Its the details that kill ya
Alternate title: Sunday’s a bust
Spent lots of time energy and resources setting up the cockpit deck on my kayak. The resources being the fiberglass and resin more than the wood. The wood in this case is fine, but little details that I didn’t know, caught me, bit my ass and wasted a several hours of my time and more than a little of my working capital in wasted resources.
I had the kayak in the rafters of the house last night to help with the cure of the fiberglass and the linseed oil I had soaked the frame in. The linseed oil did its thing, and the glass did something else entirely. Oh, it cured, cured good and hard too. But this morning when I took it out, that deck looked as wrinkly as the surface of a peach pit. NOT the surface I was shooting for to say the least. SO, dive into the nets and see if there is something I did, didn’t or need to do. Five minutes of research and I hit the ‘FacePalm’ moment.
First order of business is to get all of that resin and glass off the deck. (interestingly enough, the interior side where i used the Matte, did just fine, and I will tell why as this goes along). Bust out the scaper to get the bigger chunks and keep my glass dust to as low as possible. Then the sander with 40 grit pads to get the rest. Gotta take it all the way down to the wood. Two hours later and several discs of paper, back to ground zero.
So what detail did i miss? Seems that wood and resin are not completely copasetic in bonding; they need a middleman so to speak. That middleman is varnish: Varnish loves wood and soaks in creating a mechanical bond to the wood. Resin loves varnish and ‘mates’ with it to create a chemical bond (stronger). But resin is a larger polymer and can’t absorb into the wood the way the varnish does. Additionally, the resin “gasses off’ and that is what caused the wrinkles, gasses under the glass and the outer surface had cured already so couldn’t vent.
So why did my matte work where the fabric didn’t? Rough surfaces. I didn’t do much prep on the inner side of the wood since it won’t be seen and there were lots of saw marks, grooves and what not that the resin could get into to make a bond. I also used more hardener in it to speed up the cure since it was getting cold and I didn’t want to fart around too much. With the matte being thicker, was able to hold the heat from the reaction better, so cured cleaner, inside to out versus what the fabric side did.
The deck is all sanded now, minimal traces of the old resin (mostly in the joints where the wood comes together. it stuck very well to the glues in the joints) but the whole deck is flat and smooth as a babies butt now. One heavy coat of spar varnish on it and its sitting in the sun letting the heat of daylight drive that varnish into the surface.
I did not know that little detail of the varnish middleman or I would have done that first off. Its those little details that will kill you.
So was it a wasted weekend? Not at all; I revel in my failures as they are the BEST teachers. (so long as they don’t kill ya that is). This is not a mistake I will make again, EVER. So I may be out a little cash on materials, (not in the budget this week, what with a truck in the shop and hours being down,,, I’ll make it happen though.) But my knowledge has grown, and I consider the price paid a minor tuition in the school of hard knocks and busted knuckles.
It’s time to go off and do my domestic duties for the week, Not much I can do on the kayak until that varnish cures, and I need to pick up more glass and resin anyways. Just a little wrinkle in my time loop this round, one that tells me this one has been completely re-written for something better. Looking at the lines of the boat as she sits in the horses all ‘nekid’ without a skin, I see a sleek torpedo of a boat: My itch to get on water will have to wait till she is complete.
More later, probably about the cannibal feast I am witnessing in the EneMedia, with links to others seeing similar.
Sunday ‘Git-r-dun’! apologies for late post
Been busier than I could express on this end. Between the domestic duties thing, laundry, straighten up after a four day weekend of running hells-bells all over SE-KY, and ‘Oh yeah, there’s a kayak frame on my porch’ realizations,,,,
While doing the laundry, I cleaned up those parts I cut out on Wednesday, drilled alignment holes and ran both through a belt sander to get the edges lined up to perfect match. (yeah, redneck machining trick 101). Later on, Dad and I went to my Uncles place for lie-swapping and cowboy coffee (that shit WILL make you hair stand on end!!!). He has a 48” Bench Brake and I was able to get a perfect bend in those two parts as needed. Pics will be posted, just not today since I haven’t the band width to upload those files here on the hill.
