Well, Winter's Over . . . At Last!

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, maybe not really, but the 5" - 8" of snow with which we got bombarded on Saturday has all gone away courtesy of a lot of rain and temperatures in the 40's & 50's, that and the fact that I am currently living on the coast, below the "snow line." Curious thing, the "snow lone." when there is a chance of snow it usually seems that when it comes, odds are that from the coastline inland to about 6 miles, we get rain, or at least the infamous "wintery mix." There are piles of snow here and there, the remains of Saturday's shoveling and plowing, but aside from that, where the snow was "untouched by human hands, the snow is gone! The sun is out and the birds are singing and it is as much like spring as it can be without it actually being spring.

The work on the guitar is proceeding "fair." To quote the late John Lennon, "I've got blisters on me fingers!" I have been doing a lot of hand exercises on my left hand, whose wrist was shattered a couple of years ago falling off my Schwinn. Who says bike ridding is good for your health. And while it was well set and healed well, it is surprisingly still a little weak and not as flexible as it should be. I've still got the "muscle memory' for most of the cords I know way back when but not really the strength and flexibility to hold and sustain them. The "slow hand" is always faster that the cord hand and that can be very frustrating. In addition, there are the blisters. The callous is starting t build up, it will take another couple of weeks, though I have had one blister form under the callous on one finger and that it truly annoying.So to keep the "slow hand" occupied and working, I have been working on finger picking, learning new paterns and trying to pick up speed. Developing the "muscle memory" for that is a rather long and tiresome and boring exercise but I seem to be making some progress at it. I am even building up callous on the "slow hand" as well.

I have started once again to develop a "projects list" for the coming spring boat maintenance season, which if the weather stays like this, could begin soon. I dread it and look forward to it at the same time. There will be a certain amount of "destruction" this year as the old refrigeration system and icebox arrangement have to go, as well as the auto pilot, which is very good for steering the boat in a circle but not much else. I won't be replacing that for any number of reasons but mostly financial. I still haven't heard from the Publishers Clearing House people. They keep wanting me to have millions but we can't seem to make the connections to bring it about. O well, c'est la vie! Of course, Powerball has upped the cost of a ticket to $2 so it will be even rarer that I will be able to afford a ticket. It will really have to be a spectacular prize for be to risk a Jefferson. Just think of the fun though I could have in given it all way!