Saturday, March 21, 2009

Happy Spring!

I love this time of year. A time to celebrate, and we did, a little, but we did not burn our socks.

Annapolis welcomes the season with a sock-burning ceremony

The Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Is that spring in the air or an old gym sock on fire?

In sailing-crazy Annapolis, boaters celebrate the first day of spring with a ceremonial Burning of the Socks, signifying it will soon be warm enough to wear boat shoes without socks.

"It's a good idea to stand upwind," said John Morgan, 77.

The tradition began in the mid-1980s, when an employee at Annapolis Yacht Yard tired of his winter days doing engine maintenance on yachts and power boats. He stripped off his stinky socks, put them in a paint can with lighter fluid and drank a longneck beer while looking forward to warmer days.

"There's a whole industry of people who work all winter long on people's boats so that they'll be in shape for their owners to go out and play all summer," said Jeff Holland, director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum.

This year's sock-burning ritual attracted more than 130 people Monday evening: boatyard workers and wealthy sailboat owners alike. Celebrants sipped beer and red wine and speculated how long they could go barefoot until their toes reddened from the cold.

Annapolis resident Michael Busch, speaker of the Maryland House, joked that socks constitute formal wear in these parts. The most hard-core sock haters refuse to wear them from the spring equinox until the first day of winter.

"The uniform is deck shoes and khaki pants in winter. The uniform is deck shoes and khaki shorts in summer," Holland said. The sock bonfire, he said, is a way of remembering Annapolis' bygone days of working-class watermen who brought in crabs in summer and scraped paint off wooden vessels in winter. These days, waterfront lots go for millions, and bonfire revelers retire for crab cakes and oysters after burning their socks.

Prudent sailors might want to hold on to some socks. Snow was forecast today, with highs in the mid-30s.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patty's

Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer – and another one!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

BOILER UP!!

What a great day. We met good friends for brunch at the Crescent beach Hotel , and then drove out to Sodus Bay for a peak at Alert, and the work we have to do to get floating again. Our friends Gary and Deb now own a beautiful CS27, and will be out in Sodus real soon, and it should be fun watching them getting their boat ready for the season. We'll add to the confusion I'm sure :) We got out to Sodus in bright sunshine for a change, and we measured a few things, and took count of the thru-hulls that need replacing, made an overall inspection, then drove home to sit down and watch....
Purdue University Boilermakers - Big Ten Champs
Go Purdue! Boiler Up! Good to see THE Ohio state lose THE game. Since my daughter became a boiler, I always look forward to any Buckeye loss, or any other team in the big ten for that matter. Wish we could have had a championship for the 'Cuse, but they had the game of the century, and should go far in the dance. Go Orange! Yes Nicole. Purdue should go deep too :) Geez. The rivalry continues.