The Last Hoop.

I went down to Boston on Wednesday, Swore an Oath, signed some papers, and was fingerprinted for a security background check.....
.....Now, I wait....
4 hours down, 4 hours back..... the office stuff took less than an hour...... but I guess you can't mail your fingers in for prints.

On the way back, we stopped in Portsmouth New Hampshire, and had lunch at a pizza place called Flatbread...... It was really nice, and we sat right in front of a large stone, wood fired pizza oven. The food was good, the atmosphere was very comfortable, the menu all organic and healthy.

Im looking forward to siging all of my blogs, letters and everything else I sign... Captain!

I am so close, I can taste it.....

Thrusday, it rained.... so hard in fact, that all of our outside jobs were cancelled. I did some benchwork untill 11, and then I drove to Ellsworth to pee in a cup..... My last task on the checklist....

Task one, was completing 360, 4-hour watches worth of seatime. 90 of those need to be within the last 3 years......... (Ya, Im a salty dog.)

Task two,
Sit thru an 80 hour course, and Pass the Coast Guard, Master 100 Gross Ton Exam. (Aced!)

Task three,
Updated my First Aid and CPR Qual. (I was a Red Cross 1st Aid/CPR Insturctor AND an EMT, so this was easy.)

Task four,
Pass a physical, (Yup, Im an Ironman!)

Task five,
Get a new Social Security Card...... (Becuz I lost mine.)

Task six,
Get 3 people who have known me for a long time to write me letters of reference.
(You know me, and you wrote one anyway..... You rock!)

Task seven,
Pass a drug screen. (No worries there, Im a saint.... but, the girl frisks me, hands me the cup, says I can't shut the door, or flush. Good thing I drank a big glass of water before I left the house, and stopped for a black coffee on the way....Reminds me of a song... By force of will, the cup was filled... and, so I peed. 10 points to anyone who knows the song.)

NOW, as soon as I get the results back, I can drive down to Boston and get my Captains Licence!

Big sigh of relief!

OK, my sister called, and let me know that my Mom has arrived there safe. She left here at about 7:30 this morning, and its a 9 hours drive to my sisters house........ So..... Mom went missing for about 3 hours..... (Mom is 74, driving a big blue van).... Now I wouldn't be so anxious, but Mom also took a header on the stairs Saturday night, and whacked her head on the floor.
....But I got off the phone with her, and she sounded fine... so Good.

Visit from Mom.... Day 5

I currently have a vague recollection of hearing all the intimate details of the lives of all Mom's neighbors.

Eyestrain.

OK, I got a new contact perscription... and now my up close vision... not so hot....

I had a dream the other nite.... I got home.. and heard the answering machine recording a message from my Dad, but he said good-bye and hung up before I could answer the phone.... when I went to replay the message ...it deleted. I woke very upset at this.

I got my First Aid and CPR resert done..... just have a few little things to do before I can make my appointment and go get my Capt. Licence.

We spent many hours on the boat this weekend..... the weather was perfect.

Late Nite Brain Movies

OK, so I was installing a hot water heater. The water heater was not electric, oil or gas. It heated the water because there was a demon chained up inside the tank. I had to put a key into the water inlet, so the demon could free itself, and assist with the pipe hook-up... then the demon was rude to me because I had disturbed it sleep.

.....I hope that it was clear by the title of the post.... this was a nightmare.

Facial Hair

Facial hair....
Some time, a long time ago, when a pre-civilzed man was flakin stones to make tools, he discovered that he could shave the hair off his skin... in fact, Im sure that this became a test for the quality of the blade being made. The shaving most likely started on the arm, and as blade making continued, and arm hair was depleted, the shaving migrated to the face. I'm sure some of the benefits were instantly apperent... cooler on a hot day.... less places for fleas to hide. Some benefits that may have been a bit more subtle could have been that a clean shaven man looks more like a little boy or a woman than an adult man. In a less sofisticated culture, a man that looks less like man, and more like a little boy or a woman, could approach closer to the women, and successfully hang out with the women....later, as civilization progressed, advances in animal husbandry were made, and it was learned that a male animal could be made gentle by removing its testicles. A gentled animal was easier to ride or manage. An other product of civilization is the dividing people into classes.... at some point, a deliniation between feral or wild men and "gentled" men was made. The Gentled men or Gentelmen, being easier to ride and manage are told apart from the wild men by the lack of facial hair.
just some thoughts.. more on this.

