Good vibes day,,, except for some gnats,,,
Home, late afternoon, finished fairing the repairs on Lyssa, and masked off her Gunwale lines. A little acetone wipedown to get rid of greasy Dio and Grizz tracks and mixed up the epoxy paint. 4 oz first coat, and the shine is to die for.
Second coat, wanna get it on quick as the temps are starting to fall, another 4oz mix. (resin, hardener, white pigment) and start rolling it on. That shine starts getting even better.
Go in house to take care of a download I had started and a small learning curve on a new to me piece of equipment (Cricut stencil cutting ‘printer’, It has uses beyond making stickers, trust me.) (another Muchos Gracias out to B and T,,,,) Print out my first sticker (I did say ‘learning curve’, ya gotta start somewhere.) and then go check on Lyssa.
Well now. Dammit,,,
Dropping temps, gnats came out and I now have a half dozen STUCK to Lyssa’s hull. Other than that, I am quite pleased with the whole thing. But the damned bugs just made my job a bit harder,,, Gonna let her cure for a couple days then wetsand her down with 1000 grit and buff her back to that shine I am seeing. Maybe the only parts of the gnats that I have to deal with are their microscopic legs and that will be just fine by me. I hopes anyways,,,,
Frillin’ bugs!!! Hatez ’em!!!
And in my earlier post, I said that I was not going to get anymore water time before the double nickles day,,,,WRONG!!!! Bossman texted me this afternoon and told me “labor day, take off muhnday”. Dammit! I knew it was but was hoping that it had slipped his mind and that we would get a day in. Well, I could,,,except my job right now requires a second back to move the peices around with me. If there is no one else showing up (and you know they won’t) I ain’t building that monster gate, SO, I take a lake day, OR I tear into Buff like a bad habit and have a truck down for a couple of days. (I have intentions of starting on her after this upcoming weekend/birfday,, has plans with friends and don’t wanna F! ’em up,). As of right now, Lyssa is ‘watching paint dry’ or cure as the case may be, Buff is piddlin’ stuff I can handle that won’t hold her up for days on end, and Domestic duties that happen every sunday,,, So monday,,,
yeah,,, get wet,,,
(notice no pics? Yeah,,, I’m home and the signal out here sucks big green greasy donkey dicks,,,, When i was at the lake earlier, the signal was spot on and I was able to load that vid in just a few minutes, not DAYS like out here, or hours for a simple (reduced quality) pic,,,,)
Revelations,,,
And not of the biblical sort. This post is about some random connections that hit me over the last 48 hours,,, since someone I saw and the something they were doing,,,,
First off, all of these indictments against Trump,,, Total backlash is coming,,, A couple of people here local, that hadn’t voted Trump, didn’t like him, and declined to vote the last run are now saying “I’m voting for him now since they are obviously scared of him, and that tells me they are up to no-good”. I have to believe that this is not just a ‘local’ thought process. All of these indictments are to do one thing only, and obviously so: keep him so tied up in legalities that he can’t campaign, but what they aren’t expecting is how much the vitriol they are pouring is flowing back on them, and when it ignites,,,, WhoommmpFFFFF!!!!!
I can’t wait, and my popcorn is gonna get stale, but its coming,,,,And I don’t give a rats ass if Trump gets the election or not, I want to see that fireball of demon-crap-tic peeps when it goes up. And some of the Toadies on the Repugnant-can’t side as well, *cough*Mcconnell*cough-cough*
as for other parts of the Revelations I am in thrall to currently,,, CBDC’s. you’ve prolly heard the term, but let me define it for those not in the know: Central Bank Digital Currencies. Basically, The Fed creating something like BitCoin and making it THE DEFACTO currency of the US, and doing away with ALL paper transactions. Lots of credible fear mongering going on around that little thing “They” are trying to push out, but let me tell you right now,
IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN.
