A Dream Come True! A Pontoon Boat for Fudge and Vern!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My husband and I are not extravagant people.  Our vacations consist mostly of driving home to Indiana to see family or to North Carolina to see family.  The people I used to work with always teased me about our vacations, but I didn’t care. “To each his own,” I would say and mean it.  I drive a beat up van with over 200,000 miles on it and enough dog nose prints to make it almost virtually impossible to see clearly out the back window.  In fact, it appears as if a jar of Vaseline went kablooey on my windows.  My friends get in my car and complain about the dog smell and my daughter said my car gave her a headache when we drove around in it on her recent visit.  She got in and out of my car as if I was forcing her to take a seat next to a decomposing corpse and spent the entire ride pinching her nose shut and repeating that she wished that I had traded cars with her father for the day. I spent most of the time in my car saying back, “where would you like me to drop you?”  Personally, I considered this payback for all the many hours I spent cleaning her room and if I had been psychic, I could have told her back then that someday she would know what it feels like to look around your surroundings and say, “what the hell kind of bomb exploded in here?”  I guess I could spend hours cleaning out my van, but Fudge and Vern are in my car every single day and it seems like a lost cause to me and frankly, my nose has grown used to these smells that the interlopers keep mentioning.

We are no strangers to the boating world. My husband’s parents owned a Pontoon boat for years and when I started dating my husband, we would sometimes go up with them for the day to Sylvan Lake.  This continued long after we had our children.

We didn’t actually spend the entire day on the lake, because we usually did not get out the door of my in-law’s house until about 3 pm.  It wasn’t that we were not there in the morning, but it just took my husband’s parents that long to get ready.  One of them would need to eat or the other forgot their tea for the trip up and my father-in-law had the uncanny ability to miss every single green light along the way.  If there was the slightest possibility he might make the light, he would slow down until it turned yellow and then slam on the brakes.  Most of the time, by the time we got to the boat, our nerves were shot and I was mouthing to my husband, “Tell me again why we thought this would be fun?”  It is funny what you miss, when it is gone. The rest of the day my husband and his siblings would delight in spoiling any possibility that their dad might actually catch a fish, because they insisted on doing cannonballs in the vicinity of his fishing pole, much to his chagrin.   I don’t think he ever caught a fish.

My dad and his wife lived on the lake, too, for a while.  My dad knew nothing about boats and that may be why he purchased the worst boat in the world.  For all I know, someone might have given it to him as a white elephant gift.  It was a small boat with a small motor and on one occasion when the motor stopped working, my dad and husband had to get out in the water and guide the boat to shore.  Not many people can say they had to get out and push a boat, but we laughed about that for ages.  My dad loved having that boat and loved living on the water.  It sure is funny what you miss when it is gone.

All our married life we have said, “someday, we are getting a pontoon boat.”  Last year, I put our name on the waiting list for a boat slip and we were something like number 200, so imagine my surprise, when they called me last week and said a slip was available.  I told the woman we didn’t even have a boat.  All week I imagined myself on the Suze Orman show and her yelling, “DENIED!” when I said we wanted a boat, but then I went on to imagine me yelling right back, “deny this, sister!” and I won’t tell you what hand signal I was giving her as I yelled. 

It felt good and my husband, the practical one, told me to go take a look at pontoons.  Meanwhile, I also called my daughter in Oregon and made sure we had a backup plan at retirement.  I asked her if we could come live with them in our senior years and she came back on the phone and said she discussed it with her husband and they decided when I (they did not mention her dad) got to that age, they were going to follow the Old Yeller plan.  They were both laughing and the laughter got worse when I said, “I don’t recall that having a happy ending.”

 So, despite all the odds, we got our pontoon boat and both of us feel as if a dream really did come true. It wasn’t smooth sailing. I wanted a boat that I thought would work out better for the dogs and my husband wanted one and I quote, “that doesn’t feel like we are sitting on cardboard, just so two dogs can be happy.”  He even told the salesman that I wasn’t kidding when I said we were buying a boat for Fudge and Vern.  In the end, he got his boat and I got a dog ramp so we don’t have to break our backs trying to get a wet Vern back into the boat. It was either that or a hoist.  It is not in the water yet, but soon, I hope we will be relaxing on a boat, anchored in some secluded place while our dogs swim unleashed in the water.  At least that is the way I am picturing it in my head, although a couple of times, the image of two large dogs barking wildly at geese and Vern catapulting himself into the water while the boat is moving has crossed my mind.

P.S.  We are going to christen our boat The Jack and Marge Barge in honor of my husband's parents who supplied us with many fun days on their boat.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Janie, Allyson, and Bonnie!

Karen, I think I am renaming my doodles Gilligan and Marianne :)

Thanks, Sandy and Anne.

F, Still cold here :(

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

How wonderful for you all! Fudge and Vern are going to have a blast! Can't wait for the photos and blogs to come! Happy sailing!

[Bonnie and Kona]

You are livin' the dream, Laurie! My DH has wanted a boat since he sold his at age 22. We, too, had magical times boating. Thank you for writing blogs so we can live vicariously through your adventures.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I wow, that will be so fun.  I love pontoons too - man your doods are going to have lots and lots of PAWTEES!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Congratulations! I LOVE pontoons, they are party boats! Party on, Fudge & Vern, you lucky doodles!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Aw thanks. I'll wait til the weather is a tad warmer : ) Today is gorgeous!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Congratulations on a dream come true!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Joanne, How do I get the boat there?? Should I sail up the high seas with Fudge and Vern? LOL

Jennifer, Thanks! I can't wait to take pictures.

F, I don't drink tea (or coffee), and I could write an entire blog about tea drinkers...LOL.  I really should do that to my blue minivan. Of course, you are welcome anytime. I have Triple AAA and your brother is in charge of the pontoon pushing.

Thanks, Pat and Nicky!!

BG, I love Gavin on the boat. Gosh, he looks like a wet Vern...LOL!

Jane, Thanks!! I will tell F & V to keep this a secret from the Irish Brothers :)

Thanks, Lori. I hope Rooney loves the water. Fudge is less impressed than Vern with swimming, but she is better with a life jacket. I grew up swimming in nearby lakes, but it has been awhile and I actually love the ocean, too. I bet Rooney will take Reagan's lead.

Deanna, Thank you! I hate fishing, but I am really good at lounging. LOL

Thanks, Elizabeth. Now what gave you the idea I might write a blog? LOL

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Congrats!!! Those lucky doodles! Hope to see lots of swimming doodle pictures!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Congratulations that is wonderful! I love you minivan in pink with the ears. I am free many weekends through the fall so just let me know when Calla, Luca and I should show up for a cruise. We'll bring tea and fish. P.S. I don't push cars or boats.