From frozen pipes to flowers… what a welcome change of focus. This week’s unusual cold snap froze our pipes and caused us to get intimate with our plumbing. Not so much fun. It happened right at the same time that Nicole was moving from Rockport to San Antonio. On the morning after the first really hard freeze (and per a plumber interviewed on the local news, broken pipe calls start coming in whenever the weather dips below 20 degrees for more than six hours), Steve was on-duty to help Nicole get moved. I played with pipes, and creative insulation concepts, all day while Steve did a marathon moving-man thing, driving to the coast, loading (with his brother’s help… thank you, Dennis) Nicole’s stuff into a rental trailer, and then caravanning back here with her. Then yesterday, I took my turn helping unload on this end. At least, once we got the trailer door open so it could be unloaded. Furniture had shifted during the drive and the roll-up door would only go up about a foot and a half. Through sheer perseverance, (and turning himself into Gumby), eventually Steve got the door open and we were able to get Nicole settled (somewhat) into her new home. Just in time to head home to start the faucets dripping for yet another night of temps in the teens! Nicole, on the other hand, headed back to Rockport to drop off the trailer, and then drove back again, effectively spending her first night in her new home, not at home. She’s a crazy woman! But it’s done! She has a couple more trips to get completely out but the big stuff is moved and she has until the end of January to finish. We’re really, really happy to have her closer to us.

The flower part? Well, our dining room/bird blind became home to our lemon tree last month. First we decorated it with Christmas lights outside to help it stay warm. But night after night, it was too cold to leave it outdoors. Shuttling it was getting old so in it came, to stay, until the chance of frost passes. It had some green fruit, and a few flowers then, but while serving as our Christmas tree, it exploded with blossoms. Mmm… once again, I wish I could capture fragrance online! For my birthday, Mom sent me an amaryllis bulb, forced to bloom “around Christmas”. Its brilliant red flowers have been cheering us up for weeks now. And yesterday morning, with no concern for the freezing temps outside its window, the little hibiscus plant I have tended carefully for months treated us to a stunning yellow-gold blossom with a deep red center. Hibiscus blossoms often only last for one day but this flower is now two days old and it is still gorgeous. Long live flowers!

Dennis and Nancy drove up from Rockport for the first launch of our new-to-us pontoon boat. Getting the boat into the water went well and we spent an hour cruising around the lake. It was brisk, but sunny and beautiful. Life was good!

But the rest of the story, like any boating tale, begins with “No sh*t, there we were”. No surprise here… I had to pee. We tied up to a fishing courtesy dock and before I got back to the boat, the motor died and wouldn’t restart. Repeated tries and futzing around didn’t help so I hiked up the hill to get our bearings while we waited a bit, hoping it was just flooded. Though I’ve now made the acquaintance of a camp host named “Mary” who has lived at a Park across the lake for the past 15 years, and a gentlemanly young Ranger named Phillip, (whose phone number, as well as the Sheriff Department’s is now programmed into my phone) we didn’t end up needing rescue. The motor started and, much relieved, off we went, chalking it up to learning the quirks of our somewhat vintage motor.

After another pleasant hour (or so) spent noodling around the lake, we headed back toward the boat ramp. Along the way, we began to lose power and about 30′ from the dock, the motor died again. So close and yet so far!

Though Steve did get it to restart, never again did it stay running for very long. Did you know it is rather tricky to load a pontoon boat back onto a trailer (especially for the first time!) without power? With much perseverance, and the assistance of a very wet brother-in-law (in 51 degree water… yikes!) we did finally succeed. As we drove home, grateful that our first (mis)adventure in motor boating was safely over, we counted our blessings. The motor didn’t die out in the middle of the lake. We were off the water with light to spare. The dogs and Nicole sat this one out. We had the support of Dennis and Nancy. Motors are serviceable.

We learned a lot. And now we’ll spend some more money. What’s that old adage about a boat being “a hole in the water that you throw money into?” I think there might be something to it.