And the why it ain’t? War on Drugs/Mexican Cartels. Clandestine Arms deals across the board. I’ll start with the arms deals first, and from an angle you may not expect. We are sending mad components of war to KraineFeld and Krew to combat Russia,,, Now if this were a legit war, which we had some skin in, (we don’t, Biden and Co. might, but the people of the US: nopes.) we would be ramping up our war machine BIG TIME. I don’t see certain factories re-opening, I don’t see triple shifts at Boeing, and I DO read about them mothballing the Warthog,,,, Let me tell you how DRMO works at the unit level, as far as I can remember (and BCE can concur or correct me here) It’s time to get new gear, but your unit has too much already (there are accounts for this) so your command tells you to send ‘this many units’ to DRMO. Now, you aren’t going to send your top of the line stuff to the scrap yard, HELL NO! You find the rotten-ist crap you have, strip if whats still usable, “bag and tag” it with all the proper nomenclature and roll it out to processing. The Unit gets FULL CREDIT for the gear as if it were new, and those credits are what get your new gear.
So we have entire sections of the DOTMIL right now being told to send gear to the front, (not quite DRMO, but close enough) and the ‘mechanics’ of the logistics work the same, Unit sends their crappiest stuff, Unit gets credit for “as new” gear.
NOW, its shipped out to some country, might even get some retro-fits done to make it look nice for the cameras, but its still the rotten apple no one wanted. Krainefelds peeps know this, know they haven’t the back infrastructure to support it, and sell it to whomever will buy it, and kick back a certain amount of the proceeds: “Keep the toys coming please”
Those last actions don’t happen with electronic payments, They happen in CASH, and that cash gets laundered around until it can be transferred into digital realms and passed on in large amounts without attracting ‘too’ much attention.
Much the same as the way the Cartels work, or the kiddie traffickers, or any number of the other “Dark Arts” that are slowly coming to light as being much larger than Joe Six-pack EVER suspected.
The reason of this revelation: I bumped into someone I know from many many years ago at the lake XXXXXXXXXXX. Kinda surprised to see this person and his S.O. They were playing with big water toys, and sporting out of state Registration tags on them. But they weren’t straying too far from the ramp, at first. We talked a bit, he still remembered how we met (and I am not divulging that for reasons you’ll understand in a moment, even talked about kayaks and stuff, and how he thought maybe he should get into kayaks more, Then they took off around the bend. I wasn’t following them, just paddling (No way I could have followed them if they were running fast) , but I ran into them again, and this time, it was with them tied off to a boat, and they were exchanging ‘items’, some from the boat, most from their toys.
He’s now a mule. And I bumped into them making a drop, and getting paid.
That’s not how I know of him. We never worked for the same people, but we did contract in the same field, and our paths crossed several times over the years. Not a friend, but certainly no enemy either, and even as I saw them making the drop, he waved “hi” and carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I did get the hairy eye-ball from those on the boat, but I kept on a-goin’,,,,,
These CBDC’s are never going to happen because those in power KNOW if they did, the games would have to stop. You may be able to funnel funds around in power, but you can’t get the addicts to pay if the banks are in control of their money, and the base of all of these ‘DarkArts” is the guy on the street, paying cash for his fix,,,, The mules want paid in large bills, thick stacks of them, and that won’t happen with some digital ones and zeros in a phone app,,,
And think of all the pallet-loads of cash this country has shipped off to places like Affy, Iran, etc etc,,, You don’t think that was out of ‘good christian charity’ do you? Hell NO!, that was ‘here, lots of cash to buy stuff with” and “we’ll buy our stuff back so we can launder this mess the secretary of state has created’,,,, Or something very similar,,,,
Again, I can’t wait for the fireball forthcoming,,, my popcorn will go stale and beer will get skunky before the show starts, but by GOD, it won’t go the way “They” keep pushing, and what comes next is going to be EPIC. Dunno how long it will take, but I have full trust that it won’t be as fucked up as things are now. The only downside: its gonna get really ugly between now and then…. People in power NEVER willingly relinquish it,,,,
And I find I am at peace with things right now. I know pay-back is coming to those that thought they could steal what would have been given freely, if only they weren’t so self-centered and greedy.
I want my country back, and it looks like we may get it: maybe a little battered and bruised from all the fun and games of late, but OURS,,,
Happy only starts the description
Yeah, this is the “glorify Lyssa” post that I can well believe a few of y’all saw comin’.
