Genuine Great Time

The day went according to plan.... only better.
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Joanne and I were over to Brown's Island by 11:30 AM in the WhaleEye.
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We were able to see Katelyn, Stacey and Brian Butler as well as a bunch of Katelyn's guy friends - the Wise Brothers, JJ McBride and others and still were able to ramp with Greg and Nancy, who had hooked up with Gilly, Chris Crawford, their wives Liz and Sarah, Dave and Megan, the cutie Maddie, and Emma the dog.
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Great company, sunshine, warm sea water, cold beers, grilled chicken wings and Hot Dogs. If you can come up with a better combination to have a great time on the planet Earth.... be my guest.
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No drama, no positioning, no worries about who you can talk to without pissing someone off. I hope I wasn't missing something, but I'm pretty sure that I had a genuine great time.

Brown's Island

It's going to be a scorcher in the 90's today. We're planning to bring the WhaleEye over to Brown's Island to tie up with Bruett's Damp Yankee. There's plenty of beers on the boat, and Joanne just went down to Crosby's to pick up some natural casing hot dogs and chicken wings for the Magma boat grill.
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I wish we could take Roenick, but he would freak out. You don't see too many cats on boats. Dogs yes, but not cats. Roenick probably wouldn't get along with Nancy's dog, Emma, anyway.
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Should be an awesome Marblehead summer day! Hope you have a good day as well.

Gearing Up

Some drawings on the web of the Chamberlain Marblehead Gunning Dory that I will build.

A Fair Trade

So I get a good row in today. All the way from Riverhead Ramp through Marblehead Harbor, around Fort Sewall, into Little Harbor and over to Grace Oliver Beach, where I picked up Joanne and we rafted up with Greg and Nancy Bruett. Greg took a trial of the Tender, and I was thrilled to see how it performed from afar. It even made Greg look good.
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A nice couple of hours.
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Then over to O'Shea's pool and a trip to Beacon Hill Liquors for some Dark and Stormie supply. At the Beacon Hill counter, they sell Nancy Bruett's mystery novel, Dusting.
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A guy was looking at the book and I told him that it was a great read. He said that it should be for $14.95, and I said he wouldn't be dissapointed. He muttered something like, "What the Hell, Life is short." and bought the book.
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I'm thinking that paid for the two beers that I drank on Greg's boat, Damp Yankee, today.
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Coming Alive

Okay.

I'm going to watch one episode of Flight of the Conchords on HBO On Demand, then I'm getting into Saturday morning action.

Not Interested

Heading up the list of things I'm never going to do is running with the Bulls in Pamplona, closely followed by bungee jumping and technical rock climbing.
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I'm not as much afraid of the bulls, as I wouldn't get caught dead in one of those effeminate neckerchiefs.
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Not Ready to Rock and Roll

Did you ever wake up feeling lazy?
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That's what happened to me today. Thank God it's Saturday, and I don't have any scheduled obligations.
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I just don't feel like doing anything.... although I am blogging, so maybe I can snap out of it.
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Maybe I'll start by cleaning out the cat's litterbox. It smells like.... well.... shit. With Izzy and Roenick in and out of the house all the freaking day, wouldn't you think that they would void in the yard or somewhere. But no, they come into the house when it is time to take a dump.
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Plus I have one of those macular migranes going on, where you feel kind of whoozy and your vision has trouble with focus. It doesn't really worry me because I've had these periodically for the last twenty five years. But they are a pain in the ass.
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So stay off my back for awhile!

Small Suggestion

If you want something posted on this Blog, for God's sake, don't tell me to do it. Because that's the last thing that will ever be written about. The best way to get an entry is to secretly hope and pray that it gets in, and then maybe by dumb luck, I'll post it.
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Conversely, don't forbid me to write about anything.... because I guarantee that the forbidden topic will be posted forward, backward, and inside out.
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Enterprising Peeps have found ways to manipulate these rules, but it is not recommended.

High Tide

2007-07-13

11:06 PM EDT

10.70 feet High Tide

That pretty much kills my early evening rowing plans.
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Tomorrow, I'm going to work like hell on the deck railing in the morning until 12:00 noon when the tide will be high again. Then I'll take the tender out for a spin, maybe all the way to Grace Oliver Beach where I might have a Bruett sighting.

KMA

I was accused of kissing up to someone the other day.
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My friends at General Dynamics, Darwin and just about everybody else would really laugh at that. If anything, Joanne and I have been the Anti-Christ of KMA. We brought our kids up the same way.
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Everybody farts the same as we do, and we all end up with a long dirt nap. So what is there to kiss up to anyway???
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If I was a kiss up, I'd still have a huge salary coming in bi-weekly. But I have my self respect instead..... which is priceless. Being nice and courteous to someone is not kissing up. It's called manners. Get some, they come in handy when trying to get along with people.
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So you missed the mark when you called me a kiss up. Maybe your own personal preferences clouded your judgment. How's that for kissing up??? KMA.

