Turdsday rubber meets road/hits wall day
Three gates, big monsters and only one is ‘short’,,, length wise.
Yesterday I started the install of the controller and
all, ALL of my misgivings are coming to roost. Sluggish, REALLY sluggish operation. enough that a small fly wedged between roller and gate, might be enough to shut down motion.
and this is the smaller of the two HUGE monsters. the other one is 5′ taller, same length. And Bossman bought the same controller for all three. I feel confident that these controllers will work for the smallest of the three, but after seeing how yesterday went (and I am back there today to “get it going, I spent $12000 on these things”) I can only see a pile up at the wall: 120mph to zero in .00001 sec.
No return policy.
No restocking fee option.
We’re eating this.
Wanna say ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’ but hard to say that when I AM the monkey in the circus, in this instance.
No problems, only unseen solutions: right? Yeah,,, I see some solutions, maybe even without needing to change the big part of the money equation, but it IS gonna cost more,,, no two ways out of this mess, only through, and if that doesn’t fly,,,,
well, this monkey has feet too.
more later,,,, Gotta go make the biscuits that feed my furries and keep my kayaks floating.
The BASE of the truth,,,,
If’n ya can, send this guy a dollar or three,,,, He needs all the help he can get, and he speaks truth: which is the only thing worth anything, EVER. and somthing sorely lacking in this day as we slide into America’s ENDARKENMENT.
(Thanks to Francis for the links)
I’ve said it here a time or two. With the state of the world, I am pulling my focus back to our essentially non-existent borders. Let the rest of the world go to hell in a handbasket on their choosing, we need to fix us before we can even contemplate helping them.
And even now, there is FAR MORE money flowing out of this country to do that ‘helping’ than there is being funneled back to the very people that are the actual engine of the economy of this country. Look around you, do you see things improving, or slowly failing: like our parks systems with increasingly shrinking budgets. Or our local systems that are struggling with that inflation thing and trying to no strangle the taxpayers but still maintain services (believe it or not, yes, there are local govs that do still try,,, They live close, they know if things go wrong, they will be the ‘debt’ that gets collected.)
As for the “fixing us” thing,,, I still firmly believe we are past that point of doing this “POLITELY” (you can read that as through politics,,, Just look at the war that is taking place using lawfare and cancel culture above,,,, and he is only one man of many getting pummelled here ) When do the gloves come off? Lets face this one fact people: the velvct gloves of GOV are gone, we now see the iron gauntlet, openly threatening us to comply. The masks are off and we SEE our enemies,,,,
and yet we keep playing by the rules,,, rules they have claimed as theirs and altered to fit their wills and style, and to hell with what the deplorable flyover country bible-thumpin’ gun holdin’ miscreants have to say about it. Weellllllssss, There is that whole ‘gun-holdin’ ” thing there isn’t there,,,, Sadly, I think that is part of the problem: bear with me for a minute as I explain that.
WE do still hold the guns. If you do the math, we hold enough guns to arm every, EVERY single army of the western world, putting a weapon in the hands of every boot-wearing ground-pounder in rank and file. EVERY SINGLE ONE, and still have spares. The problem there is that we made inroads into the Polity by getting gun laws repealed and getting more back in line with that whole 2A thing of the USConstitution, and now many are still thinking we can ‘voat’ our way back to the founding principles. Sorry, No: the game is changing faster than that. The rules that we made headway in are being re-written at night by people that MEAN ONLY TO RULE!!!! Look at how they were able to change Voating laws in several key states MONTHS before a Federal election. Not years, MONTHS! That right there should have been a red-flag for the people of that state and that it wasn’t tells me that more than half of the voats of that state are fraudulant anyway, even before the changes made. Why do I say that? Because if only half of the electorate were legit, they’d have smelled rotten and tried to make some changes,,, as is, they are sheep that ‘go along to get along’ or are purely fictitous,,,, And the fictitious numbers help drive the sheep too.
We ain’t voating our way out of this mess.
and when more people figure it out,,, then we can talk,
but until we get OUR SHIT STRAIGHT, fuck the rest of the world; let them fight of the crusts of the things they fucked up, just like we are fighitng for ours.
(maybe another day in the cold will help my mood,,, Y’all have a good day , and keep on livin’ )
Dark, cold, motivated? whuzzat?
To be honest, if I have injured something in my past, today it is reminding me of that incident.
And some that have never been injured so much as abused (well, knuckles get beat up on frequently, and they are cussin’ a blue storm.)