How to describe the difference between two boats, of different materials but nearly identical design (nearly because the decks are completely different with only small tweaks below the water line,,,). While I can’t describe things perfectly (my butt doesn’t know english and the translation gets a might garbled) I can describe the differences in performance at the water level,,, Putting one (BJ) on edge, where you lift one knee and ‘lean’ (not really) in the direction you want to go (the boat leans out, you lean in,,,) does absolutely nothing without driving the paddle harder on the outside of the turn. In the other boat, the same motion and she is taking that turn with grace and NO OTHER INPUT required. Any other input only amplifies the motion or hinders it, depending on what it is. Too much on the inside and she goes straight, more on the out and she is nearly spinning on her center axis.
Love the hell out of Blue Jean, and she has her forever home with me, but she is not Lyssa, nor is Lyssa her,,, two completely different characters with distinct differences that make for two very loved boats. Lyssa is more like Lizzy in how fast she is, but more like BJ in how she handles things: Lyssa is more like a Standard Nordkapp when it comes to how she handles edge and leans.(Lizzy is an HM, with a fixed skeg/keel: straight tracking like a freight train). She fits the bill between Lizzy and BJ that I was looking for. IF I were to use animals to describe them, I would say that Lizzy is that 8 month old colt, all abuzz with get up and go, skittish when bored, and ready to run, run, runrunrunRUN,,, Blue Jean is that 5 year old, Amish raised mule that pulls the family around country roads and doesn’t spook at even the most obnoxious exhaust pipes. Lyssa,,,The two year old mare that has good sense, but is still looking to play, and may play a game of ‘nip the behind’ when you least expect it, but is content to run around the pasture for fun.
When I was doing the one crossing that had me a little goosed looking at it from the distance, I pulled the skeg back up because it was doing me a disservice being down. Even at half-mast, it was grabbing the rebound waves and twisting me around towards the cliff face that I was trying to stay away from: with the skeg up, the waves were pushing the stern out, while the wind was cocking it ‘in’, and I was doing exactly what I wanted to do, which was travel a straight line along the cliff face and get to calmer waters. Skeg down the waves had more ‘push’,,, I am learning the heck out of this boat and MYSELF again. And that IS what I wanted in a fiberglass boat: growth. That she punches waves in the face and laughs about it (they slap me back by climbing in my lap and making for a wet ride) is only a plus, (I do have concerns about her ‘pitch-poling’ in surf, and have read that this model is known for it: pitch poling is when the bow drives under so hard it impacts the bottom and ‘pitches you’ as if you were on the end of a pole. Good thing we don’t really have surf around here,,, Boat wake is the most I see,,, And Lyssa won’t be taken on white water, where that might be an issue.)
Now, full admission, I have been in much taller water in other boats that did well. (Serena on Cumberland lake when The Ohio Navy was let out of lockdown in 2020,,). What we saw today was minor to that day, but the memory of how Serena handled the waves was “Right There”, I even had the feeling I was still moving in waves when I hit the no wake zone (didn’t get motion sickness, just had that ‘things is moving, but they ain’t,,,” feelz going on.). But, she had one thing Serena didn’t have: SPEED. I checked in a couple of places and I could have her up to that 5 point sumpin mark in about 10 strokes of the blades. I was digging hard to do it, but she did it anyways, and once there, I could let up a touch (still needed to power on,) and hold it close for a spell. That is not fast,,,, Thats BLOODY FAST, and I am not sure Lizzy could match it (more boat to get up to speed.). Lizzy could hold it longer, but she had more mass to hold the inertia, and longer waterline.
and the other advantage of Lyssa vs Lizzy: easier access to cargo holds. Larger hatches (that are now or will soon be weatherproofed)
One downside to today though; My carbon fiber Greenland Paddle is taking on water these days. Still quite functional, holds its own as a paddle, but after an hour, has gained weight: lifting 2# every stroke is a lot easier than lifting 5# every stroke. and when you are lifting a paddle 1000+ times a mile, that adds up to “woOF!!!”. I have another brand (not Chinee like my current one) but its sorta pricey and won’t be ‘gotten’ anytime soon, and the means is being set aside a little here, a little there. And since I do not think I will have that new blade in hand for the SKAW, I am going to start making a set of wooden blades that I can splice into the CF loom of said current paddle and not have a paddle that incrementally gets heavier as I get more tired. No rush, easy after work over a couple of weeks project, but one that today became “do this soonest” over other kayaky projects I have. (and that front hatch leak was very minor, it can wait a bit.). If you don’t recall, the SKAW is a 13 mile race, open flat water (two 6.5 mile laps). Don’t want to run in that with the handicap of a paddle that gains weight the more you use it.
