Thinkin’, prolly won’t be popular
But then, Popularity is not my forte. Never was popular in school, and never cared even then.
Sitting here thinking about some of my reads. And yeah, a lot of it is covering old territory around here, but sometimes a different spin on the same thing can give it a different perspective that can enlighten.
I’m feeling more than a little burnt out on the way of the world currently, and that little post along with updated napkin math got me to thinking; ‘whats worth saving?’. I mean, currently, medical care is so off the wall in pricing, that unless you are covered under serious insurances, you are going to go bankrupt if you have something major happen to you. It wasn’t all that great when i was young and married, and it has steadily grown worse over time, with the last 14 years seeing escalation of it. And then you see that Doctors are now considered middle class in income yet their education expenses tripled or more over the same decade plus. One of the incentives they used to pursue has been obliterated.
I shouldn’t have to explain it to my regular readers, but the above situation started long ago with Medicare that morphed into medicare/medicaid and became the diabolical marriage of BigPharma/Corporate Medicine/Government. When they found they could manipulate the costs and raise profits (capitalism, but with evil intent) and also found out that having only one source they needed to bribe to push through ‘chemical advancement’,,,, The encroachment of higher prices was faster than the subjective inflation. (example from personal experience: tobradex(sp?). It’s an eye ointment that also has a low level steroid in it. Here in the US, a 1/20 oz tube runs over $300. Same stuff in Mexico; $5 and is available without prescription. I needed it when I caught a piece of spat on my eyelid and said eye swelled up like a rotten plum. The stuff worked great but was more than double the price of gold by weight at the time.). Not much here that I feel is worth saving EXCEPT the people that actually do the medico stuff. Get rid of all the Regs that muck up the system and let the Docs and Nurses do what they love and are good at. Let Free Market enterprise determine success/failure again. Is the Doc is a butcher or a hack? Yeah, some are going to die, but his career won’t last long enough to make it a huge problem. And let Civil law be the arena to handle malpractice, without a corporate umbrella to shield the incompetent
Ah, but that brings forth another problem that I will touch on before I wrap this piece up,,,
And the Education,,, That one is taking hits left and right since Coronaphobia and it’s ongoing demise. People are paying far more for education these days, either outright in tuitions, or vicariously in taxes, but the end products have become liabilities across the board. When we spend more, per capita, for education than any other country in the world and yet we are ranked quite low on the lists of ‘developed countries’ (thirteenth of some such if’n I recall correctly,,,). Our STEM programs are taking the hits as well because the basics are having the bar lowered in “Equity” to make those not capable feel better about themselves. (positive feedback loop, NEVER a good thing.). Add in the scenario being played out with the ‘don’t say gay’ bill in Florida(that doesn’t even mention the word Gay) and you see what our education system has evolved into and it has nothing to do with the THREE R’S. (and most of my readers know that I am always ready to jump on the soapbox railing about how fucked our edjumikation (indoctrination) system has become. Of course seeing the infiltration of Marxist and Gramsci ideologies permeating our institutions, both higher and lower, it was just a matter of time before the basics would be dropped off altogether, wasn’t it? Nope, The current trends in Education need scrapped and we need to return to locally controlled, locally funded education, with PARENTAL controls. Another of those points that needs addressed before the big changes can take place IMO; IE parents that need to ACT like parents, not just funding for their genetic spawn for others to raise.
and I don’t even want to go(but will) into the 367versions of gender being pushed around like tokens of privilege. Still very much the “Male/Female/Hermaphrodite and THATS IT for gender” philosphy. Gay, Necro, pedo, Trans, whatever those things are, ARE NOT gender; those are sexual fetishes and ARE A CHOICE, or a mental illness that needs addressed. As I was saying to Sis just a day or so ago “What someone does behind closed doors AS LONG AS BOTH PARTIES ARE CONSENTING ADULTS, means nothing to me. You can even tell me, and I might even be sympathetic to you, but DO NOT TRY TO FORCE ME TO ACCEPT YOUR SHIT!!!!” and most definitely do not use ROL to make it so. Seems to me that most states have Sodomy laws on the books, and the only time I have heard of them being ‘enforced’ was in cases of underage victims/Rapes. Even ROL recognizes “Consent ” these days, in those cases where people wanna pack fudge,,, And I haven’t heard of any cases where some homosexual was jailed, or executed for their fetish HERE IN THE US, but I sure have heard of that happening in the ME. Y’all may wanna tone down a bit before you piss off enough “normies” that they decide the Muzzies have the right of it. (and I have to laugh at the silence of the Feminazi’s in the case of Lia whatshisname winning the womens swimming competition. Talk about wearing the pie in the face,,,,). That whole gender thing is NOT part of the saving I see needed.
