Yup, thats Bluejean in the water there.   I upgraded the phone too.  Thats the widescreen lense.  

And as you can see, that water is DEAD FLAT mirrored surface.    So little breeze that it didn’t even ripple the surface very often.    Considering two days ago, we were under a deluge with 30mph gusting winds.

I’ll tell ya this though.   I needed that short session on water.  I may not have done much (about 2 1/2 miles) or very fast, but my relaxation levels are ‘about right’ now.

This whole weekend getting shot to hell had me just a little frazzled.   Not that its anyones fault.   Just goes to tell me that there was some reason Universe didn’t want me in SC for a spell.  Dunno what that reason was, and I am sure I won’t like it when it finally reveals itself, but, Here I am, not where I wished to be.

Only where I am needed, for what ever reason.    So be it.

As for BlueJean,,, she’s no slouch, but she certainly isn’t a speed demon.   She’ll get you there, and drier than most of my other boats, but she will take her time doing it.    But she can carry ALL of my camp gear doing it and won’t show any signs of character change.  She ain’t goin’ anywhere out of my fleet.   I think I have said it more than once: BJ is the boat I would be willing to put my dad in for a first timer.   She is that forgiving.

The only reason I don’t take her out more often, is that forgiveness.   I get lazy and then switch boats to ones more lively; it takes a bit to re-adapt the sea legs.    Still, Lyssa is going to be in dry-dock for a couple of weeks while I work on her hull, so BJ gets to play.    I might even go ahead and do a camp out next weekend to make up (to myself) for this failed weekend. (I figure the highway and byways between here  and SIs’s house are going to be FUBAR’ed for a few weeks at least.  )

My usual domestics day, since getting out of town proved to be fruitless.   Mama-nature sure does know how to get her message across.    Mucho Mal Destruction all along the NC/TN areas.  I already posted a pic of I40 being washed out: Lord only knows how many backroad bridges were taken down,,,(I know of at least one)   Thats gonna take some time to rectify.

So I contemplated going kayaking, solo, again,,, and dammit, the desire is just not there today.  

Thats not to say I ain’t playin’ with kayaks,,,,

Three projects (Two definite, one will see about)   Finish Selkie for Brudda B.    Make Lyssa Mo’Mine….

I have to finish Selkie or I have no where to work on Lyssa.  Selkie has been taking up a lot of real estate on my porch this summer, and yah, I really need to ‘finish what I started’,,, and to be honest, it hasn’t felt like as long as it has been.   I started that ‘fix’ back in March!!!  Ho-shit!,,, gitbizzy dood!!!

Right now, I’m waiting for resin to cure so I can put on another layer of glass over the Ballistic Nylon I laid in the floor.   It’s all attached to the ribs ‘floating’ above the skin.   The whole point is to make it so Selkie no longer steals shoes, essentially becoming an entrapment point.   (there is a reason I am a barefoot paddler,,,)   This is probably going to be a three day process, but then, close up her skin, seal the seams, and she is done.  

And I could have had her done MONTHS ago, ‘ceptin’   Me got lazy,,,,   Pointing that finger right back at the culprit,,,  I know it, and I kinda feel guilty about it.   Is what it is, and you can’t change the past, no matter how much the lefties want it so.

As for Lyssa,,,   I already pulled that rear bulkhead (there is still one between the aft compartment and the cockpit.  not touching that one.) and now, I am slowly working on sanding off all the epoxy from the hull.   It worked, but, Even with the talcum to make it white, that shit yellowed something nasty.   She got ugly on me.   I didn’t really notice it until I had to do the repairs from last race, but the difference is GLARING.    Clean her off, and re-gel.   Make her shiny and bright again.     There are a couple of other things I want to deal with while she is in dry dock, but nothing as intesive as a hull makeover.

In the meantime, BlueJean is going to be riding high, and Lyssa takes her spot in the racks on the porch.   When Selkie is finished, I swap them out,,,,

Yes, there is a kayak on Buffalo 24/7 (unless its on the water being used) Sometimes two!!!   My Kayaddiction is strong!!!

as for that third project,,,,    Lizzy, the Nordkapp.    I keep tossing this one around, and I even started on it at one point, before Selkie needed repairs.   Lizzy has been hanging in the rafters all summer, in peices: Literally in peices.   Hatches and bilge pump removed, cockpit coaming cut free, and I started to work on making the cockpit opening something a bit more modern: Keyhole style, not that dinky Ocean cockpit that started causing me anxiety when paddling.

