It’s reality, it’s time to “pull the sailboat” for the summer. What this procedure entails is winterizing our 27 foot Cal sailboat for the harsh winter ahead.
Down come the sails to be folded and stored away. Then there is winterizing the freshwater system with at least 5 gallons of RV anti-freeze. There are what seem like an unending number of other tasks to get the boat ready, and then finally we are ready to load the boat on our sailboat trailer and up the steep ramp we go…to the sailboat storage yard for at least 8 months.
We really, really look forward to launching our sailboat late in May. And if you quickly look at your calendar you will see that we really only have 4 months of sailing weather in North Dakota. Pulling the boat out of the lake and storing it for winter is hard work. But in North Dakota we certainly do work hard to have fun, don’t we?
If you have a sailboat, a cabin, an RV or even a lot of camping equipment, it’s a task getting them ready for the summer recreation season. There always seems to be a few maintenance tasks no matter what you have invested in for summer recreation. In my mind I have already made a list of what I need to do, beyond the normal maintenance “stuff”, to get our sailboat ready to go in the water next spring. And our spring ritual of getting the boat ready to launch takes at least 7 to 10 days spread over 3 to 4 weeks. I keep thinking to myself that if you put together the work to get the boat ready for winter and combine it with the work of getting the boat ready to launch in the spring, you have about 2 months-give or take-of getting ready to have fun. That’s the point friends; we work hard to have fun.
And it isn’t just us sailors, campers and cabin owners that work hard to have fun. I have a couple of friends that actually spread their entire collection of fishing equipment on their garage floor and as they wipe down every lure, they carefully place them back in their tackle boxes. I guarantee you that once this task if done, it will probably be the only time these tackle boxes, and I am talking a myriad of tackle boxes here, will be completely organized. Once again it is a labor of love for these fishermen, a love of the sport. Working hard to get their tackle boxes organized, so they can have fun.
This conversation could go on forever, because in North Dakota we refuse to let Mother Nature shut us down. Heck no! Once we put away the summer tackle boxes, we switch to ice fishing gear. What was once a very simple sport of tossing all of your ice fishing gear in a 5 gallon bucket and drilling a couple of holes with a simple ice auger, has been transformed into elaborate ice houses filled with electronic gear, even waterproof cameras to watch the fish attack, or not attack, your lure. The 5 gallon bucket that you used to sit on as you ice fished, is no more…well at least for the majority of ice fishermen. Heated ice houses complete with satellite TV? Seems a bit extreme but being warm and entertained certainly tops being cold and bored when sitting on a bucket when the fish don’t bite.
There may be a few sports where you don’t work so hard to have fun. I suppose that you can have a picnic and bring prepared food and play cornhole. But the reality is that we do work hard, sometimes very hard, to have fun. But as my Dad used to say; “it was worth the effort.”
Where To Be This Week?
By the time this edition of the Northern Sentry hits the racks, it will be less than one week until Norsk Høstfest. Check out the insert in this week’s paper for details on the largest Scandinavian Heritage Celebration in the United States. Congrats to the Norsk Høstfest team for planning a great event!
Today’s Chuckle
Lena called 9-1-1 and said to the person on the other end…I think Ole has had a stroke. You better get here fast.
“What’s the address?” the operator asked?
1-1-5 Eucalyptus Drive answered Lena.
“Can you spell that?” Asked the operator.
“Let’s see” said Lena.” E-w u…E-u-k…” then she finally said in frustration “how about I just drag Ole over to third street!”
