Happiness

Craig is having a fun week! It started with a deal he could not pass up on a new bowling alley for the office. He has spent 2 years trying to get our old 50's bowling alley to fully work. Many folks have seen it in the office sadly sitting quiet. After sitting for 20 years not used our old bowling alley's list of issues was too long. When Craig heard about a deal on this bowling alley he could not pass it up Wow is all I can say. This new bowling alley is awesome. It comes from the same manufacturer as our old one. It plays 5 different variety of bowling games. All 6 players work on it. This is going to become a favorite of our guests next to our 50's pinball game. It does cost a quarter per player so save up your quarters. The pinball will still remain a favorite at 8 balls for a dime Here are some old pics of the rec room in our basement you might enjoy It was quite the hopping place. With the new bowling alley I hope the community room becomes hopping as well. Now about that juke box...... that is another story...... and will have to wait for another day...... Now on to the rest of what is making Craig's week a good one. Back in 1957, Maynard bought a new Shell Lake ski boat. One of the few new things he ever brought besides the old bowling game. Craig is driving the boat in the pic above and having the time of his life. Everyone in our family has loved this boat ever since. The boat took skiers at the resort until the 80's when insurance drove up the price of liability insurance too much for us to continue to offer skiing every afternoon. The boat went into storage...... and we were sad Nobody in the family forgot how much fun it was to drive the old boat and for brief periods the boat would come out and we would all have fun driving it again Here is my son Jake in 2011 when the boat came out of storage having a great time discovering how much fun it is to drive Reliving my teenage years teaching the boys all how to ski behind the old boat in 2011 and 2012. Everyone was falling back in love with the boat until..... the motor died..... and it went back into storage..... and we were all sad again... Dreaming of the day we could get it back on the lake again flying across Lower Kaubashine.... that brings us to yesterday... Craig drove 3 hours away to pick up this old boat we heard about on Craig's List with a 1970 short shaft electric start 40 horse for 800 dollars. Could this be the answer to the problem of the ski boat..... We took a gamble and bought it yesterday and he was all smiles when he got back to the resort So guess what came out of storage.... It is just calling that it wants to fly across Lower Kaubashine once again. Looking at the red top you can see this boat is half wood and half fiberglass. It was manufactured during the transition from wood to fiberglass and is both. The top of the boat that is wood has been replaced many times and is nearing its next replacement Craig figuring out how to get one motor off one boat and hooked up to another boat Because he can't forget how much fun this is when he was a few years younger Getting Troy in the action cutting the old lock off the new motor Step one was removing the old motor. This old motor has done its work for many years and had lots of great times.... but to be honest..... it is a 40 horse and a number of its horses are dead and it is time to put it out to pasture Now the real work begins, stay tuned to see what happens next Hopefully a happy ending and back in the lake Just like 1957 before the red boat was red and it was shinny and new....