effffffin' winter blues

**moatorbotin** · 12-20-2021, 08:34 AM

Michigan winters can be ok, but they can also suck.

When I was a kid, I would ice fish, ride the quad on the lake, wish I had a snowmobile, go snowboarding, etc.

Now, I'm a crabby middle aged man who can't stand the cold, the snow, or the constant cloudiness.

Most years you figure it out, you stay busy, you shovel snow, split firewood (I unfortunately heat with wood and burn 10-12 full cords a year), take a weekend trip or a week long trip if you're able to somewhere warm, remodel a bathroom, or whatever it takes to get to ice out and another summer of boating....

2 years ago I had shoulder surgery in october, stuck in a lazy boy for 3 months, then covid comes around and we all get "locked down"

last winter wasn't bad, the weather stayed cool which meant no freeze, thaw, mud, freeze, thaw, slush, freeze thaw flood, freeze thaw mud cycle. Just mild snowfall, mild temps that stayed below freezing and a tolerable winter.

Winter starts tomorrow.....time to get my 'good' shoulder repaired to match the 'bad' one. Gonna be a fun winter, looming covid's gonna lock us all back down talk from the fear mongering media, a more complicated shoulder repair I'm told will be a tougher recovery than the other was, snow is already on the ground, my boat is begging me to put it back together and move south.

OK, I feel better now that I got that off my chest.

Who's ready for summer? (this guy is!)

**rock** · 12-20-2021, 09:38 AM

About the same in Illinois. Just got a boat put together and only ran it once. Long wait for the next ride. Unless I go south for a few days.

Rock

**JPEROG** · 12-20-2021, 10:50 AM

You guys need to make the move while you can still enjoy the change. I did it 17 years ago and don't have one regret. Get the hell out of that tax land and Democratic run nightmares. Support and live what you want. "you can be back to see family and friends or vice-versa in a one day car trip or 2 1/2 hour flight" It's all a mind set.

Joe

**moatorbotin** · 12-20-2021, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by JPEROG

You guys need to make the move while you can still enjoy the change. I did it 17 years ago and don't have one regret. Get the hell out of that tax land and Democratic run nightmares. Support and live what you want. "you can be back to see family and friends or vice-versa in a one day car trip or 2 1/2 hour flight" It's all a mind set.

Joe

100%!

my kids are 16, I’ve always said as soon as I get them thru college/trade school/cosmetology school/vocational certs etc - whatever path they choose, once they’re “independent” and are ready for their careers and their first place and they’re on their feet.

im out.

only a couple more years, then I gotta find a job delivering boats in Florida lol

**CDave** · 12-20-2021, 07:40 PM

Yep, supposed to get down to 36 F tonight. Was going to change plugs on my truck tomorrow but I'll wait until it gets back in the high 50's. Oh wait, that is tomorrow.

36 deg. tonight and they say it will be 78 deg Sat., Southern winters.

**rock** · 12-21-2021, 08:46 AM

As long as Mom is still with us I will remain close by. The wife and I have talked about it many times.

Rock

**Forkin' Crazy** · 12-21-2021, 11:10 AM

I hate winter here. It never gets cold enough to snow... well it does but it never snows. When it does, it is a trace. The norm is 40 degrees with 90% humidity with a spike up to 60 for a couple days, then back to 40s... And nothing but MUD!!!

I used to hunt and fish in the winter... I don't have a place to hunt anymore, and too old to fish in the cold... Although I had that down! Two weeks and I could catch a year's worth of fish in the river back water.

I hope your shoulder deal goes well. And the coof has totally screwed things up.

**moatorbotin** · 12-23-2021, 05:14 AM

Mud is the worst.

it’s all good from here the days will now start getting longer, we’re heading in the right direction!

shoulder surgery went well, I had a hell of a time coming out of the anesthesia though.

5 anchors to hold the labrum together, rotator cuff looked good, we scored some bone spurs just for extra credit.

all the Xmas gifts are wrapped, now I just read a book and put the puzzles together my wife bought me.

post some cool pics of you guys not freezing for me would ya? Haha

**Instigator** · 12-23-2021, 07:00 PM

*EDITED/UPDATED*

I have this as bad as anybody can get it, and have had for yrs.

My buddy Miami Dave was visiting me in Cols Ohio yrs ago, who told me after flying in:

Why would anyone live here?
You could tell when you were over Ohio because everything was gray and dead!

I was working on attempt #1 at moving to Fla.

Ive now done that move twice and now back living in Ohio while planning escape attempt #3.

Here’s what I’ve learned in the meantime and do to try and cope.

The worst is over.
Our days are getting longer.
Yay!
It starts off as small improvements and soon becomes +3 mins a day of day light!
Youll laugh but look at length of daylight 30 days up compared to now.

I also consider April 1 as the unofficial, first day of boating season in Ohio.
So, I count it down on my calendar in the shop and in my day timer.

