I’s a hot’un

And I spent the whole day in a parking lot building a massive seven plus foot tall by sixty one and one half foot gate,,,

And then I cut the damned thing in half.

ROFLMAO

Not exactly in half,, I cut it so that the welds when re-assembled will be diagonal to each other, and the loads will be spread out over a couple of uprights. Otherwise, the thing WOULD snap in half. Still possible, but a whole lot less likely.

And its hot,,,, or did I mention that already?? If not, I concur with my own statement, its hot.

Sat out on the porch and hosed down dawgum,,, He wasn’t as appreciative as I would expect, but he isn’t panting like he was now. He doesn’t get it, but thats alright, he’s cooled off now. I then sat under the spray jet like sitting in a drizzle and it felt absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!! Kittehs were watching from a safe distance with looks of abject horror on their little mugs. Voo kept a discreet distance as well but he was already wet,,,, he just didn’t want to add to that,,,, Funny how when we lived in Texas, that mutt LOVED playing with water hoses and jumping into cattle ponds and making like a fool in water. Here,,, You’d think I was trying to drown the beast from his reaction to waters.

Amazingly, nothing at all to grump about today, other than the fact that Mark E posted his last video of his epic journey last night (I saw your comment Spud, Totally agree, destination was the least of it; it was all about the journey,,,) (band width has been throttled to near non-existent or I would link the vid here,,, Only saw it because I stopped at Da’s to use his wi-fi to pay a bill.)

And of course, I started getting that itch watching his vid. Came home and was comparing ‘notes’ from Geotracker on days paddling, how fast/far and in which boats, under what conditions,,, Lyssa still wins paddle down,,, And the little trip I took yesterday did gain some base speed, so that new epoxy finish is helping. Wish she held more gear without bogging down, but I guess I can’t have it both ways, eh? Just need a longer boat for expedition stuff, but that can definitely wait until I am ready AND ABLE to do that sort of thing. That time is not now,,, Mentally, yes,,, physically and socially,,, no. Physically I am working on, the social thing has an indefinite setting out of my control.

And, I am still battling “calm water anxiety’. Don’t ask me to explain it, but when I am out in waves and chop, I am fine. Yesterday I was doing a big crossing and that water was like glass and by the time I hit the halfway point, I was tense and I don’t think you could have pulled a string out of my sphincter. I had to start talking myself down while finishing the crossing. WHY? Fu-if I know,,, The boat is just as stable in calm as in waves, and the chance of capsizing is much lower in calm than in wave. BUT, I get that nervous Nellie thing going when the water isn’t dancing. While watching Mark E’s vid, he was showing some breaking waves on the coast of Nova Scotia and explaining ‘this is a calm day’, and my itch went into overdrive. It looked like FUN to me. You may remember that small vid I posted on Saturday and those waves are about as small as I can handle before I start getting uptight. Let them stand up a bit more and I go loosey-goosey in the hips and life gets way more fun. I mean, I was out there, about 20 yards from shore, and no outrigger support taking a video,,, and NOT NERVOUS!!! If that water had been glass, I wouldn’t have braved pulling my phone out,,,

It’s kinda like my phobia of heights. I can (and have) jumped out of a perfectly functional Helo, but I can’t climb a fourteen foot ladder without getting tense or frozen. Make sense? Hell no! exactly my point. Like when I took Betty Boof (the Pirouette) out in the waves on Foley Beach,,, Nervous didn’t enter the equation, and I capsized pretty damned quick (and never let go the paddle, nor lost the boat,,, Go me!) I drained the boat, and got right back in for another go-round. Weak and shakey got me before fear did. Those waves beat the shit out of me, but fatigue is what ended the fun. And B can tell ya, when we are in the thick of it in White Water, I am a machine, but the slack pools between are what make me crazy and uptight. ( I do handle the slack pools better with a long boat, and am looking for a ‘greenboat’ to replace the ARC, but till then, BJ is my WW boat,,,)(Greenboats are a style of boat that typically runs 3 to 4 meters in length for the GreenRiver race, which is all class IV+. They are named for the river, not the color.)

I don’t get it, but I know what gets me and what thrills me, and I try to work on both. Easing those anzieties, and getting stronger in all water types. Like my surfing BJ on Saturday,,, She likes to broach waves at speed and that IS a capsize situation in waiting. but I figured out how to stern draw her so that wasn’t an issue. And I can turn that 16.5′ boat just as fast as I can the ARC when she is in waves: its just a matter of timing and grabbing the wave on the back side and pullling like mad,,, And Bj spins in place I would imagine I could do the same in any long boat, but I had never tried it until this past weekend. (still working skills, and have tons more to get.)

One day down into a short week, and while it ‘feels’ like monday, didn’t respond like muhnday,,, That’s a goodness thing. two more to go and then I get a three day break,,,,

more laters,,,,,,