New Hampshire: May 2010 Archives

BeezleBub and I managed to beat the Memorial Day Weekend holiday rush, launching the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout (aka The Boat) Thursday evening. Even so we had to wait in line to use the town boat ramp as there were two other town residents ahead of us, one launching their boat and the other pulling it out of the water. After a 20 minute wait (the fellow pulling his boat out of the water didn't realize he needed to winch it tight up against the bow stop while most of the weight was still supported by the water) we were backing The Boat down the ramp and, just like that, it was afloat and BeezleBub piloted it to one end of the two docks flanking the ramp.

A few minutes later we were motoring slowly to our slip in the nearby cove.

We got The Boat tied up at its slip and headed home.

Yesterday we took it out for a quick 30-minute shakedown cruise to make sure everything was working properly. We did find a couple of minor problems, including a loose connection on the gas gauge sender and a broken bezel on one of the instruments at the helm. One will be fixed over the weekend and the other will be fixed once the new bezel arrives.

All in all, not a bad start to the boating season.

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This weekend also signals the unofficial beginning of summer, meaning a lot of the summerfolk are here, opening their camps and cottages (assuming they haven't done so already). Resort owners have also gotten their lodgings squared away, anticipating a decent summer...if the weather isn't a repeat of the last two summers, which both suffered from a plethora of rainy days in June and July.

The corporate jets started arriving at the local airport just past noon yesterday, signifying the well-heeled folks owning lakeside McMansions have made their appearances as well. This weekend also means the ever dreaded "summah people" have arrived as well. (I've covered these folks more than once, so I'm not going into any detail other than to describe them as obnoxious boors with some money who lack common sense or manners, and are condescending as hell towards year-round residents, seasonal tourism workers, local business owners, and the 'normal' summerfolk.)

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This being the 'start' of summer, many of the local ice cream stands/burger-hot dog-lobster roll joints are now open all week long. This makes it easier for those of us working during the week to partake of their offerings during some of those long, nice-summer-day lunches we'll take between now and Labor Day.

It helps that some of those places happen to be close to where we dock The Boat, meaning we can sample the great summer fare while cruising the lake. There are a few places that are right on the water with their own docks, making it even more convenient.

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One of our favorite summertime haunts is the town boat ramp. It may sound like a strange place to hang around, but the entertainment makes it worthwhile. The breadth of hilarious events as people launch their boats (or pull them out) never ceases to amaze me. The two most common occurrences that bring on barely suppressed laughter? Boaters forgetting to install bilge plugs that cause their boats to start filling with water the instant they're launched; and failure to remove the tie-down straps attaching at the stern of the boat to the trailer before backing them down the ramp. The ensuing scramble from these two oversights never ceases to amuse.

(Am I being cruel? Not really. Just about every boater has experienced one or both of these oversights at one time or another during their years of boating. That being said, there are only two kinds of boaters out there: those that have done them, and those that will.)

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We stayed away from the lake today, and are likely to do the same on Sunday. The last thing we need is dealing with all the other boats out there, generating all kinds of wake-driven chop. It's no fun being out on the lake when the water is rough. It makes for an exhausting trip.

One of the advantages of living here is that we can avail ourselves of the opportunities to head out on the lake during the week when the traffic will be a fraction of what it can be on weekends.

Who says there's never a cop around when you need one?

As these two teens found out, a cop could be the guy in the car in front of you that you just harassed and threatened in a road rage incident.

Two teens who allegedly followed, then threatened an off-duty police officer at his home after a road rage incident were arrested Friday night.

Apparently they didn't like seeing the officer's car in front of them even though he had passed them while they were driving well under the speed limit. So they sped up, followed him home, and threatened him with a baseball bat once he pulled into his driveway.

My son is acquainted with one of the teens involved in the incident and was not surprised to find out he was involved. I know the police officer they threatened (he lives just down the street from us), and know he's a pretty cool customer.

Let's hope these two jerks learned a valuable lesson. But if what my son told me about one of them is true, it's unlikely.

This is a funny comment by a decidedly anti Taurus gun owner. I own two Taurus pistols, one of which I was carrying when I literally came face to face with a mother bear and her yearling cub, about 25-30 feet away. Both were already filling out from trash diving.

I was hiking the new lot in Center Harbor yesterday with the sun going down. Center Harbor Woods was recently acquired by the efforts of donors and the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT). The trails are still really primitive and hardly used, which makes them great. There are free maps of it, including one listing flora and fauna, at the LRCT headquarters. (They've moved from Meredith to a formerly private residence in Center Harbor on Route 25B.)

These bears were likely the ones that have already raided my garbage once. My sidearm was a Taurus Millennium Pro PT 140, a ten-round .40 caliber double action semi-auto. Why the bears didn't run when my dog began frantically barking at them and waited until I approached from the south (wind was north-northeast) shows how territorial and aggressive they become when making a living off humans' trash.

The mother even angrily barked at me before reluctantly it seemed turning away. And I had felt like a fool strapping on! With the bile in my throat and ten ticks on me, I returned to the car with my knees shaking together, wishing I had had a more powerful revolver with me. Like the Ruger Redhawk in the .45 Colt. But that is difficult-to-find ammo.