Mission Accomplished!

This morning we decided to make one more last ditch effort to SAIL that boat.  I met up with my friends early in the morning at Fairport Harbor boat launch beach.  As we were setting the boat up, I spied a sea gull dragging itself over to the edge of the lake, and he would lap up the water as the waves would com in.  So sad!  He looked like maybe he had  a broken wing.  I couldn't just leave him there to die, but I wanted to go sailing too.  I was able to call the Penitentiary Glen Wildlife Rescue Center, but you have to bring in the animal yourself.  I found a cardboard box and we put the little guy in it, and then I put him in the shade.  

Poor little sea gull couldn't even hold his head up.

My friends couldn't get a proper truck with a hitch.  No problem!  Just get a U-Haul and take the boat apart!

As we finished setting everything up, this silly goose walked over and was demanding some food.  I gave him some Cheez-its and he just hung out with us intensely watching our every move.  One we got the boat launched, he even followed us for a bit in the lake!

Success!  The sail is up today!

Silly goose still hanging out!

Woo hoo! Sailing around the harbor.  I could hear the 5 foot waves crashing against the rocks of the harbor, so we stayed inside.  This photo was taken by some nice people named:

Doris & Michael Wright
Century 21 Home Star (Northeast Ohio)
440-231-0977 Doris  440-231-0974 Mike  440-449-9105 fax
www.becauselifechanges.net

Gimme more food!

My new best friend.

Time for my friends to head back to Texas.

The gang's all here!  This photo was taken by some nice people named:

Doris & Michael Wright (Northeast Ohio)
Century 21 Home Star
440-231-0977 Doris  440-231-0974 Mike  440-449-9105 fax
www.becauselifechanges.net

We were very happy to have a successful day of sailing.  I drove the sea gull to the wildlife center where I discovered he did not actually have a broken wing after all.  It was BOTULISM!  I had no idea that birds can get it.  It causes paralysis which explains why he was flopping around and eventually paralyzes their neck muscles, which explains why he couldn't hold his head up.  A week after I left him there, he was still alive getting treatment.

UPDATE 10/3/2012:  My parents received this letter from the wildlife center that I took the seagull to:

Dear Friend,

This postcard is to inform you that the Ringbilled Gull brought in for rehabilitation has been released. The time taken to bring this animal to the Wildlife Center was the first step to its return to the wild. Thank you for contributing to the mission of the Wildlife Center.

Sincerely,
Wildlife Care Specialists

Yay!  It took 6 weeks, but I am so happy he recovered and is flying free!

Almost Sailing!

My childhood friend, Amy, was in town from Texas with her husband who is from  Argentina.  When we were kids, her dad had a boat, a "Hobie Cat," which is a small catamaran.  It was Amy's mission to take her dad and the boat sailing on Lake Erie...for the first time in more than 15 years!!!

They managed to get the licenses, new rope, cleaned and ready to go.  They borrowed a neighbor's truck with a hitch to tow it to the lake.  It was getting really late and we could not get the brake lights to work on the trailer.  We finally said, "Screw it," and I followed along in my car with the emergency lights flashing.

We're taking the freeway? Oookkk!

As Amy's brother Jac said to some lady that asked, "Yes, it runs in the family."

What's with this rope?

"Uh oh."

The pin that holds the mast in place was missing.  They found a makeshift pin to use to hold it in place.  I didn't feel good about it and backed away as far as possible.  Sure enough, seconds later it came crashing down.  Our friend Chris managed to put it off to the right to avoid crushing the borrowed truck.

The sun was almost down.  We didn't do all this work for nothing!  We don't need no stinking sail!  We can just paddle!

Amy's husband, Claudio. 

Mission accomplished....sort of.

Chris found himself a nice souvenir in the water.

Back, just as the sun went down.

Mommy duck and her babies napping on the beach.  We will have to try again!

Fairport Harbor Beach

T-minus 28 days and counting. Today Topaz and I headed out for his first trip to the beach. At first we attempted to go to Headlands Beach in Mentor, which is huge and really nice...but unfortunately, it's not dog friendly. So we headed to Fairport Harbor Beach which I discovered actually has it's own dog beach. When I was a kid, we used to go sled riding down the hill that the lighthouse is built on. As an adult, my band would play at the foot of the hill during the annual Fairport Mardi Gras Festival.Fairport Harbor is famous for its 60 foot sandstone lighthouse that was built in 1871. The earliest archeological evidence of people living in what is now called Fairport Harbor points to the Erie Indians, sometimes called the Cat Indians, from early in the seventeenth century to about 1650-1654 when Erie villages were destroyed by the Iroquois.Most of Fairport Harbor’s first residents were of English and Irish descent, but when the ore docks were built, many, Finnish, Hungarian and Slovak people immigrated here. Churches, organizations and culture in Fairport today still reflect this ethnic mix.
This was another new experience for him. He didn't go swimming and I didn't want to scar him for life - so I didn't force it. He did go in the water and then would run around like a crazy dog after he got wet! He had a blast!