7 hours in this crap today, and while it wasn’t so damned cold that I couldn’t handle it, that WIND,,,, jeez,,, razors cut less efficiently,,,,
But posting today? this is likely IT,,, Beat, achy, and not all that interested in getting into the loop today.
mehbe tomorrow,,,,
Carpe mańana
Not “gone Galt”
Even though I am keeping my mouth mostly shut on world events. I’m watching, but keeping my opine’s held tightly in most cases. I will step and yell if people start jumping on some bandwagon with no thoughts involved,,,, We don’t have the luxury of pure gut reaction in this day and age. Our country is not ‘what it was’ and I don’t think it has been for a long while.
WWW has a post up on what makes a country stable, and I would highly suggest reading the whole thing and thinking about where we stand ‘As a Nation;
Personally, I think the shit is gonna hit the fan much sooner than his prediction but I am no prognosticator either,,,,
As for going Galt,,, Naw,,, thought that many many times in the past, but here I am still in the mix of society, albeit on the fringes, but still here, still pluggin’, still ‘existing’…. Sarah does a pretty good post on this thing today too,,, and she is dead on accurate that if you drop out, YOUR GONE,,, people forget you faster than last weeks rushed lunch,,, Oh, there may be a few you touched in some way that will recall your face, with fondness or anger,,, and you really don’t have all that much say in how that memory is stored (you can try, but it really boils down to the recipient, not you. There is some bad blood between myself and some in my past and I was trying like hell to be a postive vibe, and it bit me in the ass. Some of my longtime readers will recall of what I speak. Try, but the memory you create is not yours to narrate.)
Think about this,,, supposedly, there are 8 billion individuals running amok on this marble we call home. If you dropped dead tomorrow, how many of that 8B will know or care? Now make that number into a percentage.
Tiny, ain’t it?
Get out there, stop sucking the poisons that are being injected into the social streams to keep you riled up and dysfunctional. Go make something, go smell a rose, or just kick it back and watch the sunset for once. Go find a beach and build a fire and listen to the world as it’s meant to be. DO pay attention to what is happening, and try to figure out ‘the end game’,,, more for your own safety/preparation.
just keep on livin’
———————————————————
No boats on Buff this eve. BJ is on her rack, Lizzy in hers, the WW boats hanging by their noses from the timbers, and Lyssa is in the cradle. Seriously deep cold snap coming tonight for one but ideas abound second,,,,
I has some plans on things now, since my last post of jumbled overwhelmed winter blahs. Lyssa’s project is the least complicated and doesn’t require weather to cooperate (like Lizzy’s project with Resins and cure times,,,) Even considering some work on Duh!Kee,,, (afraid that is going to become something like the incident with Serena,,, a re-skin turned into a full rebuild and a totally different boat.) AND, I refuse to push the envelope on these little projects since I have at least three more months of these longer nights. l don’t want to get done ‘too soon’ or I wlll be right back at twiddlin’ thumbs and staring at walls; wishing to be sedated.
As to my plans for Lyssa,,, Gotzta thinkin’bout that balance issue. I’m adding 10-15# to the back hatches and she ‘levels out’ and stops plowing. There is a space behind me in the cockpit where I could move my arse, but I have dallied on it because it requires me to cut the seat pan up a little bit. (pan is touching the back bulkhead currently but that is on a bevel so it extends INTO the cockpit quite a ways. ) With her age, her condition (beat up but still kickin’ ass) and resale potential (not much) to heck with it,,,Make her mine, right? Done right, other than that cut pan, everything could be moved back to factory with ease. The point of this being,,, it takes 15# a foot behind me to bring her level, so if I move ME, back a couple of inches,,, by my theory, I should achieve the same effect. (and this may be like my idea of lowering the seat pan in Lizzy to lower my CoG for stability: did jack shit for such,,,) If it works, great, if not, I learn something new. next project,,, (even if moving that pan back doesn’t work, it WILL make my getting into the cockpit easier. She’s a might narrow for my long legged self. Maybe not as easy as getting into the Necky cockpit on the Erg, but better than now.)(I can sit in the seat of the Necky with my feet out and pull my feet in after. In ALL of my other boats, I need to sit on the back deck and get my legs in first, or I ain’t getting in.)
Anywhoossseee,,,, temps are falling well below the freeze point tonight, fire is built and warming the house, but I need to get an armload in the house to hold me over the night. Me do not like running out to the shed in zero dark freeze your tootsies off cold. And somehow, I need to find a place to stack that wood with all the furries piled in front of the stove in anticipation of the oncoming cold. Yup, dawg and kats living together and within paw reach of each other. Cute, but obnoxious when you need to access that space,,,, and they have that accusing look down pat,,,,
A quick thought
I have always struggled with this time of year. I can’t think of a winter season (not just the holidays mind you, this goes past that by several months) that I didn’t struggle with something unless I was on the road and so busy I didn’t have time to think.
