Maintenance gas check... Check!

Sure fire way to get the gas inspection lady to show up - make a dribbly pulled pork sandwich, take a couple bites and get drippings all over your hands... Presto! She'll show up, the dogs will bark, there will be chaos.

Watched her check the vent operation with the smoke from a match, I know it's probably *the* single best way to do it, but it's only slightly concerning lighting matches around gas lines that you're checking... I guess that's why she's a trained professional ;)

Turns out that based on the connector used on the hot water tank it's probably as old as the house (early 50's!) and being a two piece brass connector is no longer deemed "safe" so it needs to be swapped out for a new shiny-er stainless steel model. 

I must admit though I'm a little confused as to why this passed the "health and safety inspection" we had to get before we bought the place?

Next I hear beeping upstairs and figure it's one of her measurement devices, then it cuts to "Fire! Fire! Fire!" and I realize it's our smoke alarm, followed shortly by her hollering down "Don't worry, that's normal" *chuckles* turns out it doesn't bother her any as it's all in a day's work even though the sound of it drives me crazy she assured me it was fine and to just open some windows... I did, and retreated downstairs.

Official voice: *self important throat clearing* Thank you, thank you, thank you... this concludes our test. I would like to express my appreciation to the responsiveness of our neighbours for checking that we were home and knew our smoke detectors were going off. I sincerely appreciate your concern and the haste with which you checked to make sure everything was okay.

More dog chaos.

Should I be concerned that her sniffer sounds like she's flying a model airplane?  Yep, I'm pretty sure that means something is leaking... good thing I shut that one off after we moved in!

Of course she's in a different truck and doesn't have all her parts, so she had to get the connector delivered. Naturally my department meeting started 10 mins ago, and he showed up immediately *after* I was asked to speak *rolls eyes*

I had to go on mute so I could yell at the dogs to stop barking - seems pretty hypocritical of me, yelling at them, for barking... but still.

Oh, right and to top it all off? *while* I was on my conference call, the street sweeper came by. I had a minor heart attack because there's a $50 ticket you if you're parked on the street, and I had completely forgotten to mention it. I watched in horror as the street sweeper went around both trucks, and the enforcement car slowed down in front of the second truck... still on the phone knowing that there wasn't enough time to run and get them to move their vehicles...  I dashed back to my computer and discovered that thankfully they don't ticket professionals like the phone or gas company unless it becomes a habit in front of your house. *sigh of relief*

Nonetheless adventures aside, I can finally check this off the list! Everything has been electronically sniffed, tightened, fixed and cleared for use save the heater downstairs in the living where we might actually use it... (figures) That one needs to be professionally cleaned. Other than that she showed me how to light the pilot lights on our super old gas heaters, and the gas fireplace and I now have some level of confidence that in doing so I'm not going to blow the house up.

You have no idea how stoked I am to finally be able to have a fire in the livingroom while it's still winter here!

Homeownership adventure number 1!

It was one of those conversations...

Her: "I think this is blowing hot air"

me: *dubious* "I don't think it's turned on... It's probably just the fan blowing through it from the other room and picking up hot air from under the house..."

Her: "I dunno, it's really warm"

me: "okay" *shrugs* "but I'm not really sure what to do about it" :/

*muttering to self* Well, just because you don't think something is on, doesn't mean it isn't... and your off the cuff response doesn't entirely make sense, why would there be hot air under the house? The sun doesn't even shine down there, so it should actually be cooler air... *sigh* I should take a look at it... it's not like she's saying this just to be difficult... she's just as hot and cranky as you are.

She left for rehearsal and I started taking the cover off of the 50's era heating vent. 

I discovered to my alarm that the thing under the vent actually was quite warm!  

Deeper and deeper into it I went...

...undoing things and taking them apart until I found what looked to be an excessively large pilot light... and damn was it ever throwing off a whole lotta heat!!!

Further investigation revealed a munched label above two square poles that looked like once upon a time were valves but they seemed to be missing handles...

