Anders' Train

Kathie hosted her investment club at the lake this past weekend, so I decided to "escape" to Minneapolis for some time with my grandson and his parents. Anders' 5th birthday is coming up, and because I thought it would be fun to play with him with his gift, I decided to give it to him early. You won't be surprised to learn that it is an electric train set.

I don't know if he was quite as excited as this picture suggests, but I asked him to hold up his birthday card for a picture, and this was the big smile I got in return.

The wrapping paper soon was gone, and with a little guidance from his dad and mom, he was even able to cut the packaging tape on the box.

Inside, he found this Santa Fe steam engine set, complete with an oval track, transformer, caboose, and two freight cars.

Anders wasted no time in learning how to put things together, fasten the wires to the transformer, and get the cars on the rails. He studies things and pays attention to the details we provided. He was not permitted to do any plugging or unplugging of the transformer, but otherwise, he could do everything. One disappointment was that the engine didn't operate quite properly, so we took that in for a repair.

We found an inexpensive diesel engine that would tide him over until the steam engine is back. Not surprisingly, Anders tends to like "wide open" as his favorite speed. Most of the time, the cars stayed on the track.

We found that his Legos were perfect for making tunnels, rail yard stations, control towers, bridges, and cargo. We even made a paper river to pass under the track and made up some communications between the yard master and the engineer so that we could schedule trips between cities and delivery of freight.

I got a big "thank you" from him before I left to return to the lake.

Me As A Walking Hazard

Having Dick and Rina visit us was great, but I'm not sure they will want to come back after what I put them through this past week. (Actually, they said they are more than ready to come back and that they had lots of fun, but you will see why I said what I did above.)

If you read recent posts, you know about the less-than-perfect train ride along the north shore of Lake Superior (heat, screaming kids, other things). So, the next day, we decided to do some more fishing. On this day, I managed to bang the propeller of our new boat on some very shallow rocks in a part of our lake I was not as familiar with. Seemed like a good idea to use the new, bigger, faster boat to visit more of our lake, but hitting a rock with the propeller was not part of the plan. It was a little startling, and of course, the prop was slightly damaged, so I had to replace it with the spare I had previously purchased. Had not planned on repairing a prop quite so soon.

Then the next day, Dick and I decided to take the canoe up the river for some bass fishing. We used the new outriggers to stabilize the canoe (or so I thought) and the little motor we bought to propel it. We did catch some very nice bass, but we got too excited when one hit while I was in the middle of the canoe retrieving some tackle, and in spite of the outriggers, I managed to get us off center. Over we went, spilling us and all our equipment into the river. The canoe floated of course, and the river is quite shallow, so we were able to stand and push it to a nearby sandbar. There we retrieved all our equipment, most of which was floating nearby. Saved it all except for a tiny box of hook and sinkers, my cap, and a gadget used to measure fish weight and length. The motor never dropped off the canoe but stayed clamped on, though it hung upside down in the water. I didn't think it would start, but it did. One bright spot! We bailed out the water, adjusted the stabilizers/outriggers to a wider position, and resumed our fishing. Dick was a good sport about it all, although he was carrying an iPhone and some other electronics, not all of which survived. Fortunately, he had insurance to help in that recovery, and the local cell phone store quickly got him back online.

Then the next day, there was some additional propeller bumping in unfamiliar shallow spots, though no damage occurred, other than to my pride. The big problem was that we went out again in the evening and fished until it was quite dark. That is usually no problem, as navigating back under a full moon is not difficult. However, seeing the dock was a little tricky as we approached our place. Alas, I came up a little bit too fast, and thinking that I didn't want to scratch the new boat, I reached out in an attempt to push the boat back from the dock. I underestimated the weight and mass of the new boat, so I crushed my arm between the boat and the dock. Dealt with swelling and some pain during the night and decided to go to the emergency room the next morning. Yep, there is one break for sure (end of the ulna) and perhaps a second (on the radius). Will go to the clinic on Wednesday for a followup, after the radiologist does further evaluation of the X-rays. May yet need a cast and 4 to 6 weeks for healing, but I'm dealing with this wonderful splint in the meantime.

The days since have gone mostly better. All I can say is, "Sigh..."

D&R At The Lake

Dick and Rina are visiting this week. The first evening, of course, we had to show off our new boat, so we went out fishing. Everyone caught something, and we landed several species: northern, crappie, sunfish, and bass. Kathie continues to like the new boat, as you can tell by the smile on her face. Dick got a northern to strike a surface lure, which is always fun, and Kathie caught a decent-sized smallmouth bass.

On Sunday, I had made arrangements for us to go to Duluth and ride a train to Two Harbors along the North Shore of Lake Superior. They have a nice railroad museum there, and they operate a variety of train rides to different locations throughout the spring to fall season. 

Before the ride, we spent a little time looking at their collection of old engines and cars. One is a Yellowstone Mallet, a truly magnificent old steam engine. I think I've posted references to them before, but you can click here if you want to learn more. Here is Dick in the cab of number 227. Turns out that I own a model of number 227 as a part of my electric train collection. Fun to see the real one!

I had been led to believe by the museum's advertising that we would be riding in one of several passenger cars pulled by a diesel engine. They apparently sometimes also use an old steam engine. However, on the day I picked for us to go, they had only enough passengers for one car, and that meant they would use a Budd Car, which is essentially self-propelled by two small diesel engines of its own. Click here for more information. While I enjoyed (maybe more than the others) learning about another type of railroad equipment, the ride didn't have quite the thrill of an engine and cars.

At one point, I went up to the front of the car and rode with the engineer for awhile. Talking with him about the car and his volunteer work with the museum was interesting for me. Actually, the car can be operated from either end, since it has an identical set of controls both front and back. It could also be part of a lash-up and connected to other passenger cars with its own engines not being used.

