The Last Of October, Another Family Pet Passes, Halloween, & Etc.

                                      October 24, 2017

This is Bella, age 14, my youngest daughter's cat. This picture was of her a few days before Tiffany put her to sleep. Bella had bladder cancer. Bella had surgery to remove the cancer, and then Tiffany put her on supplements, which helped for a while, but it came back.

 October 26
Lennox saying goodbye to her before going to school. Bella had been in his world since he was born. With no bothers or sisters, Bella was his best friend.

Tiffany was 22 years old when she got Bella. Hayleah her niece was 6 almost 7 when Bella was a baby kitten.

A few months before I had to put Mallery to sleep (Aug 29, 2016), I flew to Gulf Shores, with Mallery, to help Tiffany out after her knee surgery. Bella hated Mallery, and Mallery hated Bella all their lives. With Mallery being completely blind and in Bella's territory, Mallery seemed to be OK with Bella. Bella being old, put up with Mallery. Mallery didn't bark and chase her any more. My oldest daughter Alisha put her husky Maggie May to sleep on May 11, 2016. Maggie was 14 years old and had been with Alisha since she was 22 also. It has been a sad last two years for us with our beloved pets.

October 26, 2017 - Calm waters on Lake Charlevoix.

We had to take our boat to a marina on Advance Road going toward East Jordon to be winterized. The fall color was pretty on the drive.

We dropped off the boat after 5 for an appointment the next morning. This is a good picture showing how shallow our boat is, and why it isn't a good boat on a lake that goes from calm waters to big waves in 10 minutes.

The next day we had to go to Petoskey to go shopping, so we didn't get back in time to get our boat before 5. The marina gave us the gate code so we could pick it up after hours. It was spitting sleet and rain.

I was sent pictures of my mom at her apartment community dressed up for the residence grand kids trick and treaters with another residences. We never get trick or treaters on our lake shore home. I am glad mom gets to enjoy the fun.

She enjoys the arts and crafts class too. She said her pumpkin was so ugly it was kind of cute.

Fall Drive Through Tunnel Of The Trees & Climb Up Avalanche Mountaine

                                                          October 21, 2017

Our Indian Summer continued, and we decide we should take a drive to enjoy the fall colors.

Mindy, our neighbor was up for the weekend, so we invited her to join us. As you can see from the picture, it seemed as if everyone from the state of Michigan had the same idea.

We decided to do the Tunnel of Trees north of Harbor Springs, since we had not done this drive since before we bought our place. The drive runs along Lake Michigan half the way.

This home is across the street from Lake Michigan. Others are on the lake side above the cliffs.

There are a few cute little towns along the route. Oh my gosh, never again will we do this drive on a weekend.

We were a little disappointed because we think we had missed the peak colors. Our peak on Lake Charlevoix is always behind surrounding areas. Ours was just peaking, but we hoped it still would be good in the Tunnel of Trees.

This highway is route M-119.

The next little town, Cross Village, has the famous Legs Inn restaurant. It is called Legs because the upper balcony is lined with old stove legs . The restaurant was built in 1921 by a Polish immigrant built entirely of stones and driftwood.

We have never ate here before. The last time we were here, we had Mallery with us. They do not allow dogs, even on the back patio.

The restaurant sits on the shore of Lake Michigan not far from the Straits Of Mackinac.

Our ocean up north.

We thought about eating here, but the wait would have been at least 2 hours, I am sure!

Of course this restaurant serves polish dishes.

The drive is still pretty in the tunnel of trees.

Lots of curves and cliff drop off views when going south for the passenger. Reminds me of our old RV days.

We made one more stop,

for a Lake Michigan selfie. Joe did a great job didn't he. I never knew Mindy was so much taller than I. I guess I am like a little dog, "I always think I am bigger than I am"- until I see myself in a picture. I said to Joe and Mindy, "I am such a munchkin"!

Across the street was a nice country fall scene.

The fall color was better south of Harbor Springs.

The next day, Mindy, Joe and I climbed the 400 some steps up Avalanche Mountain in Boyne City.

Love the views up there. I definitely over dressed and wished I had wore shorts after that many stairs.

Joe was the smart one wearing the shorts.

After the stair climb and views we did the trail which also is up and down hills.

When we got home, 2 hours later, I saw we had reached 80 degrees. No wonder I was so hot!

Last Day's Boating On Lake Charlevoix October 2017

                                                          October 1, 20017

Joe and I wanted to revisit the older 1987 30ft Carver again that we had seen in July. The owner had dropped the price and we wanted to see it on the water.

It is one that has been always at the back of our minds, yet still not sure.

We both love the fly bridge that can seat like 4 to 6 people, yet when cruising not recommend over 600 lbs I believe, because it can be top heavy. Two guys would put you at 400 lbs, with maybe a girl and 1/2, so max 3.5 people when moving. That's the part that throws us.

The fly bridge has long L shaped seat plus a captains seat. It did well on the water, but a bit under powered for it's size. Joe would get it if it were not for me. He likes the fly bridge and it of course is the lowest priced boat we have seen.

