Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: Christie Lake

  • What I Learned from Stress

    Over at Robert Hruzek’s place, Middle Zone Musings, the topic of today’s groupwrite project is:

    Now see, I could have stressed myself out and agonized over what picture to put up there, but what’d I do to eliminate the stress of finding one?  Why, I lifted Robert’s cute little stress picture right off his site!  Of course, that would be called, ahem, borrowing, wouldn’t it?

    It seems like everywhere we turn nowadays, the topic of stress pops up left and right.  “Ten Steps to Eliminate Stress from your Life!” screams one magazine.  “Live a Stress-Free Life,” urges another.  It’s no wonder that so many magazines are tackling the topic of stress:  with the stock market in the pits, food and health care soaring, and the housing market basically flat–these are stressful times, indeed.

    Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to experience a relatively stress-free weekend.  I got in the car and drove up to my parents’ house for the weekend.  I left behind the hubby and children (they were completely ok with that!) and it was my first time up at Christie Lake without them.   I was able to blast my John Denver/Kenny Rogers/Lonestar music without anyone imploring me to turn it down, or worse, to turn it off.

    Let me give you a glimpse of why it is so peaceful up at Christie Lake.  This is the view from my parents’ kitchen window:

    Peaceful, indeed.

    I spent the weekend painting the decks with my Dad and sis.  I had planned to winterize the jet ski and put it away for the winter after we finished up with the painting.  During all of Saturday morning, I was enjoying the sun and the paining was moving along.  The weather was incredible.  On Saturday afternoon, I started to feel some stress.  My neck was aching and my jaw was tensing up.   I was trying to figure out what was causing it and then I realized what it was:  I didn’t know how to winterize the jet ski and I was running out of time to figure it out.  I had read the owner’s manual over and over earlier in the week, but it might as well have been written in Greek.  Here’s an example of part of the winterizing process:

    Prior to inserting the ignition coil to its location, apply some Molykote 111 grease (P/N413 707 000) around the seal area that touches the spark plug hole.  After installation, ensure the seals seats properly with the engine top surface.

    Ignition coil?  Seals?  And where the heck were the spark plugs located?  No wonder I could feel the stress mounting that afternoon.  I had texted Leaders Marine the day before and asked if I could stop in so they could walk me through the process.  Sure, they said.

    I borrowed my Dad’s truck and hooked up the jet ski and drove to the marine shop.  My Mom came with.  Along the way, we talked about a bunch of things and ironically, the subject of stress came up.

    “Remember that piece of advice you gave me a long time ago,” I asked my Mom.  “You told me that you used to worry and be stressed out and then you realized you were wasting a lot of time worrying.”

    And then Mom finished the thought.  “Yes, everything always has a way of working out, it just always does.  So why get all worked up about it.  I look back at all the years that I was stressed out about something or other.  I didn’t have to worry so much.”

    Well, Mom’s advice has stuck with me through the years and when I find myself stressed out, I have to ask myself– what is the solution?  What is the worse possible thing that could happen?  What can I change right now to ease the way I feel?

    So much for being stressed out about the winterizing process.  The mechanic from the marine shop walked me through the steps a few times until I felt confident that I could do it.  Dad helped me finish the process and we put the jet ski back in the shed and put all the neighbor’s boats back in.

    “I just hope I did this right,” I said to my Dad.

    “Well, no use worrying about it,” he said.  “We’ll find out in the spring.”

  • Wordless Wednesday–Leap!

    Don't be afraid--leap!
    Don’t be afraid–leap!

    This is a shot of my cousin’s kiddo jumping out of the pontoon on Christie Lake. See more at Wordless Wednesday.

  • Summer is Flying By

    Ah, it felt good to unplug this week. 

    I took the kids back up to Christie Lake on Sunday to grab the last full week up here.  My cousins came up from Missouri  again and my husband’s friend and his kids joined us on Wednesday.  Mike and his kids only planned to stay two days, but it’s Sunday morning and they’re still here.  We are sitting in the kitchen having omelettes and getting ready for a final boat ride before we head home.  That’s the lure of lakeside living–good food, good friends and lots of fun.  It’s hard to leave.