Hell, I’m single and an empty-nester: what else do I have to do on those nights when all the other stuff is either done or on hold for weather???
(debating on Lyssa/Lizzy for the race seeing how they are both fast boats and Lizzy is plenty stable, so long as you don’t stop moving,,,)
So, for the TL;DR crowd that scrolled down here to see if I had anything else to say: Lyssa is MY BOAT now, and our friendship grew in leaps and bounds on that lake today. Very happy and all the trials and tribulations of getting her, to include the ‘fight with Da’,,, was worth it.
Been a touch bizzy
Just lettin’y’all know, I am still here, posting may be lite, mostly because there ain’t amuch to yap about,,,,
well, theres PLENTY to yap about, but is it worth sitting down and tapping out a post about the latest distraction, or some Cesna and the pilot passing of ‘sudden’ crashing in Virginia,,,
Or the latest krazy that I am into,,, Trucks and kayaks, trying to keep my Buffalo moving under her own power, and making an older kayak seaworthy again,,,,
or that I am getting 9 hour days in at the J.O.B. and that seems great, until you realize that ALL of that extra lucre needs to pay off debts that WERE getting knocked down until Buff decided to frag me and my finances,,, She didn’t kill me, but all that headway I had made was splattered on the alley walls like so much gruesome grafitti. Again, could have been much worse, but thanks to you guys, wasn’t,,, Many thanks and I can’t say it enough…
As for the more hours thing going on at the J.O.B.,, Most of it krew leading, and ‘putting out fires’… Not fires in my shop, since I haven’t fired up the welder since sometime last week. I need to check my shielding gas tanks, not sure I have any full ones that aren’t on the rig, and that needs rectified soonest since I DO have welding jobs forthcoming that will require more than one tank to finish. (even though I run at barest minimum of flow since we no longer have a supplier close,, can only order once a week for scheduled wednesday delivery.)
About Lyssa, the blood red kayak,,, That hatch is fixed, but man, that was a mess to do. They afix the hatch rings when the deck is not attached to the hull, and that makes the way they do it flat easy. Since I am not going to seperate the hull/deck to fix one little ring (Oh Hell no!!) I had to make some strange and troublesome yoga moves. That ring is now fixed but in doing it, I mucked up some of that work I had done on the skeg and now have to pull the seat pan, again,,, sigh,,, My addiction, my zen thing, and there is USUALLY a price to pay for such. I am paying mine. But the compartment holds 5psi for 30 minutes and no bubbles anywhere to be found. (rear compartment still has a leak somewhere: she won’t hold pressure, but I haven’t found any bubble spots. May be in the rear where the toggles are located, I hadn’t looked there,,, if so, I live with it, that area is complicated and near unreachable from inside.)
Buffalo is doing well for now,,, Been working on pulling donor parts in the evenings when I am ‘watching paint dry’ on Lyssa. I want everything off and ready for when I start to swap parts on the real deal because I don’t want to be without transportation for more than 48 hours at any given point. Preferably 24 but I am a realist, I know engine/transmission swaps can be a DAYS affair, even with full shop access,,, I have shade-tree(or carport if you prefer full honesty), gravel drive, and hand tools,,, My one power tool is my dewalt impact driver (which rocks, but has limits,,,) and the rest is busted knuckles stuff (but Snap-on, Mac, and Cornwell,,, Quality tools that have served me well for three decades,,, If ya wanna borrow them, its full price down with 95% back to you on safe returns. Sorry, gonna protect those tools like they were me own fingers…)(and I found a local Cornwell dealer that isn’t an ass like the Snappy dealer, that won’t honor the handtool warranty…)
Gonna be long humpday, clocks are winding down today, even though I haven’t done all I intended to do tonight. Did take a big chunk out of them though…
more tomorrow, maybe early post before things take off on me.