*panic*

*run to shop for vice grips*

*continue staring at it, as if it will come to me and I will somehow know what to do to turn it off*

I took a deep breath and decided that since it hadn't lit anything on fire yet it was probably okay for now, and dialed my emergency on-call Civil Engineer...

me: "Hi Mom? Is Dad there?" ...

Mom: "Hi sweetie, your father is driving, what's up?"

me: "Well there's this heater thing that looks like it's from Granny's era, and I want to turn it off... I mean I guess it hasn't blown up or anything yet so it's okay for now, but I was hoping Dad could take a look at it"

Mom: "We're just coming through the S-bend now, so we'll be home in about 5 minutes, can you call us on the land-line?"

me: *relieved* "Sure no problem, I'll take some pictures and email them to you so you can see what I'm talking about"

Six or so odd pictures with the dog thrown in for scale and about 10 minutes later I was talking to my Dad.  With him on the phone I tried gripping the handle poles with a pair of vice grips but all that did was cause the pilot light to flicker and an alarming bit of orange to jump into it.

Dad: Alright, well your next option is that there *should* be an emergency shut off valve near the appliance.

me: Sooooo since I can't see anything like that from up here, that means it's under the house right? *scrunched up look*

Dad: Yep, most likely, it should be on the gas line leading to the heater.

me: *groans* alright, I'm going in...

If I don't call you back in 20 minutes something under the house got me... I'll take my phone with me, whatever good that'll do from under the house :/

Dad: *chuckles* Alright, be careful

It's 84 degrees in the house at this point, but I have no idea what I'm going to find underneath it... so I suit up.  Shirt w/sleeves and thick jeans which I taped to my runners.  I jammed my phone in my pocket, grabbed a can of Raid, the vice-grips and a flashlight and descended into the crawl space.

*cautious breath*

It took a handful of seconds for me to equalize my nerves and calm my imagination enough not to just jump right back out again, but once I did I realized it didn't smell as bad as I had feared, and there weren't hoards of creepy crawlies all over the place like an Indiana Jones movie.  I saw one or two desiccated insect corpses, but that was about it...  I calmed down, spotted the heater line and dragged myself over to it... literally.

Sure enough, just like Dad said there was a shut-off valve on the gas line. It turned like a charm and within seconds the pilot light was blissfully silent.

I scrambled out, and called my parents to let them know I was still alive 

...while simultaneously stripping down and promised to call them back after a quick shower.

Dad: So it worked did it?

me: Yes! *grins*

Dad: You sound pretty pleased with yourself ;)

me: Yeeeessssss *grins even bigger*

Dad: And so you should!  Now you need to book someone to come out and service it and tell you how it works, preferably in the off season before you need it.

me: It's so hot right now, I can't even *think* of turning it back on, but yeah I will thanks!

Labour day weekend, how appropriate

562 trips to Home Depot and the project we started last weekend has an end in sight... of course that's what we thought yesterday... and the day before that.

Before we discovered that we needed just one more floor tile and they wanted to sell us the entire case... before a nice guy said this case is already open, its garbage to me (you can have that one)... and we hastily exited the store whispering "Start the car! Start the car!!!" Before we cut one wrong...

and as a desperate last measure cut it in half with mad exacto knife skills and made an overlap to fit ;)

Which was just before it turned 11 and was too late to nail in the base boards for fear of waking the neighbors... So here we are again, 12 hours later caulking the baseboards because they "mostly fit" and the end is still in sight...

The list is getting smaller, but each item has sub items you don't even know about until you get there... *fingers crossed* the end is drawing near, I can feel it!

Almost embarassing beach story... because everyone has one

I was trying to bodysurf this wave in to shore when I got "Maytagged" (like the washing machine) about half way through I realized the lower half of my bathing suit was making a break for it!!!

I immediately abandoned all pretenses of swimming and caught it down around my knees, with the wave in control I was immediately bouncing along on my head, with my knees and feet flailing around out of the water, while I pulled my suit back into place... 

