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Hit the highwave...
2006-05-22

With ten days of straight rain, followed by a couple of days of sun, my yard wak kind of looking like a mini version of a tropical rain forest. There was no way the old blade on the mower was going to cut through this stuff, espceically since it was still pretty wet in spots. I needed a new mower blade so I did the guy thing, hunted one down killed it and brought it home. That was the easy part.
Actually, putting it in was easier than I thought too. The old one came off easier than expected and the new one slipped right in. That's when the fun started. It seems the too many miles and the too little smiles (and rocks) have taken their toll on the old gal. The housing was bent in several places that shouldn't have been bent and the blade? She no wanna spin.
Well after a half hour of hammering and vice gripping I manage to get it sort of round enough to get it started. It soulds like I'm mowing the lawn with a jack hammer but hell it needs to be done. About half way through I hit a rock. After that it quieted down a lot. I guess the mower just wanted the blade understand the deal here. Rocks are a part of life.
I went to the Newport Spring B0at Show in the afternoon. It was empty and there wasn't anything I was remotely interested in buying other than two glasses of grapes. I spent most of the time sitting in the afterdeck of a 44' powerboat with Johnny O who got me the free pass to get in. We only had two potential customers and spent most of the time people watching. It wasn't a bad way to pass the afternoon. Then I stopped at the Newport YC for a glass O grapes and headed home.
I caught the Preakness down on the boat. That poor horse. Even with a broken leg he still wanted to run. They are saying it is still 50/50. An animal with that much courage should have better odds.
Yesterday we sailed. The forecast was for thunderboomers and lots of wind. We avoided the first, but got pummeled by the second. The wind just kept building and building and by the time we got out to the lighthouse, it was blowing a steady 25.
The boat handeled things fine, the crew less so. It kept getting rougher and the water was getting more and more confused. We all saw the wave coming, we all tried to duck. It was a futile move... Blam, 6' of 58 degree water hit the bow and seemed to rise up head towards the cockpit in slow motion. I think I took the worst of it. Since I was driving I got it face on. There was water from head to toe. Sweet... I made an executive decision and we did a 180. Things smoothed out and we tried to dry off. By the time we got ready to roll up the jib we were almost but not quite dry. With the wind up docking was a bit interesting but we managed. We got her tied up, hosed off and hit the bar just in time for the first lick of thunder. Perfect timing...
Sometimes it just all comes together.
I'm tired and it looks to be a busy week. Happy Monday
Ron

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