    Yesterday, for the fun of it, we drove around the lake to see the few homes that are up for sale.  Housing prices on the lake have soared in the last five years.  We stopped at a house that was priced at $900,000 last year and is being offered at $649,000 this summer.  It’s a beautiful piece of property but the house looks like it will require some work to update it.  Also up for sale is a pair of houses that my friend Tammy rented for several years.  The two tiny houses perched on a very tiny lot are going for $349,000.   There’s also another small ranch home up for sale for nearly 300 grand.

    There’s even a beautiful lot for sale for…are you ready for this….$345,000.  This lot is on the same part of the lake that my two brothers owned land many years ago.  They bought the lot for ten grand back then and sold it a few years later for a very small profit.   It’s hard to believe that land has soared that much in price but Christie Lake is a private lake, one of the few private lakes in Michigan with no public access. 

    For the last couple of years, I have been talking about buying a jet ski.  I started looking at used ones earlier in the summer.  I came close to purchasing a few of them, but someone else always beat me to the offer.  “Why don’t you look at a new one?” the hubby suggested.   I stopped at Leader’s Marine in Kalamazoo on the way home from dropping off a Redbox movie and looked at the new ones.  Sea Doo was running a special with low cost financing and a $800 gas card.

    I went to talk to Dick, a 74-year-old neighbor who owned pretty much every toy there is.  He had some ski lifts sitting in the water and I wanted to see if I could buy one.  They’ve gone through three used jet skis.  The most recent one was purchased by his son earlier in the summer and it was already out of commission just a few weeks later.  I was apprehensive about buying used vs. new.  I was leaning toward the new Sea Doo, mostly because it had a key that wouldn’t let a user go over 35 mph.  I could use that for the kids to keep them from going full speed at 50-60 mph.

    “Life is short, go buy it!” Dick said.

    Life is short.  How many times have I said that to other people?

    And that’s how I ended up buying a Sea Doo for my birthday.

  • Are You Enjoying Your Summer?

    It was like old times.  We invited two families to join us at Christie Lake over the weekend.  Dennis, Laura, Steve and Joanne.  Plus their kids. It was the first time we all kicked back together up at the lake.  The weather forecast called for rain the entire weekend but none of us cared.  We just wanted to connect with one another and catch up on life. 

    Visiting St. Julian's Winery

    It definitely rained.  We decided to go to the St. Julian Winery in the morning.  We left Dennis behind with the kids, and they took off in the rain to go swimming.  I hadn’t been to the winery since I was a kid, sipping grape juice at the bar.  It was fun to sample the wine and try unusual ones.  We ended up buying a blackberry wine and the Niagara.  

    After the sampling, we took a tour of the winery.  The tour guide slowed down his speech and faced us while he spoke, so the tour was pretty accessible for us.  Unfortunately, the short movie in the beginning wasn’t captioned.

    When we arrived back, the rain slowed down.  We grabbed lunch and then decided to go tubing with just the adults first.  The kids were taking a break from all the swimming they did. 

    As I whipped Dennis and Steve around, I tried to make sure that Steve didn’t fall off too hard or crash his head into Dennis.  I didn’t want to jar his cochlear implant internally and be responsible for sending him back into the hospital for a re-implant.  When Steve climbed into the boat, he thanked me for the wild ride.  “That was me being cautious!” I laughed. 

    Steve brought up his kayaks so we all took turns kayaking around the lake.  On Sunday, the sun came out in the afternoon so we took the pontoon out and swam in the middle.  We took the kids tubing and kneeboarding the rest of the time.

    This was a rare weekend for all of us together but I was really thankful for it.  There’s nothing like spending some time with friends and family, sharing good food and good times.   

    So how’s your summer going?  Are you finding enjoyable moments to kick back and enjoy?  Share them in the comment section!

  • A Week to Remember at Christie Lake

    Vacation time is over and a mound of laundry is sitting in the laundry tub.  I can hear my Mom chiding me as she reads this.  But I told you to wash your laundry while you were up there!

    The week started out with Steven’s baseball team’s championship win.  No sooner did we arrive back up in Michigan and the storm clouds began to roll in.  We covered up the boats just before the skies let loose with angry mix of wind and rain.  The electric went out from Wednesday evening until Friday morning.

    Everyone made the best of it.  Shortly after we lit up the lanterns, the kids began to make up dances in the kitchen.  Mom and my cousin, Marilyn, began doing line dances, the fox trot and the cha-cha (at least, I think that’s what the hopping around looked like).

