when the 70’s and 80’s existed simultaneously,,,, LOVE that comment!!!!

My anthem for the day,,,,

rain out,,,    Had a short project needed finished, but was the only peep about and temps were dropping,,,  Finished and went home,,,

Dusted off the Erg for the season.   Probably going to need it soon, ’cause I know there are going to be times where getting out just ain’t gonna happen.   Not that I won’t go, but that whole solo thing still mitigates me taking unneccesary risks.    Gear can only do so much, and unlike on coastal locations, We don’t have the ‘luxury’ of being able to jump on the VHF and call for help.  (Lake Cumberland has areas where that is doable, my usual digs do not)

Trying to be patient with things right now.   Feeling antsy to get to SC and pick up a boat and have a mini-vakay,,,  Torn as to which is pulling harder on the impatience,,,,   Feel like a 6yo at the beginning of December,,,   counting the days, hours, minutes,,,    Get on the Erg and paddle for 15 minutes, practice edge control, trying to push my self ‘over’ more and maintain control. (not 100% simulation, but damned close to how Lyssa responds)  Paddle some more,,, look at clock and sigh,,,,

Too much time on my hands,,,,,

idle hands make for long days.

Pull the campgear out and re-organize for winter roles.

too much time on my hands,,,,

SO I pulled the Food Dryer project out, drew some lines on the tank, even cut a couple of slots (where the hinges will go BEFORE I cut the rest of the door out.  Cleaner that way.)  But I didn’t want to drag it to the welder and get that far into it today.   Mostly just some idea plays getting out.

One reason I dislike winter months (and ya, I know we aren’t in winter YET,,,) is the dying daylight thing.  Shorter days, but I am not wired to sleep THAT MUCH,,,,   And its still too early in the season for binge reading,,,   I do read a lot, year round, but that list of things ‘to be read’ gets pummeled into submission in the winter months.   ( I have a stack of books next to the desk that I have started, but not really dug into because SUMMER,,,,)   You could ask my Sis,,, I’ll sit down after breakfast with a book and have it done before the end of the day, and may start back in on it, if I think I ‘missed something’.   Most books get read several times, not always back to back, but over years,,,  Until I can recall the scenes at whim, without needing to open the book.

too much time on my hands,,,,

This is why I know I will never “Retire”,,,  I may not be as involved in physical work, but the mind will not rest, even when the weather dictates idleness.   That is the one thing I have been striving for with the meditation thing,,, calming the mind, getting it to exit the gears and just idle,,,,   Seems like I ‘get it’ one week, and rebound the next,,,,

too much time on my hands,,,,,  t-t-t-ticking away,,,, I don’t know what to do,,,,

ROLFMAO,,,,  

Live

        Learn

                   Laugh

                                LOAD!!!

been some handwringing in my circles lately..  Found out the cause.

Jealousy.

Long story short, I have a nice truck (and you all know more about its history with me than most)

I have Kayaks, PLURAL,

I have tools, lots of tools.

I have a house, that I own, not borrowed from a bank, or rent,,,,

And I ‘get away with murder’ at the J.O.B.,,,(Yeah right!   I just get more jobs without bossman supervizin’ me)

And all of these things are causing a bit of tension and jealousy among some of the crew.  (AND, I know its being instigated by one certain person,,,, )

YOu want what I have?   EARN IT!   I certainly did.   I worked my ass off for the things I have.   I didn’t party away my paycheck every friday.   I busted knucks building, repairing, improvising, you name it,,,  I scrimped when I knew I needed to, splurged when I could get away with it, and built my credit rating to where it is by PAYING MY WAY. 

None of it was ‘just handed to me’.   The borrowed ‘money’ has a price attached to it as well.  IF I felt that cost was too high, I looked elsewhere or sought other solutions.  

I USED MY BRAIN, NOT MY CROTCH, TO GET THROUGH LIFE.

LOL,,, fuggem,,, I don’t care about the petty jealousies from loser trash that can’t keep $20 aside over a weekend,,,  But it tells me I have an enemy, and one I need to keep an eye on.   Not the ‘in your face’ enemy, but one that siddles up along side you and slips a knife into your buddy, making it look like YOU did it.    That type is dangerous like a Pit Viper.   At least I have a good clue as to WHOM,

now to turn the tables,,,

This is one reason I prefer to work alone.    No ‘politics’ of team work.  Heck, most of the guys that like to work with me, know I am going to do 80% of the job by myself, only having them do the stuff that would eat away my day; letting me focus on the skullsweat stuff.  And most all of them have looked into the boxes I work with and walked away shaking their heads.   (Yes, I know what all the knobs do, and yes, it took awhile to learn.)  

I’m gonna shut my trap now before I put my foot in it.

Looking at an upcoming 4 day weekend, not normally scheduled, and I am going to go out of town for a spell.   

Why, yes, Its to pick up a kayak,,,  

as well as see my Sis and get some water time in, on a lake I have NEVER been on; only looked at a time or three.    BIG lake in my experiance,,, three times the size of Lake Cumberland in surface, but shallow as all get out in comparison.   Deepest parts are 30’+   So wide open water, shallow pool, means the Fetch gets a chance to build into something fun.

Thats a couple of weeks out though.   Was going to be this upcoming, but the seller texted me early and said they had a problem that needed attending and if we could rearrange,,,,,

No rush.   another couple full weeks of work makes this dealio even more doable.   The bills this month are paid, and next months will be as well.   All I would normally do with the next two weeks of pay would be to pay Extra,,,  Yes, I still should, but deals like this,,,,,    Besides,  IF the Deep State decides to crash the economy, what cash I have will be worthless anyways, along with everyone elses, and ALL of the debt collectors are going to feel the sudden vacuum,,,,  

At least I will have my tools and toys,,,,

Live

        Learn

                   Laugh

                                   LOAD!!!

It’s that time of year again*, weather turning towards “Winds of November” chills, falling leaves, and cold KOLD waters,,,,   I actually felt a little of that yesterday,,,  Lots of wind action (out of the east, not the norther’s we get in November) and the water was a bit chilled from just a week prior.

SO, today being Son’s-day, and the usual domestic duties of mine purt much knocked down. (still a couple of little details, but waiting for the cooler temps of evening,,,)  I busted out the Dry-wear,,,,

Drysuit, worn once, didn’t like it, had to have help getting extracted from it,,,   Hadn’t worn it again since, UNTIL TODAY.    YAHOOO!!!!   Figured out that damned zip that I couldn’t get fully open and why I needed help getting out of it.  Now I can don and extract myself, by myself,,,,   And BIGGER, YAHOOO!!!!   I’ve lost some weight,,,  Well, Not weight, still tipping the scale at 200#, but the middle is thinner,,,, Must be putting muscles on up top (and the suit did feel a wee bit tighter across the shoulders, but not bad tight.)   Wore the suit for half an hour, going through motions, sitting as if I were in a cockpit (where I was having another issue, caused by thick spare tire) and did the dishes (yes, donned up in a full drysuit.)    Started getting REALLY warm, so time to extracate myself (SUCCESS!) and 303 the gaskets again.  Stlll too soon for a full suit, but Happy its holding up in storage.

Dry top: Last year, I had the surprise of a sealed neck-gasket and had to replace that (easy, not that expensive, but messy, rilly messy,,,)  I’ve been quite a bit more intensive with proper maintenance this year and keep the gaskets cleaned with that 303 once a month (both suit and top) so this year, all’s well.   Of course, having lost some weight in the middle, the Top feels even baggier than usual, but thats a good thing.  Just means I can get warmer stuff underneath.   My usual routine (developed before I got the drysuit) is to use Neoprene bottoms and fleece uppers covered by the top: and that set up gets me into January with no problems. 

January, February and March, DRY SUIT,,,   Even though I have paddled those times in my DT setup, it wasn’t fun, and my anxiety levels were peaked, so I stayed VERY close to shore.    This year, my skills and confidence have grown enough, with the right gear, I can think more about large body crossings; not just hugging that shoreline or skipping out because the weather isn’t fair enough.

So, my gear is GOOD TO GO, my brain feels settled that I can keep paddling through the winter months, and alls good in Dio’s world,,,  (except those stoopid Poly-tick-ians that can’t get the message, JUST LEAVE US ALONE,,,,  Some things never change, huh?)

sidenote,,, quest for bigger boat,,,, looking at two, trying to contact one but so far, no love,,,  the other is one that I am questioning IF I actually want it,,, so I  haven’t contacted the seller yet. Holding hope the first one gets back to me soon.   No rush,,,,   And I made the decision that IF I do buy a larger boat, I am thinning my fleet down.   Gonna hold on to Blue Jean and Rio, but the rest are going up for grabs.   Blue jean because she is the only boat I am willing to put my dad in (like he will ever go,,, but) and she is a great intro kayak for newbs.  In addition, BJ is my river runner when the run is not WW (and sometimes that too): being Rotomolded, she can take a bit more of a beating than a glass boat can.   RIO because she is the boat I had been looking for in WW boats: don’t do WW much, but for when I do, she is IT,,,

-=———————————–=——=——-

Ok, nuff with my addiction,,,,    The mess  going on in our political machine has everyone sitting on the edge of the seat right now.   This thing LOOKS like it’s going one way, one day, the other on the next.  It would really help if we had HONEST J-urinalists; you know the type, do the actual research and report UNBIASED information, not opinions,,,,   The Editors used to be the ones with the opinion page, not the reporters.  These days, its ALL opine, little fact, and lots of rumor.   Also known as PROPAGANDA,,,,   So what happens next?   Who the F! knows.    I am more worried that Bidens handlers are going to see QueMala losing to Trumped in November and will then PUSH PUTIN over the blink stage into actual retaliation mode.    WW3 baby!   (not that we aren’t already, only the escalation hasn’t happened yet.   Give it time,,,)

“WW4 will be fought with sticks and bones”   (accredited to Albert Einstein, but I has doubts,,,,  Could have been any number from post Hiroshima days.)

Anywhoos, Gots to get back to my duties for the day.   Tomorrow its back to the mines, maybe more core drilling,,, (yay! NOT!) or burning metal, or lord only knows at this stage.  Such is the life of the ‘Go to Guy’,,,,

Live

learn

laugh

LOAD!

*its also that time of year where seakayaks are going ‘cheaper’, as the people that bought them on whim, are finding ‘storage’ of a 17’+ boat is a sort of a pain in the ass,,,,    Used to buy my moto’s the same way, cheap buy in the winter, sell high in the spring.

Saw a deal of a boat on Marketplace, and without doing due diligent research, reached out to the guy selling and made offer,,,   Surprise!!! He’s all “come and get it!”   

SO, I made plans to go there this (Satyrday) morning, arriving around noon and pick up the boat.

And had all night to stew on it, research it, and eyeball the hull shape.   

Pro-points: Carbonlite2000 hull,   Tougher than Roto-mold PE,,, lighter than Fiberglass Composites, easier to repair as well.

The downers: Hull shape is VERY similar to the Norkapp hull, Long slim, shallow V hull, long keel-line and a ‘perma-skeg’ set up on the aft end.  

All the reviews crow about how light the boat is (18′ boat, that tips the scales at 48#,,, almost 20# lighter than Lyssa and over a foot longer)  NONE of the reviews had any good words about rough water handling,,,,   Most all suggested she be “interior waters that don’t see a lot of boat traffic”

To wrap this little story up: The seller texted me this morning asking if I was 100% going to show up as he had lots and lots of offers for the boat.  ($300 for a $3000 boat, and in GREAT shape despite being 12 years old. Yah, his phone app is going off the hook.)     I think I thought about it all of 20 seconds and texted back. ” Go ahead and let someone else have it.  I need another kayak like I need a divorce (I have 10)   Thanks for the chance though brother,,,,”

So the quest for a long sporty cargo haulin’ kayak continues,,,,    Note: that boat in question, an Eddyline S18 Falcon, was NOT on my original list of options.  the Carbonlite 2000 lay up intrigued me, but not enough to buy a boat that would likely get resold almost as fast as I bought it (and it was a three hour drive, one way,,,,)

——————————————

So instead of  Buffalo humping my Carcass through the hills of North Carolina to buy a boat that I have absolutely ZERO need for,   I took Lyssa to the lake and we had a lunch and some fun fighting 10mph winds and lots and lots of CHOP,,,,

I would have liked to stay longer but there were some quite annoying people out today.    Seriously, if I, deaf ol’Dio, can make out the lyrics to the song you are blasting on your boat, FROM 1/2MILE AWAY, you are being annoying as FUCK!!!    As someone in my past said once, “If you need music at the beach, you missed the point!”   Granted, boating is a bit different, but please, RESPECT THE OTHER ATTENDEES and that they may not want to hear your bad tastes in music. Turn it up, sure, but I see no need for it to be so loud that you can hear it half a lake away. (and this coming from a guy that made a living “Getting LOUD”,,,,)

All in all, not a disappointing day,,, I really didn’t need that boat, despite wanting one more inline with my needs for camping.   I had a good time getting out and about in water and getting my soul drenched and cleaned.   Added miles to my goals for the year, and my shoulder is feeling much more at ease now.  (strange, I ache all week, but a couple miles of paddling and my shoulder feels right as rain.)   Good day, and my bank account didn’t take a hit.  Can’t complain about that.

L, L, L, L!

Water, kayaks, , , SANITY

Strange week this week, and not going to burden y’all with the mess my life seems to be right now.

It’s life afterall, right?   Shit happens,,,, Same shit, different day,,,

and I am so itching to get on water right now, the next 24 hours are going to be that much more tedious,,,,

No camping this weekend, have too many obligations that can’t be set aside for long.   Gotta take it as I can, but I can get a few hours in somewhere and not muck up the whole weekend ‘chores and duties’.

Only real bonus (knock on wood): Buffalo doesn’t need my attention this weekend.  Things going good.   Heat is working, found the problem with the ABS system and corrected that (dead sensor, right front wheel.   I upgraded my OBDII reader last weekend so I can read ABS and SRS codes as well as the usual MIL errors.)  Still has an intermittent misfire, but I think that has more to do with a worn out engine:   320K on the odo and still kickin’,,,  (about the only thing left to ‘fix’ in all honesty.)

And tomorrow is one of my splurge days (in a sense): I always play the lottery on Friday the 13ths.    So I’m droppin’ a $20 on plays tomorrow afternoon and seeing what happens.    Don’t wish me luck,,,  Its just fun and games, with a near impossible return.   Will see.    The only thing I can say for certain (If I were to win), I wouldn’t stop working,,,   Might take a REAL vacation for a month, but I can’t NOT work,,,   I’d go bleepin’ stir crazy fried in the brain NUTZ if I were to ‘retire’. (and if you think I wouldn’t be scoping out rental properties to purchase on that vakay,,,,  HA!   I know how to invest money, I just never have it in quantity to do so.)

No pipe-dreaming,,, Just buy the ticket and take the ride.  IF it pays, then,,,,  Not until.

One more day, looks like another day of core drilling.   That was the J.O.B. I was assigned today.    Dress accordingly: its nasty ass work and you wear the spattered slurry,,,No way to avoid it.  Of course, thats assuming that the rain blowing our way now, has blown past by then.   If not, not a clue what my day is scheduled to be.

But Satyrday is MY DAY and MY DAY is calling for WATER!!!,,, under my keel, on my decks, dripping from my hat, you name it, WET will be the operative word.

Keep on livin’

            Keep on learnin’

                       Laugh to make QueMala blush

                            and Keep on loadin’!  The kittehs need protected!!!!

The world shifted direction when three towers fell, and the American people lost their collective shit,,,,

I say that because since then, “SAFETY FIRST” has become the mantra

Always forgetting the “a people that are willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither” quote.

We got the Patriot Act, which was neither Patriotism nor an Act,,, it was a dead serious POWER GRAB.   Look back at the original document and tell me with a straight face, that it was not ‘ready and waiting’ for just the right moment to spring on the people.   Not saying that The events in NYFC were contrived to bring it about, (has suspicions, leave it at that) but that document had been written for some time, just waiting,,,

The we got the Testicle Squeezers,,,, Homeland Security which has grown more three letter agencies,,,   We got the Star Chambers of invisible courts systems

That road was cut and just waiting to be paved by power mongers and thier willing bought and paid for “Representatives”

The 3000 dead were the blood sacrifice to thier Demongod,,,

The world can never return to that moment before,,,  

I recall saying that morning “The world just turned a corner and things will never be the same” and lord how UNDERSTATED that was.

and its only been 23 years.

I work with a guy who didn’t even exist yet when that shift happened.   He has ZERO CLUE how the world is different, this is the only one he has ever known.   He has no idea the FREEDOM of not having a phone in your pocket.  (we were free when the phones were tied to the walls,,,)

Today is a dark day, always will be now.   and fittingly enough, today is the day Kenny “Bones” Gray is going to be laid to rest for the last time.  His memorial is at noon, and the funeral at 6,,,,    Fitting, and overshadowed at the same time.   He at last found a way over the wall of this prison and will never worry about such things again.   I feel almost envious right now.

more later

L, L, L, L!

I gotta ask, because I don’t wanna think I am goin’ kra-kray,,,

It was like the approach of a storm, the sudden drop in air pressure gives warning,,,

and like all storms, they pass: sometimes there is destruction in the passing, but there is always fresher air and sunlight with the passing,,,,

THAT,,, THAT is what I felt today.  The approaching storm, but that once its past, the fresh air and sunlight will outweigh any destruction,,,,,   

Something shifted in this time line, something shifted for the better, and while its gonna hurt a bit in its birth, the aftermath is gonna be GREAT.

Damn but I pray this isn’t just a flurry of emotions from all the ups and downs over the past weekend,,,   IT feels MUCH bigger than that, and hit me in the lower regions first.  

If ya felt something too, please chime in,,,,