Get home, loaded my side porch with a couple loads of Cherrywood that has been seasoning for about three years. My dad is trying to clear out his wood shed of the dead weight to clear space for all of this pin-oak he picked up the past couple of weeks. No worries, I have no issues taking what he doesn’t want. Makes what i have in my shed last that much longer and the way this year has started; every little bit is gonna be needed IMO. And I kept tripping over that kayak frame on the main porch,,,, Load up an armload of wood stack it, go in for something, and start noodling on the kayak, “oh yeah, I gotta finish putting wood up”. Back to loading wood, noodle with the kayak, load wood, re-think what I was gonna do on the kayak, clean the stove out and start a new fire, sharpen my chisel so I can get clean cuts on the kayak,,,
You get the picture. Some days I multi-task pretty well, and not even realize it. Sitting here, I look at all the stuff that I did get accomplished and swear to you I didn’t even TRY,,,
She is almost ready for skin. Setting up the deck stringers and that will be done shortly since I only need 4 small spacer blocks to finish that off. and she will be ready for skin.(but not today, the sun is gone and its getting colder than I care for out there.)
Kinda.
Still don’t have that coaming finished yet.
Still looking for a donor’Yak for a cockpit I can use as a mold, and if I don’t see one soon, I am gonna break down and buy some marine grade plywood and go that route. Skin is here and waiting on me, Dope is on its way and will likely be here before I am ready for it (but thats a plus.). LOL, funny how I ‘compromised’ and said I wasn’t going to cut that skin off until I had a coaming DONE, and here I am almost ready for new skin and still don’ t have that coaming. Yah, I can be obstinate even with myself.
One thing I did that wasn’t ‘constructive’ was taking her off the cradles, putting her on the floor and sitting in her. I wanted to finalize where my feet will be so I could set up the footpegs/sliding bulkhead (leaning towards a bulkhead setup) She is gonna be a torpedo. No rocker until you get past my ass and then it is very slight, maybe 2”. She is gonna cut the water like a knife with very little wake. The chisel point bow is going to slice waves instead of trying to climb them so she will be fast even in choppy water. and there is just enough v-hull that edging should make her maneuverable without needing a rudder. The shape is definitely ‘Swede form’ at the waterline so no need for a rudder to control tracking.(that may be partially true, Wind may indicate need of a skeg or rudder, but until I have her out I won’t know if she is weather helmed or neutral, No/near zero rocker, she may be neutral in that aspect).
Numbers that I can say for certain right now. Length 16’2” Beam 23”. Loaded waterline 15’10” Beam @WL 20”. Not as long as a surfski, but no wider than one, She won’t be much of a river-runner, but open water; she is gonna be a Barracuda. Search for ‘barracuda attack’ on UToob and see what I mean. And I THINK she will be much more stable than Duh!kee is. More near flat hull where Duh!k has a sharp V almost her whole length. The only time Duh!k feels stable to me is when the water is trying to stand up, and I don’t get out in storm waters often enough to need that “Bobber” attitude.
Working on a post for the AM, gonna have several links for ya: HIGHLY recommend you follow them, forward them to others and try to spread messages. Kind of a “Make these Viral” bleg. Look for that tomorrow. Don’t want to put anything in this post on those lines for ‘reasons’, you understand when you see them.
More tomorrow, stay tuned for that.
kayaky NOPES mehbes, and oh-sh!t-yeahs
First up, NO, I am not letting the world at large slow me up in my personal endeavors, and neither should you. I may get the depressions, blahs and what not, but I am not going to stop being ME, just because there are evil shits loose in the world that aim to make us serfs, slaves or DEAD.
and with that little rant out of the way, onward to the point of this post in general.
been doing the experimentin’ things, and was quite pleased with one in particular, nut just this morning, figured out that its a damned NOPE!!!