Chicken Thighs and Pork Ribs

Stevie Lewis invited us to his traditional smoked meat competition this Saturday.
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Joanne was supposed to be a judge, and I was planning to team up with Jim Peabody, who is more into this type of barbeque than I am. But then some stuff came up and Joanne decided to go up North. If Katelyn comes home to Marblehead this weekend, I'm sure that Joanne will abort the North Conway trip.
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At any case, I've had to withdraw from Steve's smoke off, and thus will be missing the glory of dominating that cooking competition. I will honor the victors with Blog entries, but they only will be on top until a new smoke off is scheduled. Then I will assume my rightful place.

Maddie Sighting

Saw the cutie Maddie Gill at the BYC last night with her attractive parents, Tyler and Liz - a nice family. We were having a drink with Jim and Charlotte, enjoying his stories of sailing to the Carribean. Jim has done some cool stuff since I used to know him as a kid living by the Meadow.
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Today, I have to get into downtown Boston at the UMASS Club to meet with subcontractors and finalize pricing for a couple of jobs. There are a bunch of Rockett punch list items to do, since Mike is taking a week off to golf in Ireland, and we have to finish off the State of New Hampshire LC details.
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It will get really busy if I get a few more calls answered. By the end of the day, I'll be ready for the weekend.

Take It Easy

The pen is mightier than the sword.
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But a Blog can really bust your balls. Not to worry....scrotums will remain intact. So don't piss me off, OK?

Mind Song

Happiness runs in a circular motion,
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea,
Everybody is a part of everything anyway,
You can have it all if you let yourself be.

Why, Oh?
Because.

Why, Oh?
Because.

Happiness Runs, Happiness Runs,
Happiness Runs, Happiness Runs.

- Donovan

This little ditty has taken permanent residence in my brain for close to 40 years. I suppose that I could be mind-singing worse things.

Week 28 - 2007 Peeps of the Week

Peeps....
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Today I was so torn. I have Peeps asking me to put stuff on the Blog.... asking me not to put stuff on the Blog..... what is a mountain of a man like myself supposed to do????
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I'll tell you what I'm not going to do.... No matter how much screaming, begging, and threats I receive, I'm going to keep this Ponyboy golden. Righteousness and Purity never go out of style. Know what I mean????
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So don't try to kiss my ass anymore.
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If I were an ass kisser, I would be making a lot more money now.... but I also wouldn't be so damn goodlooking to myself in the mirror. Money isn't everything.

Announcing....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 28th week of 2007

Bobby Brown (automatic Lagavulin lock in)
Jim Ouellette
Tommy O'Shea
Debbie the Waitress at 7 Central
Dr. Danny Levy
Steve Lewis

It's about time that the automatic Lagavulin selection criteria kicked in. Even though Brown, Elsier and then DiMatteo all put a big dent in the bottle.

POTW Anticipation

It's Thursday, POTW Day, and very busy schedule-wise for me. I will get the selections out this evening, but I've got business obligations going until after 9:00 tonight.
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I do have an automatic Lagavulin selection - the first in a while.
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And the Elephant in the Room is still there, but now it's clear, and thus not that important to me anymore. A shame.
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Plus I have to fit in an appointment to the dentist because of that broken molar that I told you about.
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It's a good thing that I have such a high pain threshold.
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Don't worry.... you will see your pathetic/admirable peeps of the week by the end of the day. So get to work and make some money or something.

Salvage Job

The customer comes in from San Diego and wants to catch some fish in the Atlantic.
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The first thing I did was call Mike in DC and check where he and Mark Vona caught the stipers last week.
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DiMatteo and Elsier got to Marblehead and we met the customer at the old Sundance Building.
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The breeze on the water was stiff and was pushing 2 to 4 foot waves. I decided not to anchor at Ram Island and went to the back side of Baker's Island to get shelter from the waves and chum for stripers. No luck at the spot that we anchored.

I started to head up into Bluefish alley between Baker's and Halfway Rock, but the wave action made trolling uncomfortable.
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There was nothing left to do but to salvage the trip by heading into Manchester Harbor for dinner at 7 Central. Luckily there was room at the public tie up at the end of the Harbor. 7 Central has never dissapointed, even though they didn't recognize my Dark and Stormie Card. They said that it was only a Marblehead promotion. Whatever.
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After dinner, the waves had calmed down, and we had a pleasant ride back into Salem Harbor.
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All in all, a very successful customer event.

The Sleep of Kali

Your brain turns to Jelly.

"Still a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest".
- Paul Simon

Sail Preferences

This is the Sailrite plan for the Marblehead Gunning Dory. It's fashioned after John Gardner's Alpha Dory rig.
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Pardon my blasphemy, but I don't like it. I'd rather see two sprit sails rather that the one mutton chop and the jib.
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I would fashion the sail design much like the Herreshoff arrangement for the Coquina below.
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Pretty good criticism from someone who has barely sailed more than a Sunfish.
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So I'm going to change the planking on the Dory from plywood lapstrake to cedar bead and cove strips, and I'm going to change the sail configuration. But the actual hull design will remain true to Gardner's revised plans of the original Chamberlain Marblehead Gunning Dory.
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I don't want to screw around with the actual performance in the water, just the way it looks.
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Aren't you getting psyched about this project? Me too!

Raising the Main Mast

I fitted the sprit sail mast into the front mast support during a lull today. It fits good, and now I have to complete the sailing rig.
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It will be interesting to see how this performs, especially since I have so little experience in a sailboat.