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December 2, 2016

The Little Red Canoe

16 Comments/ 155/ 1

It was a dark and stormy night.

The wind howled.

The rain pounded.

The human slept.

When morning light appeared I took a look outside to see how the lake looked.

What I noticed was an empty dock.

No red folding chairs.  But more importantly no red canoe.

So  I donned my raincoat and LL Bean boots and went out to take a look.

No canoe on the dock and nowhere in sight until I looked down to the left of the condos where the lake inlet is. And there it was. Bobbing and floating.   Upside down.  Sigh.

canoe

Why do these things always happen when Chris is gone?  Why?

I put out a plea on Nextdoor explaining that our canoe took a leap off our dock in the storm and I was not able to get it on my own.  Could someone help?

Nary a soul responded.  The morning drug on.

So I went out and looked again and tried to formulate a plan.  I had none.  canoe3

I was afraid it would drift out to the middle of the lake and then there was no way I could even think about how to retrieve it.

Then along came Jose – my neighbor who lives in Miami who just bought one of the condos recently.  He walked down to see where it was and said with unwavering confidence “oh we can do this”.

I was doubtful but I climbed aboard his open deck pontoon with a rope and basically did nothing the entire time.  jose3He had already taken his motor off so he grabbed a kayak paddle and paddled.  I stood, or tried to, and offered encouragement.  Yes—that is one of my spiritual gifts.jose2With canoe in sight Jose managed to maneuver the boat and nudge it along.  After several failed attempts to get it to the bank he decided the best thing would be to get it to his dock and then we could go from there.

I gave up taking pics because I finally had a job—I held the canoe alongside the pontoon while he paddled us to the dock.  Neighbors were yelling encouraging words.  Jose’s wife came and helped hold me and the pontoon while Jose manhandled the canoe out of the water.

It was a thing.  Believe me.jose

The canoe found its way back into our yard and I am letting Chris deal with it when he gets home.  Perhaps some ropes might be in order.

I am so grateful for good neighbors who are willing to help out.  I wish someone would have videoed us because I am sure it was pretty hysterical.  We were both a little damp, a little grubby but a lot of happy.

To top it off Jose caught his first fish from our lake when we turned the canoe over. Win win!fish-2

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16 Comments

Leave a comment
  1. Katybeth
    December 02, 2016 at 06:27 am

    Good Neighbors. I am not surprised they live near you. So glad the little red canoe is home. You and Jose thought you could, thought you could….and you did!!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 07:15 am

      Jose had much more confidence than I did, trust me. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Marci B
    December 02, 2016 at 07:49 am

    That’s so funny. You know, I saw the canoe up on the property when we took our walk yesterday and wondered why it was there. Did you ever find your chairs or are they swimming with the fishes?

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 07:57 am

      Waiting for Mr. Diamond to get home to take care of it. I did my part. 🙂 The chairs are fine. One was in the water but it was easy to grab. The canoe–not so easy.

      Reply
  3. Dawn
    December 02, 2016 at 08:16 am

    We had a red canoe when we were growing up. Dad made it in the basement, and we paddled it around for years. I would have been upset to find it missing too. Glad your neighbor with his pontoon could help. I think a batch of cookies might be in order. Or something.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 03:21 pm

      He definitely deserves a batch of cookies or something! That is on the agenda for sure. How cool that your dad made a canoe! Impressive!

      Reply
  4. Minnesota Prairie Roots
    December 02, 2016 at 09:25 am

    What an entertaining way to start my morning. Thanks for sharing. Glad the red canoe, and you, are safely back in home dock.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 03:21 pm

      Glad I could entertain. If you would have witnessed it first hand I am sure it would have been even more entertaining!

      Reply
  5. Priscilla King
    December 02, 2016 at 10:15 am

    Hurray for Jose!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 03:20 pm

      I know! I could not have done it without him!

      Reply
  6. josh
    December 02, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Good neighbors, can sometimes be hard to find. Well done!

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 02, 2016 at 03:18 pm

      We have really great neighbors but some of them are only here occasionally as they have vacation homes here. Lucky that Jose was around!

      Reply
  7. Katy Flint
    December 02, 2016 at 04:53 pm

    Woohoo! So glad you got your canoe back and thankful to Jose for helping you!

    Reply
  8. Ink Interrupted
    December 05, 2016 at 07:14 pm

    Ha – big catch!! 🙂
    Can you believe that we used to paddle the canoe into the lake and purposely tip it over!??!! What even? We were just dumb kids I think – LOL. We always did manage to get it back to shore though. Not sure why we thought it was fun.
    I bet that water is warmer than our summer lakes, I would have just jumped in a swam over to it for you had I been there — but thankfully you have a great neighbour.

    Reply
    1. Beth Ann Chiles
      December 05, 2016 at 07:41 pm

      We do have a great neighbor. It was quite comical to watch I am sure but the end result was successful. And the good news is that Mr. Diamond was home this weekend and tied it all down on the dock so it should not happen again. YAY!

      Reply
  9. Darlene Foster
    December 08, 2016 at 05:48 pm

    Looks like you handled it well and the story has a happy ending. What a cute little fish.

    Reply

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