What? July is OVER?

July seemed to pass by in a blur for me.  It looked very much like June with the exception of getting my Mom ready to move into a one-bedroom DOWNSTAIRS apartment.  Her dog, Pepper, tends to pull on the leash and she simply isn't that steady on her feet.  But after culling and packing, the movers came and loaded all her stuff. We still have to unpack and figure out what goes and what stays. It's difficult to get rid of things that were from her house in Dallas, but have no place in her life here.  And living amid boxes and packing paper muddles her thinking quite a bit - so we're all spending a lot of time together.

I'm giving lots of thought these days to coping with aging parents, and focusing on compassion. My mom turned 82 this month - on the 21st.  We celebrated with lots of food and family. We even took a little trip to Dallas for her to see her sister, Marilyn. My Uncle Jack, her brother, died a year ago last August. They
were all three very close at one time.

Alyssa's still wedding planning and working a few days a week at Milk & Honey.

Katie's working at Cinemark and daydreaming about her move to Los Angeles in September.

Michael's Nicaraguan adventures continue. He's planning to come back for the wedding next April and Ron and I are going to go see him in November. (That reminds me to get working on my passports!)

Ron gets to the boat 2-3 weekends each month. I even went and had a great time! I'm no sailor, but I can help Popeye out from time to time. Of course, when we went the wind died down as a storm approached. So these are photos of the windless afternoon and the evening with the storm in the background.  On our drive home, the storm clouds just kind of stuck on I35, so we traveled in rain all the way home.

And, me, I'm still working on my health issues. Trying to manage my food, and working out at the gym 5 days/week.

Life certainly looks different around here!

Ron's "New" Boat

So... I leave for NYC for Katie's Graduation, and what does Ron do?
He races off to the lake and buys a sailboat! 

That's a little exaggerated for effect, even though it is factually correct.  We had talked about it and decided that if everything was okay with this one, this would be the one to get. It's not like I'm that knowledgeable about boat-buying, so I didn't really need to be there. I care about things like lighting in the cabin, how much air circulation goes through there, or if the cushions look nice. Ron only cares about "how she sails." So he went on up to Lake Texoma, where he looked at 3-4 boats he had been studying online.  After testing a few, he decided on this one. The name was already chosen long ago, Venus.

The Venus is 29 ft. 11 inches long, with a beam (the inner cabin part - very important to me/not so important to Ron)  is 10 feet, 2 inches wide.  It has a 13 HP inboard Volvo diesel engine. It has 3 single berths and 2 double berths. So we can sleep a few people. It really looks like a pretty sailboat.

While the 4.5 hr. drive from our house to the lake is quite a bit longer than I wanted, Lake Texoma is a fun lake. We've had lots of camping fun with friends there - we used to go in the summer with friends from Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls.  Even though I would have preferred Lake Belton, Texoma is a really good choice for a sailboat. Lots of wide open water and even some islands to explore.

Josh and Alyssa have already explored the fishing situation at Lake Texoma. It's an odd lake, in that more than half of it is in Oklahoma and the other half is still in Texas - it's right along the Red River. The lake has a surface area of 74, 686 acres! If you find Lake Texoma on Google Maps, you'll see how the state border is all over the place. In some places, it's right off the Texas shore. Fortunately, they offer special Lake Texoma fishing licenses because it's difficult to determine whether you're in  Texas or Oklahoma!

The Venus was actually built 40 years ago! In 1968 - I was only 7!  With most purchases, this would not be a good sign. But not a Bristol sailboat! Ron is so excited. He says that the newer boats just aren't built as well as this one. With all the boats he looked at, this was the only one that the bilge was dry. The owner took great care of the Venus.

We've had other boats, more of Project Boats, needing lots of work. Michael and Ron would work on them together, and we'd take them out on the weekends and swim off the side. This one is bigger than anything we've had before. Plus, it's already in really nice shape.

Katie and Alyssa are both excited for a sleepover at the boat! I think it will be a lot of fun this summer. Katie likes the quiet that sailboats bring, listening to the squeaking and the rigging. Alyssa, on the other hand, likes a little more adventure. I'm sure it won't be long before she wants to tie a Jet Ski to the side, so she can speed around!

The camera lens they used really distorts the cabin in the photos here. It makes the galley area look much longer than it really is. Still, it's plenty of room for us.

I've grown up on lakes: Lake of the Ozarks as a child, Lake Ray Hubbard outside Dallas - I love boats. I have to confess, though, I've not really been a sailor. It's a lot of work, and honestly, sometimes when the boat tilts, I get a little nervous. Ron thinks I should run down to Corpus Christi and take a couple sailing courses, just so I'll know what to do. That's probably a good idea. What would I do if he got knocked overboard? Don't ask me, I haven't taken the course yet!

Ron is hoping to retire in a couple of years, and he can really see himself puttering around on this boat. He's had to let hockey and horses go, so this is a nice retirement hobby! So if you can't find him, he'll probably be on the boat!