Problem being, I am not 100% certain my anxiety was all due to that cockpit.  Lizzy’s breed is ALWAYS described as “lively” or ” Demands attention”.  She is NOT a stable boat.   Only when loaded with gear (through 10″ hatch covers,,,,) will they settle down.  Not that I am even certain of that as I never tried her loaded like I load Lyssa; I have only the word of other users for such.    SO, I keep putting her on the back burner, considering my options, and one of those options is to retire her.    Selling is off the table now that the cuts have been made.  (not totally true: I COULD put it all back, but would need to get a matching deck gel coat to make her look good again.   I’m not worried about looks as much for the modifications, at least, not until I know one way or the other, if they worked.)

Then again, my skills have grown, and Lyssa, who felt ‘lively’ to me a year ago, is now my goto boat for everything (ceptin’ WW)   Maybe, finishing Lizzy will be that “Long Boat, highspeed cargo hauler” that I have been on quest for.   (guess I just made up my mind on that third project, eh?)

ANywhoos, y’all stay safe out there while the Political Zoo is off its leash.  Hopefully, things will start to improve after January of ’25,,, I won’t hold my breath that things settle after Nov 5th,,,,

L

L

L

L!

Funny how sudden changes of plan always hit me funky.

Like Thursday.  The day started out fine, then was told that ‘we aren’t working on friday, weather!’, so I started making plans on things I could do to pass the time on friday.  Come end of day, the word was, ‘nothing pressing, but if you wanna work,,,’.    Well, not NOW; you already told me we were taking it off and I made plans accordingly.   I despise walking back on myself like that.

And now today.   Weather created many glitches to the plans I had laid and so suddenly, I had no fall back plan.

and I am sitting here trying to motivate myself to DO SOMETHING

I wanna paddle, but my plans had been to do some paddling with my sister, and now, I don’t wanna go solo,,,  I will, I guess, but the motivation to do so is sorely lacking.

I tried writing on my substack account, that flopped bigger than squat,,, where the hell are they storing my drafts?   I can’t find anything,,,   That site needs much fine tuning IMO, but tis very popular among the writing kind these days.   Guess I just have to write and fire off the posts as is, no saving drafts for edit or

well,  mehbe I need to dig in and learn a new system or forego writing over there altogether.   Right now, forego writing over there altogether until I figure out where they are hiding things.  I’m in no mood for that shit right now.

In fact, I am no mood for much of anything.   Wanna get out and see people, but feel I am in no state of social cohesiveness.  Pretty caustic actually,,,,might start a fight or three,,,

fuggit,,, get the boat out, look at trees, hang a hammock and chill somewhere for a bit, but DO NOT INTERACT WITH OTHERS,,,  thats my state right now.  

and turn the damned phone off for the day,,,,

I’m getting to the point where that phone is more the problem than the solution.   And I know, not having it, makes modern life MUCH MORE DIFFICULT.   I see it with Da and Burnout.   Da has a flip phone, Burnout hasn’t one at all.  And they struggle with dealing with things.   Da struggled hard with the Docs (until he cut them off completely)   Burnout can’t get anything done at all without using his old ladies phone and even then, people want other ways of contacting him.

Hell, my finances would fall apart with a quickness if I ditched the phone. 

I need people.   I don’t like the majority of people.   THAT’S the problem.

and the phone is no lubricant to it.

more laters when I am feeling more, dunno, better?  till then   L.L.L.L!

Made plans to spend the next four days in SC with my sis.   The original plan of picking up a kayak went sideways and vaporized in a flash of Frugality on my part.

AND NOW, Mama-IS is making the case that I need to sit my arse still and deal with my regular life for a bit longer.

The Dam on Pigeon River, got hammered hard with all of this rain from Demi-Hurricane Helene,,, I say Demi-hurricane because it never reached hurricane status by NOAA, but the news has been pounding it as horrific and world ending (just ask BCE)

She may not have pummeled the coasties, but she is whoopin’ the shit out of the Appalachians.  

This is northbound I40 about 6 miles north of the NC/TN border.

Thats gonna take awhile to fix,,,,

I was gonna be in that southbound lane tomorrow,,, key word WAS

Nopes, not buying a new to me boat, not going to SC for four days; guess its back to the lake for a feild test of the back compartment of Lyssa, and ‘business as usual’,,,,  carry on,,,,

Mama-IS may be quiet most days, but she holds majoirty vote ALWAYS.   And she is telling me something for certain,,, I just have to interpret it,,,

Live

laugh

learn

Load!!!

