I prepared the base,
cut the reeds, and soaked them in warm water.
Blaze bent the reeds into arches and stuck them in the holes I'd drilled in the base.
I also drilled a hole through the front of the boat, so we could tie a string through it, to pull the boat through the water.
Then the boat sat unfinished in our living room.
It sat,
and sat,
and sat,
Until this week's Unplugged Challenged was announced, "Transportation". This seemed like a great time to work on the boat.
This would have actually been a good Easter basket if we had finished it on time, but we didn't work on it until Sunday afternoon.
Then we took the boat out to the little creek that runs through the University Gardens to see if it would float.
It floated very well and Blaze really enjoyed it, until the mosquitoes got bad ( this was the first time this Spring that we encountered swarms of mosquitoes).
Walking home from the creek, we saw this guy in the lake that the creek feeds into. This is the biggest, fattest alligator I've seen in the lake so far.
8 comments:
The boat is GREAT.
Ok, I have a question that will probably sound stupid...but keep in mind I live in IDAHO and have no clue, lol! If you're out walking as you were and you pass an alligator, don't you worry the alligators will run out and chase you? Or eat you?
I'm being serious...I think I'd freak out. I've never seen an alligator except in the movies. Maybe they are just portrayed as being vicious???
It's o.k. Tammy. It's a perfectly valid question.
The University of Florida mascot is the Gator, so they have a lake that is a wildlife/alligator sanctuary. Mostly we see small alligators. This was the biggest one I've seen and I wasn't that close to him. I took the picture with the zoom lens. I take the warning signs, about not letting children and dogs in the water, very seriously. There is also a law about not feeding the Alligators, because they don't want them to get used to approaching people for food. I've never seen one of these alligators leave the water when people are around. I think they're scared of people. My daughter saw some boys throwing sicks at one once.
I'm from Illinois, so I had never seen an alligator in the wild before we moved here. I've been thinking about having Blaze do a math project someday, figuring out how many feet from our front door to the alligator infested lake, just as a way to freak out my mom (I know, I'm not nice).
Let me tell you a little story, I was once at that lake, sitting on the bank like a lot of other people do. There's that overhang that my feet were dangling over, though well above the water. One of those little alligators swam right up under me and started looking at my toes in a pretty alarming manner, so I left. I don't think they're scared of humans.
That is an incredible little boat! I had the same question as Tammy about the alligators. :)
Great boat!
I would DEFinitely be interested in Blaze's math project if you do indeed do it. Please keep us posted!
That boat is incredible.
WOW! beautiful job!!! and what a gorgeous day! I love the weaving on the sides of the boat... so complex! and the creek looked so peaceful...until the gator! yikes!
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