In memorium

I didn’t see anyone I knew, pass the torch in theater, but I know those that have.

I knew of several nearby, though I knew none personally.

but the memory of those times will linger with me forever. The smells, the sights, the laughter, the sorrow, and most especially, the FEAR; not knowing if you were going to be next, or if you would make it home upright on your own two feet, or in a chair with wheels, or in a flag draped box. The Fear that is created when Power drivers use the tools they amass to push political decision with force. Those tools have names, faces, family, and usually no interest in the reason, but every interest in getting home alive.

Not all do.

WE all gave, but some gave ALL.

THEY are the reasons for this day, and why we should pay stricter attention to what is going on, in that ‘shining city on a hill’. Maybe they were just “tools” to be used and discarded, in the manner that our ‘betters’ seem to imagine them. BUT, most all were patriots in some fashion, and felt the call to serve a nation as such. We would do well to honor that, and not just by toasting a beer over a burger to them, but by giving them a moment of silence; silence to whisper to us, the living, that maybe, we need to get off our duffs and start honoring them by DOING the things that need done, no matter how much we do not want to throw that switch.

Reflect on that while you enjoy the rest of the day.

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Stoked and runnin’

Krazee middle of the month, with blow’d up truck on a thunder run, followed by the recovery thunder run and all the fun and games of getting things together to make it right.

Cost me, and cost you, my dear readers, but damn, so worth it with what I have to share.

Ok, first up, Buffalo,,, I had been fighting a front end noise for over a month. Thought it was bearings (that I had replaced less than 2 years prior) Wasn’t them. Found the ball joints were worn out and did replace them: that wasn’t it. l

Did the thunder run to ‘Bama and rear diff frag’d on me. Get her back, donor Diff is near perfect match (taller, by a few percentage points. Speedo is off by 5mph at highway speeds,,,,) but works flawlessly.

and that ‘front end noise’ is gone completely. Only thing I can figure is the bearings going out in the diff were vibrating the frame and causing the floorboards to resonate, completely screwing my diagnosis up. Even my Unk thought it was front end and thought it may be the front diff going. Both of us were wrong, but situation rectified now.

And to make it even better, I have a full donor vehicle that I need to strip of parts . Offered $200 for the diff, bought the whole damned truck, then Unk turned around and asked me to buy him an electric weedeater like mine ($150 at big box store) since he liked how well mine worked, in lieu of paying him that cash (and saved me $50). He is payed off now and I have a good engine and transmission, transfer case and axles for the taking before I scrap the body of this monster. The body is a rust heap, mostly frame rot, but some body rot too. Not horrible considering its a rust belt beast, but bad enough that I have no need of hanging on to it. But the engine and trans,,,, Hell, Unk drove it to where it sits right now. Fired up after sitting for 3 years and he took it through the woods on one last joy ride before surrendering it to me.

And right now, I have no need to pull anything off it,,, I will, but no rush, and I want to build a small shed to hold what I pull off it until such time as I need it.

Onto Lyssa,,, The goddess of madness that instigated the whole affiar. Cripes is she a fun boat. Moving at speed, with a bit of edge and using the paddle as a bow-rudder, she will turn on her path in less than one length. FAST,,,, Not quite as fast as a WW boat will, but she is double the length of one of those, but far faster than even BlueJean does. and BJ does NOT like bow rudder moves, at all. I always have to use stern-rudder on her to get her to turn, or sweeps if not moving. Lyssa is going to be able to teach me a lot of things I have struggled with in other boats.

I have not rolled her as yet, but with how her ‘secondary’ felt, I feel she is going to be easy to roll. Maybe even easier than BJ is,,,, I was having too much fun in our introduction float to mess with rolling today. Put on 15 miles on the lake and the only reason I stopped was that leak I mentioned. Yeah, the crack was weeping, but that wasn’t where the majority of the water was coming from…. I noted that when I was doing left turns, starboard edge dipped in water, I was getting wetter. Enough that by the time we got back to put in, I was sitting in a couple of inches of water (and I realized that I had forgotten my sponge to bail with.) That skeg box has two tubes feeding it, and the shorter one on the upside of the skeg (receiver for the extra cable so it isn’t digging into your thigh) was wide open, no cap on its end. A rubber vacuum cap from an autoparts store and that is fixed.

And right now, Lyssa is back on the horses as I repair that crack to stop the weeping hole she has.

Looked like a hair, turned into a spider,,,,

Gonna slap a section of glass and resin on the inside after I dremel out the old grungy glass, but I have to wait for the gel repair first. She will be water ready by sunset today.