And what I need, is all around me.

Been driving myself absolutely batshit insane the last few days: been in communication with three kayak sellers, and it all started because of a glitch in Market place.   My messages weren’t hitting thier inboxes, then suddenly, they were all contacting me back.  

and I have been fighting internally as to ‘which one do I really want’,,,,

Well, cash in hand, can buy any ONE of them, but obviously not all of them, and either way, its a long haul to get any of them.   I had made plans to visit my sister as the added reason to ‘go get a boat’, and now,,,,

I’m thinking I ain’t gonna get any of them.

I have Lyssa, my little red corvette of a kayak.  I have Blue Jean, my cargo hauler. I have Rio, my other little red corvette for white water.   I still have the ARC which I have been tempted to sell off and on, but would make a great intro boat into white water if ever some such popped into my life.   (Blue Jean fills that bill for open water intro as well.)  I still have the Nordkapp that needs some rework/possibly retired permenantly,,,  I still have Jest-Duk!kee (who needs a reskin), so it’s not like my fleet is ‘thin’.

I need another boat like I need a second head. (I have enough personality floating around in the one,,,,)

What I want is what I’ve not got,,,

The only reason I even started looking was I WANT a longer boat.   Only two of those boats I was looking at qualify on that note.  One was rotomolded, which I am finding less appealing as time goes by, and the other was a 20yo fiberglass boat.   That one would have sealed the deal, but there were missing components that weren’t obvious ‘at first glance’.   I really looked closely at the picture provided and realized that there were two missing hatch covers.   Those get expensive FAST, and with the age of the boat, may not even be around to buy.   The one place that has a reputation for hard to find parts also has a no return policy, so if it doesn’t work out; you eat it.      

What I need, is all around me.

I’m still going to my Sis’ for an extended weekend.   I want a break from this area for a spell, and paddling on waters unknown to me,,, see some fresh sights, different animals (gators?)   Maybe even twist my sisters arm and go to Charleston to paddle one of the creeks there and maybe get to paddle with dolphins.   Dunno,,, 

BUT,

Time away, and no chasing boats that I don’t actually need.   I think this was a test by IS, and by not ‘biting that hook’, I can grow a little bit more.    And like I told Brudda B,,, every single one was frikkin’ YELLOW,,, I don’t really like the color yellow.  No particular reason, just don’t, and why every damned boat I looked at recently was that color???   (and yes, that is part of why I am backing out,,, but by no means ALL,,,)

Keep the cash, use it smartly, keep waiting for that ‘dream boat’.    I know its model, and I know what to expect to pay for it.

And I know that where I am, currently, its not justifiable to buy.  That boat is an honest to Dog, TOURING kayak, built for speed and cargo, for unsupported ‘expeditions’.   The way I use my boats right now, would be an insult to that make.   Keep growing, keep pushing that learning curve, and keep sockin’ away a little here and a little there, until such time as I have EARNED the right to own that boat.

What qualifies as ‘Earned’?   Being able to ‘Paddle nap’, for one.  Having learned how to ‘wear’ my kayak enough that laying down in the water is second nature.  At that stage, a capsize is nothing, and might even be a strategic ploy (turtle rolls to get through REALLY big waves)   

And why not make my own,,, I know what I want, right?   Yeah,,, that part keeps biting me in the ass.  The material costs are outrageous right now, and buying used just makes more sense (to me)  I know I can make the prototype: I am not sure about the final product being seaworthy.   Too many variables and not enough experiance with the materials/processes that would be involved.(keep learnin’: this game ain’t over yet!)

Sometimes, it takes a Jimi-thang, to keep me movin’!

———————————————————–

Tropical Storm Helene is on its way here tomorrow,,, We aren’t working Friday for the same reason.  I am not slotted to leave out until Saturday mornin’ and I have ZERO desire to leave earlier and risk going through the mountains of North Carolina with high winds and weather.   

but the more I think about those boats, despite the ‘desire’ still raging in my veins, I really think this is the right choice: to not choose, just hold off.   And just use the time for ‘clearin’ the head’.  (funny how the Marine/Navy term ‘head’ has a double meaning,,,,   Both can get pretty polluted if not maintained.)

And in some ways, IS is giving me ‘that out’ by sending foul weather my way.   I’ll just claim the storm ‘forced me to change plans and thank you for playing’.    It’s not like I will be dropping the ball, day of,,,     still, this is the right choice,,,,

Thanks for listening to me vent my spleen over all of this.  I know its not ‘critical information’ but maybe someone else could use the strategy to keep themselves out of ‘too many decisions’

LIVE

LEARN

LAUGH

LOAD!!!

