SHIP'S LOG:
We got a miss! Thank goodness! Yes, it look s like DC is going to get a FOOT! and we will get nada! How great is that! This will probably be, hopefully will be, the last winter storm of the season. True, it will still be cold for the next few days but the the temperatures are trending upwards, and that means that the snow cover will soon melt and that means that I can reach the boat soon and work can begin. And I am really looking forward to getting started.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014
I Hate Winter!
SHIP'S LOG:
It was a balmy 4 degrees when I arose this morning. True that was at 5am and it did warm up as the sun rose. It is now, at 8am, an even more balmy 18 degrees. And snow is coming. Not today, not tomorrow but on Sunday through Monday. And they are talking 6-10 inches. I hate winter!
I received another of those evil email ads from those real estate people in St. Croix. I wonder sometimes if they are really trying to sell real estate or they just enjoy tweaking us poor folk up here in the cold. we had a 10 minute snow squall yesterday afternoon. It snowed so hard and fast that you couldn't see 10 feet but thankfully it didn't last or drop anymore than really a dusting. I hate winter!
It appears that I am actually coming down with my second cold of the season. usually, I get hit with one in January and that's it. It has been a long while since I had to endure two, but it seems that this will be the case this year. Sniffles, runny nose, headache and probably a bit of fever, with an increasing cough. I know it is not the flu as my doctor actually convinced me to get a flu shot this year which I usually avoid. But as he said, elderly people should get one. "Elderly people?" When and why did I get lumped into that category? I hate winter!
The ICW Cruisers from TYC are spread about the southern east coast of Florida, most around Key Largo where they are or were taking in the FORCE 5 Winter Nationals. I'll have to email them and fiend out how the "team" from TYC did this year. Bob Cullen from the club is a 10 times National Champion so I imagine we did quite well. I remember that participant complained that last year that the water around Key Largo didn't quite make it to 80 degrees which made capsizing almost "traumatic for them." How they suffer. I hate winter!
Another real downside of a long, tough winter is the problem of "Marine Catalogs." I get them from Jamestown Distributors, West Marine and Defender Industries. Talk about spending money! Then again, I actually haven't spent a dime. Can't spend what you don't have you know. It is just a lot of unrequited wish fulfillment. Still in all, I long for the day when I don't have to spend any more than the cost of bottom paint to get ready for the sailing season. I hate winter!
It was a balmy 4 degrees when I arose this morning. True that was at 5am and it did warm up as the sun rose. It is now, at 8am, an even more balmy 18 degrees. And snow is coming. Not today, not tomorrow but on Sunday through Monday. And they are talking 6-10 inches. I hate winter!
I received another of those evil email ads from those real estate people in St. Croix. I wonder sometimes if they are really trying to sell real estate or they just enjoy tweaking us poor folk up here in the cold. we had a 10 minute snow squall yesterday afternoon. It snowed so hard and fast that you couldn't see 10 feet but thankfully it didn't last or drop anymore than really a dusting. I hate winter!
It appears that I am actually coming down with my second cold of the season. usually, I get hit with one in January and that's it. It has been a long while since I had to endure two, but it seems that this will be the case this year. Sniffles, runny nose, headache and probably a bit of fever, with an increasing cough. I know it is not the flu as my doctor actually convinced me to get a flu shot this year which I usually avoid. But as he said, elderly people should get one. "Elderly people?" When and why did I get lumped into that category? I hate winter!
The ICW Cruisers from TYC are spread about the southern east coast of Florida, most around Key Largo where they are or were taking in the FORCE 5 Winter Nationals. I'll have to email them and fiend out how the "team" from TYC did this year. Bob Cullen from the club is a 10 times National Champion so I imagine we did quite well. I remember that participant complained that last year that the water around Key Largo didn't quite make it to 80 degrees which made capsizing almost "traumatic for them." How they suffer. I hate winter!
