Sometimes A Girl’s Gotta Go

My Bennington pontoon boat has been sitting in the garage way too long. Between my back problems that pretty much incapacitated me for many months and then the hot nasty summer here in Florida, it’s been pretty much a garage queen for well over a year. But my back is doing better, and the weather is cooling down, and it’s time to get out on the water!

The boat is a 20-foot fishing model, equipped with two live wells, four swivel fishing seats, a Garmin fish/depth finder, and just about every option I could ever want or need. I bought it used, but it had only been on the water two or three times because the previous owner’s wife told him he could have the boat or he could have her, but he couldn’t have both. I guess that old thing of “Just do whatever the hell you want to do” really isn’t true after all, is it? So between us two owners, I think it’s been in the water a total of six or seven times. I definitely plan to remedy that this winter.

Besides the fishing seats and the captain’s chair, there’s also an L shaped couch with cushions that lift up for storage and a padded lounger if you want to stretch out and work on your tan.

The lounger lifts up to reveal storage area for the batteries and cargo, and a while back, I acquired a portable changing room from another pontoon boat owner. I don’t see us changing clothes when we’re out on the water, but there is room for a porta potty in there. You know what they say about guys out on the water, they can just “hang it over the side,” but a lady needs her privacy, right? So yesterday Terry and I (mostly Terry) set up the changing room. It didn’t come with all the parts, so we had to fabricate a base for it and then attach the frame to that base.

Then it was a case of attaching the zippered fabric curtain on the frame, and we were good to go.

I even talked Terry into posing for a picture. She said it’s not as roomy as the two bathrooms here at our house, but sometimes a girl’s gotta go, and this will do the trick.

Tomorrow I hope to get the boat out of the garage and then hook up a set of “earmuffs” and a hose to it and see if it will fire up after sitting for so long. I put stabilizer in the fuel after the last time I used it, but it’s been a while, so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. And trust me, if it does start, it won’t be long before I’m out on the water!

Congratulations Cathie Laurent, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake Lynching, the second book in my Big Lake mystery series. We had 39 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.

Thought For The Day – I don’t mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.