UPDATED:  After a full nights sleep on things, I am still tossed internall, but my resolve seems more “will this check those boxes I’m missing” and I keep coming back to ‘not really’.   I’d only be adding another boat that does much the same thing as what  I already have.   Like owning three corvettes of different years, that only occasionally get driven.   Thats not in my character: I’m not a collector, I’m a tool user, and when tools sit, unused, I feel guilty and want to pass them on to someone that will use them.   

Yes, I still want a longer boat, and I have three in mind: two for the used market and luck of the draw, the third is the “if money were no object” wish-boat. 

So I sit this round of the game out and make no bids.

Been cruising around the webz, looking at commoner threads, MSM threads, Independent Journalist (not the J-urinalist type 1 mod0 of the MSM’s)

along with some other intel reports that have been handed down.  Some I have linked here in the past: like that one where they point out that we have not had an honest election since JFK, but meticulously manicured ‘choices’ that fit the agenda of the Globalists.  

Is this year any different?

I have to question some things about it.    For starters,,, Trumped,,,    Talks a good hardline, has backed himself with other hardliners like RFKjr, who wants to hammer the FDA DEA and a couple of other agencies.   

BUT WILL HE?

Look at his last term,,, backed up by Swamp Critters, stonewalled by both parties, and did some damage as well (bumpstock bans, Operation Warpspeed that is STILL bearing rotted fruit.)   Yeah, he did some good too.   Lack of new wars, de-escalation of the one we were already in (and the Dems are cursing him for ‘not giving them a good exit plan,,,’)

What I want to see:   Get back independent energy.   We can’t rebuild without juice,  Readily available juice at low prices.    Food doesn’t just grow itself, at least not in the quanitities we need,,,   Nor does it get from farm to market on its own.   Thats just the start of the supply chain operations,,, without readily sourced ‘juice’ to run things, everything else ramps up in cost,,,,

Second: Get the border under control and start getting those that won’t assimilate into AMERICAN CULTURE, OUT!!!    I have no problem with people wanting to come here, but like any GOOD relationship, what do you bring to the table?    If its looking for a free-ride, keep looking,,,,   It should NOT be on our backs that you ride.   I have known several ‘Illegals’ from my time in Tejas, and I can tell you, they were more American in mindset than some of the Yahooz I see these days.   They would even patrol the local bus stations and make sure those coming through were on the up and up, and not freeloaders or gangbangers.  That was in 2012,,,   I have no idea what its like down there now.

back to the energy thing for a minute:   If you want better electric power, STOP SUBSIDIZING GREEN DEALS.   Instead start investing in STORAGE SOLUTIONS: aka Battery technologies.    We have ample research into e-motors, and collection methods (and have proven world wide, most all large scale collection is hugely wasteful, dangerous on several levels, and just flat out criminal in how it operates (it reeks of money laundering schemes.)   IMO, the only LARGE SCALE Green energy that makes any sense is Hydro-electric, and that is getting to a point in our world where NO ONE knows how to rebuild what is already in place.    We certainly do not have the manufacturing means that we did when those things were put in place.    What we need are ways of storing large quanities of electrons SAFELY and in a form that can be transfered about in PHYSICAL FORM unlike our current ‘charging station’ debacle.    If you are Heinlein fan, think Shipstones!   

BUT, the biggest change this country is in need of.

EDUCATION REFORM.    We need to stop glorifying all the “Ivy League” indoctrination alumni, and start demanding MERIT based standards.   Don’t wanna know who you know, who you blew, or what Daddy paid to get your degree,,, I wanna see what YOU HAVE DONE WITH IT.    Primarily, we need to gut the primary schools of all the dead weight,   Why a highschool with a graduating class size of 300 needs FOUR PRINCIPLES and all the attendent vice and sect’y’s, assistant to this assistant’s assistant hierarchy,,,,    Must be a good gig with hella benefits to swallow that much cum and not lose your mind.   Education has become a business, and the product such is releasing into the wilds of the world is seriously lacking these days.  GUT the Department of Education.   Let the states take back control, or even better, push it all the way back to the county level.   Don’t wanna see certification from some school, but wanna see teachers that actually can perform.   Wanna teach english, SPEAK ENGLISH, etc etc.    When I was in school, our Shop teachers were not certified as teachers,,, they WERE successful businessmen who wanted to show others how to do what they did, and our school let them, providing them a classroom to do so.    That program was tossed only a few years after I left school, and not because it wasn’t popular, but because it didn’t ‘fit, or bring up the national test scores.’: it was drummed out by Federal demands IE the Department of Education.