Another real downside of a long, tough winter is the problem of "Marine Catalogs." I get them from Jamestown Distributors, West Marine and Defender Industries. Talk about spending money! Then again, I actually haven't spent a dime. Can't spend what you don't have you know. It is just a lot of unrequited wish fulfillment. Still in all, I long for the day when I don't have to spend any more than the cost of bottom paint to get ready for the sailing season. I hate winter!
Thursday, February 27, 2014
I Can See More Grass ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
. . . . . But unfortunately, winter is returning and soon I will be so lucky. The temperate has fallen into the basement and supposedly there is more snow on the way. with the snow melt, I can probably actually get to ABISHAG - not a lot of plowing was done in the boatyard - but there isn't much I could down when and if I got there. At least not yet. But that is coming too.
I am really getting antsy about starting work. I have more projects than I'll have time and/or money for but I want to get started anyway. My brain is turning to mush with all my free time and I need more to focus on. I've lost three friends over the winter and that weighs on me a bit as well. I need spring, warm temperatures and sunlight.
. . . . . But unfortunately, winter is returning and soon I will be so lucky. The temperate has fallen into the basement and supposedly there is more snow on the way. with the snow melt, I can probably actually get to ABISHAG - not a lot of plowing was done in the boatyard - but there isn't much I could down when and if I got there. At least not yet. But that is coming too.
I am really getting antsy about starting work. I have more projects than I'll have time and/or money for but I want to get started anyway. My brain is turning to mush with all my free time and I need more to focus on. I've lost three friends over the winter and that weighs on me a bit as well. I need spring, warm temperatures and sunlight.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
I Can See The Grass ! ! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
After yesterday's temperature rise and the thunderstorm enough snow melted so that I can see the grass. At least I think that it is the grass, but it has been so long since I have seen it, I am not quite sure. This will be the second day in a row that the temp will get over 50! and tomorrow is expected to be more of the same. However, less we become over-joyed at the true onset of springtime, the weather is supposed to crap out Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday into Thursday we are supposed to get what the weather people refer to as "measurable & shovel-able snow." Winter is not done yet! Still it is great to really get that sense that it is fading away at last.
After yesterday's temperature rise and the thunderstorm enough snow melted so that I can see the grass. At least I think that it is the grass, but it has been so long since I have seen it, I am not quite sure. This will be the second day in a row that the temp will get over 50! and tomorrow is expected to be more of the same. However, less we become over-joyed at the true onset of springtime, the weather is supposed to crap out Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday into Thursday we are supposed to get what the weather people refer to as "measurable & shovel-able snow." Winter is not done yet! Still it is great to really get that sense that it is fading away at last.
Friday, February 21, 2014
I'm Melting! What A World, What A World!
SHIP'S LOG:
Yes, Dorothy, the snow is melting. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen or not, ever! The temp actually reached 60 and rain helped too. It is difficult to say how much snow has been converted to melt, but after today and tomorrow, it should be significant. That's a god thing because the temps are supposed to dip beginning next week and there is the possibility of some more snow. Sigh.
The DEFENDER INDUSTRIES catalog made it appearance an with it a notice that their March Madness Marine Sale is on and is on March 3rd. It make the old Filene's Wedding Gown Sale look tame by comparison. I will have to try to pick up at least the bottom paint as they really cut the price of that obscenely expensive item. Of the last two decades the EPA had kept requiring paint manufactures to change the composition of their paint. Not more lead, no more tin, less (and soon no) copper. The reason is that they have "discovered" that marine bottom paint kills the marine growth and the creatures that attempt to attach themselves to boat hulls. I don't wish to bust their balloon but that actually is the intent of the stuff in the first place. Sigh.
Yes, Dorothy, the snow is melting. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen or not, ever! The temp actually reached 60 and rain helped too. It is difficult to say how much snow has been converted to melt, but after today and tomorrow, it should be significant. That's a god thing because the temps are supposed to dip beginning next week and there is the possibility of some more snow. Sigh.
