Atwood Lake In October 2010



Where Did It Go?

Wow! The summer went by so fast. We got a lot of work done at home and it seemed easier to keep up with the chores. Maggie continues to grow and has become part of the family. We had many 90 degree days this season, but also many weekend storms. Many of them occurred while we were at the lake.

I want to take more pictures (I know I've said that before) and have family and friends up to visit more often next season. We did improve on our method of travel this year though. We sold the F150 and purchased an '08 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited in Kendallville. This gives us more creature comforts on the highway and large cargo capacity, without sacrificing offroad capability.

The fall has been good to us this year, and we're hoping for a mild winter so we won't have to be couped up indoors. We now have some lake friends on Facebook, so that should help make the winter seem shorter. I guess we'll do some indoor projects and do some organizing too. All the kids are doing ok and they all made it to Jennifer's wedding in October. Work has been busy and stressful for Shelly...I hope things calm down!

The Torch Is Passed

Maggie, our fifteen year old Cocker Spaniel, passed away at the end of February. That was a tough time for us. Misu (17) and Sandy (6) are still around but I think they missed her too. All of our dogs have been family bred and raised puppies. We came across a family that had a litter of puppies so we went to check them out. The first born was a little cutie that looked a lot like Maggie, so we used her namesake and took home Maggie May.

We bought her a new crate and Beneful Puppy Formula to get her started. I was a little worried about her first night (from past experience), but she did great. We had a blanket with her litter scent but she wanted to sleep on my mowing sweatshirt. She also wanted the "big dog" food, so we went with the flow. Mags got along fine with the other dogs and she was good in the Jeep.

Maggie is truely a people dog! She loves to lay on or against our feet or follow us from room to room. Her personality is very much like the first Maggie. She is the light buff puppy in the pictures below. These were her one month photos.

Nice April!

Spring has been good to us this year. We've been down to the lake three times this month, but we've gotten into a sun-during-the-week-rain-on-the-weekend pattern. A lot of our attention this month has gone to completing some much overdue projects at home. Painting, new doors, yard/garden work has kept us busy. We are ready to "shift gears" whenever the weather does.

Winter Begins

Winter began for us the Saturday before Christmas. It started with light snow outside and stomach flu inside. I guess it was better to have it then, rather than closer to Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had Jim, Tara, her boyfriend and his four kids over for dinner and presents. Their mom had passed away in the fall, so we tried to help make it a decent Christmas for them. Christmas Day we had Jennifer, Eddie and the grandkids over for dinner and more presents. Both days went very well and this will be a Christmas to remember!

We have already started our winter house cleaning and I'm not sure what plans we'll come up with for New Years. The snow has continued to fall ... a little at a time ... and that's how we like it. I've spent some time on a new quad-core computer and I think it's just about ready to take over for an older computer. I try to keep the technology from getting too old.

We are looking ahead and planning some vacation time for the warmer weather. I'm sure we'll be more than anxious to get the RV opened up as soon as weather permits.

Great November!

The weather was much better than normal for the entire month. Those sunny weekends were nice and we took advantage of them. We had a nice Thanksgiving feast at our house with kids and grandkids. Most of our Christmas shopping is done and it's still the last day of November!

I like it when the weather transitions more slowly. You have time to finish up those warm weather jobs and prepare for the cold weather. I think it's easy on your body too. The less time we have to be couped up in the house...the better! The sun light makes a huge difference in your moods.

Thanksgiving put Shelly in the holiday spirit, because she had almost all of the Christmas decorations up by the time I got home from work Friday...YEA! Even the tree was up and decorated.

To Jeep Or Not To Jeep

People have asked me why I get so excited about Jeep Wranglers. To me a Jeep is a compact, simple utility vehicle with good off-road capability. This means it's cheap to keep it running and I can go just about anywhere I want in any kind of weather. The Jeep is versatile and allows me to configure it the way I want by removing the top, rear seat, doors or by folding the windshield down. I always have adequate safety with a roll cage, air bags and ABS braking.

Many videos posted feature extreme Jeep events like rock-crawling or mud bogging. Most Jeep owners never participate in these types of events (which also require expensive modifications to vehicles). More commonly experienced, are trips down unpaved roads, rides on the beach and exploring narrow trails in the woods.

Jeep Wranglers probably have more after-market parts and accessories available than any other vehicle. This makes it possible for the owner to redesign the Jeep to reflect their own personality. Check out: http://www.4wd.com/ or http://www.quadratec.com/ and you'll get a better picture. Wranglers also rank high when it comes to retaining resale value.