Gonna be a good summer so long as the world holds its shit together.

Happy paddler

5.3mph and wasn’t trying. Whoa!!! You can tell by my moving average that I am out here just piddling ’round, not pushing things. Only, I am pushing things, just not the speed. More like edges and along with paddle moves I haven’t been able to play with i. Other boats: even BlueJean,,

In a word; spritely. She’s very mch alive in water. Acts much like BJ but a little more coltish. She is 1″ narrower in beam,same length, and the cockpit is more forward, so I expected a little more lively feel. Yeah, 1″ makes huge differences in kayaks. But she is so confidence inspriring at the same time. Not as demanding of attention as Lizzy, but not quite the ‘rock of Gibraltar’ that BJ feels like either; somewhere in the middle. Takes waves smoothly, but you know they are there, no matter if its bow/stern on or abeam: she responds to them. Lizzy takes bow and stern waves as if they didn’t exist if they aren’t taller than she is. BJ; much the same. Lyssa notes ’em, rides ’em and giggles about it.

Powering up, digging in, she scoots! And just like BJ, when ya let up, she’s wanting to swap ends. Drop that skeg to midpoint and she lines right back up. Noted 1/3 keeps her in line on beam breezes. And when that skeg drops full, she begins responding like a much longer boat; wants to run straight even on edge. A very aggressive skeg, but thats a good thing when you really need it.

Downside: found a leak in the cockpit. (More like a weep) Hairline crack in the gel I hadn’t seen, is below waterline, and through into the glass. I can see water damage in the glass, so it’s been there awhile. Easy fix for me since it’s in the white gelcoat, not the red decking. And I have glass and resin for the inside.

But, leak or no leak, we are getting back on water and playing a bt more. Temps are on the rise, though clouds are scheduled to break until later today. And this lake is flipping empty of people right now. More later y’all,,,,

Wasn’t kiddin’

It’s flippin’ kold today. My mind has already started the transistion to summer weather and the sudden plummet of 15-20 degrees has hit me like a 30 degree drop. That breeze out of the north is bring some Canada with it and me and the furries ain’t diggin’ on the Kanuck thermostat.

I built a fire in the stove just to knock the chill out. About froze my arse off last night even with a comforter and two big horse blankets. Woke up and put on a watch cap and went back to bed (gotta keep the head warm or the rest of you goes numb,,,) A fire in the stove now means no repeat of last night.

Frickin’ KOLD!!!! Hopefully the last blast of winter,,,

(Update: as for how I have been getting gelcoat to cure in this shit, I set up a stool under the hatch of the compartment I am working on, and set up a candle just inside the opening. Raises the air temperature in the compartment enough that the hull feels warm to the touch and that heat helps the Gel cure, even in 55 degree ambient. Still takes longer, but not AS long as it would otherwise.)

drizzly sit out

but I has all day tomorrow, and I WILL get out rain or no. Today was spent doing thngs around the ‘stead, and getting gelcoat sanded smooth, despite the cold out on that porch. Nasty breeze blowing out of the N.W. and chill factor made it unbearable for long.

So, no pics today, but tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy turning to blue skies later and I promise that I will get out there, do my thing and get some pics for y’all. Sanity break for me, since this weekend has been all work with little play, though VERY productive. I may even go out and try to put that hitch on today since I have some time and the carport is dry (though just as cold as my porch,,,,)

early sunday (too early)

its rainy and gloomy out there right now, and oddly enough, no kittehs burrowing onto my lap,,, Mama is in psuedo-heat again (she can’t have babbies, but that doesn’t stop the hormones.) and the boys are following her around like a little parade of kitteh tails, driving her batty. She’s doing a lot of growling at them (she thinks they are HERS and so doesn’t want anything to do with that inbreeding thing. I’m certain she doesn’t understand it on that level, but instincts run strong in kat, and that inbreeding thing should be very strong indeed.)

Gel coat patches on Lizzy and Lyssa right now. Small spider cracks in the hull (no leaks, just potential issues if not fixed) near the skeg box on Lyssa, and I am repairing my repairs on Lizzy with proper gelcoat. The ones I had done were solid, but looked bag-nasty. Maybe she’ll fetch the price I listed her at if she is in proper fit and trim. with matfching repairs. Will see. I like being able to fix the FG boats like this, but man, its like watching paint dry while waiting for the epoxies to cure,,,(it’s cold out and slowing the cure process) Roto-boats are easy to fix too, now that I know how to weld plastic and they are much faster to repair, since what you are doing is ‘real time’ vs watching paint dry. BUT, FG has better longevity. (and resale value,,, Who said I wasn’t thinking forward,,,)