What that experiment entailed was trying to find a different material combination to make this kayak skin out of. Materials in question, Ballistic nylon (known unit) Polypropylene cloth (unknown), combined with Two part Polyurethane,(well known) and polystyrene resin (known unknown) and combinations there-of. Ballistic nylon and Polystyrene, rocking for coamings and other hard points, SUCKS for skin. the resin doesn’t flex like it did early in the experiment process. It now cracks, and cracks mean leaks. A leaky boat is not my goal. the two part is the way to go no matter what cloth I use, and the BN for making the hard points (vs the glass since its TOO fragile in those areas. The polypropylene works for the skin, but nothing else no matter what I use for the resin. And I like the polypropylene since I can shrink it with a heat gun and it is NOT hydroscopic like the BN is. That was my biggest beef of all with Serena: if the humidity was high (or she had been capsized and filled with water) her skin would go all loose and floppy. Not really an issue performance wise that I noticed, but she looked bad and it would take weeks for her to dry out enough to tighten back up.
Now, the Oh-Sh!t-Yeahs. Single chines. 
With the rocker knocked down to near nil, single chines look awesome on this hull. What I am doing is a single chine between keel and gunwale, with a false chine at the base of the gunwale( to smooth the lines) that will allow some flex of the skin before it hits rib at the waterlines. That set, she has a very shallow v at the cockpit area that rides true up to past the feet and well past the cockpit before converging towards the ends. Very sweet liines that way and better cut into the water without plowing. With that shallow V, she will have good stability in all waters even if she feels tippy in the calm. She will feel tippy, but not nearly as much as her former self did. The former ‘shallow v” was very short, less than 4 feet, and was almost useless with that radical rocker stem to stern. The ONLY advantage of that rocker was maneuvering, and she was so daggum long, even that was a chore: she didn’t have that spin in place thing going like the Jefe does. (and the Jefe is ALL rocker in ALL directions)
Now the Mehbes: Still have a couple ribs left over from redoing the original ones. Ones that I replaced just because of changes in lengths or didn’t like the original bends with the new units installed. And I think, I am going to use a couple of those ribs combined with fiberglass/resin to make the new deckbeams that need replaced. I dropped rib seven in place of one of the deckbeams ‘just to get a look-see’ and the profile was encouraging. Those ribs are well cured white-oak so a layer of glass wrapping them will be even stronger, and lighter than the 3/4” laminated beams I am replacing. I will have the chines cut tomorrow, the wood is sitting in my rafter right now with the splice curing under clamps. I should be able to lash it in before dark tomorrow and then, flip the old (new) girl over and start on the deck. (I have the bow cutwater done, and the stern will be pretty quick too. Pics of that forthcoming.)
And I am not worried about keeping to pure skin-on-frame materials for the build, nor strictly tied and mortis/tenon construction. Yes, the keelson and chines are tied in, but that is not because its traditional (it is) but for flexibility of the frame as a whole. I am not building a traditional Greenland type kayak, I am building MY version of what I have wanted, and what I found works for me. (thanks Ghostboat for showing me a different path). I know the mortis and tenon build method works, as well as lashing: Duh!kee is still holding together after 3 years, me beating on her in less than optimal conditions, sinking her, capsizing her, and even jumping on her to show others that she is one tough boat. Yeah, the method is tried and true and proven over centuries of use in bad conditions. And it’s not like I have been a purist from the get-go anyways. Using two part poly on synthetic skin, using synthetic sinew to lash the boat together, Yeah, Not so much a purist as THIS IS BETTER, DO IT! LOL
Apologies for the Hiatus.
just going through the routines currently. Fighting a mild case of depression, a usual for me this time of year, and no need to delve into the ‘why’s’ as there is reason enough watching the world slowly devolve; like watching a dementia patient slowly slide into the final state. Oh, wait, just like watching Emperor Poopy-pants the first discuss the economy by citing “I. Pencil” for dummies after reading only the opening chapter.
Lots of good stuff out there on the webs, Sarah’s pointing out that our IMMIVASION is nothing new and very much an old tactic for softening up a resident populace. I take back my statements of “replacement population” and will resort to “INVASION FORCES”: in all reality, there are real fighters in that mess, and I have mentioned to keep an eye out for ‘strange conex boxes’ in obscure locations. And if you find one before kick-off of the festivities, consider it an early Christmas for you and yours, distribute accordingly, and KEEP YOUR DAMNED MOUTHES SHUT!!!!
