Who's Your Boss?

There's so many ways to make a living in this great big giant world of ours. If you had a choice to pick your boss, who would it be? Whatever field your in, who would be your fantasy boss?



I found one for me, but it's not in my cards, it's my nephews at the moment, some of you might remember me keeping track of him while he was on an adventure sailing across the Pacific last year.

Yes, my nephew Christian is working for my fantasy boss...........


Team P2: "Jonathan and Alanna have spent the last 15 years working on board an assortment of sailing yachts. They have been fortunate to sail with owners who wanted to dive and fish in the more remote destinations of the planet. Together they have logged more than 400,000 miles and have cruised in a variety of regions from Mombassa to Maupiti, Bora Bora to Barbuda, and Alaska to Antarctica. They joined the Perini fleet in 1999 and after a 4-year circumnavigation aboard the 50 mt Perseus went on to build and commission the new hybrid P2 for the same owners. Alanna and Jonathan live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with their son Noah"

There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the seas.

But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be.



A favorite toast of Ted Kennedy

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Pics Worth Clicking

Stepping back into the bedroom the other morning








to get dressed, I'd seen we had company so I hunted









down the camera and shot these mommas and babies

chowing down.

This momma came right up to the house, saw me in the window

and thanked me for letting the grass grow a little long this week.

Meet Coop, The Predator

We have a new type of entertainment here on the hill, this Cooper hawk. I've tried to get a picture of him sweeping into the yard to snatch little critters but he's to fast. He must have just eaten because I can hear him screeching as I type this. Right after a meal he lets every critter around know he's here. Then it gets quiet, you see a flash of wings and he lands on one of his many favorite branches to chow down.

Sensible

Sometimes, you might think you have to go with the flow....Nah!
You've gots to FEEL it,
If you don't feel it......
then just chill.

Anchors Aweigh

So what does a guy like me buy himself for his birthday?

An anchor of course, along with an Elco Burgee. Since we got Malihini in the water in such a rush to get her up from Florida we never really outfitted her with some of the basics like a good set of dock lines and ground tackle(anchors and chain) etc. All we've had to anchor with is a huge Danforth type, about 35# with a short bit of chain. It's been a bit embarrassing to deploy such a monster for a lunch stop on the lake, although it was perfect for the 4th of July storm we experienced last year. Soon I'll being doing a job on the docks three boats down from Malihini, so I should be able to stock the cooler with beer, keep tools on the boat and get some work done (forward hatch, dock lines, etc.) on our poor neglected Elco.

It's The "Right" Thing To Do.

Here is one of the best reasons to have health care for all.
Mr. Roger Ebert (yes you know the one) changes his approach to the health care issue.

My Today Wish!

A Day Shy

This Thanksgiving it will be 4 years since Bic'n'I moved into this huge brick house that all three toilets were leaking, all the sinks had issues or leaks, all the windows were single pane jalousie crank out windows, and vines and trees had encroached in some places to the very top of the house. I chuckled to myself at the thought of hiring a building inspector before we bought the house, he would have needed a lot of extra paper. We thought maybe 5 years to get the house in decent shape. The way it's working out is that it looks like we'll have the exterior and the property decent but little in the way of major remodeling of the interior. That's the reason I've held off doing a complete plumbing redo and electric because we'll wait till we make the decisions of interior layout. One more window(attic), one more entry door(cellar), one more garage door rebuild(my shop), some stone work on the patio, get the railing welded and painted, with a little more painting of trim and by golly the outside will be done. Physically I'm holding up OK but I do notice a tad slowing down on the heavier projects. Still not bad for a day shy of 56.
No pics today, the computer fought to hard this morning.

I Miss Stick Built

My last window for the basement fought me all the way. I had to cut out the old steel window. Glass broke, sliced a finger and mashed a thumb. The concrete opening was inches to small for the window that fits the brick. Lots of overhead powerchiseling. Tough on the shoulders, had to take lots of breaks. The bottom broke off in huge chunks, just all more work for when I trim the inside. (pic weirdness)

Mystery Child

How Far Can We Go?

If you get a chance this is a "must see" documentary. We should ALL be aware of this.
It's serious, and you can't consciously deny it, we as humans are fouling our environment to the point that thousands of ourselves are dieing from..."friendly fire". That's right, toxins, chemicals and pcb's that our own country's corporations and government run businesses put right smack in our faces and our everyday lives. Cancer, birth defects, you all know the list!

Hush! Hush! Let's think this out, let's not hurry.....BULLSHIT
All dangled in our elected officials dealings ($$+votes) with large corporations, government or private. Whoopee Ding. It make me feel all safe and warm!....NOT!







It's been a very long time since the Clean Water Act.

Huh?

This is really an awesome tribute. If you hang in there towards the end you might be feeling pretty proud or very emotional about all or some of these people. I have to give warning though, at about 3:15 into the video tighten your sphincter (you got about 4.5 seconds) so you don't crap your pants.
Keep it tight till the end you just "might" need it.

Double Click, Triple Click, Get Me Out Of Here

I hate* it!
I don't know what some of you folks have done to your blogs but there's a few of you that I can't LEAVE your site without double and sometimes multi clicks that gets me back to my dashboard. I hate* it!

