I started my day by getting up at 5:00 am (on a Saturday?) and following my neighbor Ralph and his brother-in-law Lincoln. We went south by boat from the beach in pretty lumpy water that would have, on any other day, had me rolling over and going back to sleep. Today however, we had a mission. The tide was going to be its highest between 5:00 and 6:00 am and the huge cedar log that they had found last weekend and prepared for the journey on yesterday afternoon was waiting for us. After about a 45 minute pounding, we arrived to find our giant log pretty much floating and, after tying off to both ends, we managed to get it pulled off to deeper water and catch the outgoing tide towards home. The project was working like clockwork by now so I left the boys from Flapjack Lodge to their towing job and I motored ahead. I stopped by mom and dad's to visit for awhile and let Captain Jack get out and stretch his legs a little. I had a cup of tea with mom and listened to dad talk to his friend in China over the computer while waiting for the guys to catch up. After awhile, going just a little faster than the current right down the middle of the bay with a beam of sunshine highlighting their progress, they passed on by. So after a trip up the stairs to the barn to see the table mom had set for the Chinese dinner party tonight, Jack and I jumped back into the boat and caught up with Ralph and company in time to plan on how to land the beast without taking out any pilings or losing the whole thing in the current that was really ripping by now. After a quick phone call that got our neighbor Chris out of bed to provide an extra hand on shore, we nudged our prize into shore and tied it off. Whew! We all got our boats secured and admired our work for a little while. We then dispersed till the tide went out so we could get more lines on it in preparation for maneuvering it to a good place on evening’s flood tide. In the quiet of the afternoon I found myself hanging around the Salmon Beach rowboat and despite a long list of other things that I should have been doing, I found myself with a scrapper in my hands scrapping away on the bottom of the boat, happily I might add. Much to my delight I found that, as usual, working on anything on or near the trail will prompt a comment from everyone that walks by. Being a decent day, I had both plenty of people and comments. It was great because it gave me a chance to introduce the Salmon Beach Rowboat Project to some neighbors that hadn't heard about it yet. The progress report for today, after not much more than an hour to an hour-and-a-half, is that I have uncovered two more boathouse brands, one on each side of the bow just like the boat at the Seaport Museum. So, with the fire dying down and Captain Jack asleep at my feet, I guess it is my turn to go to bed and dream about all the Salmon Beach rowboats that might possibly be hiding inside that giant cedar log resting peacefully on the beach.