Sputtering sea water I surfaced cautiously, double checking my suit placement before walking out of the water... acting as though nothing had happened...  judging by the people and their dogs carrying on as though I hadn't just exposed myself to the world... nothing had happened.

Huh. I guess it is true, nobody really cares what you're doing...

I literally brought half of the beach home with me in my bathing suit *sigh*

Wrapping up last weekend's project

You know when you put something together, and things fit the way you had envisioned... Does that still scare you, or do you have enough practice now that you know how to do it properly?

Because it still scares me a little. Like when mechanics used to have pieces left over after putting cars back together, and they would still run...

Nevertheless, behold! It could probably use a few more things holding the two trellisesss together, but all in all I think we did pretty well. 

*high five* team

$5 Garage sale jade plant score! (except that it came with spiders!)

New meaning to the term "sun dog"

 Once when she was let out before the sun was actually *on* the deck, she leaned into the patch of sun on the wall... Absolutely pathetic and adorable all at the same time, like she doesn't get enough sun down her in California *rolls eyes* 

"Weekend" DIY projects

We are in the midst of working on a "minor" weekend deck project that went big.  In fact, we're took it into the next weekend.

We decided last weekend that we wanted to put up a trellis, like the one our cool neighbors have, but in wood because it just looks so much warmer.  Of course the fence we want to put it on top of isn't level... and it's a 12' gap where prefab trellis comes in 8' lengths, aaaand then we decided we should put in a shelf for planter boxes... yeah, you know how it goes ;)

Anyways we spent a good couple hours wandering around Home Depot figuring out what we were going to do, comparing prices, sorting through wood all the way down. to. the. bottom. to get pieces that weren't bent and warped and otherwise munched or weird, and gathering random other supplies...

Checked out and realized that at the end of the day the prefab trellis was going to cost pretty much the same as all the parts AND wouldn't require nearly as much monkeying around with. 

We turned around right there in the parking lot, and returned half the stuff we had just purchased, went back to the lumber section and sorted down. to. the. bottom. to get the two prettiest prefab trellisesss.  As an added bonus it also fit in the car better, and was easier to tie down ;)

Once home, we cut, dismantled and otherwise mangled the one prefab section into a beautifully framed shorter trellis... only to discover that we had done it to the wrong half. *facepalm*  Seriously I was so proud of us, it looks like it came like that! (For those of you doing the math in your head and thinking that shouldn't matter because we cut the one trellis in half... I lied. The space is actually 12' at the bottom and ~146" at the top - It's California! Things get shifted and re-settled regularly)  Annnnd of course, the way we did it meant that we couldn't just "undo" it and "do" it to the other one... yeah, we "did" it good.

Two "emergency skype" calls to my Engineer Dad later and we had a few different options... along with various notes of things to watch out for, things to remember, and things to be careful of... and most importantly, how to level the fence. 

Another trip to home depot for paint... a few jugglings of which pieces are going where, an evening of painting the various pieces, and we're just about ready to put it all together! *phew*

This isn't usually a problem I have

Well I finally did it, I got all of the ingredients for dinner ready at approximately the same time.

Until I drained the spaghetti...

The look on the little ninja's face said it all "This looks great, but uh... what're you gonna have?"

Yep, that's right... for the first time in the history of making spaghetti noodles, I did not make enough.

To the left to the left... No! Your other left!!!

Drove to Oamaru yesterday on the left side of the road.  What an insane trip that was.  David's brain kept trying to put him on the right side of the road where it figured he should be.

Exhausting for both of us.

We made it safely, about a 4 hour trip from Christchurch, checked into our hotel and then zipped out to the end of Bushy Beach road to see the yellow eyed penguins come ashore to feed their young.  How amazing!

We were just leaving when David caught a movement from the corner of his eye so we stopped to watch a penguin swim to shore and climb up on the beach, waddle toward the hill we were standing on and we heard their youngster hollering for supper.

Very neat.  Just at sunset.

