[June] July 1999 [August]

July 1 - July 7
Picked up Chris and Jeff, who will stay with us for the next 10 days or so. Kate is at camp. Went to the library again so the kids could pick out videos. (Why RENT video tapes when you can get them at the library, for a week at a time, for free?) Next it was off to Chris’s baseball practice, and then drive up to the lake house (on Winnipesaukee) where we will stay for a time, and maybe the whole summer. At the lake we got the camper all hooked up, just like we’re at a campgound. We look out the windshield at a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains all around. Dan and I will live (sleep) in the camper, while the kids will sleep in the house. The kid’s cousins were here for the holiday (10 kids in all), so they were kept pretty busy. On the 4th we had a big family party, and celebrated Dan’s parent’s 45th wedding anniversary. We took Kate out of camp for the day so she could be with us - we hadn’t seen her since we got back. Late that afternoon we had a lightning & wind storm that blew 3 trees down in the road, and nobody could go home until until the next day. Chris is on all the City’s All Star baseball team, and had 3 practices and 1 game this week. Practice is an hour away, and the game was two hours away, so that alone kept us busy driving. I have not had fishing on my mind at all this week. Instead, I just want to sit on the beach and enjoy. Dan was missing early one morning when I got up, then I noticed his boat was gone. The lake is beautiful, and loaded with fish. The fishing bug must have bit during the night. That’s all for this week. We love to hear from our readers - write us with your comments at daniel_keyes@msn.com.

July 8 - July 14
This week saw the end to Chris’s Little League baseball for 1999. The team lost one, then won one, then lost again, which means it’s over for them. Chris played well, and got written up in the paper 3 times. The weekend was a busy one. We picked up Kate and brought her home from camp, Chris had an All Star game, and Jeff had to be dropped off at his camp, where he will stay for the next two weeks. It was also NASCAR race weekend, so we made a trip over to the Citgo station where the #21Citgo show car was on display. It is the same car that comes to the FLW tournaments, so we’ve gotten to know the driver. He let Chris, Jeff and me sit in the car, then introduced Dan to the crowd, so Dan then had to pose for pictures and sign some autographs before we could leave. Also this week we went and got the Harley. We keep the motorcycle in storage over the winter, and then with my brother Charlie in the spring, who gets it ready for us to ride when we come home. We went and picked it up this week, and brought it up to the lake. New Hampshire winters can be long and cold, but summers here are as beautiful as can be, with the warm weather, the lakes and the mountains. It is a beautiful place to ride, too, and there are more motorcyclists here than any place we have been. My niece Kaitlyn turned 7 this week and we went to her little birthday party with the kids. Kate and I also took one day and spent it SHOPPING. We shopped ‘til we dropped, it was great. Note: It is time for us to order next year’s boat, so this one has to go. It is only 4 months old, and would be a great bargain for anyone who wants a new Ranger without wanting to take the hit of the first year’s depreciation. It is a 1999 Ranger 519, with a 225 Johnson, and we’ll sell it for $26,000 right now. Anyone interested can contact us via email, and we’ll send the full specs as well as photographs. That’s all for this week. We love to hear from our readers - write us with your comments at daniel_keyes@msn.com.

July 15-21
We went camping for the weekend with the Manchester Bass Club, the club that Dan started his tournament fishing in. We had a great time; it was good to see people again who we haven’t seen since last year. They fished Lake Winnepesaukee, tournament format, on Saturday and Sunday, and Dan entered it for fun. Since it was just for fun, and Dan wanted to learn some new places to fish on this lake, he forced himself on Saturday to not go anywhere he had ever been before. It worked well, he found 3 or 4 good new smallmouth areas, and he brough in a limit of 2 - 2 ½ lb. fish. Later that night though, he heard two of the guys talking about how the largemouth were biting a Gambler paddle tail worm. This wasn’t fair,, Dan felt, since he is the one who introduced these guys to that worm 10 years ago, when he would bring some back from his annual trips to Florida. The competitive juices started flowing in Dan, and he decided he’d learned enough new spots for this weekend. He went out, fished the 5"Gambler paddle tail worm in his largemouth spots, and won on Sunday. It was a nice little ego boost. We also went this week to see the Boston Red Sox play at Fenway Park. It was awesome! I had never been to any professional game before, and I had a blast. Chris & I hung around the dugout before the game, getting autographs. We ate Cracker Jacks, hot dogs, pizza, cotton candy, all kinds of junk, all night long. It was great. It was a fun family thing to do. We got home from the baseball game at 1 am, and at 8 am Dan was out fishing. He saw a bunch of tournament boats out there, and I guess he was getting itchy. After all, it has been, what, 2 days since he last got a line wet?! That’s all for this week. We love to hear from our readers. Write us with your comments at daniel_keyes@msn.com.

July 22-28
This week the 4 of us went to play golf. That’s me, Dan, Kate, and Chris. Jeff is still at camp, and probably won’t want to come home, with all of the junk food and goodies I’ve been sending him. Anyways, it was the first time the kids had been out on a course, (it’s only about my 4th time,) and we had a ball. It was a short course, a par 3, which was good for our level of expertise. It was also good because it was really hot out, and because, and I didn’t know this until we got there, we had to WALK the course! I had been expecting a golf cart! Thursday night Kate’s friend Meredith came up for the night, and they left on Friday to go to Maine with a bunch of people (one of them being Alfred). Saturday morning Dan went to pick Jeff up from Camp. He had a great time there, but it’s great to have hime back, too. He spent hours over the weekend talking about it, and he’s already planning to go back next year. Finally, we have been taking Kate out driving all this week. She’ll be 16 in January, and at 15 ½ she can start driving with an adult. You don’t know what nervous is until your 15 year old starts driving with you in the passenger’s seat!

Link to: August 1999