Just going through the routines. Going to the J.O.B. every day, making sure to represent my skills the best way I know how, and watching the supply chain issues slowly creeping our way. Granted, we have had supply side issues for months now, but I am beginning to see them stratify into my areas. We are down to roughly half a bundle of pipe that I use for building most of our products. A quick calculation tells me that if we don’t get a shipment in this Friday, I am on temporary leave until such time as we have the materials needed. I currently have 4 pages of build notes, and those four pages easily burn through our existing stock and into another bundle, and NOT BE COMPLETE. And those pages are added to daily.
No, that’s not the cause of the depression. Honestly, I could take the next month off and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings one bit. Might dig into my finances, but it wouldn’t bother me to maybe get some of those other things done thatI get distracted away from by having the daily duty of making a paycheck, (and feeding four-feets, keeping the homefires burning (literally this time of year) and all the other stuff that accumulates on a single dood curmudgeon living on a hill in KY)
YAY, Grizzy just brought me a very young mouse, quite dead, and looking pleased as punch with himself. ANother problem that irritates the hell out of me this time of year, and my Furbabies are doing danged good at dealing with it. (and when he isn’t looking, in the toilet it goes. Don’t want him thinking I don’t appreciate his ‘gift’.)
One thing that messes with me this time of year, probably the trigger for my depression is loss of daylight. I work through most of the daylight hours, then have almost none to work with for ME/MY PROJECTS, and I start feeling behind the eightball on things. That usually leads to me scrambling to ‘catch up’ and that is ALWAYS when the mistakes start piling up. I may not focus on “Perfect” but I hate redoing any work, especially due to me getting stoopid and (feeling) rushed. I am also wating on the fabric for the kayak build. Ordered, but, yet again, the company I ordered it through is sitting on things. I may have to start digging for a different company to deal with that I can rely on. This is the third time they’ve done this. The last two times, Order confirmed, but nothing ever shipped. At least they didn’t charge the card, even though it approved and showed transaction complete, it was never finalized on that end. Just frustrating when you are counting on something to complete a project, and find you have even longer to wait as you look for an alternate source/product/material to replace the original idea. At least this instance, this is a rebuild, and I am in no rush to complete since its colder than a witches teat in November (It is November Dio) and the water levels everywhere around here are sorely lacking for any reasonable paddle fun. Like B says, most of the creeks are ‘frigging goat paths” right now. Even the Cumberland river nearby is a ‘float scrape, scrape PORTAGE, float scrape” trip, and thats just in the first down-river mile from my place. It may be awhile before I can test float the “Rebuilt Kayak carcass formerly known as Serena/now Selkie”, and I want to do it on river as I want the current for testing handling and stability. Static water of an inland lake won’t do in this case. Just fiddlin’ details that I am trying to correct in this build.
Oh, yeah, for the test float, I won’t be using the new (when it ships if it ships) skin. I snagged a poly-tarp from the billboard guys and that will be my makeshift skin for the test float. (gonna look kinda funny with a giant cheeseburger design on the skin,,,, sure won’t be a permanent thing,,, ) Polyester shrinks under heat, so I can stretch the ‘skin’ on, then use a heat gun to tighten it up. Its already waterproof so I don’t need to seal anything up for a test run. Its not like I am going to try and roll it, and if I capsize, its a wet exit, swim for shore kinda day then. I don’t see that as an issue though, Serena was stable as all get out and I am not changing much in the hull shape in the cross section, just the longitudinal. If anything, she will be more stable since I am widening the beam by one inch and bring the CG closer to Keel by flattening that rocker. (and anyone that ever saw me in Serena prior will choke on that ‘stable’ statement, her primary was shit, but her secondary was a brickwall. She just ‘felt’ tippy in flat water, but she was stable as can be in wild water. A definite confidence builder when the waves started breaking on her bow. Even with that ‘brickwall’ secondary, she was an easy roller, and surprised the hell out of me at the pool. ). Maybe I can get some serious work done on the frame this weekend and get closer to that test day. As for a repeat of the time loop thing, not a complete fit this go-round. I had Serena wrapped and tested prior to T-day in 2019, and skinned and sealed by December 1. That may not happen again due to the skin supplier. (one alternate, pricey, but doable, is from an airplane materials supplier. Same concepts, and I can get NON-FAA certified material for this to save a little cash. No need to have the FAA dealing with a silly single seat boat, eh?)