Then on the way back to our hotel we stopped at the local boat basin so dad could look at boats and we found some very artistically sculpted wood planks on the dock.  Dad took lots of photos.  Got to go, we need to check out in 10 minutes.

On to Dunedin on the South Island.  Talk more soon.  Love you lots!

Love and hugs,

Mom

From the Captain down under... and in NZ again!

It goes.  

 

The major snags is the stuff lost by the yard - my electrical spares box and the white battery box that had bolts etc. for the engine re-assembly.  It's peak season here and getting the attention of the mechanics has been an issue.  

 

A key ring adapter for the transmission was 'lost'.  Turned up at the machinist's shop, been sitting there for 15 months - mechs forgot and didn't pass on what was to happen.  Got it back, refitted, found the problem (sloppy fit), back to the mech, the machinist and now a fix is in the pipeline - fix being make up a new part that fits. Takes time, everyone is busy.  

 

So, the boat goes on out to the mooring without the engine but they say they'll have it running when I get back from Mom.  Meanwhile, I've got the fuel and water systems back together - major exercise.  The insides are going back in, still have to make up new compartment dividers but that isn't a huge job.  

 

Into the lazarette to deal with the mass of ropes - going to make a couple of bins at the forward end for an anchor line each feeding through a hawse pipe into the cockpit, then a decent sized chain and rope locker in the forepeak (once I can get in there when the center storage area is rebuilt) - so another week at least of work.

The Roadtrip - July 15th 2012 - Part Oregon

They don't give you any warning that you're crossing into another state, so it sure made it hard getting "Welcome to..." pictures, like this - Oh by the way when you crossed the river, you're in Oregon now.

As we  entered into a land of concrete and overpasses we feverishly listened to our GPS Doug-Doug's directions... Shhhh! *holds breath* "In 500 meters take the exit 62A, on your right" we both mimicked 62-eh? *hehehe* then indignantly yelled Doug-Doug!? as we passed exit 62B... only to have Doug-Doug pipe up "In 150 meters take the exit 62A on your right"... and sure enough, there was exit 62A *shakes head*

Dude, since when does B come before A in the alphabet?!?.

Oh, by the way Roadtrip Note #2. When Doug-Doug says 150 meters, it basically means "By the time I finish giving you this instruction - you need to already be doing it"

Completely unrelated cool bridge in Oregon

 The aptly named Sunset Highway is *awesome* at sunset, pardon my sarcasm... Apparently it wasn't bad enough that the angle of the sun was below the visor and shining directly into your eyes, so they resurfaced the asphalt (which you pronounce ass-fault in America *rolls eyes*) with deceivingly black shiny stuff so the sunset reflected beautifully off the road as well.

I'm fairly confident that the only reason we made it to Faith's brother's place that night, was because of Doug-Doug and the 3D view that showed which way the road was turning... but we did get there :)

Accidentally artistic angular shot of The Dalles

 Michelle, Mel's wife assessed the situation and immediately took charge, and promptly took us out and fed us *heh* which I think was best in our travel induced dazes.  We will both "eat anything", but the only (and brilliant) request Faith had was that we go somewhere we couldn't go anywhere else in the States... something unique to Oregon.

Michelle and Mel took us to the coolest pub called... McMenamins! I have no idea where it was or how long it took to get there, but it was like walking into another world. The parking lot was small and dark, but the path up to the pub was like a green vine covered arbor tunnel lit up with beautiful white bulbs... like something from a fairy tale *smiles*

A picture of McMenamins would be much more appropriate here... but it was too dark, so instead you get countryside ;)

We didn't even look inside, instead grabbing a spot out by one of the fires at a huge rustic picnic table that would have been large enough to seat a shipload of Vikings! It was crazy how cozy, and intimate and incredibly comfortable... not the benches, but the atmosphere were... as it felt like being out somewhere camping, cozied up around a campfire.