Good and bad,,,
the bad: no work today,,, Asked if I should take the rest of the week off (I have a reason I desire this, later in post) and was laughed at, but that still means NO WORK TODAY,,, dammit,,,
I kind of expected it,,, Usual this time of year; schools letting out, fams headed out for vakay, businesses are changing up footing for summer,,. We usually drop off around this time and my custom work drops off comptetely,,, still, kinda sucks on the timing of things, seeing how I just recovered from a set-back that cost me (and you, and a very sincere thank you in order for those that helped fund Buff and mine’s recovery of Transpo,,,)
Thats life, move on,,,
So I came home and did stuff here, like trimming my weeds, placating kats because they despise the line trimmer,,,
And digging deeper into Lyssa. Fixed that leaky skegbox, and pretty much had to take her apart to do it. Nothing needed removed from the decks, but I did have to take apart the cable lines, and to get to the control box, I had to take out the seat pan. I even played and put the seat pan from the Necky Chattum in it, just to see. Didn’t like, felt like it raised my CG by 1/2″ or so. That makes a difference in ‘liveliness’ of the ride and Lyssa already feels spritely. anyywhooos,, the Skeg box was a simple fix, just needed to reseal the cable tube at each end, but to do that I had to take it all apart and clean the parts up so the sealer would stick. Funky design, and more complicated than I like, but it works and I figured out some tricks for the re-install.
And my added coaming worked out great. I haven’t tested it on water yet, but I did put the skirt on and did some serious wiggling around to try and pop that edge loose. Seems like its going to work. And its strong. Much stronger than I expected. I was able to pick up the whole boat by the coaming. I figured ‘if this breaks it, it was gonna break anyways’,,,, Held just fine. After I put everything back together I mixed up a thin batch of resin and pigment and ‘painted’ the repair area to smooth out my sanding mark and make it match the rest of the coaming better. You can still see it but its not as obvious.
And I put hip pads in her to ‘tighten’ the feel of the cockpit. I have such a narrow hind side, that even a 16″ wide cockpit feels loose to me. LOL Even though I am 6′, I have to use medium or low volume boats or I feel like I am wallowing in a bathtub.
And she is ready for the weekend. B and Fam are at the lake already, and why I was ‘hoping” that Bossman and Son would be willing to let me ride out a week,,,, Oh well. Not this time and I do need the income, so I ain’t complaining about that, just the fact that I am off on a weekday and essentially ‘on hold’,,, Itsux,,,
So, when I do get the chance to head out (likely friday eve) I am only taking Lyssa with me. Not enough time to play with multiple boats and I want even more time in her yet, preferably out of the No Wake zones,,, and now that the skirt holds, time playing with rolls. I already have a feel for her speed, (fast, but not as fast as Lizzy) And yup, I could take her to the lake or river today, but I would rather give that sealer 24 hours to cure up without strain,,, All that pulling stuff apart to get at the culprit,, naw,,, let her sit
Thursday EoD mind dump
Probably gonna get tagged with that title but so what.,, (EoD, end of day,,, or Explosives Ordinance and Demolitions,,, end of day in this case)
Wandered over to BCE’s place and found he had posted an early post (as he is on the road for the day headed to his mountain home away from home)
Been keeping my thoughts to meself over many things, but sometimes, there comes a point where ya gotta say your peace, and this time, BCE pulled that rabbit out of the hat and
Have to absolutely without a doubt agree with this’un,,,,
And I got to thinking of that definition of ‘mental disorder/insanity’: that insanity is defined by society, and those that step out of that definition are ‘Insane”. Its all subjecttive,,, The Aztecs would be considered insane in todays world, total homicidal maniacs: yet in their society, ripping the still beating heart out of a (rapidly dying) still alive person was considered a religious event, to be shared and celebrated. We would be considered ‘bug nutz insane’ for thinking otherwise.
That subjective thing,,, its also called “A MAJORITY”, and to those people like the one that will not be linked, Dylan Mulvaney,,,, Y’all ain’t a majority despite your getting inordinate amounts of press coverage. Last I read, y’all don’t even make up a full percentage point,,, What you are is a useful tool for those that wish to destroy a country without firing a shot on it, and you are their tool to humiliate THE MAJORITY into surrender mode. Hope that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, knowing that in reality, you are ‘the useful idiot’. AH, but then your actions show your delusional realm and we shouldn’t expect you to understand what happens to all the useful idiots when the game makers ‘win’,,,
So, yeah, Chop it off or KNOCK IT OFF, and let the adults take back over dammit!!! We are all getting a little tired of the bullshit gaslighting that such types help feed.
