~*Fulfilling A Promise*~

Hello Dear Friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! We have been having a most wonderful one... HOT, but truly wonderful... with a family gathering & BBQ last night... and today... making good and fulfilling a promise to my dear Dad.

Dad passed away almost three years ago. I miss him every day, but always feel him close... today especially. Dad had this old boat in his pasture. It is actually a boat that I had purchased about 15 years ago for only $200... which actually may have been more than it was worth. I gave it to him... hoping he would fix it & have fun with it. Dad tinkered with the motor some and he did take it out a couple of times on Lake Tenkiller ~ a beautiful lake near where he lived in Oklahoma. But... the boat didn't have any seats. They were long, rotted and removed... only having been replaced by a flimsy, plywood bench from an earlier owner. The floor was also rotting. At least it would stay dry inside ~ it would float.... but needed a lot of repair. He was able to get the motor started, but it wouldn't stay running. He didn't have time to work on it much before he became ill.

It is a 1962 Starcraft... I always thought it was CUTE... and could be fun if it worked and was cleaned up.

Before he passed...Dad gave the boat back... but requested that my husband fix it up and take his lil' Tom (what Dad called Trinity) fishing. Tony promised he would.

A little while ago, Tony thought it was time to make good on that promise... so he began restoration. The boat had just been sitting out in our backyard... and the kids did enjoy it by playing 'pirates' and catching sharks from it... but a promise is a promise. Tony pulled it into the garage & set out on the restoration. He struggled with the motor and cleaned and cleaned. The motor that was with the boat turned into a challenge because he was unable to find parts. So... at the recent city~wide garage sale, he bought a second boat for just a little money. This second boat had a motor that the seller said worked... but after Tony brought it home, he found it was almost dangerous to ever try to take it out on the water. It too had a lot of rotting wood, but this rot was on the body of the boat. So... he salvaged the 'good' from the second boat & used it on the first boat.

Today, we took it for a short 'test'... and and what fun it was!!!

See... isn't it CUTE?
Trinity helped by being the shipmate...
The inside, while nothing fancy... is now clean & usable...
Trinity was a good listener & even got drive when it was out on the water...
The motor from the second boat was made in 1967... and worked like a charm today! Tony did take it all apart & made some repairs on it too.
My Dad has to be looking down from Heaven right about now... and I'll bet he is smiling as big as Trinity is!


We weren't out for too long today because it is brutally hot... but the kiddo & I did throw our poles in the water. He won the fishing awards for the day... with the First Fish, Biggest Fish, and Most Fish.

Wishing you all warm smiles...

Betty