Dinner on the High Seas

Last night we had a lot of work to do (more painting and cutting trim). Karlo insisted that we need to work in lieu of playing, but that was unacceptable on such a beautiful night. I convinced him that we should combine dinner with kayaking to save time and still be able to come home and get our work done. He went for it.

So we stopped at Big Y and bought a little picnic dinner, loaded the kayak on the Jeep and headed to Bigelow Hollow.

I had hoped for a nice relaxing float on the lake so we can unwind and relax in the sun for a brief hour. But things didn’t go as planned. We launched the boat with the wind at our backs and paddled down wind for the entire length of the lake. We even did a little sailing by letting our paddles catch the wind.

Karlo sailing with his paddle in the air.

Karlo warned that we better eat dinner while we could so I tried to hold my sandwich in one hand, while holding my paddle from blowing off the boat with the other and juggled these between sips of my ice tea. It was not easy, nor was it relaxing. Knowing we had a couple of miles of paddling directly against the wind in front of us, I decided not to eat much. Kayaking into the wind is a big ab work-out and I didn’t want a stomach ache. I thought a smarter idea would be to reward myself with the chocolate chip cake we had sitting on the counter at home. I couldn’t wait to get home and have a piece.

While the water was still calm.

We turned the boat into the wind and were faced with 1 foot swells. Every once in a while one of these would land in my lap. Gallons of freezing cold water—in my lap. That was fun! I was so worried about my camera getting soaked and I paddled like a lunatic. The thought of getting home to paint sounded more appealing with every splash of water across my face.

We made it home where I spent the next hour in the shed (the big metal one) painting trim and getting attacked by bugs. Finally, it was time to go inside, eat my cake, get cleaned up, and watch American Idol. You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered the cake container on the floor surrounded by crumbs and chocolate chips ground into my freshly washed wood floor. OMG, I could have killed her. There was no question who the BAD dog was. She is in so much trouble . . .