My wife bought me a tanning bed for our basement!
Theyre cheap, used.
She put a beach mural on the wall behind it and an electric palm tree beside it!

Once my two yr old Checkmate Convincor project ran right, a month ago, I had an epiphany.

Told the Mrs:

Let me finish the boat, work has slowed so I can take time off, we’ll take the boat south through winter and look for our next private Idaho and then north through the Great Lakes during summer.

I also subscribe to more car/bike mags (paper and tv) over the off season to keep me occupied.

I also have approx 30 boat/bike/car saved e-bay/craigs search’s that are fun to get every day.

Key to supporting the seasonal traveling will be finances, so we shall see.

**Forkin' Crazy** · 12-23-2021, 10:19 PM

There are some cool rivers here, like up there, I am sure. You can run well over 55 miles up stream on the Ouachita, and probably the same the other way down. So there is plenty of room to play ... Most of it is low traffic. You could go even further than that, but Hussein shut down the funding for the locks and lock masters. Commercial and you are good to go. Citizen, you are f**ked. As usual!

I thought about getting a place down South Louisiana... One of the tributaries going to the Tickfaw. You talk about a water playground!!! There are like 5 or 6 rivers, diversion canals, Lake Maurepas, Pontchartrain... etc..

**JPEROG** · 12-23-2021, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by rock

As long as Mom is still with us I will remain close by. The wife and I have talked about it many times.

Rock

I was fortunate. Within six months after moving South, my dad and his girlfriend followed. 3 months after that, my mom and step father were here, within the following year, my brother, my step sister & her husband along with his brother and wife, were here. Since then, My step fathers ex-wife, my second step sister, my step fathers brother and sister in law, 4 friends from Michigan, 1 friend from WI, have moved down and all live within 10 minutes of our houses. So now we escape to LOTO for 12 weeks a year and my mom says "I wouldn't mind getting place up here by you guys" LOL...

I have never seen eye to eye with my sister or my wife's daughter and they both remain living in the frozen tundra of mud and slush "hope they are happy".

Joe

**Instigator** · 12-24-2021, 08:01 AM

Yep

We crossed the Ohio River on the way down here to SC to visit Cheryl’s brother over the holidays.
And after Lake Erie, Cheryl is all in on weekends on the river.
Way cheaper than doing Lake Erie too.

Yesterday we visited a marina by Hilton Head and I bought a chart book that covers all the inlets on the Atlantic, from there to Miami.

For next yr ��

Originally Posted by Forkin' Crazy

There are some cool rivers here, like up there, I am sure. You can run well over 55 miles up stream on the Ouachita, and probably the same the other way down. So there is plenty of room to play ... Most of it is low traffic. You could go even further than that, but Hussein shut down the funding for the locks and lock masters. Commercial and you are good to go. Citizen, you are f**ked. As usual!

I thought about getting a place down South Louisiana... One of the tributaries going to the Tickfaw. You talk about a water playground!!! There are like 5 or 6 rivers, diversion canals, Lake Maurepas, Pontchartrain... etc..

**Instigator** · 12-24-2021, 08:07 AM

Yep.

After returning from Fla attempt #2, we lost both my parents and my oldest sister.

And our grandsons were two, and are now 8 and care way less about hanging w/grams!

My Fla buds also taught me, pre-attempt #1, about “quality time”.

The theory goes (which I support), at home you see everyone at the main holidays.
But you network to visit w/everyone and end up spending 15 mins w/each.

When they come to visit you in shangrala it’s one on one.
As in, quality time.

Originally Posted by JPEROG

I was fortunate. Within six months after moving South, my dad and his girlfriend followed. 3 months after that, my mom and step father were here, within the following year, my brother, my step sister & her husband along with his brother and wife, were here. Since then, My step fathers ex-wife, my second step sister, my step fathers brother and sister in law, 4 friends from Michigan, 1 friend from WI, have moved down and all live within 10 minutes of our houses. So now we escape to LOTO for 12 weeks a year and my mom says "I wouldn't mind getting place up here by you guys" LOL...

I have never seen eye to eye with my sister or my wife's daughter and they both remain living in the frozen tundra of mud and slush "hope they are happy".

Joe

**Pulse186** · 12-24-2021, 12:11 PM

Agreed, live in MI hate winter. I will say though that it makes me appreciate summer more.

Currently redoing my garage so I can fit the boat in there, have some work to do on the Checkmate and looking like the P22 will be here end of January or February.

**JPEROG** · 12-24-2021, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by Pulse186

Agreed, live in MI hate winter. I will say though that it makes me appreciate summer more.

Currently redoing my garage so I can fit the boat in there, have some work to do on the Checkmate and looking like the P22 will be here end of January or February.

Michigan was great when we could count on skiing, snowmobiling, and riding ice bikes right after deer season all the way into late March. Now I keep sleds in the far Western U.P. at lake Gogebic and we don't know if we can ride for New Years or not anymore. I could only take so much slush and mud (had to go)....Not to mention the business climate in Florida is far superior for me.

Joe