Thats the problem: more time to think, less time to do. Especially if what you desire ‘to do’ is out of doors and requires daylight. Sometime over the last couple weeks, we passed below 10 hours of daylight per period of ‘day’. I only sleep (maybe) 6 hours a night. That leaves me plenty of time for the old brainium to start some convoluted thinks, and not a lot of time to put them into play.
And I have no materials to be building a kayak this year,,,, I may need to rectify that soon,,,, At least when I am monkeying with a frame, my mind is focused and not wandering around, falling into the grass and playing with its toes,,,,
it’s been doing that a lot the last couple of weeks. At least when I was wrenching on Buff, I hit shower then the sheets and dropped like a felled tree. Maybe I should have gone out on the lake and fought wind for a few hours. I’d be too tired to think about shit right now if I had,,,, (the erg does ok, but I have to force my time on it since I am not distracted by scenery, and no way can I do that for 5 or 6 hours like I can on water,,,,)
(and this thinks without outlet is why they would need to lock me in a padded cell if I ever went to prison,,,, I’d be stark raving mad in short order,,,)
And yes, I have been trying to work on the books,,,, Issue there is ‘laptop=cat distraction’ of late. I am trying to retrain them that when the laptop comes out, DAD NEEDS SPACE,,,, Don’t know when or how that came to change, but since last spring, if I pull out the Mac, here come Kats,,, and they want my attentions ‘Neooowwwwsssss’.
All Three of ’em!!!
Whatever thoughts I had for writing, GONE,,,,, every! single! time!!!!
I haven’t made much headway in the last couple of months, to say the least, and right now I could be (all this dark time, idle hands and whatnot,,,) ‘cept for ‘felinus interuptus’,,,,,(like right now, I am working with a BT keyboard, and my phone, and they couldn’t care less about that, but if I so much as lift the lid on that MAC,,, first Mama, then Grizz, and of course Zooms has to come see what all the fuss is about,,,,,) ( someone might say, ‘switch it over to the phone apps’ but that shit doesn’t work. The two programs I am using are way bigger than a phone can handle, and no, I don’t want to switch back to word format, so I can go through all that trouble of switching it back later (did that when going to publish WIngs, and let me tell you, watching paint dry is more interesting and less frustrating.)
Ok, now I am just bitchin’,,, though I do need to somehow retrain them to leave me alone then,,,, (or block the pet doors and shut them out,,,,, That may get me nasties in my bed as payback,,, Mama doesn’t play nice,,,,)
subsisto sermo statim Dio!
Behind a veil
The sun most definitely is today,,, dim and gray out there today,,, my mood is doing everything in its power to match,,, and I be fighting mad over it.
Went to Da’s for laundry, put new belts on his ‘Coma, (they were squealing like little piggies yesterday, and his hearing is worse than mine for the higher pitch stuff.) (and mine ain’t good,,,) The wrenching never ceases it seems,,,, (and I REFUSE to purchase anything newer that an aught five,,, and I still prefer my 90’s stuff but its getting harder to find and usual wore the F! out when you do.,,, (Great white was a gem in a pigsty,,, the only problem with her was that frame was rotting out in places I wouldn’t be able to repair, So I bought Buffalo. and here we are,,,,) BUT, I have come to the conclusion that when Buffalo is no longer viable, I am getting something bigger, like a 1500 or 2500 full size. OR, Another Square body Blazer/Jimmy since I can and have ‘carkamped’ out of one of those. (on the beach even, in Corpus Christ. took forever to get the sand out though.) That day in not today though.
I am also of a mind to get a small Honda as a beater to get me around when I am doing the things to Buff like I did this week. Not having wheels available (borrowing Da’s truck doesn’t count) ate at me: and I would have been more inclined to get that stuff done sooner, with less loss of pay (more daylight) had I an alternate mode of transportation.
Akchoooualllly,,, that conversation came up at work before I left to work on Buff. I mentioned that I liked the look of the Trackers and wouldn’t mind one as a ‘toy’ car, but can you imagine what that would look like with a 17′ kayak strapped up top? ROFLMAO,,,, Like I told Burnout when we were talking about it…
a 17′ kayak strapped atop a car with a wheel base of 10′? People’d be bonkin’ heads front and back!”
Ain’t nothing I am rushing into, because I don’t want to buy a POS either, and there will be the added cost of insurance and paperwork and all that other stuff of asking permission to use your own property,,, the last thing I would want is to have another clunker loitering in the drive being a money sponge.