    On the fourth of July, the weather was beautiful.  The kids decorated the pontoon for the annual boat parade.  We didn’t have many boats this year–either the price of gas kept everyone on shore or they didn’t want to particpate in the water fights afterwards.

    Right after the parade, we threw a surprise 40th birthday party for my cousin Cheri.  Cheri’s brother passed away when she was a teen, so her actual birthday at the end of the year always holds sad memories.  So we celebrated her “half” birthday instead.  The cake was decorated in black icing, with two nice mounds of icing-covered oranges in honor of her new growth.  That’s right, Cheri’s gift to herself this year was never-before-seen cleavage.  I gotta tell ya, my cousin rocks.  She took up running, lost weight and looks like a knock-out.  She’s my inspiration.  I’ve got the boobs, now I want the body to match.

    There’s more.  The vacation wouldn’t be memorable if it wasn’t for the way it started… and ended.  On Saturday night, we were next door at a party.  The beer was flowing freely and the roasted pig was actually delicious, even after I declared that I wouldn’t eat it–there I was–sitting with a plate of it and downing it with my fourth cup of beer.  Those who know me, you can pick your jaw up off the floor.  Yes, I do like to imbibe every now and then.

    Cheri’s husband came bounding over.  “The septic tank just overflowed on the driveway,” he announced.  Uh oh.  So that smell– it was wafting over from our driveway.  We tried to keep the news away from Mom as Dad slipped back home to call the septic company.  Of course, there wasn’t anyone who was willing to come out over the weekend and empty the tank.

    So there we were, with a bunch of people in the house and strict orders not to flush.   Mom hollered at Dad for a bit.  “I told you to call the septic company earlier in the week!”  But then she quickly went into problem-solving mode, pulling out kitchen garbage bags and announcing that anyone who wanted to void themselves of solid contents would have to cover the toilet with a garbage bag first.  We managed to get everyone through the weekend minus working toilets.

    What can I say?  It was definitely a memorable week.

  • Writing Up at Christie Lake

    Calm view of the lake

    I’m up in Michigan this weekend with the hubby and kids, visiting my parents and sister.  I love the view in the morning from the kitchen window– watching the mist on the water evaporate when the sun comes up.  I usually miss this as I sleep late up here, but the oldest kiddo woke me up early– asking where I packed his glasses. He almost never wears them, but this time,  I remembered to bring them along.   Both boys took off in the pontoon to go fishing.

    I always enjoy writing in the kitchen and looking out at the lake.  Dad has several bird feeders in front of the window and we’ve seen so many different varieties of birds.  I especially love watching the cardinals, yellow finches and the occasional woodpecker.  Every now and then, we’ll get a visit from a blue jay.

    When we arrived yesterday, I noticed that my Mom’s peonies were in full bloom.  There’s a bit of a story behind this particular peony bush. 

    One year, Mom decided to move the peony bush to the edge of the property.  She dug up the bush, taking care to keep the root ball intact, and planted it in a different spot.  The following year, it died.  It didn’t make it through the tough Michigan winter. Mom later learned that she chose the wrong time of the year to move it, and peonies don’t move well when they’re dug up.  Mom resigned herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to see those pretty magenta blooms ever again.

    That spring, Mom noticed a tiny sprout in the old spot.  She must have left a little bit of root from the original bush in the ground, and there it was, growing back again.  She can now enjoy the stunning blooms again each year.

    peony flower

     I guess there’s a lesson in here– always make sure you have a backup if Plan A fails. 

     

  • What A Weekend, And It’s Not Over Yet!

    So how’s your Memorial Day Weekend going? 

    Are you having an adventurous weekend, like I am?  

    On Friday night, we piled into the van to head up to Christie Lake with our friend Mike and his two kids.  We had a late start and arrived there around midnight.  The oldest and the youngest kid fell asleep shortly before we arrived.  When we pulled up into my parent’s driveway, I tapped David on the shoulder to wake him up.  His hand lashed out and whacked Steven in the face.  Steven woke up crying.

    We ushered everyone up into the house and the kids were settled into bed after a few rounds of picking on each other.  The rest of us didn’t get to bed until three a.m.

    The next day, my dad informed me that he couldn’t find the plugs for our ski boat.  A few weeks ago, he decided to get the boat ready for us, but he somehow misplaced the plugs.  We tore the house upside-down looking for the parts but couldn’t find them.   I drove over to a local boat shop to pick up extra plugs.  I took one look at the plugs and I thought they were a little bigger than what I remembered.  I had them look up the specs for our motor, and they insisted they were right size.