We knew we had very few good days left to boat, so we decided to try to take our boat and travel the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix. We had been on the South Arm, but only boated maybe a 1/3 of the way down. We planned and left early by at least 10:30. It was off and on again cloudy, but warm. With about 75 percent of the boats done for the season, it made a much smoother ride. We hit just one spot where we hit some big waves at the far east end of the South Arm. Once we got on the west side of the arm coming back north, it was smooth sailing. We stopped and put down the anchor and had our lunch we had brought. our boat is great for pulling tubers, and smooth to medium waves. But not fun at all in big waves, with our shallow hull.

With the no wind and sun, I grabbed Joe's hat. I will miss our open bow boat. that's my favorite spot to sit, with legs stretched out and best viewing.

We got to a high of 78, perfect boating weather. When we got home, around 4:00 PM, we were proud of ourselves to finally accomplish this task. We could finally say, we had rode the entire shoreline of Lake Charlevoix. It only took us 4 years to accomplish this. Joe would have done it a long time ago. It just took me this much time to feel comfortable to go this far from home in our little 21 foot boat. I never had to go to the restroom, though I didn't drink anything while gone. I would have had to jump into the cold water, and I didn't want to do that.

On October 8, we took our last wave runner ride. The high was 76 so it was a great day with maybe a boat or 2 across the lake, making no waves.

This is my view, so most of the time I look to my side. The first couple times out, my butt and hips got sore being in the sitting position so long. It seems I have got use to it more, because I don't have the cramping up as before. Let me tell you, it's not fun to get a leg cramp while on the back of this thing, though we have learned to stand and trade places without a problem now. Yes this summer I took the reigns and drove it with Joe behind me. And pretty fast for my first time. I was so proud of myself.

This was the first time I brought my phone with me too. I put it in a baggie and in one of the compartments. I was a bit nervous taking these pictures though.

The next day we took the wave runner out. Joe needed to get it cleaned up and to an appointment to be winterized. You can also see the new house going up next to us. It is going to be a 2 bedroom 1 1/2 story home. This neighbor does not have waterfront property, but does have access to the 20 feet between our water property and the neighbor across the streets water property. He can put in and out row/sail boats and kayaks on that access.

The next day we went to the another one of our newer restaurants in Boyne City, Stiggs Brewery.

Local beers have become very popular, with a long list of Michigan beers for sale at this and many restaurants in northern Michigan. Stiggs Brewery has 28 Michigan brewed beers on tap.

I loved the decorating of the bar wall with beer bottle tops. Who ever did the art work did a beautiful job of the evergreen trees and the sky and all.

Each table is done in a different design.

Ours didn't really have a design, just all different caps.

I ordered a grilled cheese with bacon jam and a tomato bisque soup. Kind of been into the grilled cheese thing lately.

I can't remember what Joe, got, but I know it was the special and he didn't like it much because it was too spicy for him. I think it was wings with the Stiggs House Rub. I tried it too, and it was really spicy.

I know it doesn't show up well, but this was the only rainbow we saw this year. (in the left side of the picture).

On October 17, we took our last boat ride for the season. At this point 85% of all docks, lifts and boats are already taken out of the lake. As we rode west I had my winter coat, hat and mittens on.

This is the house of our friends Art and Jane that we met through Jim and Chris who we met at our garage sale. See, garage sales are a good thing. They built this house, just the two of them. I am sure they had certain things done like electrical, plumbing, and foundation, and etc. But the majority was done by them. They are still working on the inside, but will probably wrap it up this winter. I am always amazed when I see people do this on their own. Our friend Jim built his house too. On our way back home it had warmed up, and the hat, mittens were gone. The sun had come out!

October 19  
  Dillon, our dock/boat lift installer and removal and crew arrived.

He is getting smarter, and has purchased a tractor to remove the boat lift.

Normally Joe drives the boat to Summerset Marina and Dillon drives the trailer to get Joe and boat at the marina. But the marina wasn't open that morning so he parked our boat at our neighbors, until the crew was gone and I was going to have to drive the trailer to the downtown marina instead.

Our new dock is much heavier, (Joe and I could pick up our old dock sections together, but I could barely pick the new one's up). We moved our old docks to the back side of the shed when we knew the new dock needed to go where theold dock was. Dillon still puts the dock sections on his back and climbs up the rock embankment, then steps up on each dock already placed and lays it down. He is tall and thin, but must be all muscle. I just don't know how he does that by himself.

Wave runner lift out, dock out; boat lift out, and boat out. (Marina opened up in time so Dillon could take and back the trailer down into the water for Joe). I need to learn how to do that.

October 20
One last toy still available to us, so off we go.

I just love boating in the fall when there are little to no boats on the lake. The lake clarity is magnified and everything on the bottom of the lake can be seen.

I was brave and brought my phone again on this adventure too.

Our home from the waters.

View to the right of our home. Our neighbor Mindy and Larry's home is in amongst the trees. She loves her privacy more than views. We love our views more than privacy!

I am such a Midwesterner, I love the 4 seasons!

There was a sail boat out, while we were kayaking, but they don't make too many waves, especially when they are way on the other side of the lake. (This is a zoomed in and cropped picture to even get a semi close up picture of it).

I was trying to get a picture of the still waters. Joe was adding to the picture.

Another picture of Joe's leaf in a different filter. I couldn't decide which I like best, so decided to but in both. I like this one because the leaf is in focus for the changing season.