I’s gray out there,,, temps are falling, following that moon just like the tides do. Has anyone else noted that? full moon week, we get the cold snap, new moon week is closer to summer weather,,,, until we get to Febuary, when its just ‘cold or colder’ but then when spring starts rearing her pretty head, same thing, cold follows the moon cycles. Just like the tides. (I noted it last spring because I was trying to get out for a full moon float, but it was always nasty weather on Full moon week and I wouldn’t have seen the moon for all the cloud cover and rain.)
I dunno, I rebuilt the fire, its chill enough for one,,, Thought about going to the lake again today, but that wind is hitting gale forces and that lake is wide open for such (but not enough to generate good waves,,,, just muck with paddling,,,) So I am going to bust out the Erg and ‘get some miles in’ kinda sorta,,,, No way I can count those, but they do count for the physical efforts, and I need that more.
IT’s back to the J.O.B. tomorrow,,, needs it,,, funds are down hard this week, not broke, but may as well be with what shit costs these days. Seems like ya can’t go anywhere without dropping half a C-note these days, and thats being frugal,,, start trying to live, and it goes quickly higher. Not complainin’ just noting it,,, Bidenomics that mirrors Carter-nomics,,,,, and with the nets, ya don’t even need to go anywhere to blow an entire paycheck fast,,,(lookin at you Zon!!!) Toss in those things I don’t have access to here, like DoorDash, and you don’t even need to leave home to go broke,,, Broke comes to you and you can live large,,,, till ya can’t anymore,,,,
kinda seems designed that way, no?
nuff with my silly jabbers,,, gonna have a cuppa, think about things, NOT GO KAYAKING, but get some psuedo-paddle time in, and just spend the rest of my Sonday relaxing. The first time I have had where I wasn’t elbow deep in Carparts these last 8 days.
keep on livin’
Note: if I had the funds for the gas, I would have hit Laurel lake today. The current winds would have been kicking up some kickin’ fetch waves on the north fork of that lake. I could, but that means cutting into something later in the week.
and its cold out,,,, so,,,, ya ya, excuses, I know,,,,
Comparisons
Made it BACK to the lake today…. Didn’t push hard, didn’t do much on the miles either. More a chance to find that ground and center again and think about things.
but the comparison was there to see. See, Lyssa is fast becoming my goto boat. But she has a fickle side to her that I only started noting with all the miles I have been putting on her. Part of it was something that Brudda B mentioned when we had our ‘race notta race’ day. (the race that canceled but we still went out and did a lap ‘justcuz’.) Lyssa rides bow down when its just me inside. Her water line is closer to the gunnels at the bow than the stern if I don’t have a load. The last three or four times I took her to the lake, I was carrying some basic camp stuff, lunch stuff and just in case stuff in the back two hatches and she seemed quite happy with that setup (as indicated by speeds and ease of holding such)
Today, she was plowing water and didn’t like it at all. Just my fat arse in the cockpit and if I stopped paddling, it FELT like hitting the brakes. You could feel her drag down fast. That explains why she needs that skeg: she tracks straight with a load and no skeg. Even with that trait showing up, and my not pushing things, I was still holding speeds comparable to Blue Jean when I AM pushing her. (she is my SUV kayak, Lyssa is my sportscar kayak) And I have not found BJ to balk even when loaded: she might wallow a bit, but she is no slower, slightly more stable and I do mean slightly, almost imperceptibly so. Lyssa gets more stable with a load behind me, and she isn’t exactly unstable to start, but her speeds come on line with that load.
Things like that are good to know and I found it completely by accident (and a bit of laziness on my part: I didn’t want to lug all that shit to the lake today)
Lyssa is a Tempest 165 pro (meaning she is a composite boat,) and the Tempest 170’s and 180’s (rarer then hens teeth that last) are the same, everywhere except length, with more volume upfront and the cockpit more aft in ratio than what Lyssa’s is. And the 170 is what I should be paddling by my weight and height. That ratio being more aft with more volume where the boat meets water, will raise the bow and make it so the boat doesn’t plow
Not that I am looking,,,, (well, yes, I am, but not seriously, more as pre-emptive for some day in the future,,,,)
No rush, I have boats I enjoy paddling, for various conditions, and Lyssa would be my summer camper (lakes only) and BJ is my all-arounder (even taking white water rivers,,,,) Rio is strictly a riverrunner, and the ARC is backup to that, I have boats. I have spare boats,,,,
(UPDATE: Sometimes my posts seem ‘cut off’ and this one was one such. Its a symptom of “Felinus interruptus”,,, a special mental disorder that has no real cure,,,,,)
Dio's Workshop 