Don't miss the boat!

Over at Krystalist they recently put up a post about the "perfect" way to spend Memorial Day. Essentially the Krystalist folks had stumbled onto The BBQ Donut. While I applaud the effort, I think it may be in poor taste to suggest using a product MADE IN GERMANY for Memorial Day. (Not to mention those goofy Germans can't spell "Barbecue anyway!) Might I suggest a down home, American made idea that Penny sent to me a couple of months ago. It's called The Floating Fishing Gazebo. Pros and cons? The Donut does have a grill, however, ask anyone who goes boating and they'll tell you that fire on board a boat is probably the worst thing ever. I guess you could theoretically set up a grill on the gazebo if you wanted, too, but it's wooden and thats an even bigger concern. I suggest putting a portable generator on there and getting a George Foreman Grill. The donut offers no room for people to stand up, walk around, and be social. What is a barbecue where everyone has to stay seated? Let me answer that for you: a stupid barbecue. But all of this boating discussion brings me right back to my trip to Lake Blackshear, for my fraternity reunion earlier this month. There's really only one way to lead into this, so sing along, everybody! Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip That started from this tiny dock Aboard Frank's tiny ship.The mate was a mighty sailing man, The skipper brave and sure. Two passengers set sail that day For a two hour tour, a two hour tour. The weather started getting rough, The tiny ship was tossed, If not for the courage of the fearless crew The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost. As you can see by the pictures, what started out as a nice leisurely boat ride around Lake Blackshear slowly turned not so nice. Since Andrea was running late, she didn't make the boat ride. Probably a good thing since she arrived in her nice dress for the party and had she been on board when the rain came roaring in I suspect she'd have thrown me overboard. And unlike Ginger, I doubt we would have mysteriously had hundreds of glamorous dresses and gowns on board for Andrea to wear. Sadly, without Andrea we had a severe shortage of female passengers. Most people would believe Andrea to fill the role of Ginger the movie star, since Andrea stars in and produces Georgia Life and Style. But really when you get to know her you find she's really more of a Mary Ann, girl next door sort. Frank would have to serve as both the Skipper since it was his boat, and also Mr. Howell since he brought his wife along, who would be Mrs. Howell. For obvious reasons I have to be The Professor, though some would say I make a better Gilligan. I suppose David would then have to be Gilligan, or maybe the nameless, faceless announcer? Either way, once we'd gotten to the north end of the lake and past the dam the weather did in fact start turning rough. We had to stash our delicious snack of tortilla chips and seven layer dip. The Skipper then decided to pull into one of the many boat houses along the lake. Apparently "any port in a storm" is really a rule. He happened to know the people at the place we pulled into and he called them with his cell phone. Sadly they were on their way out to a baseball game and couldn't shuttle us back to the resort. A vote was taken among the castaways and we decided that, even though the Weather Channel was showing we were going to get rocked, we could handle it. We put all our cell phones in a zip lock bag, climbed back on board, and the Skipper floored it. Between the rain pouring down, and the spray from the wave as we plowed into the wind, we were all soaked once we got back to the resort. We all laughed about the fact that when we got back to the dock the rain had pretty much let up. I also pointed out that, just prior to leaving my room for the boat tour, I had been watching Jaws on TV. I guess that's better than watching the Perfect Storm. Despite the outcome of the tour, it really was a good time. I am quite certain that a few years from now it will be the source of many stories among the brothers at a future reunion. And because Andrea was running very late, I had plenty of time to take another shower and change clothes before she arrived.