SHADE AT THE SECRET SPOT AND A NEW BOAT IDEA

First of all some great news about Blue.

 I posted Blue's pictures and a little write up about him on Craig's List late last night and a couple calls came in first thing this morning.  To shorten a long story, Blue is with a girl whose husband works nights and she wanted him as company and to also act as an alarm for her when alone.  I interviewed the family at around 3 PM today and handed over Blue with the stipulation that if he doesn't work out to call me and I'll get him no questions asked.  I got a call tonight around 7 PM from the lady and she said that Blue was laying on the couch with his head on her lap half asleep and that she is falling in love with him.  I think this is going to be a happy ending to a sort of rough story about Blue.  The thing is that he's actually inside sleeping on a sofa.  Fingers crossed for him.....

I took Shade down to the secret spot at the river for another morning of exercise. Clarissa went along to take some photos at the river's edge near an old trail she knows.  She is a fantastic macro photographer and has a very unique ability to acquire excellent scenic shots.

This little hidden section of river is as beautiful as it gets.  The only down side is the cost of gasoline to drive over here.  Small price to pay for happiness and peace of mind.

Fresh water clam shells.

 Below are the live clams:

 Shade was having the time of her life as she always does when I can get her to the woods.

 It just plain makes me happy to see her happy.  Maybe we can make this a three or four day a week routine from now on.

 I love to see her alert and on her game - sensitive to her surroundings and aware of everything.  Its good to get her off the couch and back to her roots.

She misses nothing with eyes and ears that see and hear all.

 Ah, there's that black lab profile!

 Clarissa is down at the edge of the river taking some river/shoreline scenes.  She is very proficient with the camera and has her photography on Face Book.

 She can really make that little Sony OX230 work.

 If all goes well I should have my Canon D50 back tomorrow morning.  I want to slap the 28 - 135mm telephoto on it to come down here to the secret spot for some scenic shots I have in mind.  Can't wait.

 And Shade is having fun!  Great!

 Go Girl!!!

And now for a possible detour from my original thinking on the next boat I'll have to get.  I am sold on the Esquif Cargo with a 5 horse power 4 cycle engine.  But, something came along that I didn't expect.  I ran into a 1956 Crestliner aluminum runabout.  Yep.  Look below:

 I just saw it while driving down the road.  I've always liked this style boat because its old and classy.  Boats are not made like this today.  This to boats is sort of like the style and class that a 55 Chevy is to cars, at least in my view.

 It is a riveted aluminum boat and there isn't a scratch or a dent in it anywhere.

 The seats are made of wood and are original seats.  They could be sanded and worked with wood fill to bring them back to like new appearance.  There is no rotted wood on the boat at all.

 Check out the wood dash.  Yes, that's how it came new.

 This boat would be a great winter project and the project wouldn't be that big as there really isn't anything wrong with it.  I'd like to scrub the aluminum shiny and spray marine varnish on it to retain the shine.  

 Below is what it looked like new.  We'll see what happens when I go to deal on it tomorrow.