outside of my darkened thoughts, Da is doing good. Bored, what with me gone during the days working, and not having much time between getting home and total darkness. Came home today and he and a neighbor were playing with a backhoe and digging the ducks a larger wading pool. Funny part is, they aren’t even HIS ducks. They belong to a local Gentlewoman Farmer, but Da goes out and buys 50# sacks of feed for them (and her free-range chickens), built them a pond so they didn’t have to risk going to the river, and even built them a nest site under his porch “so if the weather turns, they don’t have to waddle home”. He comes off like a mean grumpy bastard to most people, but the man has a soft heart for animals that most people would never guess at.
I wonder where I get it. LOL.
Anywhoos, y’all take care, I’ll be back tomorrow with something more inline with the currents of this blog. Just needed some ‘Me’ time.
Dark holes lead to dark thoughts: evening edition
Today, I re-read all of Metallicmans posts on upcoming events in the world. Granted there are times where even I want to say “It can’t happen here” but I know better. The ingredients for that particular entrée have been in the makings since the mid 1930s: and some may argue since 1917 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed in the dead of night on Christmas Eve by a handful of Toads to make it ‘Legal’.
Between the microscopic bugs raging war within my body, dark reading material, and the upcoming winter months and shortened daylight hours,,, I’m feeling quite morose.
Yet I don’t stop thinking, EVER. And my dark thoughts turned to ‘what can people that are just now waking up to the fact’ that THIS
is all you need to remember about anything upcoming in our future.
And what can those that are just now waking up, able to do with the fact that we are on the doorstep to whatever is coming? Lots actually, it just requires a little forethought on resources available and needs. There was one thing that I hammered into people that used to come to me for defensive handgun training. Most all were women, single, some older, some younger, some well off, some borderline welfare,,, The one rule I hammered hardest was, ANY gun is better than NO gun. If a gal couldn’t afford much, a daggum Hi-Point 9 with a couple mags was less than a weeks paycheck working the grill at McDz. And despite the crap reputation that they don’t deserve, they are damned good pistols, if a little clonky. Never had one FTF, or Stove pipe. Did have one light strike, but it was with hard ass Romanian ammo. No gun, you are a subject: as in Subject to the whims of the guy WITH the gun. So, yeah, the newly woke to the upcoming games can still find something reasonable around. BUT, that lead me to thinking about something else. LISTS
We are all on lists. We know that they keep telling us that, the fact that you can’t link certain websites on FB shows that there are lists all over the daggum place, and
Well, I don’t worry about it anymore, cause I already know when they start gathering up those lists, I will not go quietly. No need to elaborate on that, just that I know me, even if caught flat-footed, I am going to do a lot of damage to at least one jackboot. But the newbies to this,,,, They are already freaking out about shit and to find that they get on a list by buying a gun will likely chill their desire to look for a gun. Well, for them, there are ‘ways’. Ask around, You don’t think those gang-bangers that have done time, went through background checks and filled out a 4473 to own that ‘gat’ or ‘9’ do you? Stop thinking like a good serf and start thinking like the outlaws they are making us into and you will get MUCH further along. . It may cost a little more, but there won’t be a papertrail attached to it. Ammo though, that may be a bit harder to find right now. I know local, if its a common round, its scarce and seeing a box of 20 for $25-35 isn’t uncommon: if you can find it at all.
FOODS. You don’t keep moving and mooing on an empty stomach, and you don’t get the option of thinking the JIT system will work when hotzones of conflict are all around. People will get hungry enough to start eating on each other, and don’t think it doesn’t happen. It’s Taboo because its NOT healthy, BUT when you are starved and the kids are crying, or worse, stopped crying because they are in shock from hunger: that deader next-door won’t notice a slab missing from his thigh, and when you cook it up all minced up like hamburger, the kids will never know and you see no reason to tell them. Tell me it won’t happen, prove me wrong. I KNOW it will.