but the napkin math. The numbers presented, and while I didn’t verify the math involved, are reminiscent of times gone by. People today can’t fathom making $.13/hour or such. They don’t see the ‘value’ that has been erased since those days when people would consider that ‘pretty decent’. They don’t understand that at that time, a flipping quarter would buy a GOOD meal at a restaurant, including the drink. A pint of beer off the tap at a bar may have cost a nickle then. Even in recent times in my world, I worked for a man that paid me a dollar an hour. Payable in Silver coins of face value. At that time, I was ‘making’ anywhere from $14/hour to $21/hour depending on the rate of the day. That rate had nothing to do with how much work I put forth either, I busted my chops for that buck an hour because it was better than anything else being offered around my area then. (oh, and how the Infernal Rectum Stuffers HATEZ coinage for wages. They can’t keep tabs on that sort of pay.). I don’t always agree with Aesop, but his point is one I have been trying to make for years, and while some people get it, most others only see the numbers, not the real values. Even at current flooding of currency in the markets, going back onto a gold standard, or some equivalent, would be shocking, but the end result would be STABILITY. The only other option is tacking on extra zeroes, and we all saw how that worked for Zimbabwe. The Federal Reserve is NOT one of those things we need to save.
And then you have the Media. Media has always been biased. At one time, there were as many newspapers in NY as there were political groups. Each had a bias towards reporting what they stood for. And you could read several to get a fair shake on what the truth was. NOW, well, bought and paid for is what our media is. That i have to read overseas media to filter through the crap on these shores is the very thing Orwell warned us about when writing about the MINITRU. And while I don’t believe Orwell would be shocked by the events of the day, he would be quite dismayed that his warnings were so blithely ignored.(or was it that some took it as an instruction manual instead????). What to do about the media??? Can’t buy them out unless you are at the level of those that currently own them: Only thing I can see is to create anew in other venues and hope to grow an audience (Blogging?, SocMed? gotta stick to your guns, right? Here I am.) Nopes, dont wanna toss the Enemedia any life preservers.
and that is really what is needed. Shadow worlds that operate alongside the current fucking mess so that when said mess finally collapses under its own weight of regulation and obfuscation, there is already a structure ready to take its place. (And I could put up several links here for suggestions but to be honest, there are just to danged many ti list without making this post a cluttered mess.) It sounds like a pipe-dream, but there is NO OTHER WAY, or as one said “replace the tyranny a thousand miles away, with a thousand tyrants one mile away.” And there will be the creatures that created the mess we are in now, trying to fill niches in the new system. That will be the biggest threat to its survival. We saw it with the Tea-parties, we saw internal squabbles tear apart the PatComs, and we squabble still about details. All I can say is; Break down your local area into what MORALLY will withstand the tides coming and BUILD from that moral foundation. If it be using the members of a church to build that foundational group, then DO THAT,,, Again, read “Dies the Fire” to get an idea of what building group will look like if we DON’T get that shadow world built.
But I think we can all agree, that what we have is NOT going to last much longer. And a part of me thinks if some of the speculation about a third term of Oblammy-o-boy, wiggling his way in through a loophole,,,, Well, if that happens, I think the kick off won’t be too far along the road. Or the Implosion as the rest of the world fully realizes that what was is no longer and those greenbacks they have been using are toilet-paper (and many aren’t all that far from it now,,,) There may not be a new reserve in BRICS, but I wouldnt be at all surprised to see a mass exodus from the USDollar into some other basket currency.
limbo
Thats how I am feeling right now. Adrift in space, no destination, just drifting along, going with the flows and hoping for,,,
Something.
I can’t even put my finger on WHAT, just something. One of the things I have heard several times over the last 96 hours, in person, and in electronic words “I’m just waiting for someone to do something!”. IE, someone to step of the porch, or some atrocity to kick off ‘the party’,,,, Something.
I see all of the attacks on a world society, and there is ‘some plan’ in place to make the world in the image of whatever group holds the reins this week, but there is ZERO cognizant reason behind everything other than ‘destroy that which we despise’.
