All posts by cs

slimed

boats

Foot Slick, Loogy Lube, Moose Juice —- are lubricant brands aimed to help you glide your foot into snug bindings. I brew my own. A little dish soap and water does the trick.

I sent S’man into the kitchen to refill our supply. “Look for the green stuff under the sink”, I asked, and he disappears on his mission. When he returns, the flask is full but uncharacteristically cloudy and ::hold on a second:: its HOT! The contents have gone off (some kind of chemical reaction). I ask “What the hey did you put in here? — Welllll, I’m not putting this stuff on my feet!”

The girls figured it out. He looked for the ‘green stuff’ as instructed allright. Happens that instead of the LIQUID JOY he poured in the CASCADE (green box) dishwashing detergent powder. Mixes a nasty cocktail.

piracy

boats

Meanwhile, the adults are splishing and splashing a short distance away the kids go aboard our boat. Next thing we hear is giggles and laughter, the engine comes to life. They cut anchor and away they fly! “Well honey…” I say wistfully, “there they go — all grown up. I thought that we were supposed to wean them and not the other way around. Damn! My cash, car keys, and credit cards are on there. (heading for the marina to score some beer before they hit the road? ;-)” They disappear around the lake’s bend and we listen to the diminishing roar of the vessel. Luckily the jokesters didn’t ditch us to tread water for too long.

RE-RUN

boats

(on holiday 😮 this is a repeat blog from a year ago)

S’man and I spied a slithering snake swimming, as we idled under the shadow of a roadway bridge. I went to neutral so as to get a better look at it but it dove from sight. We were wondering where it might choose to return to the surface. Decided not to tell the girls about the encounter.

re-run

boats

(on holiday 😮 this is a repeat blog from a year ago)

We got nailed bya squall this afternoon (my first experience). Question for ya —- What does one do when there is thunder and lightning all around? Stay in the boat? Head for shore??

It got black in a big hurry and by the time we made it to the dock it was blowing spray off the tops of white caps. (very thrilling btw). We decided to leave the boat tied up on the leeward side where it rode easily while we ran for the cars. The rain hit just as we made cover. I hoped to hell that the lines didn’t come loose cause it would have blown down onto the rocks before I could have got to it. I found out that my fenders, which stick on with suction cups, are worthless when they get wet. The wind finally died and I could get it onto the trailer but I couldn’t help wonder what I would have done had it been busy and the dock full.

re-run

social

(on holiday 😮 this is a repeat blog from a year ago)

Had some challenges with the boat out of winter storage. I had taken the the engine driven Sherwood pump off for inspection but when I put it back on I got it 180 degrees out of sync. That is, it was blowing instead of sucking. I found this out when I launched and it was only a matter of minutes before the rubber impeller destructed, turning to blue smoke and stink vaporized out the tailpipe. Ooops! Day 1 lost.

Second fiasco: having rebuilt and sorted out the raw water pump, day 2 was looking hopeful when the battery went flat. Uugghh! Luckily a fisherman on the ramp obliged to help. He had a set of jump cables in his Blazer and since he was single-handling (and also launching his boat for the 1st time this season) I tended his craft for him while he put his trailer in the parklot. When I finally got up and running the water was a “tad” chilly yet. Spencer and I both did the wakeboard thing once before we lost daylight.

awwww story

social

guard_dawg

My friend isn’t alowed to come up the stairs so here he waits every morning for me to come down. He’s always so eager and happy / glad to see me. I reward him with a first light 3 mile jog through the park woods.

For anyone who ‘needs to get out more’, a beast like this one will remind you when it’s time — rain or shine. He likes long walks in the fresh air twice a day. He and I have covered a few miles together.

Cheers! hound dawg!

uniformity code

social

Architectural control standards imposed today by various homeowners associations include: no RVs or boats in the yard, no derelict cars and, in the case of these unhappy looking innocents, 3 dogs maximum. Looks like they posed with their smallest and sweetest. The news article goes on to report, that the other 6 are inside the house! We can only imagine the ruckus. The sympathy picture was a good effort. The other ones are probably barking and yelping like mad 😉 The sound is turned down.

mo’ money

social

I’ve got this idea and it should help the airline companies bottom line.

We’ll call it MY_photo-op. The carrier would install a camera mounted in the fuselage that will take aerial pictures enroute. (ever tried to snap a shot through those scratched and distorted passenger windows?) The airborne cam would provide clear hi-res images of points of interest, geography, cool cloud formations, takeoffs and landings…

Those flite phones in the seat back that I’ve never seen anybody use? Yank those out. Or rather, change the handset interface to mimic that of a PDA. The credit card swipe can stay. Now allow the customer to choose his time and location for his shot. He could pick right | left | down camera angles. The images can be emailed realtime.

Charge 5 bucks.

rearender

social

sorry 'bout that

What’s wrong with this picture? (forgive the replay of the I40 bridge tragedy) The lone Dodge PU looks like the “lucky” one alright… but observe the crushed front end damage. My take is that there was a vehicle that preceded this one and either by good fortune or skillful driving was able to stop at the edge of the abyss and just in time. Only to be bumped and sent over the brink by this dufus. Hey! Thanks alot!