Borthers Assembled, Pt. IV

(contd.)

Day III.5

"Barely Any Pictures Because Brian Hough Wasn't There and No One in the Family Takes Pictures Besides Him"

The title says it all, folks - when I'm not around, nobody bothers to take pictures, so this '3.5' segment is just a mini-installment that not-at-all chronicles the day I was away in the woods camping with my high school buddies. That morning, as I was preparing to leave, the parents requested some sibling pictures on the back deck. Here are the original Hough Brothers (in order from oldest to youngest, naturally.)

Chelsey and Bryan, getting a couple pic in the meantime.

The Borthers.

Chris had shown up in the morning, right before I left, for a day visit (without his family - Mom was watching his kids and Nicole was taking a personal day back in Midland.) Jeff and Carissa left a little later on in the morning than I, giving Kinsely time for one more dip in the lake with her cousin, Abby.

Abby does her damnedest to say cooled off in the oppressive Saturday heat.

The girls 'bobbed' in the lake for a bit today in order to cool off (bobbing being the term for buckling a life vest upside down and using the arm holes for your legs, kinda like a giant, buoyant diaper.)

Kris, Chelsey, Bryan and Chris eventually bobbed for a bit, too. I have no frickin' clue what happened the rest of that day because, like I said before, nobody took any pictures of it at all. This family would be royally f***ed if I ever passed away.

Day IV

"Ashes to Ashes"

Upon my return back to the lake following my camping trip, most everyone had gone home. Kris and the girls had returned to Midland the evening before, and my brothers Chris and Jeff had taken off as well. The Whites, who had left Saturday morning before I had for one of Jax's baseball games, were slotted to return to the lake in the afternoon, however, but in the meantime Bryan, Chelsey, the parents and I had a couple hours to kill. We decided to knock out some of the mandatory tasks that were on our weekend 'To-Do' list first, such as driving Rachel's jet ski over to the boat launch (I got it on the first try, thank you very much) and moving it over to the pole barn. With that out of the way, we set about scattering Larry's ashes around the lake, per his final request: he wanted his nephews to scatter his ashes at certain parts of the lake, and in specific ways. For example, Bryan was to dump part of Larry's ashes while driving a jet ski.

Took a couple attempts at this, because he was going against the natural flow of lake traffic (due to the direction the wind was blowing), and had to wait for a spot to clear up in order to drive in front of our dock (where I was filming and taking pics.)

Next up, was the Sandbar, so we packed a cooler and I grabbed a couple of lime-laden Landsharks to accompany Larry's ashes (shown here in one of the little plastic containers we were all given.)

The Sandbar. Pretty dead for a Sunday.

Yours Truly was tasked with scattering his ashes on the Sandbar, so we decided to do it on the Waite family's side of the 'beach,' as it'd be more appropriate. FYI, the amount of pebbles and rocks on this side of the Sandbar make it extremely painful to walk through here, so he better be appreciative. . .

With the ashes scattered, we kinda hung out for twenty or so minutes and enjoyed a drink in the sun, since we were there anyway.

Dad and Cindy

Chelsey and two Brians.

Bryan and Finley

Heading back to the lakehouse. Mission accomplished.

About an hour or two after we had knocked everything off our To-Do List, the Whites finally showed up. Immediately, it was decided we should take Brian's boat out around the lake for an adult cruise.

Bryan, Jill and Chelsey head to the boat.

Weather was absolutely gorgeous today - perfect lake weather.

Bryan demands a pause on the cruise around the lake so that he can cool off. . .

Man overboard.

Back on dry land, we set about getting dinner around. Well, I say 'we' but I, as usual, didn't help out at all.

Burgers were on the menu for this final dinner up at the lake.

I hate how much burgers flare up with their grease always catching on fire - can't stand grilling these at home.

Jax didn't want a burger, so he decided to eat. . . whatever the hell this is. . . for dinner instead.

Almost done.

More backyard sports as the sun begins to set after dinner.

Before the sunset, we needed to have Brian White scatter his Larry Ashes at the pre-determined spot of the lake while there was still some light out.

Another bad-ass Eight Point sunset.

More pics with this dog.

Brian was supposed to scatter his ashes in front of the old cottage we used to rent out (2002 - 2019.) As you can see in the video, it didn't quite go as planned. . . 

Instead of doing what Bryan and I did - scattered them low to the water, like any normal person would - Brian White threw them up into the air, where a breeze quickly blew them straight into Dad.

He realized he had messed up pretty damn fast.

It was frickin' hilarious, and Larry would've loved it.

There were so many ashes on the windshield of the pontoon that Bryan was able to write 'Larry' on it.

One last sunset over Eight Point Lake. . .

Priming the last fire of the week.

Like Friday night, we hung out here for hours, and slowly, over time, folks wandered off to bed.

(FYI - these are the Govee LED smart lights I got Dad for Christmas, if you'll recall. They work awesome, I have them everywhere in my house, I swear by this brand.)

In your face, Jill.

- Brian