My.question becomes “How can you despise the very system that ALLOWS you to exist and grow?” It’s almost like someone hating their very parents for raising them well. I can understand some abuse victim hating their abusive parents (which amazingly is a rarity, they may not love them, but they tend to dismiss the abuse to ‘thats just how they are’ and insulate themselves from it, psychologically and spiritually.) but to hate that which frees you from such things as subsistence living, and allows you room to be the biggest piece of cockroach turd known to humanity and STILL be successful????
One part of what I am seeing is a positive. Its really only a symptom of things, but it shows that we may have good things forthcoming sooner than “you will own nothing and be happy”.
Georgia passes Constitutional Carry and Kemp promises to sign it.
Thats what, Twenty 25 now? A full half of the States have used the Tenth to uphold what shouldn’t have ever been in question. (and I don’t give a hot damn about carry laws, If I feel I need to carry, I do, open or not. It is MUCH nicer to be able to leave it openly on my hip than tucked in a waistband,,,,). As Heinlein said “An Armed Society is a POLITE society”. I notice that those states that have done the ConCarry move, seem to have lower crime rates over those that are still Soviet level of Blue.
My hope currently rests on the turmoil we are witness to in the world economic scene as well as the SuperPower Government Empires Implosion (of which the economy things are a symptom.). I could even see China getting fractured when the implosion hits maximum speed. I would have no problems with the US breaking up into the individual states they already claim, with NO Cementing FEDGOV. It may be chaotic at first, but there IS a precedent for that situation already in place, and that precedent is a fairly recent invention in human history. Well, not really, but it faded for many centuries after Rome fell. But Fluid borders and changing states is far more common over the span of history than the rock solid borders and superpower empires we have been witness to the 100+.
Feudalism? Maybe, but there is something that will resist it. WE KNOW DIFFERENT NOW. We know why, and how to keep cities clean and healthy, not second guessing things or using ‘magic’ to cure our ills. I think if the infrastructure of the net can survive the implosion, the recovery from it will be quite short.
Sorry, I’m feeling scattered as I write this, and I am going to drop it in the inbox as is, and hope it makes some sense to y’all. I’ll work on something later when I can focus.
keeping this one simple, NO LINKS
Just me talking out loud and may meander a bit: just follow along.
I really thought that with the COviDiocy Narrative falling apart was a sign that, COLLECTIVELY, the Human Species was on its way back to sanity. Guess it just goes to show, that Goebbels was right. Feed the lie, no matter how big and the people will begin repeating it for you. I watch on other sites, in comments, and see Obviously intelligent people regurgitating the Media spin as if it were gospel sent down from on high.
One Key point. Of all, ALL the talking and talking before Putin sent in his troops, Putins message was the ONLY ONE that never veered course. There were times where he BEGGED “Listen to my words” but the message was always ignored by those with the means. Even now as tactical considerations force changes in actions, his message is still the same. Buffer zone against NATO, allowing Soveriegn Russian peoples a say, and De-militarize the Buffers.
Is Putin a THUG? Yes, but all Poly-Tickian’s are THUGs. I have argued that case multiple times. And yet most of those that argue against me aren’t seeing that they are supporting THUGS by endorsing “THE BIG LIE” and we need to squash Russia/oust Putin/get vaxxed/ vote Dem/ respect pronouns,,,. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Weekend “Heads on Pikes” bowl as alluded to by a commenter. One big issue with it though: At what point do WE become the THUG. And by creating such an event, someone MUST become the THUG to make the determination that someone else is a traitor/tyrant/AINO.(American in Name Only)
Pandoras box indeed. Do YOU really want to go down that path? I don’t.
I’m tired. I am watching the world rip itself apart because of serious communication issues: the same issues Conservatives have with Lefties. There is ZERO DIALOGUE OR DEBATE. When someone says, THIS IS MY LINE, and you keep pushing the issue, writing Sanctions, giving aid, or igniting revolutions, you are POKING THE BEAR, and eventually that BEAR is going to eat your face off.
Maybe this leads up to what Dopey-Joe was trying to sell us about Build Back Better: IE, He intends to Burn the whole world down so that we HAVE TO BUILD BACK. I dunno, but seeing truly intelligent people spewing artificial talking points without doing ANY due diligence of questioning the LYING MEDIA that has been LYING for TWO FRICKIN’YEARS (and the evidence mounts but of course, the WAR has sidelined ANY discussion about that, now hasn’t it?). Seriously, you have been lied to for two straight years; about coronphobia, fraudulent elections, dangerous gene therapies, etc. You were starting realize it, maybe even say something about it, and then “WAR” and suddenly you trust the Media again?