Disappointing October

I was really hoping for a sunny, warm October to help make up for the lousy summer we had. Today is the 9th and it looks like we've already set the trend for the opposite. The highs are lower than normal and it's always cloudy and raining. I feel like I'm living in Seattle.

With lows flirting with the 20's, it's time to shut off the water and winterize the RV. Overnight camping will come to an end without the availability of water. We can hope that things turn around and we can enjoy some day trips to the lake to enjoy the colors and a little sunshine.

Winters get so long and boring and it feels like we're wasting so much time. I don't like having to spend so much time indoors. Oh well...our roots are here...along with our jobs, so we'll just have to tough it out.

Atwood Lake Gypsy Chicken

This chicken tastes like the popular "Pit" chicken. The marinade doesn't smell good, but it does the trick. This recipe is great for tailgating or gypsy campfires!

Mix the marinade:
4 3/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup salt
2 tablespoons garlic salt
2 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon pepper
1 stick butter

Bring the marinade to a boil

Prepare the chicken:
cut up the chicken
add chicken to boiling marinade
boil the chicken for 15 - 20 minutes

Cool chicken and marinade in a shallow dish:
cover and place in refrigerator
let the chicken marinade overnight

Grill the chicken:
remove chicken from dish and place on grill or campfire
turn chicken when needed
no additional seasoning needed

Better September

September may have been the best month of the summer. The weather was warmer and we had less rainy weekends. We also had a chance to get some RV maintenance done before the colder days set in. We were able to get a lot of things done around home too, like giving a fresh coat of paint to the wicker furniture on the porch. Very few hummingbirds stop at the feeders now...the beginning of their southern migration. I hope we have a nice October.

Various circumstances kept many campers (on the point) away for much of the season. A lot of campers on the hill were around, but not as many as last season. As a true lake gypsies, we try not to let the weather dictate our weekends. An escape to the lake is still something to look forward to during the work week - even if the weather doesn't cooperate. I hope to remain a lake gypsy right up to November if possible. We will have electricity all winter, but will loose water when the hard freeze begins.

The addition of a tiny cargo trailer has made the task of moving stuff to and from the lake much simpler. We can do everything with one vehicle and not waste gas (and money). We have hitches on three of our four vehicles so we can be pretty versatile when we travel. The Jeeps also received a lot of upgrades this year, including new shocks.

United Trailers 4x6 Cargo Trailer

Porch Gardening

We decided to do most of our plant growing in front of and on the front porch this year. We live at the lake on the weekends, so this arrangement makes it much easier to control and care for the plants. We try to add more perennials to the garden in front of the porch each year. After you get past the plants, there are a couple of friendly greeters at the door!

Twins Had A Connection

Thursday May 28, 2009. Shelly felt a "shocking" pain in her chest in the early morning. While she was getting ready for work, she remembered thinking that she hoped her twin brother was taking good care of himself.

When she returned home in the afternoon she heard that Lance had suffered a heart attack while driving in Tampa, Florida. He passed away at the hospital a short time later when efforts to revive him failed.

The sympathy pains that Shelly suffered occured in the early morning, hours before her brother's heart attack. If we could only understand the connection between what we feel and what meaning it might have.

Lance was 43 ... just one month away from his birthday.

Shelly And Lance

The Kickoff To Summer

We had a nice stretch of great weather for the Memorial Day weekend. The days were nice and sunny with very little wind, making the lake very still. We started the long weekend on Thursday after work and we had Memorial Day (Monday) off as well. We arrived to find that Mary had mowed our lawn, which made my job a lot easier. Early in the weekend we had a cookout with several neighbors ... Shannon really knows how to grill a steak!

Sales were everywhere when we went Jeeping around the countryside. I found a nice old wing-back chair for $25 but I had no way to haul it, so we had to pass on that deal. I want to get a small trailer so when we find these buys, we can haul them home. We try to avoid wasting gas by only taking one Jeep to the lake unless we know we're going to need the pickup truck.

There were campground-wide yard sales on Saturday. The campground was busy and we went for long walks every day, stopping to visit with people along the way. Jimmy got me a Nascar Kyle Busch sign which I mounted on the shed, and a magnetic "18" sign for my pickup. Shelly cooked a whole chicken on the campfire in the evening.

When it's warm in the spring, it is perfect for sitting out on the porch in the late evening because there aren't that many bugs out yet. I don't think we'll have as many bugs during the summer now that we've switched to dark blue LED porch lights. We put our hummingbird feeders out and the little birds found them right away.