Boat show, two work assignments turned into a two-night RV trip, cocktails with friends, Jeep / toad set-up, and garden work. Having minimal rain was a blessing as we enjoyed all of the forementioned.
Willy is getting comfortable walking on the leash. Notice the tail up! He does well when the area is quiet. Once he hears something he starts to make beeline for the motorhome.
When not outside of the condo on wheels, Willy is looking out the window or screen door, or napping; he is very good at napping. 😁
The weather for this RV / work trip was delightful; breezy and below 80°. No need to run the generator for AC. We didn't even need AC.
Before we get into the RV travels let's look at the boat show.
See all of the photos on the web.
Here is the minute and half video I made of the show.
Our boats were not in the show because they are trapped in Back Bay unable to get under the bridge to the big lake. Our friend's boat is also trapped. 😢
Since we can't get out on the boats we met up with Martini and Manhattan for cocktails and snacks at the dock in our marina to look at our boats.
We have the best slips in the marina because we are in an area by ourselves, so we bring chairs and table to set up the party.
Crabby Jack makes an appearance at the Barn Lounge and makes some noise on the drums. I was too busy pouring wine to get additional photos of the Barn Lounge gathering with a few friends.
Video of the boatshow and dock cocktail party.
Onto the "work week". As we continue to mix work with recreation, we travel to Massachusetts. One location in cranberry country (Carver), the other in the central northern part of the state (Winchendon).
Work assignment location #1 is in Carver at a cranberry bog. I had not been to a cranberry bog before, so it was interesting to see the design. The cranberries are visible, they are turning red, almost ready for Thanksgiving.
"The cranberry is a Native American wetland fruit which grows on trailing vines like a strawberry. The vines thrive on the special combination of soils and water properties found in wetlands. Wetlands are nature's sponges; they store and purify water and help to maintain the water table.
Cranberries grow in beds layered with sand, peat and gravel. These beds are commonly known as bogs or marshes and were originally formed as a result of glacial deposits.
In Massachusetts we call the place where cranberries grow a BOG. Natural bogs evolved from deposits left by the glaciers more than 10,000 years ago. These deposits were left in impermeable kettle holes lined with clay. The clay prevents materials from leaching into the groundwater. Rocks and other organic materials were collected by the glaciers. When the ice finally melted deposits of heavy materials were layered on top of the clay."
In an effort to avoid cooking dinner we go to Stoneforge Grill in Easton which is the same town as our Harvest Hosts stay. They have a lot of beer on tap.
Our Harvest Hosts place for the night is at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. We love church stays; they are quiet and usually no other RVers there. Look at the grassy area; it's great for Bell. We were able to throw the ball and she could run around. Hard to do that a campground where dogs have to be leashed at all times.
Here is Bell on her magic carpet.
Our second work location was a snore so there is nothing interesting to say about it. Work was done early afternoon which allowed time for an ice cream stop. We never stop for ice cream. However, we have friends doing the Great Loop by boat and keep posting photos of ice cream at every town they go to; I was inspired. I don't need to be eating ice cream in addition to the sourdough bread.
The highlight of our RV work trip was our time at Red Apple Farm in Phillipston. Wow, they have everything: country store, wood fired pizza, brew barn serving BBQ, goats, waking trail through the orchards, and a lovely place to park the RV.
We arrived at the farm at 3:30 and we were glad we got there early. After checking in at the country store, we parked and set up camp.
After some down time, we walked to the brew barn with Bell for dinner. It was just terrific! Dogs are welcome everywhere, including inside the brew barn. All of the staff were friendly, and we felt welcomed. Five stars for Red Apple Farm.
We return home Friday late morning in time for me to tackle more work in the garden. I've been working on the area on the side of the barn since May and it finally looks like something. More detail on that later. I did ninety percent of the work myself. Whiskey helped moving some dirt and getting bags of stone from Lowe's.
This is the same area from August 2022.
My goal is to have a perennial herb / medicinal garden. I hope the plants make it through the winter. Here is what I planted: mint, parsley, chives, lavender, sage, oregano, thyme, catnip, echinacea, yarrow, blueberry bushes, elderberry bushes. For decoration I planted, two varieties of hydrangea, hosta varieties, coral bells, foam flower, ferns, and forsythia.
Materials: 35+ bags of mulch, 60 bags of stone, stone wall rocks we unearthed last year.
While I do this stuff, Whiskey keeps the lights on by doing paperwork. So far, this semi-retirement thing for me is working out pretty well plus I'm getting a workout lugging bags of mulch and stone and dragging rocks on a plastic sled.
Need back fill here to cover the exposed roots of the maple trees.
I built the stone wall to fill the gap between the two ledge outcroppings. Still waiting for the grass seed to take off in front of the wall.
Whiskey's side project this week was to get the toad set-up so we can take the Jeep and the motorhome on a short trip for a trial run. Mission accomplished!
Notice that the blue of the Jeep matches the motorhome graphic perfectly! Wow, that was pretty lucky. Neither of like blue cars; but we have grown to really like the color of the Jeep.
Ok, that's enough for now. Onto the second week of August. Time really flies. I don't want to rush the summer since we barely had much sunlight, and only two boat rides. Have to make the most of the warm weather; two more months before I have to stack all of that firewood.
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