Wish I had more time to blog.

OK, it's a rainy Sunday... Fathers Day.... The kids called when I was out... and when I called them back, they were out.... but I did get their card, so I don't feel neglected.

Yesterday was sunny, but Mrs had to work.... we did go for a quick boatride when she got home.

I have a Honey Brown goin right now, and raised the bottle a toast to my Dad, almost 6 years gone now.... remembering him on Fathers Day.

Lit a fire, and watched it for a bit...... found the sweet spot between the warmth of the fire and the cool of the rain.

Now inside, Mrs is asking me to make cookies........sound like a plan.

Day 2.... 3 Day Weekend

OK, last nite ended with a few hours on the back patio, in front of the chimenia with a cold beer.

This morning... Oatmeal with yogurt.
....and down to the boat.

Tied up in Searsport..... Mrs walked up from the dock to the store to pick up a few things....
Then out back out onto the water........ stopped and ate lunch....
Then we tied up at Fort Point State Park and walk around the beach for a while......
Then back to the marina...

Tired, just watchin TV, and typin.

Day one of a 3 day weekend.

OK, Mrs and I woke early to hear out dog getting ready to puke....... seems she ate a BBQ rib bone last nite....., and it didn't sit well with her........

Two cups of Coffee, a bowl of oatmeal with a sliced apple.........

Trip to the Dump..... I live in the sticks.... we don't have trash pickup...
Trip to the Post Office..... I live in the sticks.... we don't have mail delivery...
Trip to the Hardware Store..... We need new blades for the weed whacker...
Trip to the Supermarket..... We needed food, and beer...
Did some yardwork......
Turkey and swiss for lunch....
Went to the Marina, installed new carpet in boat cabin....
Hung out on boat for a while.
Pasta for dinner

Updates as they happen.

Backyard Sanctuary

We have the smallest house on our block, one of the smallest houses in town, and the property that the house is on is tiny as well... Our little piece of the world, and it's our choice to make it a paradise.

Here is a little tour of our private sanctuary.

....And here is the cast of characters.

The Goddess.

Freed from a piece of driftwood, reaching to the sky. Her head is a stone, captured by the roots of a tree.

Rocky the Rock Man.

Made from the same granite that Fort Knox is made from. Rocky's glasses remind me of my Dad.

The Fountain.

This is the Claw-foot bathtub that was in the house when we got married. A date on one of the fixtures dates the Bathroom to 1929

The Conch.

This began it's life on the ocean floor, made it's way to a butcher shop in Hoboken NJ. My Aunt Cathrine brought it home and used it as a doorstop. When I was very young, and she noticed that I was facinated with it.... she gave it to me.

The Chiminea

This is the second chiminea to grace our yard... The first took the place of a small woodstove that we used in a rental property that we renovated over the winter when it did not have any other heat. After the renovation, we brought the woodstove home and used it in the yard for a year or so. When the cast iron woodstove finally rusted and burned thru, we bought the first chiminea. A few years into the chimineas life, a tree fell on it, and broke it. I was able to repair it, and use it a few more years, untill the cracks spread, multiplied and joined, and it fell to dust. This new chiminea burns nicely and throws a lot of heat. Many a winter night, temp in the 20's, Me, Mrs and the visiting kids sat out huddling, drinking beer, or sipping Sambucca.

Means of Escape

We Launched the boat on Sunday, and since then, I've been down the check bilges twice a day. Bilges still "Dry as Dust".

Boat Launching

In the morning, Mrs and I are going to launch the boat. I spent hours painting the bottom today, and it's read to go.

High tide is 4 AM, Low tide is just after 10, .... I guess we will try to lauch at 8.

Yay!

I Boat, Therefore I am.

Ok, I boat.... In fact... I am currently in the process of getting my Captian's Licence.
....Also, I just had the Big Four Two this weekend......
Well, one of my friends, gave me a most thoughtful and boat related gift.
A Canvas Bucket!

Cool!

What the heck is that a tiny picture of?

It's my gutted upstairs bathroom, with a wall torn down, and a new wall built about 20 inches into a bedroom.