Bye to another wonderful season
 

Well we cleaned out the Lucy Goose and gave the orders to put her away. It's always a heart felt throb saying good-bye to her for the winter. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful winter. Let's pray for snow this year!!!

LG

one more week to go
 

What a great weekend to be at the lake, the temps couldn't be better for this time of year. Our neighbor closed yesterday and took his final swim...November 11th, 50 degree water yikes!
Here is our Monday morning sunrise.

Boating today
 

The lake is very serene at this time of the year. It is very strange to see empty slips and I am one of the few boats left on the lake. Going through the Weirs Channel with no traffic is so peace full.

I'm not sure how late the boat will be in the lake. The marina usually pull all boats out of the lake in early December.

I was out at the island on Saturday, I only saw one other boat on the water all day. One more trip out and I will be done. Still have 2 boats in the water...

I had the wood stove going all night Friday night and had the sliders and windows open all day Saturday. You gotta love New England.
Though the water is shut off and the cupboards are bare it's great to know that in an hour I can come up to Sleepers Island, fire up the wood stove and enjoy the lakes winter beauty and dream about the boats going back in the water in the spring. What an incredible place!!!

it's not over 'til we say it's over! (John Belushi)
 

it was a spectacular weekend on the lake... went by boat to Centre Harbor for breakfast Sunday, and help a friend pull his boat... on the way back we saw a water skiier going in a straight line towards Wolfboro... the water was like glass, and the skiier looked like they were having a blast!

A brief dip into the lake to fix the water line, waist deep was deep enough for me, and I lasted 15 minutes max, but it was refreshing!

We have gotten so many "bonus" weekends this fall where the weather has been beautiful, and being at the lake has been a real treat. Plan to pull the Eastern on Thanksgiving weekend, but will keep the Alumacraft in until the ice locks in the island.

Don't forget that next Saturday night - Sunday morning is the Leonids Meteor Shower... and the weather forecast looks fantastic, with no moon at the prime viewing hours of 3am - 5am Sunday morning... in 1999 it was the best fireworks show on earth, with a few hundred meteors, no moon, and the lake so calm you could see the meteor trails reflected in the water.

See you on the water -PIG

GoodBye 2012
 

We hesitantly put the final boat away this past weekend. It was a great summer but now on to the winter sports!

Come on "Ice In"!!

Dan

It wasn't a great day for sailing but these people made the best of today's weather.

I would not want to be skiing on the lake this time of year. My cousin's husband died of hypothermia while skiing on the lake and it was only the middle of Oct. He had a wet suit but apparently he got too chilled and must not have known it. It was a chilly, showery weekend. It was awful. So I would say be very careful if you are skiing now.

With an outboard motor, you can keep on boating right up till ice in, and then even use it as an ice-breaker boat on thin ice up to maybe 1" thick or so. As long as the outboard motor is left in the down position into the water it will not freeze up (I hope). Did you know that outboards get a lot of use in Alaska!

That's one big difference between using an outboard and using an inboard-outboard motor and while all the great big expensive, super fancy-dancy fiberglass palatial boats have been stored away for 28-dollars/foot.........I am still out there on the lake in my little 16' aluminum outboat boat......so pppffffftttt and la-tee-da!

Is it spring yet,only got out a couple of times due to getting rid of our boat due to economy but with the purchase of a new to us much larger craft 2013 get back to relaxing on the big lake again. Can't wait for the rig to pick her up for the tow north.

Spring 2013
 

Only 118 days til' spring!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I like outboards, and if I had to do it again, would have two outboards on the boat so I'd never be "without" should one fail. ('Course ethanol fuel [E10] could affect both engines, altering that mindset). :rolleye1:

As for running an aluminum boat as an ice-breaker—it's fun, especially as the boat picks up speed on some ice. However, the rivets may have loosened after hitting some "white" ice. No leaks, but the hull seemed "flexible" during the following season. (But clean! :laugh:)

The outboard engine also cleaned up, and has been doing just fine.

Regarding this season's weather, we seemed to have had fewer thunderstorms—and fewer lightning displays. YMMMV.

While making my last trip to the Island yesterday with BIS we had to stop for this...

Riding off into the sunset, it was a great way to end the 2012 season.
We opened March 23 and closed Nov. 24 - 8 great months.

Going to be putting up my "Danger Thin Ice" signs today or tomorrow. The "Ice Eater" is submerged and roped off, ready to circulate and keep the docks ice free.

Upthesaukee is Outasaukee
 

We had the boat taken out last week, and it is winterized and bottom washed, sitting in our driveway. Our shrinkwrap guy Dan will be out someday this week, depending on the wind and weather, and once shrinkwrapped, down to my neighbor's field for the winter.:(

On the positive side, the days start getting longer in less than a month, and we are already looking forward to golf and the boat for next year. :)