During the Memorial Day weekend of 2007, we bought an old wooden dock from a seller on Lake Bellaire. The dock served us well for a dozen years, but became a challenge to maintain. The wood was aging and coming apart. The dock legs were really just steel fence posts. As the lake level rose, dock sections lifted off the legs and slid into the lake, becoming extremely heavy and waterlogged. The dock had to go. A few weeks ago, I ordered a new Harbor Master aluminum dock from Alden Marine.

Yesterday I used the pontoon trailer to remove the dock sections from the water, leaving 2 sections over dry land to serve as a bridge to the new dock. Those sections may be replaced next year. The trailer made the dock removal much easier, as the waterlogged sections, while heavy, were still buoyant in the water and easy to drag to the trailer.

The new dock is made of sturdy but light aluminum, with a PVC deck. This dock will be light enough for me to remove at the end of the season to avoid the destructive movement of the lake ice. During the project, Enzo helped, and got muddy exploring the silty shoreline, which is what he does best.

I still have some bumpers and tie-down cleats to install, but otherwise the dock is ready for action.

I headed into town for breakfast, stopping at the Alden Bar.  The pancakes and hash browns recharged me, and 2 cups of hot coffee warmed me, although I had dressed for the occasion and was quite comfortable on the road.  On the way home, I got more waves and giggles from other motorists, and a trucker gave me a “thumbs up” salute (at least I hope it was his thumb).

Now at 235 kilometers, the Dnepr MT-11 has been a trooper.  These machines were designed for Siberian conditions, so the snowy ride this morning was par for the course.  Who’s up for a ride?

The balloons were beautiful, and amazingly, it was easy to have a conversation with the balloonists.  My neighbor Tom Ross, from his dock,  greeted one balloonist with “beautiful morning!”, to which he replied “it is a beautiful morning”.  I also replied to one balloonist’s greeting, which you can hear in the movie below.  Several balloons descended low over the water, with one actually splashing into the lake before regaining altitude, laughing as water poured from the gondola.  The movie is below, and if you’re impatient, skip to 3:17 into the movie to see the splash-down.

The pictures tell the story – water, barbecue, boating – the usual.

I rode to Bellaire to take some higher resolution pictures of the bike by Mom’s shed, then decided to ride into Alden.  I stopped at local landmarks along the way to take pictures, worried that the high winds would knock the bike over.  While I stopped for pictures at the Dockside restaurant, a woman got out of her car and started taking pictures of the little motorbike with her cell phone.  After taking some pictures in Alden, I returned to the house.

The odometer now reads 6201 – 52 miles since it’s been restored.  It’ll be fun riding it around town when I get it home.

These were baby Eastern Painted Turtles, the predominant species in Thayer Lake.  We took the babies to the water’s edge, helping the second turtle out of its shell.  Both babies were weak and dehydrated, so they were set within the thick shoreline plants, just a few inches from the water.  That should have kept them out of view of the hungry birds.

The weather was nice, with rain falling only on Sunday morning.  Master multi-tasker Al relieved me from the lawn cutting duties by taking his grandsons for a ride on the tractor while cutting the grass.  I rode about 35 miles on the old gold Honda, which is really running well.  Al’s grandsons Aiden and Brody enjoyed the pontoon boat, piloting it on a few occasions.  On Saturday afternoon, a bald eagle circled the lake, hunting for a fishy meal.

Thanks to all who shared their time with us in Alden this Memorial Day weekend.