Getting started stocking up on food is easy right now, but that may not stay that way for long. A couple extra bucks each time you stop at the groceries will build a canned food larder FAST. Toss an extra $10 worth of dried beans or rice or pasta or all of the above, each weekly trip. Canned meats may be strange to the ‘gourmet palette’, but when you are trying to squeeze a 1000 calorie meal through three days of hard duty, a slab of Spam on a bed of rice is like Filet Mignon to your tummy.
When things go sideways, you are not going to be worrying about that extra 20# you sport now, Its gonna melt off fast. In two weeks, you will be wishing that you still had it because your energy levels are gonna drop off as you burn off that reserve.
Food Prep: Start figuring out how to make cold food. Heating food send out all kinds of good smells, and when people start getting hungry, even the smell of boiling rice is going to travel and smell like a Smorgasbord at The SunKIngs tables to someone that hasn’t eaten in a week. If you can find a way to prepare food in an enclosed space, all the better. The LRP Rangers of Nam would cook up all their food before movement, then carry it with. No fires or smells to betray their location. Think High energy long shelve life. Rice is good for both. and on that note, High energy, long shelf life is what you want to consider for all your ‘reserve’ purchses.
OP-SEC. Operational Security for you newbs. Heres the rub. You do NOT want to tell anyone what you are doing. Clandestine is best advice at this point. Don’t even say a thing to the kids or spouse, just say, “Oh, it was on sale,,,” or some BS. If you start saying ‘I’m preparing for,,,,’ you may key some paranoid reaction from them, and now THEY may slip and tell a neighbor or another kid and now your ‘reserves’ are a known commodity. If its just “normal Dad/Mom being cheap”, its a nothing burger and they won’t say anything. If the entire neighborhood has a clue you have a months worth of food when the trucks aren’t running, you become a target, and EVERYBODY starves. Keep your danged mouth shut.
Bugging out! All I can say at this point is DON’T. If you DON’T have a plan already laid out, DON’T. If you don’t have a group to bug-out with: DON’T. If you stay put, stay hid, and stay ALIVE, you are ten times better off than the family that freaked out and ran without a plan in advance. If you are in a place that you think is about to go all Rwanda in the next couple of months, NOW is when you need to bug-out, NOT when it goes all Rwanda. People bugging out are what we call REFUGEES and Refugees always get the short end of the stick (sometimes quite literally) when things get scarce. Don’t look at what the Border Jumpers in our country are getting, that won’t apply when resources are few and far apart. And those that are Holding in Place, will treat you like a parasite wanting to leech them dry: best case, they will tell you to keep moving. Worst case, They kill you and take all your shit that you carry. Keep it in mind. DON’T unless you have no choice and then be prepared to be the absolute lowest pawn on the board.
The list of threes: Three minutes without air, Three days without water, three weeks without food =DEAD MEAT. Assuming they aren’t filling the air with Nerve or Blister agents, we won’t worry too much about that first one. The second though,,,, Water is LIFE. let me rephrase that; CLEAN water is LIFE. There are products out there that you can grab up RIGHT NOW that will make clean water a whole shit ton easier to get. Keeping a bottle of bleach around won’t hurt you either as long as you understand HOW to use it, and if you don’t, DON’T. (I had chlorine poisoning while in Kuwait and that shit SUCKS, trust me,,,,)
And we already talked about the food thing some. BUT, calories, you may not need 1000 calories a day if you are ‘bugging-in’. In fact, the less you eat the less you defecate and defecation make ‘smells’ that can attract others. If you are bugging in, you want to stay hidden. Limit your ‘signals’: Odor, noise, light, movement. and remove the attraction: make your place look ‘already looted’.