The DEFENDER INDUSTRIES catalog made it appearance an with it a notice that their March Madness Marine Sale is on and is on March 3rd. It make the old Filene's Wedding Gown Sale look tame by comparison. I will have to try to pick up at least the bottom paint as they really cut the price of that obscenely expensive item. Of the last two decades the EPA had kept requiring paint manufactures to change the composition of their paint. Not more lead, no more tin, less (and soon no) copper. The reason is that they have "discovered" that marine bottom paint kills the marine growth and the creatures that attempt to attach themselves to boat hulls. I don't wish to bust their balloon but that actually is the intent of the stuff in the first place. Sigh.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Perhaps Spring Is coming Early! I Hope!
SHIP'S LOG:
Despite the fact that we had another nasty snow storm over the weekend and that the forecast for tomorrow is more snow, it is also true that the forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday prophesy temperatures in the 40's going up to the 50's by Friday! Man, how great is that? It will be the cause of not only a lot of celebrating, but also a lot of melting, and that got me thinking. There is a lot of snow on the ground in New Hampshire and Vermont and Connecticut and that means a lot of run-off melt and that means that the Connecticut River will be running high. When it does, it drags all sorts of flotsam and jetsam from various locals down to the Sound. That is not really a cause for concern except for the fact that sometime this spring, I and the others here at Yankee will have to transit the river and navigate the Sound and will have to do so dodging all sorts of objects which will be doing the damnedest to hole a hull or pop off a prop or rip-off a rudder.
I have the trip down river only twice before and on those two trips the stuff in the river was truly amazing. I have seen whole trees, root-ball and all, gently cruising down river caring not a whit in whose way they might get. Of course, they don't have to worry as running into rocks, sandbars, boats, docks, buoys, other river characters and detritus, even the bottom, hampers them not at all on their way to the open ocean. Even if they should become trapped in some way, they wait patiently until such time as tide and time set them back on their way once more. It is not the stuff you see, of course, but the stuff you don't, like a water-soaked log just below the surface, that are the real cause for concern.
Sadly, they no longer dredge the river, or at least, haven't for several years. At one time, they had to insure a clear channel all the way to Hartford, mostly for barges carrying fuel and heating oil. The Middletown electrical power generating station and the Pratt & Whitney plant used a lot of both and Hartford even more, but that has changed. More underground pipelines, more natural gas, less need of barges and dredging is expensive. There is one particularly nasty and dangerous spot just south of the Pratt & Whitney plants where the channels makes a very sharp turn. while I haven't hit, the bottom once was just under 7 feet which when you draw 5.5 is cutting it a little thin. So I hope for good water depth come the spring. I also hope, but it is a rather faint hope I'm afraid, that the river is clear when the time comes to head downriver.
Despite the fact that we had another nasty snow storm over the weekend and that the forecast for tomorrow is more snow, it is also true that the forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday prophesy temperatures in the 40's going up to the 50's by Friday! Man, how great is that? It will be the cause of not only a lot of celebrating, but also a lot of melting, and that got me thinking. There is a lot of snow on the ground in New Hampshire and Vermont and Connecticut and that means a lot of run-off melt and that means that the Connecticut River will be running high. When it does, it drags all sorts of flotsam and jetsam from various locals down to the Sound. That is not really a cause for concern except for the fact that sometime this spring, I and the others here at Yankee will have to transit the river and navigate the Sound and will have to do so dodging all sorts of objects which will be doing the damnedest to hole a hull or pop off a prop or rip-off a rudder.
I have the trip down river only twice before and on those two trips the stuff in the river was truly amazing. I have seen whole trees, root-ball and all, gently cruising down river caring not a whit in whose way they might get. Of course, they don't have to worry as running into rocks, sandbars, boats, docks, buoys, other river characters and detritus, even the bottom, hampers them not at all on their way to the open ocean. Even if they should become trapped in some way, they wait patiently until such time as tide and time set them back on their way once more. It is not the stuff you see, of course, but the stuff you don't, like a water-soaked log just below the surface, that are the real cause for concern.
