We can be challenging neighbors. This summer, we had an array of cars parked in haphazard fashion at the top of our driveway. We also had our paddle boat in the parking area, which may have contributed to the haphazard part of the parking situation. We brought it from the lakehouse at some point after we sold the lakehouse. I had a plan for it, but the plan never materialized. So, it sat on our drive. Now that we are cleaning up for winter parking, I wanted to move it to a storage area closer to our dock. Since both of its handles are broken (of course), it is tough to move any distance… and our dock is around the house and at the furthest point in the backyard. Our waterfront is a backwards L shape, with a little sliver of land that extends out more than the rest. That’s where the dock is. One of us gets the bright idea to use the trailer. While this adds the weight of the trailer, it gives us some wheels. 

After maneuvering the paddle boat onto the trailer (we couldn’t even agree how to do that… and that seemed like the easy part), we started across the yard and down the hill. We were all pushing in different directions. Turns out, Tayden, Travis, and I didn’t agree on which direction we were going. We finally agreed that the only way that would fit the trailer was through poor Marcia’s yard. Seriously, the woman is a saint living next to us. Our little strip of land that leads to the water has a lot of trees with a path to the water, while Marcia’s land is more clear. Since that section is a bit hilly, we caught the trailer and dug up some turf from time to time. When that happened the paddle boat would slide and pinch Tayden and my hands. There may have been some swearing. 

I remember when we bought this paddle boat from Rural King in 2009. The workers there didn’t think we should transport it on the roof of the minivan. Some people just don’t understand the value of a roof rack. They didn’t understand why we didn’t know anyone with a trailer. Well, Trav’s parents had the very trailer that we were now using, but the paddle boat was a bit of an impulse buy, and even if it was planned, I wouldn’t have drove a trailer 2 ½ hours each way for a 10 minute haul of a paddle boat that fit perfectly fine on the roof of the minivan. They referred to us as “damn cityfolk” despite the fact that we were actually damn suburban folk. It may have been a derogatory term. They didn’t understand why we couldn’t borrow a trailer from Cousin Eddy, Aunt Sue, or Uncle Judd’s wife’s cousin’s parents. To their credit, they had us drive around to the back of the store, and they helped put that paddle boat on our roof. Then they closed the back garage without providing any twine. And the back of the store did NOT look pedestrian friendly. So, we did what “damn cityfolk” would do and drove around the store VERY SLOWLY so we could get some twine to tie it down. Just four screaming kids concerned about their newly acquired toy, Travis driving, and me sitting out the window holding onto the paddle boat in an effort to keep it on the roof. Just a regular day for the damn cityfolk. 

But now we have that trailer that Trav’s parents used to have. So we pitched and bumped and scraped along Marcia’s yard, eventually depositing the paddle boat on its winter storage perch. At that point, we realized that we had left our large gas tanks down there, still mostly full. We move the tanks on a cart with big wheels, like bike wheels. But we never got around to putting the extra leg on it so they wouldn’t slide off when in the resting position, so the extension of the cart has to rest on a box. We converted to this rather ample system after the unfortunate splashing incident where I ended up covered in gasoline. I digress. Now we have to go up the yard with the cart and gas, the box, and the trailer. Everyone wants to do it in one trip. Let’s just say that these damn cityfolk had to abandon that one trip idea pretty quickly after we nearly toppled the gas tanks. Three people, two trips and all was done. We repaired Marcia’s yard much like a golfer replaces the turf to the green after a swing. I apologized to her, and she just shrugged and carried on. I love that woman!

Have a great week everyone!