As for Guns. Already mentioned that there are “Ways” and one possible avenue to investigate. BUT lets discuss “Weapons”. and I have already made this point in several posts here. Guns are tools, YOU are the weapon. When shit goes sideways, if you don’t think you could shoot someone, you likely won’t, but trust me on this, THEY WILL. Get it in your head now, and become the WEAPON or you are already dead and just armed and fueled someone who may not be “good”. If you just can’t get it around in your head that you will get to a point where its kill or be killed, you are already writing yourself an obit and I wish you God speed. Even more, please don’t go buying a bunch of ‘tools’ and freedom seeds to just give them to the next guy that I may have to deal with. Instead, use those funds to get you and yours OUT of that place where you are and into a place where you are less likely to see the other side of Humanity. (and when you find that place, Let me know where it is,,,,)
I apologize for this little essay being all over the place, there is just so much information that needs passed along and so little of it can be rapidly absorbed. When we were trained as Combat Marines,(Yes BC, I am a former Misguided Child, don’t hate me,,,,) we went through 11 weeks of training, (it was bumped up to 13 after I graduated) and that was just to get us the BASICS, further training was months and months of training after that. And NONE of it prepped us completely when we went into a two way shooting gallery. It helped, certainly, but I don’t think there is any real way to prepare a person for when things go hot. I can tell you this though. The people around you will show you something completely different when things suddenly flip. Your best friend may become your worst enemy, or worse, dead weight as a catatonic shell-shocked mushroom. Then again, that timid Geek neighbor you all laugh about, may turn into a real asset of stealth and cunning and scrounger. When the world flips, people change, and that is what you can expect.
Dark Holes
Not Black holes, just dank and dark holes that appear and drag a psyche towards despair and apathy. recent events with Sarah’s community of ‘Odds’ raising the bar on “How IT’s Done” let me take a few in introspection on my desires of the blog. Ain’t gonna change a thing, and live with the lack of commentariat: I get feedback of a sort by the numbers, though I never know if its GOOD or BAD, just that the traffic flow is either up or down. And occasionally I do get a Tamalanche (any one remember that term and how it came about?)
Clotshot strikes again? Bosses Son had a “bro” that passed recently. It coincided with the clot shot perfectly and surprised the hell out of everyone around them, including the docs; but not me. When SON was telling me the details, I asked “He got the shot recently, didn’t he?” and the answer was ‘within two weeks”. Interestingly, even with the Flu season upon us, what I am seeing and hearing is more heart attacks, like many many more, and usually ‘out of the clear blue’. In the last month, I know of 5 peeps that have passed over, all heart attacks, and only one was ‘expected’. And not all of them were of that age when you expect shit to go sideways with a quickness. And to whit, every single one of the vic’s, had received the clotshot at least once; one was on his third round. Not sure if this is a valid data point or not, but every single one was male. Haven’t heard of an women getting the shot and then dropping of heart issues, but that may have more to do with the ‘patriarchal’ bent of this area. Yes, there is still separation of men and women in information (IE Gossip) that you won’t see in other places. That male thing appears to be similar to how the younger demographics are playing out with the shot as well. Most likely to have issues with the ‘side affects’ are the younger males. Not trying to raise alarm here (thats already done) just trying to gather as much intel for people as my little world gives me. Maybe I am paranoid, but I am far closer to the point of “am I paranoid ENOUGH?” and I am trying to keep from crossing the line of “enough” to “straight jacket”.
Toss the dawgs a bone to keep ’em quiet. I hadn’t said much about the revent (S)election Cycle, and what I do have to say about it is one anachronism: TINVOWOOT!!! The turnover in Virginia was not a win, and those that started crowing about ‘the tides turning’ need a good slap upside the head. This was the bone to shush the dawgs for a spell while the steal continues on behind the scenes. THEY GAVE UP VIRGINIA TO TURN DOWN THE HEAT,,,,,VA votes still rigged but ‘surrendered’ to ease the growing heat. VA was rigged, but not to win, but to lose by the closest of margins, Rigged voting was caught live in internet JPGs with time stamps, and they still ‘lost’. WHY? To keep the heat down on the frogs to keep us IN the pot. JMO of course, and that leads me into the next dark hole,,,,
Aint nuthin’ new: people are people and desire to survive is hardwired into us. Others more than usual, but survival of the fittest is not just a postulate. In some, that desire to survive, or more specifically PROSPER sometimes takes on a life of its own and can be interpreted as GREED. I don’t like using that word since any disparity in outcomes can always be interpreted as ‘greedy’ by the ‘have-nots’, but when I start seeing the “Pee-lousy-ees” and “Screw-more’s” in the world,,,, IMO, anyone that would knowingly work to make a slave class for their bidding is no longer human and needs removed from the equation. Sure, maybe there are some people in this world that are too dumb to get out of their own way: that’s what the Darwin Awards are for.
