2009

2009

	1/3. The Midwest Boat Party gang decides to invade Stewart's (no relation) Restaurant on the strip before heading up to Eagle Days at the Wilmore Lodge and down below the dam. 1800 eagles make their Winter home at Lake of the Ozarks. At the restaurant we had 17 people show up. The food is great. Look at the size of the biscuits and gravy, and Dale's cinnamon roll!
	The group at the lodge. Only saw one eagle through the scope way across the channel.
	We then went down below the dam where our luck was much better. Click HERE or on the eagle take you to a separate page of eagle pictures.
	After lunch at Half-Sauced (great name for a BBQ joint) we meet up with my friends Eddie and Kathy (also MWBP peeps) to go boating. By then it had gotten up to 72º, which is incredible for the 3rd of January.
	The only thing missing is other boats. Otherwise, it was just like Summer out. We were almost the only ones on the lake. Eddie nails the throttles, and we're in the mid-60s for speed.
	Down at Ha Ha Tonka park we see another eagle.
	Eddie, Ben, Sam, Dale, Kathy. Taken from the front hatch. Nice silhouette as Eddie takes a hard left. We spot Tony's boat and head over to yak a bit. He and his wife Heather have his kids, and Wayne and Melissa along.
	After visiting with Tony and crew for a while, we haul out of there for Shorty Pants (lakeside bar). All in all, it was a fantastic day!
	1/4. Sunday morning, the last day the kids are here. They break out the Wii again to play some games. Dale's getting better at bowling and tennis.
	Dale finishes his puzzle for something like the 8th time this week. He's getting so fast at it that it's not really a challenge anymore.
	Quite the contrast from yesterday's balmy weather, but it's not terribly cold. We go outside for final pictures before the kids leave.
	1/18. The remodeling begins with paintable wallpaper over the paneling. Clicking on the picture will take you to the remodel page.
	1/24. The annual Midwest Boat Party Winter party is held in Overland Park, KS, in conjunction with the boat show. MWBP has a booth this year. Good selection of boats, but it's not a huge show.
	One of my favorite boats was there. Monopoly was looking very good.
	Saturday night the party was held at Fuel, a cross between Quaker Steak and Lube, and Coyote Ugly. Yeah, the girls dance on the bar. :>)
	1/26. Woke up to almost an inch of ice surrounding my dock so I went down to break it up. The last picture shows my "iceberg" that I set adrift into the cove.
	1/28. The lake gets 4" of snow and the entire cove freezes over. Across the cove the docks have bubblers to keep the water from freezing. That gives me an idea and I turn on my lift's blowers. They make huge bubbles beneath the ice until it all starts to break up. If you look closely in the last picture, you can see some of the bubbles clear out in the middle of the cove.
	2/16. Yeah, I wish! The sun hitting the thermometer takes it up to triple digits. Still, it was over 50 degrees today, and that isn't bad at all.
	2/25. The lake hit a low for the season. Normally the water will get up to the bottom of the post on the stairs. It's down easily 6' from there.
	3/4. Just when you think the lake couldn't get any lower, they drop it some more. A week before, the big rock in the middle of the picture was under water. Prior to the rains that covered it up again, it had been out of the water by a little over a foot. It's now over 3 feet away from the water.
	3/4. The good news is that despite snowing 6" a week before, the temps have warmed up enough that all the snow melted and flowers have broken ground. Spring is close!
	3/5. with 70+º temps, Brett, a MWBP friend and his buddy bring his Sea Ray down to the lake for the day. My friend Erick and I get invited to go with them.
	Erick and Brett. Dock being pushed to its new location. The Jolly Roger up in the Gravois arm is almost done being rebuilt after a fire that leveled it last year.