End of Day, end of week for me, start to the weekend. Plans made, but not sure I can attend to them or not. Buffalo is being her ‘you got money, I want new parts‘ self again. Like I expect otherwise, considering she has near 300K on the odo,, Just gets a little old after several weekends of wrenching,,, I may say to heck with it, and push the limits and go play instead. Gonna reach out to the others and see how the land lay there.
And I have a conundrum taking place in my skull as well. Short version, Found another kayak (and the peanut gallery groans,,,) fiberglass version of one I have been eyeballing since before I picked up Lizzy, and the price is right, BUT,,, I would have to sell Lizzy to make the deal doable without killing my finances with blunt force trauma. I have the Vizcaya that needs moved as well, but that would only alleviate the financial pain, not equalize it.
Most of y’all know that Lizzy seemed to be ‘divine intervention’ and I keep hesitating on making the call due to the way I acquired her. (Dio, its JUST a boat,,,). yup, that thought keeps passin’ in the forebrain, then the hindbrain jumps and starts screaming about ‘bad karma’ and other krazy things,,,
And I know how this plays out,,, I put Lizzy up for sale, and the day that I sell her, that other boat gets sold out from under me, and I am looking again,,, That seems to be the luck I have. Happened two (three?) years ago with a P&H Sirius,,, Sold the boat I wanted to part with to buy the other, and boom, it was sold to someone else,,,
OR— I go ahead and make the buy, then am sitting on Lizzy for months and months and months, trying to get my financial house back in order,,,,
Tough call,,,
And I may do a reach out and offer ‘Earnest Money” to hold the boat. Not sure how that would pan out, or if the trust department is strong enough (in this day, trust is fleeting unless close friends.). The only reason I am even considering it right now is with how well work is going for me,,, We hit our dry spells, but right now I am going pretty well, even with a four day work week. That may not hold after the summer months,,,,
sad panda Dio, wants and needs aren’t all the same thing, and I DO know better than pushing for wants over needs,
What I want is what I’ve not got, and what I need, is all around me,,,,,
I’ll figure things out and while I may not be happy, I will be content,,, Guess that’s all any of us can ask for in these days, no?
It’s called life,,,
Feeling much better today. Whatch’all didn’t know was that I put new wheelbearings on Buffalo yesterday. Yes, while fighting of internal buggies n such, but before I tipped the bottle,,,
and that wasn’t the danged problem.
Pretty much knew it when I jacked up the front end and didn’t get ANY wobble or wiggle out of the suspected bad side. (note, I just did wheel bearings on her two years ago, and those were definitely bad). well, money spent, send it. go through all the motions and I slways do suspension parts in pairs: anything else is false economy.
and the noize was exactly the same as before.
Low Differential fluid,,, Topped of the front diff and the noize abated. GM front drives are always in motion, just not fully engaged across both wheels.
I feel a bit miffed that I didn’t figure that out before I went and spent a chunk of cash on the parts. BUT, I have two good bearings sitting on the shelf for the future (not a danged thing wrong with them so I boxed em and when/if these bearings start to fail, there they are.).
Its one thing to be mad at myself for a simple (NEWB) mistake, but then, I am not turning wrench everyday like I usedta back in the day…. Nor is my hearing all that these days. That I could hear it tells me it was getting really bad. but diff gears are robust, they just need lots of lube to not burn up.
It’s called life. We age, things fail, on us and things around us, and we keep moving forward in time, until such time as we don’t, but time never stops. Mistake made, and may be made again later down the road. BUT, next time, I check fluids before I go dropping cash.
It’s kinda icky out today. Grey April skies, threats of rain (that we need!) and chilly. Seeing how I just fought off the bugs, I think I wanna hold off on kayaky stuff today, maybe even build a fire in the stove to knock the chill in the house down. (gotta watch that though, its real easy to turn the house into a literal oven.)
And that means I work on writing stuff,,,, Still working on that re-write and sequel so there is that,,,,
more laters as I get the gumption,,,
Dio's Workshop 