I mentioned yesterday about Reflecting on the Fallen this Memorial day. The price they paid fof us so that we can live in this country, with our freedoms,,, And how all of that has been twisted around and turned into some psychotics dream of the USSR as ‘it shoulda been’. I think the hardest thing for any former military person when getting out is coming to the realization that what we ‘thought’ we were serving was NOT the reality. That we were tools of destruction to be USED and discarded as needed. Watching the internal destruction of all the branches by this “Woke’ bullshit that is constantly failing when applied IRL, (just ask Buttwiper, or Tar-Ge,,,) Seeing the Woke (they ain’t, they still live in their own private dream world) attending the halls on the shining hill, (that is glowing like nuclear radioactive waste about to go critical,)

I’m proud of my service, even if what I served was NOT that patriotic scenario that I thought I was doing. I knew while sitting on the beach in the land of Saud, waiting to reboard ship, that we would be back there, and the second time around was not going to be the success that we had just delivered. Ten years later, some passenger jets became weapons of war and when I saw that second jet slam into the tower, I knew then that the world as I knew it was over. I never imagined the shit that has come down the pike since the misnamed ‘Patriot’ Act #1 was signed into law. I certainly never thought I would see some delusional Pedo get ‘honorably’ promoted into an Officer rank never earned in a branch IT had never served in, so that this admin could show just how DIverse and Understanding they truly were.

Our world is upside down, total klown world, Honk Honk. And yet, at the individual level, the ‘normal’ is still pretty thick on the hull of our reality. It’s when you start looking forward, or scratching a little (by watching the news or whatever you use to keep ‘informed’) that the ick starts rising to the surface and all those hopes and dreams of the fallen soldiers, marines, and sailors of yore, fought and died for, to protect our IDEALS,,,, All of that gets shattered.

I wrote a post a few years back (no link, lazy and don’t wanna look) called “In the Gates”. It was under Oblammy-o-boy, and I saw then the direction of where things were headed with the DIE and racism coming full circle. Never thought I would see government sanctioned riots and looting, or the total breakdown of ROL, but hey, not a bit surprised either. I knew in 2008 that things were going to get much more sparky before they settled into some groove, and while the trump years were a nice respite, they were going to be of a limited nature by the very fact that they didn’t fit what the PTB wanted. That was obvious by the way the structure fought him tooth and nail at every corner. I said it before, as a person, I did not like him, but as a businessman, he had merit, and I felt that having a successful businessman/woman in office would be the breath of fresh air that could turn this country around. That he wasn’t able to accomplish this fact showed to ALL just how anti-ethical the PTB are, and the reaction by them (PTB) was to panic and go full throttle on the plans they had.

And that’s a good thing. It woke (truly woke) up a lot of people about just how screwed they were, being fleeced of property at every turning, having their children brainwashed by pedophiles and delusional gendered whack-jobs, watching more and more taxes being applied to everyday living for less and less return on infrastructure while watching freshman congress-critters become multi-millionairesses in less than one term.

The veneer has peeled and the waking of the masses is gaining speed.

I dunno where it goes from here. Too many moving parts with too many inputs of power to drive it. We have nukes being handed out all over the European/Asian theater, with all the grift and graft going on, the potential of level 5 viral weapons being made in secret goverment labs around the world, the continual inflating of world currencies and the reduction of a productive class here in the states by foolish policies that enrich only a few, and the list goes on and on,,,, Who COULD know where all of this is headed. Maybe we are about to get shot back in time with techy toys that can only hold on for a few years before they become so much junk to be cast aside. Maybe we are about to become some feudal caste society again. Maybe we are about to enter CWIII and take back our country. NO ONE KNOWS.

But I do know the Ameri-CAN ideals are valid, and WORK. If we can keep those near to heart and head, we will get through this, and come out better than before. At least for a few generations and the rot starts to creep back in.

Its all part of the cycle. The cycle that repeats across time.

A sign of an American

Americans drive EVERYWHERE,,,

I heard that more than a few times from Euro friends in my past. Especially the T-bag Sound ‘Engineers’,,, (gawd forbid you called them a sound guy, they would get livid!!)

