Islands in the Stream

( performed by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton , written by the BeeGees ).... or river. You may recall that the docks at QMH accumulated logs and reed islands , this spring. Booting it home on Wed morning , I approached a narrow strait and saw - a large diesel yacht , 2 fishing boats and 2 kayakers. I throttled down to let the big boat go by and not create too much wake for the kayak dudes. The biggie went by and then I noticed that - no , not kayaks but islands.
Each island was inner tube size but were sitting upright as I passed.
I will assume the two land masses will be at my dock next week.

The marine railway has caused some dire moments this year , as you may have read. This morning , as I was attempting to slip out , I pushed the boat and nothing... the trolley won't move. After many attempts over an hour , I notice that a rear wheel appears to have part of an axle sleeve missing. oops ! The wheel is jammed.
Thankfully , I was still able to secure the trolley in the boathouse
however , the bad part was , to work on the trolley , the trolley needs to be at least part way down the ramp.
That was a long hour BTW w/ much colourful language

Went upstairs for a coffee and a think. M said , OMG , buy a new railway. Hmm, lots of bucks , for that and who wants to give up ? . I reckoned that at least I'd need a lifting jack. Mine was out of hydraulic fluid.

In a moment of inspiration (finally , not perspiration ) I called a neighbour who has the same rail system. ' Can I pop by and talk to you ? '  nice guy says yes. 
Well , 20 minutes later , we've looked at his , check..... and decided that he should come take a look at the problem child.
While he's getting ready to come over , I replace the fluid in the jack.
On observation , it turns out, all my ideas are wrong  ( imagine that , me wrong ?  ). The sleeve may be broken but that wheel is not the problem. We  (he ) jacks up the trolley we re -grease and spin all the wheels. Except for the port side wheel ( he was right ) , port side won't spin. Out comes the hammer and the wheel is ' persuaded ' to spin. Some more grease  , elbow and otherwise - and ' Bob's your uncle ' , his phrase , not mine. Why stuck  ? Dunno , its old / I'm old , the world's old - take your pick.
Neighbours. Vital , helpful , always.
And it galls me no end to say , Dad was right , ' gotta learn to deal w/ stuff like this. OK , OK Dad, you were right.

For the last 3 weeks , the satellite TV reception has been dicey. Thought we had the sucker under control but the signal was pixilated intermittently , almost all the time.
We put down a new base ( 3 weeks past ) , re- aimed the dish ( last week ) etc. as solutions. Tues night , I looked up at the dish , recalling what the service guy said , 2 years ago , ' the satellite signal is a big spiral that sways and wobbles all the way down , 50 ft wide sometimes '. Holey Kamoley , Batman, 50 ft ??????. Then  I noticed that the tree branches were 5 or 6 ft from the path that the satellite was aimed toward. 
Self , the picture is worse during strong winds - swaying branches ? - no, 6 ft away, no.
Cut the branches as far as you can reach w/ an extension pruner and ' Bob's your uncle ' , my expression. The signal strength went from ' 52 ' to  ' 89 '. BTW - 89 is good. Tree leaves , tree leaves and 6 ft or more away from the satellite, gimme a break , who knew ?  - not me.

I'm sore , that boat and motor goes 1700 lbs and even on a trolley is heavy.  

So , good trip ? depends , things got fixed  , problems solved.

Hi , St Catherines