Gullible much?
All I want is to make my way in the world with as little interference of Government as possible. Paying taxes galls me, but I do it so the THUGS will leave me alone. But the Hidden taxes we are seeing come to light (called inflation) are eating away at my ability to make my own way. I know that I am not alone in this. Fuel costs are just the tip of the iceberg, the hidden 90% below the water line will start to be felt across the board in the next few weeks. And you have Pee-Lousy saying we need to stop buying oil from Russia. (and we started buying oil from Russia to offset shutting down the Keystone Pipeline and other Oil production) She thinks this will quell any Empire building they have in mind , (debatable aspect of whats going on, seeing how Putin has never veered from his message AND continually shows he is a TRUE Nationalist with his Country FIRST, Unlike OUR “representatives” who are continually showing they are willing to sell out to whomever will kick back that 10%,,,, Even to the point of risking Nuclear Annihilation, and they are skirting that particular , But I digress) She either doesn’t understand that cutting off Russian Oil to the US after shutting down our OWN oil production is going to do one thing only and HURT RUSSIA ISN’T IT. OR, she knows it, and WANTS to destroy what’s left of our economy. If you really want to hurt Russia, OPEN THE PIPELINES. DRILL BABY DRILL. Get the flow of oil going so hard and fast that the price drops into the negative zone (remember when people were paying others to take the oil off their hands in 2016-17? Thats because the flow was so fast they couldn’t off load it and it was costing them money to ‘store it’ at the shipping points.). BUT NOESSSSS, Can’t stop the Green Plan. Can’t stop the Great Reset. They want SLAVES who own nothing are are ‘happy’ (wonder when the mandatory xanax prescriptions will roll out? Maybe right after they eliminate cash,,,,)
These Geriatric Pustules don’t give a hot damn about the Country, its Future or YOU for that matter. They are all stinking rich via Graft from shady political deals, not actual business savvy, and THEY HAVE THEIRS AND US UNWASHED DEPLORABLE SERFS need to shut up and do as we are told. It isn’t about MONEY, its about POWER and they mean to have and hold it even at the cost of destroying the very thing that produces that power. (I have no problem with the Rich: I aim to get to “well off” myself. I DO have a problem with CON-Artists, and our Government is flat full of them.)
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Know what I really want? I just want for one day, just one day, the veil of deception be lifted from everyones eyes. EVERYONES. If I could ask God for one miracle, it would be for that to happen for just twenty four hours.
*sigh*. God said he would no longer interfere, though some say he ended the world in water the first time, the second time it will be in fire.
If THE FRAUD keeps up, that is all I can see in our future.
Christened!!
As I said yesterday, it was time to take the kayak formerly known as Serena out for the very first float. In this time loop, I missed a full two months of water time: the first go-round, Serena had her first float the day before Turkey day. This round, I didn’t even have the skin on the boat until after the New Year roll over. Reasons, but I finally managed to do the deed.
No pictures. The water was 40° and I was dressed for such and since I was alone, decided to forego any distractions like GPS, Phone, extra paddle, paddle float and bilge pump. Just an easy little paddle around the bay of one of my regular put-ins. The wind was kicking HARD and I didn’t want to get out on open water, solo, in a new to me boat. Prudent too, because at one point the wind picked up and I could see the wake pattern shift as the boat was pushed laterally while moving forward. Interesting aspect, she did not weathercock: she held her heading even though she was being pushed sideways. No meed for a skeg on this girl!!! She is completely weather neutral. (No ‘good’waves so I dont know how she handles chop other than the frog ripples kicked up in the bay. Those don’t even register anymore.)
But her new name is SELKIE. And I am IMPRESSED. Great initial stability, solid wall secondary, even though she rides an inch higher in the water than Serena did. Easy hip snaps(though I didnt try a roll yet), perfect tracking even in wind, a little edge and she turns fast,and. FAST. Two or three good strokes of the blades and she is moving quick from a standing start. A couple more and she is cruising and then easy peasy maintain momentum strokes. No GPS so dont know what cruise is, but from experiance, I’d say 4.3 is close. And she holds it with so little effort, I could paddle all day and still be energized at the tail end.