Well, I guess I am fully American, since I shed an anxiety when I got the Buff up-n-runnin’. I had been feeling a touch trapped here on the hill. Had tranport, of a sort; if you wanna call a Honda Fourwheeler transport,,, Around here, they are for many: like those that have five too many DUI’s and can’t get a license let alone insurance without serious monetary output (and they can’t get a good job since they have no reliable transportation,,, Its a cycle that just keeps feeding itself, and for the most part, self-inflicted,,,)

But yeah, once I had Buffalo running, I did some of the things that I had been holding off on, like depositing my paycheck (closest ATM I can use without getting hit with fees is in B-ville; 14 miles away. A bit of a hump on a fourwheeler.) and picking up a package that had been delivered to work. Another downside of this place: Zon doesn’t want to deliver many items to my location even though there is only a half mile difference between it and where I work.

When I had a moment, I sent a text to B. One word; FREEDOM!!!! and it sure as hell felt like I had shed some chains, suddenly having my ‘wings’ back. She may ‘just’ be a truck, but when you live 20 minutes from nowhere and thats 40 minutes to somewhere,,,, Wheels is IMPORTANT.

(and admittedly, Kayak hauling is SO so much easier when you have something to strap them onto instead of lugging them miles and miles on a shoulder.)

Tomorrow is domestics day, and I have a mess of clothes that are in dire need of serious washing (or burn pile,,,) AND, I fully intend to get Lyssa wet again ASAP. Blue Jean is down right now as I am remaking her hatch covers and she is not seaworthy without them. (she can hande the flat stuff, so long as you don’t try edging,,) I started doing that because they were leaking in rolls, and I had down time since I didn’t have anywhere to go or a way to get there if I did,,, Now, I am halfway into the job and suddenly find I have FREEDOM. I will get them done, a bit every night (hand stitching them, and these hands don’t handle small repetitve tasks like they used to,,,)

AND,,,, Monday is Memorial Day. I think this time period in the US, with our forgotten warriors of the past that did the deed, should be remembered MORE and reflection on what they fell for,

because this sure as hell ain’t it!!!

times are changing, and the level of ‘fed up’ is growing. That we have a fraudulant administration is pretty much accepted as fact by even those on the other side of center/right and I have heard some of them voicing disgust by what they see. While I wanna rub their noses in it, I don’t,,,, But I do tend to mention the ‘we warned you, but you didn’t listen,,,’

I’ll be back tomorrow, maybe with some pics from my church. The trees are all in full glory these days, and the waters have been showing this awesome blue-green cast for weeks: I wanna share that with y’all…

13:11,,, The Buffalo has landed.

That went WAY smoother than I thought it would, and yes, I has a couple skinned knucks, and shed some blood to the small gods of wrenches and mechanical things,,,,

BUFFALO IS ROADABLE AGAIN!!!!!

I’m jumpin in the shower for what looks like a three-round session with at least one full bar of soap: I am shade-tree gross in road muck and 80-90. (that whole backend was SOAKED in the whale sperm goop. Some of the nastiest smelling goop,,,blech! )

More later as I get things back together for my day to day (I did not install the hitch at this time,,, Got to that point and three of the bolts were fighting and I was flying on my progress and didn’t want to F it up. It can wait for a later date.)

Tha’sawrap

As far as pulling donor parts (for now).

4:30 when I loaded Da’s truck with parts, tools, jack, etc. Came onto the porch for the wind-down beer, and it immediately started raining. Nuttin’ serious, typical late spring shower: enough to get things dampened down, knock the pollen count down a touch, and absolutely tick off Grizzykat.(he was napping on the side porch in the open. Came around the house fast, mewing about how RUDE mama-nature is. ) And about enough to be glad I had wrapped up already. Don’t like me tools getting wet; too many to dry off and they dont get used as often as they did, so don’t always have that fine protective coating of old car muck to keep ’em rust free. (The ones used today sure do,,,)

Tomorrow begins the finer, more meticulous R&R on Buffalo. I had the luxury of “thats not gonna hold up, cut it free”, and I do have some spare pieces (nuts, bolts, shackle bolts) that I can trust if things get ‘too tight’ on Buff, but if things get tough tomorrow, its gonna cost. Focus is the Diff, but I also have the factory Reese Hitch that I would like to swap over. Don’t like bumper pulls: gotta have that hitch. She has been too long without one.

Best I can tell, this diff is limited slip, where Buffs is posi. That in mind, Buffs’ current diff is worth rebuilding, for reinstalling later, when finances are more available. Till then, she needs functional, and a limited slip is no handicap (until you’re in the mud n muck,,,,) I am puling the covers on both tomorrow and checking ratios (not that I have much choice but I wanna know) and will see for certian the differences in diffs,,, gah, that sounds lame,,,,

Been a long day,,,,

about as redneck as you can get

moving forward. had to share. (and the pic does the blazer more justice than it deserves. Serious rust belt car,,,)