In Two Harbors, I got to see this second Yellowstone Mallet on display there. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed a couple hours of free time before returning. Unfortunately, the ride back was quite uncomfortable, since it was a warm day, the air conditioner on the car failed, and there were several screaming children/babies for the duration of the ride. So, we were all a little weary at the end of the day, though I think we appreciated the experience overall.

Success!! She Floats (And The Motor Runs)!!

So you will recall that after two failed attempts to launch our new boat (the motor refused to run properly and/or would not start), we saw it being towed back to the shop by the dealer's mechanic. That was two days ago.

All day yesterday, we waited for news that it was fixed and that we could come and get it again (for the third time). However, we learned late in the day, that the mechanics were stumped. Crazy as it sounds, the boat worked perfectly with its cowling removed but failed whenever the cowling was attached. The mechanics had taken the boat to a lake near them and had run it for several hours. They had videotaped its behavior and had taken computer readouts from the engine and sent all of that to the Mercury Marine Company (motor manufacturer), asking their technicians for help. Meanwhile, Kathie and I waited and waited, growing increasingly frustrated at not being kept informed as to the status of things, but more frustrated that the dealer wouldn't come up with a solution for us. After some serious venting and expressions of anger on our part, we still had no solution at the end of the day.

Then this morning the service manager (nice guy who maybe should have been handling our problem from the get-go) called to say that he was having an identical motor removed from another boat and substituted for the one on ours and that we could pick the boat up around mid-day today. He said they would continue to work on getting the other motor fixed but that we shouldn't be inconvenienced by this. Nice! And by the way, when we did pick it up, they still hadn't been able to figure out what the deal was with the original motor.

Anyway, here is our new boat at our dock. It runs very smoothly, and we love it. We have done away with the boat lift, which would have been too small for this boat anyway. We are using newly-installed bumpers on the dock to keep the boat from getting scratched up and are simply mooring it to the dock when not in use.

Tonight, we took it out for our first major outing. I spent most of my time familiarizing myself with the new fish finders (it has two)–OK, they are computers, and I'm having a blast learning all their new features. They are very sophisticated and give us all kinds of useful information about what is going on below the surface, about our location (via its GPS features), and about the underwater terrain. I also spent time putting the trolling motor and the engine through some paces and checked out the boat's radio (listening to tunes while you fish might prove to be quite nice).

Meanwhile, some loons came by to look us over,

and Kathie made the first official catch of a fish from the boat. Things are looking up!

New Boat–Excitement and Frustration

So, the exciting part first. We bought a new boat. This one is a foot longer and a foot wider, so it gives us lots more room and some added capacity. Also, its interior configuration includes quite a bit of storage especially designed for fishing, including special places for rods and reels. There are also two very nice live wells, with built-in minnow buckets and water circulation/refresh. The gas tanks are built-in, so we no longer need to stumble around carry-on tanks. There is a built-in radio/CD player too. Seats can be located in any of seven different locations, including two locations at the bow and stern that are ideal for fishing. There are new fish finders and a new trolling motor too. Its Mercury outboard is lots bigger than what we had before and is powerful enough that we can use the boat to pull people recreationally on water skis or tubes. The first picture below is the manufacturer's photo of the whole package, and the second two pictures show us with the dealer when we went to pick up the boat yesterday.

Now for the frustrations. We made the deal on the boat about 9 days ago, trading in our old one in the process. There were several optional items that we asked to be installed, including an extra seat, some electronics, and a stern-mounted boarding ladder (to use on those occasions when we use the boat for skiing or tubing). Initially, we were told we could get the boat last Friday. When things dragged on, we called (frustration number 1: they weren't keeping us apprised of the status) and learned that some of the parts had to be ordered and were delayed in shipping. In fact, the boarding ladder has to be manufactured and may take four to six weeks. So, we asked them to finish up what they could (most everything except the ladder), and we would take delivery now and get the rest done when parts are in.

We went over to pick up the boat yesterday and got a good overview of all its features. After driving over to a resort near our cabin, we put the boat into the water. While I started it up to run it up to our cabin, Kathie drove back to the cabin with the trailer and our truck. Unfortunately, as soon as I backed out of the landing, the motor died, and I could not get it restarted. I called the dealership, and they walked me through some things to try, but we had no success. Fortunately, I had grabbed a paddle and had gotten the boat back to the landing. Kathie eventually figured out that there must be a problem and came back to join me. In the end, the dealer asked that we bring the boat back in for a more detailed investigation (frustration number 2). They did offer to come get it, but we thought it would be quicker for us to take it back.

Of course, back at the dealership, the motor started right away and ran well, or so we were informed. They theorized that there had been air in the gas lines and thought everything was OK. At least they bought us lunch for our trouble at a nearby restaurant. Sooooo, we pulled the boat back to the resort and again launched it. Guess what!? Same problem (frustration number 3)! This time, they sent over the mechanic who had prepped our boat, and he was able to observe the problem first hand. He hitched up the boat to his truck and took it back to the dealership, and so far, that is the last we have heard. I imagine we get a phone call sometime today and will have a third chance to take delivery of our boat. Not the best boat-buying experience so far, though our enthusiasm for using the new boat is still holding steady. More later!

About That Hummingbird Convention...

I mentioned a Hummingbird convention near the end of a recent posting. Below is a video showing what I mean by that. We are going through sugar pretty rapidly these days! Am having to mix a new batch every day. You can stand within a couple feet of these feeders and have an interesting close up experience. The sounds of the wings, along with tiny tweeting sounds, are fun to hear. There is a lot of bickering and jockeying for position too!