Oh, and that hard decked cockpit? Frickin AWESOME. Control is rock solid with those thighbraces in there, and the adjustable footplate I made worked perfectly. (Tempted to find a ratchet system from an old IR reggie backband and improve what I have, but no rush)
She is gonna live on the truck now and gear will stay there as well. I intend on paddling at least once a week for the rest of the year. My drytop and other gear did just fine while trying my hipsnaps ▪︎(cold head but I do have just didn’t use, a neoprene hood.) My reactor Pogies always blow my mind at how warm they keep the forefeet, even when dipping them in 40°water repeatedly. So cold weather ain’tagonnabe a show stopper anymore.
(I promise action pics/vid soonest, just not this time)
▪︎ there was some leakage around the cockpit while hip snapping. I think, dunno for certain, that my spray skirt was not seated properly behind me. But the end amount of water in the boat was less than a 16oz bottle worth so I am not overly concerned with it.
Straits of Meh!
So here we are, The Good Ship Dio’s Workshop, aground, rudder fouled and rigging shot through by ScamDemic fallout. First Mate Voodoo is running about 30% both physically and mentally, and the passengers, Grumpykat and her boys, are wondering when we are going to hit a good port of call, not this barren mess they see off the bow. The WindGenny (called J.O.B.) is moving enough electrons to keep the bilge pumps running so the lower holds aren’t flooding, but not much more. We may be aground, but we are not sunk, so there is still hope of better to come.(and the corollary of that: could get a shit ton worse, but we’ll strive for the better.)
TIme for Cap’n Dio to strike out land-bound and get a lay of the area, maybe see if any of the charts we have on hand match what I see. Currently I am looking at a peak on this shoreline; a peak I am calling mount WTF!!! and I will head there to get a better view horizon to horizon. Maybe there is a way off this rock yet.
We all make choices, some times those choices work for us, other times against. Some of my choices, solid when made, did not hold up to current events or the black swan of a purpose made virus and the gullibility of sheep. Nor were my choices made with the idea that maybe, the federal government would make the same stupid fricking mistakes it made in the 1920s and collapse an economy. If you aren’t feeling it yet, stick around, you will. While I knew the economy was tanking, I missed the ‘slowly, then all at once’ aspects of things. And I admit, I floundered in the good times of Trumps economy. When I should have been sticking to my guns, I started playing a bit more than I should have.
Went to a local grocery store, one where I am a regular and have a decent rapport with the manager. They were in the middle of a floor renovation this last week. Took out one entire row of shelving, split the remaining rows in half and ‘added’ a middle walkway through them. I asked what was going on (this is not a big place) and was told, byt a regional type working there at the time ; “we’re remodeling to bring the store up to date”. Talked to the manager as I was leaving and her response was “they cut the shelving down to make it look like we have more stuff. Too many products we can’t get anymore.”
Think this is going to wrap up with some Selection cycle? I think not.
I personally think this is just the top of the hill and that the snow is still falling while the ice shelf below the snow is creaking frightfully. I haven’t paid much attention to what the markets are doing the last month or so, but I would say that they look a lot more shaky than that ‘To Infinity and beyond” shit they have been doing since 2008.
Choices. I have some choices to make and sooner than later. You all know one of them and that one keeps getting put off; I won’t go into details of that right now. Another choice is to take one of the several offers I always have laying around, but there is that ‘grass is greener’ thing, that is never the case. One master traded for a different master is still being owned by someone else. And that is where my angst with all of this is laying. I don’t WANT another J.O.B.
I’m getting a view, and looking for some landmarks to shoot an azimuth for: Figure out just where the hell I am currently. Maybe I can get something to make sense on the Straits of Meh.
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I wrote the above yesterday afternoon, and scheduled it. Between then and what you are reading now, I chanced upon this post by Sarah at the Mad Genius Club. This is her group of fellow writers and a hella resource for up-n-coming writers (such as meself) so may not be for everyday reading for most peeps, but is on my daily check out. With all the fun and games of fouled rudders and no bearings on upside-down charts, I missed this post the other day.
Let me face one fact, right up front: My problem right now is as simple as this: Depression. Yup, I’m feeling more than a touch depressed right now, between Dawg, finances, and lack of relief by kayak/camaraderie of friends, I hit my slump. What really tipped the scales was seeing my tax documents for the year,,,,, No need to share that figure, but it was quite a bit lower than I expected, to the tune of ten grand lower.
