : Ice is gone Spring is Here!!!



jmvotto
04-05-2008, 10:07 PM
Last week I built a hoist in 6 inches of snow and Ice was turning blue grey. Today did some chores, spread 8000 lbs stone in the drive at the cottage, 51 and sunny.... :D Ice is gone and fishing boats all over.

four more weeks..til moomba time.:mrgreen:

Membrain
04-05-2008, 10:28 PM
4 more weeks!?!?!? Ah no way man! That’s why we live in Texas…9 months of wakeboarding!

Hang in there jmvotto…summer’s coming!!!!!!!!

Hughes144
04-05-2008, 10:49 PM
9 months!?

Dude... it's 12 months for me! :lol:

Sled491
04-05-2008, 10:50 PM
JV I feel ya. I told Z today that I can't take it any more. I'm ordering a dry suit and hitting the river when I get home from Chicago in 10 days :shock:

zegm
04-06-2008, 12:31 AM
Dang I hate to say this, the wife has had the AC on in the house for the last 2 weeks!
:wink:
I will let you know what water temp in the lake is tomorrow when we go skiing!

jmvotto
04-06-2008, 07:30 AM
Sled I am with you on that one, Can't decide between the wetsuit and dry suit Leaning toward the dry suit. heard some are junk and have to blow about 350+ for a good one :shock:

Last year we did about 6 months, pulled everything out in October,
Unlike you peeps south of the mason dixon line, we enjoy multi seasonal activities( we have no choice) snow skiing from Dec to March in the fresh white stuff.
Don't get me wrong the winter gets long, But we like it up here. I spent a week in houston in the summer once, I lost 10lbs ust going back in forth to my car from the heat and humidity :shock: :lol:

I could get the boat next week, but going to Florida ( :D ) for a week and need to do a start a porch project before the boat comes in.

This boat is realy going to mess with my golf handicap :lol:

SEARK
04-06-2008, 08:18 AM
I haven't picked up my golf clubs since I got my LS last year. Some things are just more fun than others. :D

Sled491
04-06-2008, 08:22 AM
Funny you say that Seark. I got a new set of Deep Red irons for fathers day a few years ago and haven't touched my clubs either for a couple of years. In fact if I sell my clubs I could easily by my new Radar Ski :D

As I get older and my kids get older I find I have to stream line my personal activities and had to give up a few things :wink:

SEARK
04-06-2008, 08:26 AM
I hear ya sled. As my kids get older they are enjoying the lake a lot more now. They are getting to the ages where they want to ride behind the boat instead of just in it.

zegm
04-06-2008, 09:51 AM
OK here is the morning update! 60% chance of rain!!!!!! Last night it was 20% but at least it is supposed to blow off by noon!!!
And yes it is the kids sitting here saying when are we going, when are we going!!!

aerophoto
04-06-2008, 01:48 PM
And we have to wait at least 4 more weeks :( Oh well new boat will be here in 6 weeks :)

zegm
04-06-2008, 02:34 PM
Ok the boat is on the dock in the back yard!!!! We are going to eat lunch and then go! Still cloudy but no rain at least!!!! Will report back when we return.

Sled491
04-06-2008, 02:36 PM
what would be really cool is some kind of real time video link 8)

zegm
04-06-2008, 03:03 PM
Just about to walk out the door and checked the mail. Glad I did, I forgot the camera!!! I will try to take a video along with some pictures.

zegm
04-06-2008, 07:54 PM
OK here are pictures of the our outing today.

The kids, the ones who WILL get in the water.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/zegm/DSCN1208.jpg

In the water together because both wanted to be the FIRST towed behind so we towed them together for the LS first official tow!

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/zegm/DSCN1209.jpg

No issues with either getting over the wake with the wakeplate up, ballast empty!

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/zegm/DSCN1212.jpg

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/zegm/DSCN1213.jpg

OK they did go a good ways and then they started to get cold! They got in the boat warmed up and went again!!!
The boat was great! SOOOOO much room!!!!!

