Have a happy Saturday. Well, well, finally summer has arrived in the northwoods – meaning, mid-sixties to mid-seventies. It’s lovely:

Them summer days, those summer days…Boop-boop-ba-boop-boop when I want to…..

~ by Sly Stone  …….. go swimming that is. I’ve managed to enjoy some invigorating aqua moments – like four or five.

Getting up early has advantages, this morning I managed to grab some fresh coffee prior to Marlene and I doing our 3-miler. I think that we’ve only missed walking one day since arriving at Northern Comfort.

SCOTUS – Even here in the northwoods the wave of rulings came through loud and clear. I wonder whether the nine, in frock-coats and all, sang a rousing rendition of Queen; We are the Champions with Justice Roberts bounding Freddy Mercury-esque maybe just prior to opening the courthouse doors. Or just perhaps it was a cranked-up version of Aerosmith’s; Dude (Looks like a Lady).

Pontoon sprang to Life – I told neighbor Bob the Forester that I’d love taking his relatives around the lake on the Pontoon. See, he was expecting folk he hadn’t seen for years and he wasn’t sure what exactly could do with them. Have you ever had such moments?

When they arrived, they did so in style. They drove a Spyder trike with trailer (a totally amazing rig) and drove the northern Wawa via Chapleau route through the Boreal Forests. It took them seven hours. Seven hours which included two stops for Moose crossing the road and once for a very slow moving Bear who must have thought, that much like a Canadian Goose, he owned the road.

So earlier in the week I unwrapped the boat; it had been sitting for two winters and one summer. The tent had to come off, framework dismantled, two large red squirrel nests had to be cleaned out, and the blocks removed.

Some maneuvering and it was in the water. A tank of fresh fuel and the engine primed. ASTOUNDING; that little outboard cranked and halfway though it’s second turn-over sprang to life. It did its touring duty flawlessly. Sure felt good.

Old Homestead – the hard work (especially Marcia’s) appears to be having a payoff. Week one had over ten showings, including several multiple showings.

The net result is that it seems we’ve taken the first step of selling a house. Now all the ‘small’ stuff that can quickly kill a deal; i.e. financing, inspections, or even an agent who goes berserk (no that has not happened – just wanted to see if you were still with me). So fingers crossed – another chapter looks like its about to close.

Animal Planet –Bob the Forester’s relatives, even though they are Canadians, had never heard of Puddingstone rocks.  I showed them these examples of our collection and that spurred a twenty minute discussion – see how easy it is to entertain people.

Marcia’s – former – veggie garden has a resident garter snake – this one is nearly a meter in length. I’ve now seen it three times; nearly caught it once, but my finger splint allowed for his get-away.

Our Tree Swallows are still flying back and forth from their little house. Only now, once over the water I see them careening around with two other couples. They are gorgeous little animals.

Marlene was over for Happy Hour and had a perfect view of their comings and goings. She was staring and ogling to such an extent that I began feeling uncomfortable for the little guys.

Parting Insight – Our nation’s deficit keeps on growing as do our entitlements, primarily the big three; Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. So why then are we not free-falling like Greece? I love the insight which states that it’s primarily due to the fact that we; “are the best horse in the glue factory.” Being the “best” horse means that people are still willing to lend us money. As long as that fragile piece stays intact we’ll experience easy to find credit and low interest rates. Watch out though as the first in line “horses” fall.  That is your parting insight for this week.

Fini – Cannot forget wishing Tevita a Happy Birthday. Actually he celebrates twice each year. Due to the 18-hour time difference between here and Tonga he gets all his Tongan family’s best wishes one day and all of ours the next.

Just like I ranted last week, tomorrow morning our power company, Hydro-1, has another ‘scheduled’ power outage. I believe this one will be three hours long. Best get up a bit extra early just to ensure that I have my morning Java.

Today David and Jeanne will arrive. They’ll stay at the other end of the lake. We’ll see how David does with his off-the-dock fishing skills.

Stay safe and be well, make it a great week.

Cheers.

Dirk