I was thinking back to the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans last year. It reminded me of how utterly pathetic the current administration’s response was, as well as how it played on racial overtones. Then I remembered that my congressional representative is running for reelection against another wingnut playing the discrimination card. So, I made a contribution to Brad Miller’s campaign.
I hope you will, too.
The hug given by a seatbelt is a poor approximation of the real thing.
The Labor Day weekend was full of fun. Kelly and I set the kids up with a babysitter Saturday and met the former owner of our sailboat for a few hours’ sailing Falls Lake. The conditions were spectacular! Tropical Storm Ernesto swept all the heat and humidity out of the area, leaving a fall-like day for sailing. Winds were from 5-10 MPH with enough gusts to give us a nice little ride around the lake. Will, the former owner, was generous in passing on his knowledge and was good company, too. If it weren’t for the limits on his time (and our babysitter’s), we may have stayed out all afternoon.
Rigging and unrigging the boat went much easier this time around, too, as did my experience at the boat ramp. I’ve got plenty of confidence with everything now that I feel I could sail the boat myself if need be. I also feel comfortable that the minivan can handle the ramps just fine. No need to get a bigger vehicle.
We had hoped to go out on Sunday as well but the wind was nowhere to be found. Instead we made plans to take the kids to Pullen Park. Kelly and I got into a spat around then which put me in a foul mood for most of the day. Fortunately we patched things up around dinnertime but not soon enough for me to avoid a pounding headache caused by stress. While there were some good aspects to it, Sunday was one of those days I wish I could just do over.
Monday was better, though. We met my brother’s family at my parents’ pool and had a chilly swim – the clouds had kept the temperature way down. When the kids’ teeth began to chatter I knew it was time to move on. While the kids took their naps I headed out to do some quick work on the boat, adding some wooden rails to the trailer to make boat recovery easier. I can imagine that a boat is just like a house in the respect that if one looks one can always find some work to do on it.
Now its back to work. Oh yeah, that.
I love the smell of sawdust.
Death finally caught up to Steve Irwin, who died today in a freak accident. Known worldwide as “The Crocodile Hunter,” Irwin was snorkeling off the north coast of Australia when he accidentally cornered a stingray. The ray threw up its tail in defense, driving its barb into Irwin’s chest.
Annoying as he may have sometimes been (though not as annoying as Paul Hogan’s “Crocodile Dundee” character), Irwin became an unofficial ambassador for Australia as well as a huge proponent of conservation. People around the world knew his “crikey” catchphrase. The guy danced with death so many times and walked away from it that its ironic he’d be done in while he was totally behaving himself. One thing you can say: he went out doing just what he wanted to do.
Next time I’m lucky enough to visit Australia, I’ll say a little “crikey” in his honor. That, and I’ll look very carefully for stingrays.
(hat tip, Margarita Lounge)
I was poking around the Internets today looking for marine products to blow money on when I came across this Solar Panel Kit at Harbor Freight Tools. Two hundred bucks gets you 3 15-watt solar panels and a power center to charge batteries. You add a deep-cycle battery or two and an inverter and you’ve got yourself a nice little solar power station.
As a geeky kid in the early 80’s I had a fold-up solar panel that would power a transistor radio (transistors, remember those?). I always thought solar panels were interesting to have around for projects. As a grown-up geek, I can imagine some cool uses for 45-watt panels.
Tropical Storm Ernesto passed through just east of the Triangle early this morning, hugging the eastern side of I-95 as it passes into Virginia. Winds near the center are sustained at 60 MPH, but here there is much, much less wind. The weather station’s wind gauge measured a gust of 20 MPH at 3:45 AM this morning. The gust must have been higher since the gauge is too close to the house for me to trust it. I’d say the breeze is well over what I’d be comfortable sailing in but not strong enough to be worried about falling trees.
The rain so far has been a bust, too. Yesterday got half an inch. Since midnight today we’ve had half an inch. We got more rain with the preceding cold front days ago when it dropped 2.24 inches in a day.
Still, I won’t complain about the rain. I’d been watching my lawn and trees wilt from the drought we’d slipped back into. A good, solid rain spread out over 4-5 days seems to be just what we needed here.
State Farm altered Katrina damage reports to avoid paying claims.
I’m glad we’re no longer State Farm customers.
(hat tip, Bill V)
Do you want to know about one of the many things I love about my wife? Do you know what she did after she read my blog post about the minivan getting a bit low in the water the other day? Rather than say, “well, that’s it. We’re selling the boat,” she went online to go truck shopping! A woman who’ll choose a vehicle just to tow a boat is my kind of woman. Woohoo!
What’s funny is that we were amused when our neighbors bought a truck for their boat. Now is seems strangely normal.
It remains to be seen whether we’ll actually get a truck, though. If we get one big enough to pull the boat (and a mobile home, bus, elephant, and whatever we want to haul), I can’t bring myself to run it on anything other than biodiesel. On the other hand, the import trucks have better fuel economy for gas engines but may not be big enough to make much of a difference at the boat ramp.
Decisions, decisions…
Another thing that’s eerily quiet is my email inbox. I normally have beaucoup spams in my inbox this time of day, sent overnight from places unknown. This morning I didn’t have one spam email waiting for me. Not one.
Could South Florida be the undisputed home of the world’s spammers? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Maybe an evacuation every now and then would be a good thing.