Bring back Mental Institutions.   And we can start by filling them with the current psychiatrists that think ‘better living through chemistry’ is the foundation of mental health.   Oh, and there is a current list of 535 I wouldn’t mind seeing  in padded restraints*,,,,  just sayin’.

Downsize the government as a whole.   I still can not see how The Executive Branch is so ham-strung that they can’t fire SES employees,,,    Something just ain’t right there, and that needs addressed in a big way.     There needs to be a return to the Constitutional Controls and all of these Federal Register entries need to be revoked/repealed/erased/something.   Simpler Vernacular needs to be the MAIN, just as it was in our original documents;  ‘Shall not be infringed’ reads only one way,,,   That needs to be the norm, not the exception.

I could go on and on and on about all of this, but what I ‘SEE’, tells me that nothing is going to change, at least not radically, and in another four years, its back to the same old same old.    Further falling down the rabbit hole into Turd world status and some other Country (Argentina?) will take the stage as the “shining beacon on the hill”,,,   Hell, right now, from all I have been hearing, Russia is already where we were in the 80’s for freedoms,,,, talk about a turning of the tables,,,,

To be honest, I really have no desire to find out what young groundhog tastes like.  I was talking to Da about his childhood in this area following the Great Depression, and I can so easily see us falling that low if things don’t start to make a turn-around here soon.   I will do what I have to do to survive, make no mistakes: that does not mean I relish the idea(s),,,    I’m not exactly a young man, and I prefer certain creature comforts in my waning years.   AND, I know if things were to get realy rough, really fast, the die-off would be astounding.  Far too many have no clue about basic things.   We have become a country of convienence and disposible everything,,, that won’t fly in the face of adversity and limited resources.

THIS is not the world I went into the Marines to defend for my child and grandchildren.  Whats (likely) coming, is not the world I wished for them.   And I just do not see a way I/ME/MYSELF can make a change for the better for them: the problem is so much bigger than local local local.   I do what I can, here, locally, but small pockets scattered an isolated will quickly fail, and I do not see how we can make it a network while the insanity of the world at large continues to grow like a cancer, while the foundations of it are imploding.

Downer post, apologies.

Live

Learn

(try to) LAUGH

LOAD!!!!

*or stretched necks, but I leave that to my more angst ridden days,,,,

I went to church, but the vestibule was loaded down with hooligans and loud noizy things,,,    Bunches of people with camps set up everywhere and Dirtbikes and fourwheelers cluttering the ramp.   Ramp looked like a slime pit with all the mud they had been washing off the toys,,,

and the damned beatbox music thumping,,,,

at 9 am!!!

sigh,,,,

I didn’t even put Buff into park,,,, just stopped, listened for a minute, observed the carnage, then put her in reverse,,,,   

And then the rumblies started up,,,   T-storms blowing through.   Not raging windy howler fests,,, just the occasional flashy-flashy, boom-rumble and scattered showers.   Makes for a relaxing day,,,   Sleep weather as I tend to think of it.  

Only sleep is quite elusive,,, brainium awhirl as usual.

Klingy putty-tats too.   They don’t like growly skies, and want assurances that all is good.  (or they are complaining about my weather control skills,,,)   Yah,,, that doesn’t help when you are just sitting there, starting to doze, and WHUMP! Kat in lap, mreowr, blurt, purr,,,,

or the flatulant dawgums,,,,   Da gave Voo a hunk of chedder cheese that had started to go all moldy.    Dawg ate it and is now stinkin’ the porch up with gaseous emissions,,,    T’anks Dad!  LOL

Just a long and quite boring day.   I prolly coulda done a river run, but, Lyssa, Fiberglass hull,,, low water levels,,,, Rocks,,,,,

PASS.  And I am being lazy,,, I could have came home and picked up Rio with little effort,,,   Instead, I just came home,,,

Impatiently being patient, biding my time to this coming Friday when I will load up for a run to the coast for a four day mini-kaytion (totally a word) fresh and hopefully some salt water under keels, new boat, new lake,,,,

CHANGE, and change I can appreciate.    Break the routine for a spell and clear the ruts out.   I NEED THIS,,, even if that boat deal falls through, I need the change in pattern/scenery.

more later as the week goes along.  

LLLL