This is where we'll announce the most
recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know
what's changed, take a look here first.
Double Click on ( some) pictures to make them larger.
January
has been a busy month for the guys. Three weeks of it was spent at various
service schools. Mercury University was home for most of the month.
There's some new stuff coming from Sea Land in the VacuFlush line
also. As usual the weather is freezing cold. You will have to stop
in and see the latest picture of Michael Jr. doing a water skip. He was
captured by a professional photographer and the picture is just unbelievable.
Along with all the service schools and daily work Michael Jr. is attending a
welding class two nights a week and Jesse is attending college.
February and its a steady flow of sterndrives in and
out of the shop. Most of the month is spent doing what we call Merc
Specials. We finally had the time to clean out all the wreckage from last
season - bent shafts, struts, props, drive cases, engine blocks ect... Its nice
to have all that "stuff" gone. Its about the only time of year
that we spend on sorting stuff for recycle at the scrap yard. We have
moved boats in and out of the shop in-between all the cleaning and are
working on a new Horizon V8 engine installation. Here are some pics of the
first official launch for the 2005 boating season. 
Wow - its March already! This is a super busy
month. We did a twin engine installation, several bottom jobs, a bad
scratch in stripe that we had painted several years ago and in-between all of
that we had another service school to attend and lots of sterndrive work to
finish up before April too. Here are some of March's pics from the shop. 
A New Arrival! Generation #3 of Michael's Marine Service has arrived early. On March 26, 2005 our daughter-in-law Victoria and our son Rickie blessed our entire family with our first grandchild, Pearl. Our little Pearl is seven weeks early she weighed in at five pounds even. Here is one of her first pictures.
Well its April already. We have been getting boats uncovered and commissioned. This years National Bowling Tournament for Michael Sr. is in Baton Rouge Louisiana. We decided to drive this year so that we could spend time with our granddaughter in South Carolina. It wasn't one of Michael's better years for bowling, but that's ok. I think the last minute change in our travel plans had a lot to do with that. We got to visit with Pearl, Victoria and Rickie. Being a preemie she likes to sleep a lot right now. Launch is in full swing. It has become just like breathing, if you stop and think about the all the work that has to get done and how many boats we commission then you get nauseous. It all happens mostly in a four to five week period. We remove shrinkwrap for recycle, put up the canvas tops, some boats get washed and waxed, engines, generators, air conditioners, water systems and waste systems are all commissioned all fluids are checked and batteries are checked and charged. Each boat is put at its slip, plugged in, moped down and closed up. This process is repeated over and over simultaneously Monday through Friday of each launch week. Weekends we work on picking up shrinkwrap frames, uncovering more boats, getting detail work done as well as the service work. There is definitely no I in our Team.
May/June - well you can't tell that its been busy
here. We have had more rain this spring than normal. We had
one storm that dumped almost eight inches of rain in one evening. Needless
to say we could not take that much all at once. Interstate 87 was wiped
out between exits 23 and 25 - the earth just decided to remove four lanes of
road. There were several other highways that were washed out. The
lake level is so high that several marinas are flooded - including us.
Nothing makes for such a long day as trudging around in rubber muck boots up to
your knees to get to the docks. The shop is flooded also.
The June highlight is our trip to visit Pearl, Victoria and Rickie for a couple
days. South Carolina is just too darn humid. Here is a picture of
Pearl telling Michael that she's moving to New York with us this August.
She tells him not to worry that her dad and mom will be coming with her. 
July - we have been so busy at the shop! We have had lots more rain in just a few storms. Its been abnormally hot and humid for this time of year. With all the rain the new dam at Hadlock Pond, which is only a few miles from here as the birds fly, gave way. Fortunately the only casualties were homes and material objects. It has closed down another major highway in our area, Route 149 will most likely be closed for three weeks while they rebuild the washed out road. The guys have been busy with sterndrive work, engine work, an engine replacement job, vacuflush installations and being the areas only Kohler Marine Generator dealer also keeps us pretty busy. There just seems to be a never ending line of people needing GPS and windless installations this year. But hey, we like making hay while the sun shines.
August - Haul forms are out the earliest ever. There have been several changes that will make haul out better for everyone. With the new changes in the clubs haul schedule we should be able to get started on winter work in December.
September: ENGAGEMENT!! Well Michael Jr. finally did it - he asked Jessica to marry him. She said yes. The new question is how long will it be until they actually tie the knot?
October- December: Its haul out! The same routine every year - this year we have have almost all of the team; Michael Sr., Michael Jr., Rickie, Jesse, Miss Pearl, and me working everyday winterizing, doing service work, shrinkwrapping boats and all of the other jobs that we do. When she isn't in school my sidekick Heide, who helps me with bottom washes and filing, (boy do I need filing help) is here. Boats were put away in record time. Must be our new supervisor Miss Pearl. We managed this with Jesse at college for part of the day three days a week and the guys attending service school during haul out. I can only wait to see what we can accomplish as a team in 2006.