Crash, Bang – What was that!

Last night was my last night on Inspiration until next spring.  There was a North wind and the temperature was 35 degrees F.  In the morning the frost on the boat was very heavy.  I awoke about 6:40 AM, ate breakfast and put everything on the dock that I wanted to take home this trip.  The truck & trailer with my new 16.5 kayak was stored in the heated building so it was nice to put the things away in the vehicle.

The Saqugatuck Marine people arrived at o730 and we started.  By 1100 hrs it was out and ready for power washing.  I use VC17 so the washing was a snap and the moved it into the heated storage building to a temporary position.

As they were removing the dolly’s and putting the corner boxes there was a very loud bang and one of the wood supports for my cradle broke.  Luckily there was a box under both corners and no trauma resulted.  However, where do you find a 2″x6″x14′ solid oak board to replace the broken one?  I called around and located a rough cut 2×12×14′ board we can rip into two pieces.  Now I have to get up early and run to Charlotte, MI buy the lumber and then deliver it to the marina.  I figure this is cheaper than the solution that they would come up with.  The board is $62 ripped so the price is not too bad per board ft (about $0.50 per bd ft).  The high $ item will be gasoline running around and labor to install the board as it is inside one of their facilities and employees have to do the work at $75 per hour.

I’ll let you know tomorrow what transpires.  Oh yes,  I have to stop by the local hardware and get new bolts, nuts , washers and some 2′ all thread 1/2″ rod (in case we have to make a custom something).

What? Where did the day go?

It started out with the fact that I, CWM, actully slept until 0930 this morning!  I can count late sleeping with both hands and toes.  Anyway, it felt good. 

About 10:00 I was finished with breakfast, coffee and emails.  Then came the serious stuff – Stock Market, Banks, Bonds and other investment issues.  Man, the market was up again and going through the roof.  SAM and I had discussions about the serious nature of the economy and international buy-in’s.  My main worry was where did our $10K go from Wachovia?  Everyone is getting bailed out and Wells Fargo is offering $00.10 on the dollar from a stock that we paid $50 (aprox) for?  They spend $700 billion of my tax dollars to bail the banks and $25 billion to bail the automotive industry and just where is Wachovia?  They are in the tanks and defunct and I MAY get $7 per share of the 200 shares I had.  Who makes out on this one?  Wells Fargo that is who!  WF is my main bank and has been for 30+ years – they pay me diddly for my saved money and now they steal my stock.  Something is not quite right here.  But, what do you do about it?  Capitulate, give the $ to the rising very upper middle class and rich.  Screw the middle class they were getting too powerful anyway – to think a democracy could run itself without the ariostoracy and Wall Street.  As we said in the 60’s “the times they are a coming”.

 Anyway, I put a buy in for GM at $6.50 just to support the good old USA.  I think I will buy some Ford tomorrow AM for the same reason.  The last of the icons.  I guess I will go down in a blaze of glory and patriotism.  Then, since they have all my retirement $ (via 401K that let the companies off the hook), I will have blown my personal cash from the last 5 years.  Roll the dice – make or break – and I bet craps comes up.  So much for the workers of this country, we are done for and buried – the Irish, Scottish, Germans, Scandinavians and last but not least the English.  The new ones can come only from China, India, Mexico and Eastern block areas. 

I think Capitalism has failed.  Greed does really have bounds.  The bounds are the peoples of the Earth who will stand only for so much and then the changes start taking place.  What we are seeing is the start of the change.  Where will it lead? 

The details do not matter but the macro-essence must surely point to a social world where work exists for the pleasure of the people and and not the nations, states, corporations and multi-nationals.  Only in this way can we protect our fragile environment, provide fulfillment to our billions of people and migrate away from greed.

This period will be the tribulation and we are entering it now.  Whether one looks at it from the macro or micro point of view we have looked at the enemy, seen the enemy and the enemy is integrated within us.  Now  we need to undertake to identify the false Prophets.

Week 42: Allergies

I have been having a bout with allergies.  when I was younger it took the form of runny nose, bloodshot eyes and occasional congestion.  As an older person the symptoms are less of the aforementioned and more of the hives and congestion.  The past three weeks have been the worst all summer.  I guess this is because of the fact I am in PL more and less on the boat.  Near water and farther north my symptoms become less.

This past week I added the remote indicator panel for the combiner.  It fit quite nicely but I bunged up the face a bit when I tried to lever it just a little to plumb.  When I did this the face cover plastic piece seperaded from the flat black base layer and I now have a translucent piece in the lower left corner.  I have been thinking of super glue with low viscosity to sort of run in between the two layers and then squeezing for just the few seconds for the bond to take place.  I just could not stand the disappointment this week.  I was on the boat 4 days this week.

Sunday we took the sails off and they are safely stored in the building.  Next week I think we will take the truck and bring the Cetol back home to do the boarding ladder and the other necessary touch ups on the removable wood items.  There are getting to be more and more winter work items.

It was warm Sunday and it seems everyone was in a bad temper state so it was not really a pleasant afternoon.  In spite of all this SAM did manage to paint the Cetol Gloss coat fon the bow sprit and it looks nice.

We left for PL about 6 to 6:30 and ran into a wreck on I-94 and then a super long 5 mph slow down just after that.  We exited at milemarker 85 and headed cross country with the aid of my trusty computer and the USB GPS.  Even so the 2.5 hr trip took 4 and we were dog tired when we arrived home.

Today, Monday, I mowed the lawn, replaced some light bulbs in the hangar, had a TSA association  meeting.  I had just. time for a 15 minute nap.  Hopefully, the leaves will start to come down so we can get that chore over with for the season.  Then it is time to snuggle in for the winter.

This week 41

After church Sunday we went kayaking Long Lake and down the Pigeon Crick with Fred & Karen.  We had a good time but the weather turned cloudy about half way down Long Lake.  The complete trip was just us as no one else was out.  It was beautiful.

Monday and Tuesday were rainy and I was chained to the house.  By Wednesday I was ready to go to the boat.  I arrived about 1800 EST and cooked dinner.  My allergies seem to have re-appeared and I itched and had some hives.  I went to get some Bynedryl and that helped a little.

Thursday I installed the remote Pathmaker Combiner indicator.  I had just sufficient lenght to complete the project.  After working, I went to Radio Shack for a Budd Box.  On the way back I bought a roasted chicken.  There is plenty for tomorrow night.

Friday was a sleeping late and just tracing wires then documenting for posterity on Visio.