July 4th was a Blast!

The LONG weekend is finally over and I get to go back to work again. Praise God! Well, I thought maybe if I wrote it, I'd begin to live it. The nice four day weekend has drawn to a close and the new week and new month is laid out in front of me. The nice thing is..it's Hump Day already.

We spent the holiday weekend up in Lake Almanor. The trip could not have had a more inauspicious start. Initially, the resort had room for our jet ski, then Frank (one of the owners) called to say that his wife had spoken too soon and he wasn't sure. If we wanted to bring it up, we could always put it in and take it out as we used it. The problem is a 100 foot, narrow, crumbling boat ramp. The owners of the resort are in escrow with a developer and the resort will be raised to make room for new homes on the lake. Earl said to go ahead and bring it up and we'd be able to park it at the front of his slip. Friday night, David and I went over to Alicia's to pick up the ski. We attached the trailer to the Explorer and drove to the local AM/PM to gas it up and top off the Explorer. I'd had trouble filling the ski each time as the filler hose is a "S" hose with a sharp turn and it tends to back up when we are filling. It is best to go slow and be patient. David jumped in and filled the tank and had no trouble whatsover. In fact, he kept filling it and filling it. I was busy cleaning the windshield and doing other things. I looked up and he was at 25 gallons and going strong. The tank is 18 gallons with a two gallon reserve. He stopped at 32 gallons ($95.68). I was shocked, but filled the Explorer and drove home. We got the ski in the garage and I decided to check the capacity on the tank again. Sure enough, the tank is 18.5 gallons with a 2.5 gallon reserve. I opened the engine compartment and was shocked to see 30 gallons of gas floating in the hull! The S hose had come loose from the tank and the gas had poured straight into the hull. It was up to the bottom of the new battery that I'd bought and installed last month. I got David and Daniel and several buckets and we set about siphoning the gas out of the hull. It took us the better part of an hour to dip cups into the hull and drain out the gas. We also used a siphon and pumped the gas out. We wiped down the interior of the hull as best we could and parked the ski in the driveway to air dry overnight.

I was VERY concerned that the gas was ruined what with the water and the dirt in the hull. I talked to Earl and he said to let the gas sit overnight and the impurities would settle to the bottom and whatever water would separate from the gas and sit also on the bottom and we'd be able to salvage about 99% of the gas. We were up early on Saturday and the boys and I poured off the gas and refilled the ski and both 5 gallon containers. We still had a good ten gallons left over which I put in the shed.

We drove up to Almanor and the next big decision was who would sit on the jet ski and start it after the gas went all through the electrical. Daniel jumped on the ski and it was a hard start. It took a good ten minutes to get the ski started. The hard start was compounded by us being at 4200 feet in the mountains. The ski rode great once we got it on the water. David and I learned a valuable lesson and we will now watch the tank as we are filling the ski.

Our problems were not limited to the gas debacle as Frank continued to hem and haw about whether we could store the ski at the dock and we took it back out on Saturday night. Sunday, he approached us and told us we could put the ski in front of Earl's boat. (Brilliant idea.) We tied it at a 90 degree angle to Earl's boat and had to make sure to tie both the ski and the boat tight against the dock to make sure that they didn't ram each other. We had some wind come in Sunday night and the boat and ski were rocking pretty good. Unfortunately the boat slipped one of it's ties and hit the ski popping off one of the side view mirrors. It knocked the mirror up and on to the dock, cracking the mirror in the process. We were luckily able to salvage the mirror and it is now sitting in Alicia's garage with gorilla tape holding the mirror down on it's base as the marine adhesive takes hold. The mirrors are about 90% decorative as it is hard to see out of them when you're on the water due to the spray and the vibration of the ski. It's much easier to swivel your neck and look behind you. It's a bummer that it broke, but it is what it is.

We went to church on Sunday in Almanor and they had a great July 4th service with the Battle Hymn of the Republic and a song about the two words "Under God" which is the foundation of the United States and our founder's faith. As much as the crackpots want to deny that God is alive, He is the rock that this country was founded on and perhaps this country will fall without Him there to sustain us. We walked out of church with a bounce to our step and proud to be Americans.

I talked to Jennifer from Almanor, although the reception was fuzzy at best. She and John were going to watch the fireworks at the base in Korea last night. They had to work on Monday, but it was dead with most of the base off on a long holiday.

Darla and I returned to Rosevile on Monday night to allow the boys to spend the holiday with their Dad. Neither Darla nor I have ever spent money on fireworks and get absolutely nothing out of watching $100 burn up on the pavement. We'd rather burn it up on the lake.

I did play golf Monday up at Almanor as I joined a friend, Bob, who has a fifth wheel at the lake. We played Almanor West, which is a nine-hole facility with different tees for each nine (front and back). Bob asked that we only play nine holes and it was the best decision he ever made. It took us three hours to traverse nine holes with a foursome of golf novices hitting the ball upwards of 20 times per hole per player in front of us. It was brutal to watch. Bob stopped keeping score when he accidentally hit into the foursome and they pocketed his $4 Pro V1 ball. He was livid, but I told him it wasn't worth ruining our vacation over some liver-spotted hackers with no sense of humor. I shot 43, but only by parring the last two holes. The course is very tight with alot of trees, but the pace of play was ridiculous and I'm amazed I broke 50.

We will be back up to Almanor on July 15th-22nd and I will play Bailey Creek with Bob. It is a championship course and costs $80 to play so the hackers should be back at Almanor West torturing some other foursome and we'll be free to play GOLF.

Well, work awaits. I will attach a photo of the injured ski when I get home tonight. I hope all are well and enjoyed a safe and serene 4th of July. Praise God that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Ciao.