Is it me? My computer? I don't think so! Tell me I'm wrong.

Here is my official list and in no way does this mean I like any of you any less.


RLL : You have recently become a simple double click. If I pop in and notice no new post and go REALLY quick I might get out with one click. More often than not I have to double or triple.

Vinnie Bond : You too have recently become a double clicker. You've always taken a long time to load but I can live with that.

Wreggie : You my friend are the biggest pain for me to LEAVE your site. Sometimes I have to continually click away just to get back to my dashboard. I have sometimes NOT been able to leave your site without....the red X.

Knight : You too my dear have recently become a double, and if I'm quick, I can leave with one click.

Dianne : You were fine till last week, your a double now.


What is it that is happening here? Anybody have any ideas?

All the rest of the places I visit through Blogger let me leave with a simple little click "back".


.......................................(*) give one a pain in the neck....

I think a wicked, wicked hard ball, got thrown at the Republican Party today from "Hardball".

Fire And Rain

This morning while laboriously typing out a long blog about my lawn tractor (here) I was thinking about what to do today, that wouldn't be hard on my aching foot. Setting fire to my burn pile and try to get it going enough to out race a thunderstorm (I was watching radar too) sounded like an awesome game plan. It worked, it's going like hell even now with all the time it took to get "this" post together.

Update:

And then... after all that, I stepped out front and I still had Fire And Rain.

The Beast

The other day, Wreggie talked about how it took him all day to get his lawn tractor started. It made me think of my relationship with my tractor. When we moved to FL. we had a very large yard of grass but mostly sand. My BIL said he had a riding mower for me, he didn't really need something this big. I learned that when you mow sand it acts as a sandblaster inside the cutting deck and eats away at metal, not to mention blades. I think I went through a set a year. They wouldn't get dull, they'd get rounded over so you weren't cutting the grass, you were bashing it with a blunt instrument. Where the grass (or my case mostly sand) is supposed to exit the cutting deck slowly got eaten away so that I had to bungee the shield in place. And maybe I should have left the duct tape on the seat a little longer.

Then we moved here to an 8 acre piece of property with an 1800ft paved driveway and completely overgrown with vines and small trees. This is where our relationship changed. I got mean and tough on this machine. I bulled into overgrowth, stumps, rocks and bottles, large sticks and anything that was in the way. You see, I didn't give a shit about the deck because it was already beat, but it kept going, even after all the jammed sticks, pulleys flying off. I truly had no respect for that cutting deck, just kept replacing and repairing what broke to the point that it amazes me it still works. The engine started every time and was without fail a true and reliable friend. I slowly got new lawns in, had the sides of the driveway all cleared of debris and stumps, so that now what I cut is just kinda normal, and doesn't beat up on the machine. Only recently did the carburetor get clogged with crap and make me stop and realize how awesome this machine has been to me even though I have been a beast to it. I think I'll recover the seat with some white duct tape (it's so much prettier than grey) change out my beer holder with a new can that will hold a coolie for my beer.
And drive her till she drops!

Achilles Attack

I went for a swim yesterday with the dog and as I was walking up the bank I felt uncomfortable on my feet. I didn't feel any pain or a twist but when I got home I noticed the back of my heel hurt. Today it really hurts. I hope sneakers make it a little better.

Update: Nah, they didn't help. I'm going to walk with my right foot sideways all day.

Road Trip?

Tough Times For My Bic

Things could be better in these parts, Bic is heading north to NH to be by her very, very sick brothers side, and help her mother cope, with yet another of her children ready to leave this world. Please send good thoughts.

House Visitors

When folks come to visit us up here on the hill, we hope they'll get to look out our windows to see something like this, which happens quite often but is easily missed.

Looks to me like new babies being taught how to behave, near the really big square thing on the hill. (isn't that how deer would think?)

Munch, munch, munch, peek at the big square thing, munch, munch, munch.

A subtle turn in forward while munching, and a slight eyeball towards the flower bed out front, ..............

I went out the back patio door, and leaned out around the big square things corner to have the opportunity to "challenge" them if they continued to the flower bed, but poof.... they knew they were stepping across a Micboundery so when I appeared they did that deer thing....RUN AWAY!

Good deer! (humble apologies for the blurry picture)

We humans like being in charge of the front yard.

55 Years Ago This Mug Met The World

Way back when, in the land of sun and fun and sun sets at the ocean I met this guy while he was trying to become a carpenter through some apprenticeship program that promised a future of hitting, banging and shining sticks. I was planning an open ended hitchhiking trip into the unknown of the great northwest, and he wanted to come REAL bad. So he somehow sweet talked his way into getting a year leave of absence (first one ever) from the apprenticeship and so began the friendship that still to this day holds strong. We even have a road trip planned for this Labor day weekend. So please make sure you go on over to Phfranks Place and wish him a happy birthday or send him presents like I'm doing with this bowl of Sicilian style snails and a dessert of everyones favorite Italian sweet, connoli.

Alaska Outlaws - Deck of Cards

http://www.alaskaoutlawcards.com/Examples.html

Kinda funny how some folks are always looking for a way to cash in. This guy just might do it.

No, he won't get cash from me or anybody I know. He even has a "Joe Sixpack Special" if you buy more than one deck. This makes me laugh.

Feeling Like...............