We haven’t hit the bottom yet, but its getting close, I can feel it. Not even going to try and prognosticate a time-frame, but its coming. But like Sarah says, They lose, we win. They don’t account for the tenacity of a people that are not hardwired for monarchy.
Saturday productive
Fixed Buffalo on thursday, so of course someone had to find something for me to do with my weekend. Da had ordered parts for his truck, hadn’t said anything but dropped the ball in my lap when He saw me load a kayak up.
LOL. No rest for the wicked, eh?
Normally I reserve Sundays for domestics but since I was Voluntold that I was wrenching on a truck, decided to knock out two birds with one trip. Did laundry while doing a parts swap on the ‘Yoda Coma’. At one point, I used to like Toyota products, but since around ’95, it seems like they are making things more complicated and proprietary; seems like nothing works between years, and that means you are going to have to order parts specific for your year ‘hicle if its not a general maintenance type thing. At least with my GM trucks, an A-arm for one year fits about 20 years worth of vehicles across two or three platforms. A water pump for a 4.3 fits any 350, no matter if it’s in a truck or Camaro. I like that sort of generic, it makes my engineer side happy to see compatibility across a spectrum.
Kinda why I like Fiats back in the day too. A cam for a Yugo would make a 1.5L in an X a hot item. about a 15 horse increase with just that one swap. (FIat sold Yugo their engine design back when, and the cam would fit with no changes in bearings or seals. BUT because the Yugo was a 1.1L engine, it needed a hotter cam to ‘keep up’. ). There were other tricks to get more power or more reliable that I picked up, but sadly, the frames on most X-ies was shitte to begin with, and they tend to fold up after a couple of decades. Finding a good one now is a Geas for the Devote. (I heard that the reason for the crap frames was that Fiat bought cheap Russian Steel that was heavy in sulfur, and I also heard that there was a shipping strike about the same time that model was going into high production and many of the frames sat on a dock in salty air, unpainted, for a couple years before going back onto the line for build. Dunno, but they do tend to rust even if babied and garage kept.)
Wrenching done, laundry done, kayak loaded, and its mid-day, and I am not sure what to do with the rest of my weekend. Would like to go for a float, but may hold out till tomorrow as its supposedly going to be about ten degrees warmer. Its still mid 50’s out right now. Water is warmer than the air, but still at that stage of Brrrrrr, and kayaking IS a wet sport. (and I’ll be honest, the last thing I want is to try and get in one of my wetsuits since I have put on 15# since August. Gotta work on that,,,,).
So I started fiberglassing that coaming for the New version of the ‘Carcass of a Kayak formerly called Serena”. Broke the mold in two parts (sawed it apart. Could have pulled the top boards off as intended if I had done a one piece, but not sure they would have held the curve I forced on them.). and glassed two halves up. They are sitting in the sun curing right now. Fingers doubled crossed that, this time, that wax release works as its supposed ta.
And obviously, I have a kitteh free house right now, seeing how I am able to type this out without distraction of fuzzy-butts wanting ‘tentions. Actually, the boys are out on the porch, spooning, in a puddle of sunlight out of the breeze. Boo is holed up under my bed, AGAIN, but snoring contentedly , and Mamakat aka GrumpyKat,,, Who the f$%k knows. She came in this morn for ‘Foodiieeesss’ and is now back on the prowl in the woods. She is in her element with the cooler weather, and I don’t worry too much about her safety in the woods (she’s 5 and knows whats out there and how to avoid the baddies.). But it is irritating. She adopted the boys, and now wants them to move on and is showing her ‘contempt’ by avoiding the house until hunger strikes.
Dio's Workshop 