SEARK
04-06-2008, 08:27 PM
Looks like yall had a good time. How far do you have to go down the canal before your on the main lake?
Took our LS out today as well, but just rode didn't get in the water.

zegm
04-06-2008, 08:34 PM
You can see the lake in the back ground behind the saw grass island. I guess we go about 1/8 of a mile or less. Luckily the grass is so high that you really can't see the boat from the lake and we don't have to worry about waves beating it against the dock. I was told that that grass bar was not there before Hurricane Opal hit Panama City. Somehow the storm surge was so high it went over the dam (our lake is part of the bay that was dammed up in the 40's to create a fresh water resevoir for the city) and moved some grass islands around. That grass you see behind the boat is actually floating on the water!!!! But it is packed tightly together and is difficult to rip off chunks to tow away, I mean it will not move.

SEARK
04-06-2008, 08:41 PM
It's nice to be away of the main action sometimes. When I'm tied up at my dock there's alway boats coming by and the rollers are pushing the boat aginst the dock. I've got to have plenty of bumpers to protect it.

Sled491
04-06-2008, 09:09 PM
Z,

Very Awsum :D

That's just good parenting there, almost Salomon esq! Your making me sooooo jealous.

jmvotto
04-06-2008, 09:23 PM
Thats awesome stuff, Very jealous from the north.

any gators in the lake i am afraid of large salamanders!!!

the rollers and wave action is why i was puting a hoist together in the snow last weekend :lol:

zegm
04-06-2008, 10:50 PM
One other thing, the little girl on the right is my daughters friend who went with us. She has never done anything on a ski or kneeboard in her life. Well we had her on the kneeboard just after mine went. She even crossed the wake, OK I pull my kids about 17/18 mph on kneeboards and I pulled her at 10 but with the new boat on it's first day out we even taught a kid to kneeboard!

Sled491
04-06-2008, 10:52 PM
that's what it's all about

zegm
04-06-2008, 10:55 PM
JM,

I forgot to answer your question, yes there are alligators on the lake. One part of the lake is wide and open and the other is heading for the swamps and cypress forrest. Most of the gators are in the forest but we have seen a few small ones on the open lake. The water is still cool now so they aren't out much, but soon it will be mating season and things will be different. This is why we also bring a 9mm during the summer. My wife was actually checked out by an alligator once on a river near here. She wouldn't go in the water for a year! Then I bought her Mr. Ruger and she is much better now. But these creatures are stalkers, and to just fall in the water while skiing and have one come and get you is not the way they work. If you were swimming or laying out up on the jungle side of the lake for a period of time then you run a higher risk.

deerfield
04-06-2008, 11:06 PM
Uh, zem - Somehow I just can't see sharing a lake with alligators. Even if they are small. Cause they're still alligators. There's something wrong with that. It stalks you? I'd have to ski with a gun (a big gun, something I didn't have to aim real good) strapped to my side. Doesn't that freak you out when you fall, that something you can't see in the dark water is just waitin' for a snack? I guess you guys are safe, but man you got guts. - Deerfield

jmvotto
04-06-2008, 11:16 PM
i'd be packing too. Mr. 12 gauge!!! :D

That totally freaks me out.
i played golf n Myrtle beach a few years ago and the gators in the ponds scared me enough to use my foot wedge and carry my driver near every pond :shock: let alone be within 1000 yds of them....

zegm
04-06-2008, 11:25 PM
Guys,

You are just like us when we moved here 5 years ago from Atlanta. But really after living here for awhile those fears go away. I believe 2 people were killed in Florida last year or the year before by gators. So you have a much higher chance of getting hit by lightning. And yes we keep our eyes out but with all of the boats out during the summer there is no way an alligator is going to be cruising around the busy part of the lake. They are sort of nocturnal too so that decreases the risk. We did have to put a fence across the backyard to separate it into 2 halfs so the dogs cannot get near the water, alligators love to eat dogs. Finally we kayak in the Chattahoochee river that is between Alabama, Florida and Georgia. This is where my wife was spooked, there are MANY gators there. We would see one and paddle the oppostie way, later we would just stop and look, later we got closer and then we would paddle right to them. We found out that even the big ones wanted no part of our 14 ft long tandem kayak and would swim away from us. And living here 5 years I have seen an alligator 5 times on this lake. On the river I would see 8 in 2 hours so you know we don't ski on the river. :shock: