Friday, July 3, 2009

With Child

Daughter number two from Texas, is visiting our rainy and cold territory this weekend. Amazing how loud the house gets when she's home :) Apparently they do not have good bagels in Texas. So when she finally drags her butt down here we'll get her a good old New York bagel. She's amazed at how green everything is here. Texas is kind of brown, but here in NY we have the green. Why? Because it rains ALL THE TIME! We plan to sail on Saturday, as the weather should be better. I am itching to sail the tub, and the next few days we will have about 15 knots, so it should be decent. Gary and Deb got out. Get the sails up you guys! You know you're getting old when you totally enclose your cockpit. We used to sail with no canvas at all, because we felt it interfered with the wind on our faces, and kept you from moving around the boat. Sun, wind, water in the face felt great, now it's only fun once in a while. We do get to extend our season a little, plus it's nice to be in the cockpit when it's raining, and it keeps the cold lake wind off our old bones. Yes, we're wimps. Oh yea, we still have the cat. She's going to fly out on Monday....right.

Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to my neighbors across the lake. See you in August. Save some Dragon's Breath (real ale) for me, eh.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Racing in Lightning

I race on Tuesday nights with GYC in Rochester. I'm currently crew on a Santana 20, which is a fast little boat, when the waves are down. We went out last night in what looked like a passing thunderstorm. The race was postponed for a half hour, then we started, late to the line, but caught up to the leader downwind. It looked like we were going to catch them at the leeward mark, but all holy hell broke loose. The lightning and thunder started, and radio calls announcing DNF's were starting to come in. One more bolt, and the race committee bagged the race. We turned in towards the Genesee river, and WHAM, the wind and rain smacked into us, flogging the sail as we motored in; the little outboard screaming to fight the wind. The lightning was a bit too much for me, and I held on to the mainsheet with fingers crossed while we motor sailed to port.We broke a batten, and it poked through the sail. Skipper will not be happy. Now if lightning struck that little Tohatsu "piece of crap" outboard he has, I would be smiling the whole summer. Yesterday was very frustrating, as I was stuck at the house, again, trying to get the cat on a flight out of here. This time it looked like a go, and I went to the airport for the drop off. Continental was the slowest moving ticket counter I have ever seen. I waited an hour and a half to hear the flight was 2 hrs delayed, and the cat would miss it's connector. Son of a $^%$. I just got to the yacht club in time for the opportunity to get zapped. Now the cat is going out at 8am tomorrow, so I miss an overnight on the boat, because I have to be at the airport at 6:30 AM! This week sucks so far. It will get better when my daughter Nicole shows up. We haven't seen "Tex" in a while. Maybe she can help me fix the windlass :) She better bring a raincoat, and a fleece. The temps up here are a bit cooler than the coastal bend.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Flu Gone, Rain Stays

Finally, we are healthy! All Deb and I have is this nagging cough, though mine is just about gone. Thankfully it did not turn into pneumonia, or bronchitis. We had a party to go to with some of our old friends, but Deb was still running a fever, so she stayed on the boat. I however, was feeling fine, and decided to go. It was not a warm reception. Everyone looked like I had just walked in with the black death. I think they expected me to point a bony finger at them and call them to the dark side. I guess I can't blame them, but I was not contagious at that point. The coughing kind of freaked them out, but I coughed the proper way, as pointed out in this video. LOL What's with the rain? Geez, this has been a crappy summer so far at Lat.43 north. I am off all this week, but the rain is still on. We were too sick and tired to sail last weekend, so boat projects were on order. I got a few odd things done. Replaced the belt on the engine, which was throwing rubber dust everywhere. Nothing like burning rubber smell after running the engine, not to mention the smoke. My nav light in the bow has been replaced. The bulb was shot, and the lens was all clouded over. Done. The v-berth was partially cleaned out, and one more day should do it. Then I'll have to paint the headliner in the bow. I would re-bed some items on the deck, but the rain keeps ruining my plans. So far every layoff I've had, has been in bad weather. Oh well, at least the rain hits me before the ground. Wouldn't want it reversed. I found out over the weekend that my windlass has frozen up. I need to open it up and check it out, but it will have to wait for the rain to stop. I would have to pull up anchor by hand this coming weekend, and I'll do it if I have to. As long as I don't lose my berries in the process. I had two hernia operations for a reason. I just hope the patch is in there pretty good. We still have my daughters cat living with us. This is also screwing up my plans. Every day we've been trying to fly the cat to Oregon, but the weather keeps delaying flights, and she could never make the connection. So she sits here, rubbing her face and butt on me until she can make a flight. Chewy and I are on standby...all damn week. The cat just threw up. What the hell. What makes some people want to be doing something all the time? I was sitting here, reading some blogs, and catching up on the news, and I actually felt guilty, like I was neglecting chores, or something. Doing nothing should feel great! I guess reading is doing something, but I still feel like I should be cleaning, or fixing, or something other than relaxing. Did my parents program that into me? They would say no, as I am perceived as being the lazy dog in the family. I'm not really lazy, just not in a hurry. Guess that's why I sail :) Don't let the rain get you down. It's just water, and unless you're a cat, it shouldn't bother you.