Sadly, they no longer dredge the river, or at least, haven't for several years. At one time, they had to insure a clear channel all the way to Hartford, mostly for barges carrying fuel and heating oil. The Middletown electrical power generating station and the Pratt & Whitney plant used a lot of both and Hartford even more, but that has changed. More underground pipelines, more natural gas, less need of barges and dredging is expensive. There is one particularly nasty and dangerous spot just south of the Pratt & Whitney plants where the channels makes a very sharp turn. while I haven't hit, the bottom once was just under 7 feet which when you draw 5.5 is cutting it a little thin. So I hope for good water depth come the spring. I also hope, but it is a rather faint hope I'm afraid, that the river is clear when the time comes to head downriver.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
SNOW! What A Surprise!!!!!!!
SHIP'S LOG:
Surprise! It is snowing again! And I mean that it is coming down to beat the band! It is supposed to turn to rain late in the day and then back to ice and snow again tonight. This is going to be a real corker!
I went out and took a walk in the snow. I always like to do that. Everything is muted and everything looks beautiful. It is a winter wonderland. Of course, I wish that there was a guarantee that it would all be gone 24 hours after the last flake falls, but that's not going to happen I am afraid. This makes something like the fifth storm we have had since winter began and it is only February! Sailing seems a long way off.
I guess that the TYC Florida contingent is not escaping completely unscathed. While we're getting the snow, they are getting some rather intense rain and thunder storms. for whatever reason, the I-5 corridor is taking a weather beating. Florida really seems to get whacked with intense thunder & lightning storms. It surely did when I was there. It was down there at fort Pierce that I got caught in that Micro-burst. How that didn't sink me I still don't know, but it was only one of several storms I had to weather down there. I can remember getting caught in Daytona in very intense storms both on the way down and on the way back. But as a very wise pastor once told me, you don't have to shovel rain!
I can't believe how foolish the people in North Carolina are. They were warned repeatedly over four days about the storm, that it would be one of the worst they have ever experienced. The Governor even went on TV and told the people of the state not to "put on a stupid hat and got out driving around." Of course, not many listened and now they have a parking-lot type situation on their roads that makes the one in Atlanta 2 weeks ago long like nothing. As Ron white likes to say, "You just can't fix stupid."
The snow here is big, fat, wet flakes and it is really coming down. I'd say we got five inches already. Time to find a good book and a warm spot. Stay Safe! And don't put on a stupid hat!!!!!!!!
(Spell check stopped working so please forgive my spelling mistakes!)
Surprise! It is snowing again! And I mean that it is coming down to beat the band! It is supposed to turn to rain late in the day and then back to ice and snow again tonight. This is going to be a real corker!
I went out and took a walk in the snow. I always like to do that. Everything is muted and everything looks beautiful. It is a winter wonderland. Of course, I wish that there was a guarantee that it would all be gone 24 hours after the last flake falls, but that's not going to happen I am afraid. This makes something like the fifth storm we have had since winter began and it is only February! Sailing seems a long way off.
I guess that the TYC Florida contingent is not escaping completely unscathed. While we're getting the snow, they are getting some rather intense rain and thunder storms. for whatever reason, the I-5 corridor is taking a weather beating. Florida really seems to get whacked with intense thunder & lightning storms. It surely did when I was there. It was down there at fort Pierce that I got caught in that Micro-burst. How that didn't sink me I still don't know, but it was only one of several storms I had to weather down there. I can remember getting caught in Daytona in very intense storms both on the way down and on the way back. But as a very wise pastor once told me, you don't have to shovel rain!
I can't believe how foolish the people in North Carolina are. They were warned repeatedly over four days about the storm, that it would be one of the worst they have ever experienced. The Governor even went on TV and told the people of the state not to "put on a stupid hat and got out driving around." Of course, not many listened and now they have a parking-lot type situation on their roads that makes the one in Atlanta 2 weeks ago long like nothing. As Ron white likes to say, "You just can't fix stupid."
The snow here is big, fat, wet flakes and it is really coming down. I'd say we got five inches already. Time to find a good book and a warm spot. Stay Safe! And don't put on a stupid hat!!!!!!!!
(Spell check stopped working so please forgive my spelling mistakes!)
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