Soooooo,,,,,, I read Sarahs “Be the unicorn” and sat back and thought about things a bit. She’s right!!! In my mind, (and it’s something I work hard against) I am so flipping average as to be flat boring. Its a self image thing, one reinforced over decades by some that would have me be ‘just that!”. High school counselors, some of my teachers, a few acquaintances that I thought were friends, all fed the self-image that I am not worth the mould that God made for me.
*cough* Look out on your porch at those kayaks YOU built, Dio. Look on that book shefl where the books YOU wrote are sitting, Look at the ‘me wall'(I can’t, its in boxes still) with pictures and backstage passes from all the years touring with ‘rockstars’. Look at the White House Communications Citations from 2004,,,,,,,,,,
No, I am not average, no matter what my self-image is. I may not be that wildly successful person that my Da wants of me, but, DAMMIT, I’ve done shit,,,, DO SHIT, that ‘average’ people only dream of. (and thats part of why I don’t want a J.O.B. I have enough skills and talents that I should be able to make my own way without the ‘one good day job’.). And with the writing thing, I may be way behind on ‘paying my dues’, I am quite aware of that, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make it pay SOMETHING, in the meantime. I am no Terry Pratchett, nor Heinlein, but I can spin a tale, and get people to forget about things around them for just a few minutes. Thats not ‘nothing‘.
Still, I need to get my bearings. Things are changing in the world, in my world, and seriously, after seeing that W2 for 2021,,,,, No, that shit can’t stand. I did ‘alright’ seeing how I am not buried in debt, but that level of income does not bode well for moving forward either. As I stated above, the J.O.B. has been keeping the bilge dry, but sure isn’t powering the radar or GPS or the radio in the Goodship Dio’s Workshop.
NO, This is NOT a bleg for donations. If you feel the need to support me in anyway, buy some of my books and give them out. I would much rather that than someone sending me ‘sympathy monies’. (Sarah had a special case and as many donators said, they were just returning the favor of good work provided non-gratis, previously. I know I am not in that boat, yet. )
I’ll be working on that ‘getting my bearings’ for a bit-while yet; I don’t jump just because it looks good; I like a certain amount of insurance/assurance as well. (and no, OhioGuy, the lottery ticket DIDN’T Pan out, or this depression would be kicked like a bad habit.). I’ll keep posting, just wanted y’all to know that I ‘feel better’ now. Knowing is half the battle, Right GIJoe?
ya might be addicted,,,
Slow day. bored kittehs cuz it’s far too cold for bare paws to go outside for very long. No need to make booties for them, they wouldn’t wear ’em anyways and I like my skin intact: ever tried to force a kat into doing something for its own good that it thought otherwise of?
anywhoos,,,,
Ya might be addicted,,,
Yah, I might be.
Yesterday eve, chatting with B about life the universe and kayaking, I brought all my cold water gear inside from the truck and was going through things. Mostly to make sure I have it all together, but also to make sure gaskets and seams were still functional. Decided to do a little testing of a sort: I doffed my street duds and climbed into all that gear. Quick-dry long-sleeve undershirt, long sleeve fleece top, fleece vest. 5 mm wetsuit bottoms and dive boots. Then the dry top. Gaskets feeling a little sticky so I 303’ed them and donned that ‘straight jacket’. Slide into the sprayskirt and sealed the double tunnel of the top to it. (part under the skirt, part over it) then the PFD just because I am doing ‘a test’. I am actually getting sweaty at this point. Then, out onto the porch with a good book.
It was 22 degrees out there and I always have a pretty decent breeze blowing off the hills. Wind chill is closer to 8 degrees. Full (semi) dry gear and a breeze and I was out there for over an hour doing jack shit and the only thing that the cold managed to get, was my NOSE. I never felt the cold air except on bare skin. When I paddle in the cold, I add a neoprene dive hood but I didn’t need that to stay warm. I think if I had worn it, I would have been sweating buckets under all that gear. As for the handwear, I used to use gloves or mittens, but since I bought my pogies, I don’t bother. My hands stay plenty warm even wet with the pogies. Not the top of the line type, but they are neoprene with the ‘reactor’ fleece liner. If its above 40 degrees, your hands WILL sweat in them. (they were not a part of this test since I do know what they can do, and they stay fixed to the paddle in any case. Hard to read a book with your hands incased in pogies.)
