Normally I would be writing about this subject on Sunday, but with it being Good Friday today and Easter on Sunday, I figured I’d delve into this subject today, that being preparations for the upcoming summer. There was another motivation for this subject, that being a discussion with an old friend, talking about Covid-19 and the differences between the mandates here in New Hampshire and her home state of Connecticut.
One big difference – restaurants and bars are fully open here, but still locked down in Connecticut.
That got us talking about summer in general and what I’ve got planned.
The first thing: Ensuring the slip for the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The Boat – will be ready. The rent for the upcoming boating season has already been paid and the owner has already made arrangements for any repairs that might be needed to ensure the docks are serviceable.
The second thing: Calling the boatyard where The Boat is stored and asking that it be taken out of storage and serviced by the second weekend in May. (It needs to be unwrapped, the hull acid-washed to remove the algae buildup that collected during last boating season, and the oil changed in the engine and stern drive.)
The first and second things are probably the biggest things that need to be taken care of before summer since boating is one thing we do a lot from May to October.
The third thing: Since it looks like summer will again be summer around here, that means we’ll see cookouts again. One thing we lack here at The Gulch is a grill, a lack I plan to correct sometime in the next week or two. (When we left The Manse a little over two years ago, we left our gas grill behind at the request of the new owners. We have been grill-less since then and last year it didn’t seem like we really needed one since cookouts were strongly discouraged...and we didn’t have too many family or friends visiting.) I have seen some nice ones over at Lowes and Tractor Supply Company, so time permitting, I will swing by sometime this weekend to see what’s available and how much they want.
The fourth thing: Spring cleaning. There are a number of items in the attic and the storage area above the garage that we neither need or want, so would be better off going to the dump, Goodwill, or St. Vincent de Paul. A few more will go to rental storage. There are some items elsewhere in The Gulch the WP Mom would like to see go away as she has no use for them and they are doing little more than taking up space. Some will go to family members as they are family heirlooms. Some will go to the Goody Shack at the local dump, some will go to Goodwill, and others will be sold. We hope to have more friends and family visiting, but we need to make room and make sure we have the amenities available for guests. As part of this effort I will be bringing a few items from storage to The Gulch to help with those needed amenities.
The fifth thing (sort of): It looks like I will be residing here longer than originally planned. With the housing market being what it is and the high demand (and costs) for building materials, starting construction on The New Manse makes absolutely no financial sense. Finding a general contractor has been a problem as well as many of them are booked out until next year. Better to maintain the status quo for the time being and wait until the housing bubble deflates. I don’t want to spend a penny more than necessary so I am willing to wait this out.
And so it goes for the upcoming Summer of 2021.
