Lets talk about my addiction for minute

It’s that time of year again*, weather turning towards “Winds of November” chills, falling leaves, and cold KOLD waters,,,,   I actually felt a little of that yesterday,,,  Lots of wind action (out of the east, not the norther’s we get in November) and the water was a bit chilled from just a week prior.

SO, today being Son’s-day, and the usual domestic duties of mine purt much knocked down. (still a couple of little details, but waiting for the cooler temps of evening,,,)  I busted out the Dry-wear,,,,

Drysuit, worn once, didn’t like it, had to have help getting extracted from it,,,   Hadn’t worn it again since, UNTIL TODAY.    YAHOOO!!!!   Figured out that damned zip that I couldn’t get fully open and why I needed help getting out of it.  Now I can don and extract myself, by myself,,,,   And BIGGER, YAHOOO!!!!   I’ve lost some weight,,,  Well, Not weight, still tipping the scale at 200#, but the middle is thinner,,,, Must be putting muscles on up top (and the suit did feel a wee bit tighter across the shoulders, but not bad tight.)   Wore the suit for half an hour, going through motions, sitting as if I were in a cockpit (where I was having another issue, caused by thick spare tire) and did the dishes (yes, donned up in a full drysuit.)    Started getting REALLY warm, so time to extracate myself (SUCCESS!) and 303 the gaskets again.  Stlll too soon for a full suit, but Happy its holding up in storage.

Dry top: Last year, I had the surprise of a sealed neck-gasket and had to replace that (easy, not that expensive, but messy, rilly messy,,,)  I’ve been quite a bit more intensive with proper maintenance this year and keep the gaskets cleaned with that 303 once a month (both suit and top) so this year, all’s well.   Of course, having lost some weight in the middle, the Top feels even baggier than usual, but thats a good thing.  Just means I can get warmer stuff underneath.   My usual routine (developed before I got the drysuit) is to use Neoprene bottoms and fleece uppers covered by the top: and that set up gets me into January with no problems. 

January, February and March, DRY SUIT,,,   Even though I have paddled those times in my DT setup, it wasn’t fun, and my anxiety levels were peaked, so I stayed VERY close to shore.    This year, my skills and confidence have grown enough, with the right gear, I can think more about large body crossings; not just hugging that shoreline or skipping out because the weather isn’t fair enough.

So, my gear is GOOD TO GO, my brain feels settled that I can keep paddling through the winter months, and alls good in Dio’s world,,,  (except those stoopid Poly-tick-ians that can’t get the message, JUST LEAVE US ALONE,,,,  Some things never change, huh?)

sidenote,,, quest for bigger boat,,,, looking at two, trying to contact one but so far, no love,,,  the other is one that I am questioning IF I actually want it,,, so I  haven’t contacted the seller yet. Holding hope the first one gets back to me soon.   No rush,,,,   And I made the decision that IF I do buy a larger boat, I am thinning my fleet down.   Gonna hold on to Blue Jean and Rio, but the rest are going up for grabs.   Blue jean because she is the only boat I am willing to put my dad in (like he will ever go,,, but) and she is a great intro kayak for newbs.  In addition, BJ is my river runner when the run is not WW (and sometimes that too): being Rotomolded, she can take a bit more of a beating than a glass boat can.   RIO because she is the boat I had been looking for in WW boats: don’t do WW much, but for when I do, she is IT,,,

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Ok, nuff with my addiction,,,,    The mess  going on in our political machine has everyone sitting on the edge of the seat right now.   This thing LOOKS like it’s going one way, one day, the other on the next.  It would really help if we had HONEST J-urinalists; you know the type, do the actual research and report UNBIASED information, not opinions,,,,   The Editors used to be the ones with the opinion page, not the reporters.  These days, its ALL opine, little fact, and lots of rumor.   Also known as PROPAGANDA,,,,   So what happens next?   Who the F! knows.    I am more worried that Bidens handlers are going to see QueMala losing to Trumped in November and will then PUSH PUTIN over the blink stage into actual retaliation mode.    WW3 baby!   (not that we aren’t already, only the escalation hasn’t happened yet.   Give it time,,,)

“WW4 will be fought with sticks and bones”   (accredited to Albert Einstein, but I has doubts,,,,  Could have been any number from post Hiroshima days.)

Anywhoos, Gots to get back to my duties for the day.   Tomorrow its back to the mines, maybe more core drilling,,, (yay! NOT!) or burning metal, or lord only knows at this stage.  Such is the life of the ‘Go to Guy’,,,,

Live

learn

laugh

LOAD!

*its also that time of year where seakayaks are going ‘cheaper’, as the people that bought them on whim, are finding ‘storage’ of a 17’+ boat is a sort of a pain in the ass,,,,    Used to buy my moto’s the same way, cheap buy in the winter, sell high in the spring.