Now, I know that this isn’t the best test of my gear, and that I need to get things wet to really KNOW what it can handle, but I have done that in the past, just not down to the temperatures we had today. I still won’t paddle in this crap without a wingman; Too easy for things to go sideways. But I feel that what I have will work well enough, especially if I stay IN the boat and not pop that skirt. I know the drytop will keep me completely dry so long as that skirt stays on the cockpit.
No, I am not suffering from kayak withdrawal or anything ;-P.
My biggest worry with this test was Grizz. I had to keep his attention off of me to keep those sharp meathooks away from a $300 drytop. One little hole and the term is bunk. It may not leak much, but the idea is for it to not leak AT ALL. It’s why it has heavy rubber gaskets at the neck and wrists. I know it doesn’t leak at those points from rolling Ghost while wearing it. The only part that is gonna leak is around the waist IF immersed, and why I want to stay in the boat when the water starts trying to make like a solid.
Won’t get that rough here, but that water is just as cold as it can get without going full solid.
No kayaking THERE eh?
BUT, that test made me want to go out even more but reinforced that I REALLY REALLY WANT SPRING TO HURRY ITS ASS UP!!!.
I hate feeling like I am getting ready for a shuttle launch just to go paddling. Much rather this type of weather and after paddle event.
come on SPRING!!!!! Wants away for a couple days,,,,
Not happy
Sorry for the lack of posting, been busy, its cold, and days are short, so I squeeze in what I can while I can. Staying up on the latest outrage of the FRAUD is at the low end of that list (but I do keep a weather ear out for sudden shifts in tyranny to make sure I am not caught broadside)
Trying something a little different with the kayak. Its not new; others have done it and reported good results, but I am not happy with what I am seeing. Ok, gotta bring y’all up to speed here. In both Serena and Duh!kee, I used a two part polyurethane system from Spirit-line. Good results, but it can be finicky about repairs and re-finish. Most people just ‘deal’ until such time as its time to re-skin. Well, this time around I chose to go with regular spar varnish and pigment it like I do the two-part (very successfully at that).
MEH!!!
It soaks into the fabric very well, maybe better than the two part stuff does (less solids, more carrier solvents). and it takes pigment pretty well too: nothing separating out when it gets on the fabric. BUT,, That finish is totally lacking any luster or appeal. Its a smooth satin and I had to double check to make sure I hadn’t picked up a satin varnish ( ( didn’t, its high gloss). It looks ‘Okay’, but it certainly lacks the ‘POP!” that the two part gave to Serena.
*sigh*
And I am to far along and committed to a system to make the change to the other. Heck, once that first line of coating went on, I was committed with no recourse for correction.
But I will not be using it again.
And I already told myself “Self, you shoulda tried it on a peice of scrap FIRST”. Self responded that at the price I am paying for spar varnish, I was committed to the system and a test strip would have done little to my resolve. Both selves are right. I would have found a use for the spar varnish elsewhere, but at $18/qt and I bought a gallon, I was determined to use the crap on this boat. Should’ve stuck to ‘tried and true’. Live and learn, and I did learn and won’t be repeating this little screw-up.
Honestly, it looks like I painted the hull with a satin house paint, not varnish. Blech!!!
On other fronts, I have a 2 gallon pot of chicken parts stewing on the woodstove, and will be adding my dumplings in tomorrow after I skim out all the bones and other inedible parts. That will keep me fat and happy for a week. And the Kittehs are digging on the ‘other parts’ that they were given. Grizz is especially fond of the livers and did something out of character for him: He growled at Mamakat when she went sniffing at his share.
It’s winter, chicken n dumplin’s are winter food and after a week of Chili, I needed a change-up. (but DAMN that last bowl of Chili was EX-SEE-LANT!!!).
May have a winter paddle forthcoming with B. Watching weather and if things look stable, we are planning on a day trip out in the frosty cold waters of somewhere here local. Maybe my fugly boat will get to make her first trip. Even though the ‘paint job’ is shitte, there were a lot of cool features added in that I really want to try out. That hard deck, the bulkhead foot brace and a slight shift in the hull design. Yeah, I should make one change, try it out then incorporate it into another boat with another change: thats proper protocol when doing things like this, but then, I am anything but a proper kayak designer. I figure if any one of the changes is bad, I will know right up front seeing how this is ‘almost’ the same boat that I started with. (same length and beam, new ribs but same profile other than less rocker, which is a change I do know the results of.)
Ok, Grizz figured out I am seated and not moving, so its lap time for him. I’ll post more soon.
Dio's Workshop 