	4/1/. Hopefully I won't be an April Fool with it, but I bought Adventure Boat Rentals today. Click on the picture to take you to its own page.
	4/4. A gorgeous day outside, so I decide to splash the boat and take a shortcut to work. :>) Well, it's a shorter distance, but takes twice as much time when you figure uncovering the boat, loading it up, getting it off the lift and warming up the engines.
	Here's my parking place at work! The second picture is from my desk, and the third is the window to my left (where I can keep an eye on the boat).
	The dock with the white roof is my business. The dock with the green roof will have a Tiki Bar on it in a couple of weeks.
	4/25. 2 of the WaveRunners have been prepped and ready to go. When the WiFi gets a little too weak, I move my office chair outside! I get my first paying customers. :>)
	After dinner at Shady Gators one night, the guys from Performance Boat Brokerage leave about the same time I do in their 50' Hustler.
	One of the guys recognizes me and take a couple photos. Zipping past the Tom Sawyer paddleboat on the way home.
	4/30. It seemed like it rained off and on for 3 weeks. This day was a downpour. Obviously no rentals at work that day, but I still felt luckier than the guy in the pontoon boat out there trying to get home.
	5/9. The recent rains have filled the lake to the point where the dam floodgates have to be opened. The water is so high that my gangway actually goes uphill to get to the dock. The posts at the end of my steps are dipped in the water about 3".
	5/16. With the property line coming too close to the house to put a garage in, I settle for a tarp garage. It'll keep all the pollen and sap off the car, and keep the motorcycle out of the weather as well. UPDATE: I didn't get this anchored down in time before the wind destroyed it. :>(
	Only at LOTO. You know the season is about to start when you see the ice cream boat cruising the neighborhood. :>)
	Well, it's Spring, and the weather can change in an instant. A torrential downpour goes on for hours, and starts washing the hillside into the lake. It comes down so fast that the restaurant area starts to flood.
	5/22. At work, checking out a customer in one of the rental boats.
	5/25. At home, the driveway drains are all plugged and the driveway is flooding. Still raining pretty hard, and I catch these drops with the zoom lens.
	6/6. A moonlight cruise after dinner is really cool. The picture just doesn't do this justice.
	This is my "office, a pair of sheds under a dock. You can see my desk in the right one. It makes for quite the cubicle, and you can't beat the view with the water just feet away. The left shed houses the life vests, tubes and supplies.
	This is the bar that sits on top of the dock in front of my office. It's the only one of its kind on the lake. In the second picture the band Ryze is playing. I played a set with them the next time they came to town and we had a great time.
	6/16. 11" of rain in two days raises the lake a foot over flood stage and my dock gangway goes under water. A few days with the dam's floodgates wide open drops the lake level back to normal.
	6/22. My friends Richard and Sandy come down to visit for a few days. Besides the usual boating and eating out at waterfront restaurants, we go to Bridal cave. I had never been there before and found the formations fascinating.
	The Summer was profitable enough to put a stereo back in my boat. I started with a new Sony head unit and remote.. The speakers and amps are all Alpine, and they really rock!
	8/26. A camera phone just doesn't quite cut it for a sunset like this, but it was all I had. I sometimes can't believe I commute to work in a boat and enjoy views like this on my way home.
	This year's ShootOut was held at Captain Ron's. A slow Sunday afternoon allowed enough time to catch most of the afternoon action. Click on the boat to take you to its own page.
	9/19. Ahhhh, I get to fly again. The boat rental biz slowed down to almost nothing when the Challenger Fly-in was scheduled so I made a last minute decision to go. Got to meet a bunch of old friends and make some new ones. I flew Erie AirPark owner Jim Robinson's Challenger a bunch. Right before I took off I checked my logbook and noticed that it had been 2 years to the day since I had my biennial flight review, which is required to fly. Fortunately my good friend Barry flew in in his Sonex to do fellow Titan pilot Brian Seeley's BFR, so he did mine as well. Click on the picture to take you to its own page. It was a great weekend, and
	9/25. Formula Friday, sponsored by Glencove Marina. Free food, cool boats, great music and fun atmosphere. What better excuse for a boat ride?
	9/27. The Offshore Super Series races are held again at the lake. Click on the picture to take you to its own page. Afterwards, a bunch of us go to Tiki Bay for dinner and drinks. The sunset was gorgeous.
	10/5. I planned on going up to Nebraska to see Dale, and usually stay overnight at Brians' place in KC on the way up. I didn't hear from him right away, so I planned on delaying the trip until Tuesday instead of Monday. Early Monday morning Brians' house goes up in flames, starting in the guest bedroom I would have been staying in! Click on the picture to take you to its own page.
	10/8. With nothing going on that week and Dale out of school on Thursday and Friday I head up to Nebraska to see the kids. Despite cold weather we go over to Vala's Pumpkin Patch for the day.
	They have a pumpkin cannon that will shoot over a half mile. If you look closely in the 2nd pic, you'll see the pumpkin that was shot out of the cannon.
	Dale used to love to go down this slide. This time he wouldn't go. We did get him to go reluctantly after a lot of convincing. Later on we played some mini golf and then went through the corn maze.
	Time for the pig races. They had 3 different types of mini-pigs that raced around the track. Sam models one of the prizes. Sam and Dale enjoy watching the bunnies.
	10/21. The Formula has been leaking slightly ever since I bought it. That, along with a worn shifter cable and worn impeller prompts me to have it hauled out for service. Can't believe how big this boat looks when it's out of the water!
	11/25. A little chipmunk hangs out on my deck. Soooo cute!
	Thanksgiving is in Kansas City this year. During some down time we go car shopping and end up test-driving this new '10 Camaro SS. WOW, I want one!
	Saw this at Brian's house and had to get one of my own. A real Charlie Brown tree, including Linus's blanket. Later, we put up a full-size tree.
	Christmas is at Mom's house again this year. My old tree wouldn't fit in my house at the lake, so she has it in hers. More

2009

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