    We spent most of the day Saturday putting the pier in the water.  We have a new pier system that was much lighter than our old one, and it took us a while to figure it out.  The water was cold, but not too unbearable. 

    I was holding up the end of a pier, waiting for the guys to bring out the next section and I watched Steven slowly wade into the water.  All of a sudden, he let out a gasp.

    “What’s wrong?” I asked.

    “My balls!” he said, oh-so-matter-of-factly.

    I let out a huge laugh.  My ten-year-old had never used those words before.

    “It feels like my balls are covered with snow,” he explained.

    By this time, I was laughing so hard I could barely hold the pier up.

    “Or like they’re in a refridgerator!” he continued.

    Good gosh, the kid cracked me up!

    The new pier system didn’t let us off easy.  We ended up with scratches and bruises from wrestling it into place. 

    This morning,  Joe, Mike, my dad and I headed up to the shed to take out the boats.  The plugs didn’t fit–they weren’t the right size.  So we decided to put the pontoon in the water instead.  I backed up the four-wheeler and the guys hitched up the pontoon.  As I was pulling it out of the shed, there was a huge “snap!”

    The hitch bar broke in half.

    Fortunately, we were able to use Dad’s SUV to get the pontoon in the water. 

    Later in the afternoon, a mechanic came out with spare parts and plugged up the engine.  “You can go ahead and put the boat in the water,” said Dad.

    But the way the weekend was going, I had a feeling that we should check out the plugs and make sure nothing was leaking.  I went to get the hose to hook up the engine “ears” and the darn hose wouldn’t budge.  It was a tangled mess inside the automatic Sunbeam hose winder.   Once we finally got the water running and the ears hooked up, I started the boat and checked the engine.

    So far so good, no leaks on one side.  I checked the other side.

    Holy Moley, water squirting out!  “Cut the water,” I told Mike as I ran to shut off the engine.  Water was pouring out over the wires. 

    “Are you sure you tightened up all the plugs?” I asked the hubby.  He was sure.

    We ran it again to see where the water was coming from.  Shut it off again. 

    “You’ve got a crack!” said Mike.  Sure enough, it looked like the water was coming through a crack in the engine.

    Lovely, just lovely.

    I hope you’re all having a better weekend!

     

     

     

     

  • Waterskiing Memories


    A few nights ago, the hubby was flipping through channels and he came across Stunt Junkies, a program on the Discovery channel. The episode featured Scott Ellis, who was attempting to break a waterskiing jump record by jumping over more than fourteen boats.

    As I watched Scott break the record by jumping over a total of nineteen boats, I started thinking back to my own waterskiing days on Christie Lake. I had always dreamed of skiing in shows such as the ones held at Tommy Barlett’s or Cypress Gardens but I didn’t have the guts to follow the dreams.

    The summer that I turned sixteen, I decided that I would learn how to barefoot–to waterski on my own bare feet. At first, I tried using a waterski and kicking off the ski, but I found myself hitting the water face first. After too many face slams, I decided there had to be a better way. So thumbed through the pages of a barefooting book and learned about the “kneeboard start.” I dragged my mom to a local boat shop and we purchased a kneeboard.

    After a couple of days of trying, I finally planted my feet in the water and stood up. The kneeboard fell away and I suddenly found myself barefooting. I didn’t get very far, perhaps a few hundred feet. As I climbed into the boat, I learned that my friend Michele had the throttle wide open and the boat was moving at 39 mph instead of the 33 mph that we were aiming for. No wonder my feet were burning on such a short run.

    For the next three years after that, I waterskied and barefooted every chance that I could. I often barefooted with the other guys on the lake, competing to see who could make it all the way around the lake. One of the guys taught me to do a deepwater start which involved wrapping my feet around the rope, gliding on my back and then getting up on my bare feet.

    I have to thank my parents for all the gas they bought– some days we skied up to eight times a day.


    I’m now in my early forties and I haven’t barefooted in several years. My only consolation is that no other girl/woman on Christie Lake has successfully barefooted, so I still hold the title of the sole woman barefooter. My goal is to get back into barefooting– especially after seeing Scott Ellis jump a couple of boats. He’s got the same amount of gray hair that I do.

    But for some real inspiration, check out Banana George–he’s 91 years old and still footin!