The company along with the terminator a tall dark and handsome beer, and the summer copper ale were a perfect end to the long day. The food was amazing! the waitress having personally tried many of the dishes and highly recommended *all* of them, I can't remember what I settled on but it had mushrooms and an awesome name. Awesome when said in an *announcers voice* "The Communication Breakdown Burger... Tillamook® cheddar, grilled mushrooms, onion, & bell peppers"

End of day one and we've driven from Vernon BC Canada to Hillsborough (just outside of Portland) Oregon USA...

Daily dose of driving: 848kms (~527mi)

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Enough is enough

Well... here we are days after I returned from a 3 week extended vacation from the real world... and I've only just managed to return my life to some semblance of order. Translation: I finally cleaned out the cooler *gross* and I still have four or five loads of laundry to do ;)

It was an incredible trip, and while I'm not as sad that it's over as I expected to be... there is a melancholy... a quiet peaceful yearning that has settled into the space left by my two roadtrip companions. Don't get me wrong, I don't miss the long days we were putting in driving the road but I do miss the shared moments of awe and laughter.

The important thing is that I've decided that I've procrastinated long enough. So what I'm going to do, well what I'd like to do... alright my goal is, to do one day a night until I've told as many of the amazing, wonderful, and funny moments as I can remember.
 
As Vizzini in the Princess Bride said to go back to the beginning, that is what I'm going to do.

I hope you enjoy the adventure, I certainly did ;)

Going on a roadtrip!!

If I haven't mentioned it before now, I am about to embark on a roadtrip of epic proportions... Vernon BC to St. Louis MO.  I've got three weeks booked off and approved for the middle of July. It promises to be one for the books, another chapter in the adventure of my life *grins*


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I was having some trouble planning, there are so many things I want to find and in this age of the internet soooo many resources... but there isn't really a good way to pull them all together. I basically had things spread haphazardly all over my living room.

It was complete and utter chaos and it was getting worse at an alarming rate.

Now the trouble with the coffee table was that my laptop was at an awkward height, I'm either hunched over from the couch (which I considered pulling forward) or I'm sitting on the floor until my butt goes numb, followed shortly by my legs...

Then it hit me! I am the only one who lives here!! I can do whatever I want *wherever* I want to do it. If I want to take over the entire kitchen for road-trip planning, and not clean it off for dinner, I can! So there Dad *sticks out tongue*.

And thus, the road-trip planning command center was born. Isn't it beautiful? *smiles* My laptop is hooked up to an extra monitor for Google mapping locations. I've got my rechargeable cordless mouse, and speakers for inspirational motivating tunage!

Now I can use Google maps to quickly find map locations from the BCAA Travel Guides and sticky note them on my map... and look up images and additional information, and cross reference *everything*.

It. is. AWESOME!

Chicken soup for the soul

Many people have passed through my life leaving fingerprints on the window to my soul.

Along the way many of them attempted to teach me how to cook, and to their credit they all succeeded in one manner or another... I think the most important thing they left me with though weren't various recipes, but the yearning desire to learn... and that sometimes you have to try it again... and again... and sometimes one more time before you just go buy a damn rice cooker. They're cheap like borsch now.

I also learned from one friend, that when she's lonely, or when she needs people around that love her, she cooks... and not just a little bit, like we're talking a turkey as big as she is (at a mere 4'2).

I'm proud to say in the last few years I've formed a special connection with a few people in my life who cook. I wish there was a more eloquent word than cook though, because there are people who 'cook' mac and cheese every day for lunch *ahem* (I had a roommate like that) And then there are people who are honestly excited. Like we're talking wriggle inside their skin excited about cooking. People who have had their fair share of *oops* it definitely wasn't supposed to turn out like that!!! and know when to use their hamburgers as hockey pucks and order pizza... or dust off that box of mac 'n cheese.

So while I'm still barely above the caveman level of charred writing implement survival cooking, I appreciate sharing my minor triumphs and moments of win with others who have been so encouraging. Tonight I would like to present chicken soup... one part home made broth, one part abstract chicken cube and all the rest hearty fresh and frozen vegetables. *whispers* I did cheat a little bit though... I started with a cooked chicken from Superstore. Whoever came up with those things is brilliant!

