Blog

Another weekend up at Lake Lanier was needed… Why? Because last week we bought a little Renken Bowrider and it took a little “persuasion” to get going. By persuasion I really mean some TLC… So this long weekend was to be the weekend as Phil’s birthday is tomorrow and Erika’s is later on this month and Adam goes back to England on Thursday so a nice break away was much needed to celebrate these things. As usual we packed the old Explorer to the gills and made our way up on Thursday.

We arrived at the same campground we were at before, we couldn’t get the same site, so we looked about for potential better ones before settling on the one next to it with it’s own beach (which came in handy over the time there). Erika and Adam set up the tent as me and Phil went to get some groceries, after that we went for a swim then played uno before turning in just after midnight, just in time for what sounded like high winds to buffet us all night long.

Friday was the first time we would be able to take the boat out, so we did, we launched it off the ramp and turned the ignition, nothing happened. OK, not strictly true, it sounded like the starter was going, but not a lot else. We put it back on the trailer after 30 minutes of trying, cursing our luck, me and Phil were sent to the marina we bought it from to see if they could offer assistance, they said a new battery was probably needed… So some hours later we’re back in the water and again nothing happens. Erika decides to go under the dashboard and somehow fiddles a few wires and it starts up.

Hallelujah!

And when it gets going, the boat is pretty cool, we just went around a few nearby islands and put it back on land. Again, heavy wind came our way after going to bed. Saturday we put the boat through it’s paces with some tubing and water ski-ing before cruising round the little part of the lake we had and finding a little marina where we could gas it up. We also became well paractised in the art of beaching it at night (thats why the beach was handy) as it saved us going to and from the ramp each time.

On Sunday the first injury occured, a freak accident really, I was on the tube and Erika had slowed down and turned round to whip me round and it was that quick I had to let go, but my arm got caught in the outer layer of the tube dragging me for a few seconds… Leaving me cursing no end and with a set of bruises on my arm (pictured below) that look like I get beaten up regularly…

Today we went on one last trip round Lake Lanier Islands before packing up and heading home…

A nice, fun weekend away, and as I said before, it was much needed.

No panorama shots this time, as it’s pretty much the same place as before, so here’s a little shot of the shoreline instead.

We love Uno. We can’t get enough of it, we can play it for hours on end, it’s such a simple, enjoyable game…

Until we perverted it, just because we could…

Don’t get me wrong, it IS a fun, wholesome game, but we take it to all new levels, levels where bloodshed is almost as regular as a skip or reverse card. Now if you don’t know Uno (and why not?) the rules are simple:

Each player is dealt 7 cards (or in our case, anything up to but not always limited to 30 cards) with the remaining ones placed face down to form a “draw” pile. The top card of the draw pile is turned over to begin a “discard” pile. The first player has to match the card in the discard pile either by number, color or word. For example, if the card is a red 7, player must throw down a red card or any color 7. Or the player can throw down a Wild Card. If the player doesn’t have anything to match, he must pick a card from the draw pile. If he can play what is drawn, great. Otherwise play moves to the next person. When you have one card left, you must yell “UNO” (meaning one). Failure to do this results in you having to pick two cards from the draw pile. That is, of course if you get caught by the other players. Once a player has no cards left, the hand is over. Points are scored and you start over again.

See, simple… But I should mention we play with a stack of mixed decks, off the top of my head we play with regular Uno deck, Travel Uno, Harry Potter Uno, Muppets Uno, Spongebob Squarepants Uno, Peanuts Uno, Seattle Mariners Uno, Hello Kitty Uno, Incredible Hulk Uno, Spider-Man Uno, Care Bears Uno, X-Men Uno and Shrek 2 Uno… Each with their own special rules card, the nastiest being the Muppets Mayhem card (where everyone changes hands, a great way to steal an Uno hand), but since we expanded from the first 4 decks to include the rest, they don’t come up as often anymore…

Now, add in house rules of stacking cards and we have a potent mix, being landed with huge pickups happens all too often. As Erika says:

Since we play stacking rules – meaning if you have say 6 Draw 2’s – you can play all 6 – forcing a pickup of 12 cards.

What we try to do is get that going around so someone gets stuck with picking up 20 cards.

What is evil is doing it as an out. Routinely we try to develop our hands so that we have a lot of skips back to ourself (staking reverses or skip cards) then lay as many forced pickups at a time to go “UNO” and then out. Since the next player in turn has to pick up the forced pickup – they often end up with several hundred points in their hand.

That’s evil

Yes it is… I’ve been left whimpering with over 1,000 points in my hand at the end of a game…

Anyways, why do I mention all this? Cause tonight, for the first time ever, I won my first ligit game of Uno with the 3 hustlers I stay with, and now I formally announce my retirement from the world of unprofessional Uno playing, always best to go out on top…