*drumroll*

*slurps* Well it certainly doesn't taste like Grandpa used to make it... *raises eyebrows* but it is pretty good!

I'd also like to thank My Kim for supervising the kosher induced salinity levels, it definitely wouldn't have been the same without you. You are most welcome in my kitchen :)

Hmmm this started as just a little "look I made soup"... but I guess there so many letters stuck in my head they started leaking out my fingertips!

Christmas creativity

Omg.

Half an hour to write a Christmas card... at this rate times (16+18) I should be finished in 17 hours as long as I don't eat, sleep or allow for any ablutions... effluvium.

Yes thank you auto correct that is totally what I meant. Heh.

ablution
1. The ritual washing of a priest's hands or of sacred vessels.
2. [South African] A toilet that is available to the public.

So why is it taking so long? Well, earlier this year I had this bright idea that I wanted to learn calligraphy... the art of herding coloured water with a stick, and making it look perfectly organized and flowingly natural at the same time. Then my best friend found me an intro kit at a garage sale!

And what better way to practice my letters, and show my Christmas love than using it in cards? So, if I don't get ink poisoning, or a fatal hand cramp... and I actually get them down to the post office, and you get one you should feel very special. If you don't get one don't take it personally, I still love you... I just ran out of motivation.

*whips head around* Wanna go ride bikes?!?!

Do the time warp!

I think there's a temporal anomaly around Christmas... kind of like a worm hole, because I was doing great, I had lots of time to prepare and then all of a sudden BOOM it's nearly Christmas! When did that happen?!?

In other anomaly news, I totally got someone elses's breakfast sandwich this morning... *frowns* and no I don't want to correct to Elsey's, how on earth are you supposed to spell that?!?! Anyways Aaren got to listen to my full range of emotions...

Bagel?!? I didn't order a bagel!
Oh maybe they ran out of homestyle biscuits, well as long as there's tomato in it... *peeks inside*
Hmmm nope, damn... definitely got somebody else's breakfast
Oooh cheese bagel... and red pepper? Do they even make a cheese and red pepper bagel?

Maybe it's sundried tomato, that's almost like regular tomato...
Mmmmm this is actually pretty good :)

How am I supposed to order this again? "Hi, I'd like the same order you messed mine up with yesterday, yeah it was really good."

Movember

Ze French-fingure-stache

In support of Men's health a bunch of the guys at the office have been painstakingly growing and grooming mustaches for the entire month... with varying levels of success.


Today we celebrated their efforts, the Mo-Bros supported by the Mo-Sista's, were rewarded with a public shaving... (those who haven't become attached to their manly handlebars that is). Four shaves, and no nicks, cuts or pressure leaks later and I'm practically a professional... besides ~ *holds hands up* it's okay I know first aid ~.

Together we've raised just over $1600 which is going to be matched! w00t w00t!! If you can help us raise a little bit more, by donating to me or our team, that would be spectacular of you. Thanks :)

Way to go everyone!!!

Putting the punk in Steampunk (parts1-57)

You would think that after trying to explain steampunk for the entire month of October... and then some, I would have come up with something clever by now, but I haven't really. My best description is: Victorian-era style as though steam emerged *the* main source of power from the Industrial Revolution... with a DaVinci-style gadgety twist.

As usual though, wikipedia says it much better... although I have always wondered why it isn't wikipaedia, with that funny 'ae' like encyclopaedia... No, for serious.

So without further ado... here are some shots from the no-less-than four times that we dressed up for Halloween this year. Some of the odds and ends are way cooler up close and personal, and a little hard to pick out in the pictures... so I'll fill you in as we go.

The Eyeglasses... they were sufficiently Victorian style until I pulled something out of an ancient crt tv that looked like the extra lenses from the glasses in the National Treasure movie.  I spent days trying to figure out how to attach it to them, because I really wanted it to be able to swing up out of the way... and then it hit me! The squeeze tube on my hand soap which closes and locks for your traveling convenience!!! The skies opened up and the angels sang.

My satchel with my spyglass... and Indian Jones whip

My glowing bits

The Jacket. Nobody knows how old it is, or whence it came but it received a little extra aging courtesy of a foot file. Edging was done along the main seams with some copper wire pulled out of some ferrite winding inside an old tv, or it might have been the dvd player... There are furniture tacks on the shoulder seam and rivets down the back, although they weren't quite picture worthy.

Treasure's wicked steampunk wings... that fit through doorways

Note to self: Photoshop in better head... when I learn photoshop

*whispers* I am a little embarrassed to admit that I totally forgot to dress up for work Monday morning... like didn't even cross my mind forgot. THE freaking day-of I was half way to work when I heard it on the radio pulled a questionably legal u-turn and was late for work.

Both gauntlets were built on a kids soccer shin guard base... sprayed to a nice coppery colour. My nephew had a cardiac because he thought they were his, but they weren't... this time ;) The right gauntlet suffered most of the casualties every time we went out, but it was just odds and ends... including the dial from inside a thermostat. The left gauntlet has the entire inner mechanism of an optical drive riveted to it, motor and gears intact... so you can slide it back and forth!!!

Blastering a hole in the floor!

Vaporize!!!!

The Ray Gun" This was actually a functional super-soaker until we modded it,  my nephew hasn't forgiven us for it yet... but it was totally worth it. The glowing ball was actually a toy we found on one of our scavenging trips, it was a clear ball with a spinning disc inside with led's around the edge of the disc... some weird kid picture in the middle and batteries in the handle with a push button.  As soon as I saw it I knew that as cool as it was, it would be EVEN COOLER on my gun!

A few evenings of taking it apart, soldering various pieces back together... testing, soldering... changing batteries and testing!?! *phew* Then cutting the bare minimum plastic bits down to size, hacking out the inside of the screw on water filler cap and it fit like a glove... with some hot glue. But this setup meant that we could unscrew it at any time and change the batteries... brilliant! The batteries ended up working perfectly in their original holder (cut down to the bare minimum also) and had tonnes of room to rattle around inside the super soaker. During the soldering ordeal we drilled a hole through the handle so the start button could be mounted on the trigger position of the handle. Oh and we coated the inside of the ball with glow in the dark powder, because glowing things are awesome!

The holster for "The Ray Gun"... was a pair/set? of strategically wrapped suspenders.

From the Captain...

I'd hoped to be in NZ and able to call you and sing the b day song but 'fraid not.

This is the most challenging passage yet - and I just got bitten by the mechanical system again - two or three times at once.  First I screwed up when I left Tonga - should have paid the extra immigration cost and killed another two weeks, or gone to Fiji - but I didn't want to do that passage given I was sick and tired of passages and there are a lot of uncharted hazards along that route.  You "should be" OK if you stay north of such and such....  

Anyway, I'm here.

Next error, called the weather wrong and when I hit a change where the wind was all over the place for an hour, I chose simply to heave to and sleep - and a while later realized things had settled.  Should have gone up and set sail to west, didn't.  Drifted north 20 m while I slept.  Had I sailed, I probaly wouldn't have nothred 20 miles and would have gained westing that I needed.

Then 3 fronts  came through, a couple of days with the worst squalls ever - 40 to 50 k winds.  And with things settled out, I was beating due south.  Second error - kept going south in the nice sailing conditons figuring the wind would shift and I'd get west.  NOT.  Things calmed down, so decided to motor into the wind.

Engine fine, belts slipping badly.  Tightened.  Another nasty noise developed.

Decided to sail, granted north west so I'd actually be sailing away from port, but getting the west I had to have.  No options.  Got sailing and turned motor off - except it wouldn't.  OK, shut off the fuel supply.  Shut EVERY valve off and the sucker kept going.

Getting desperate.

Got to the point of cracking the lines to the injectors to introduce air, but just before that recalled the discussion with Peter at Eureka and recalled that an alternative to the solenoid (which is probably frozen in the run positition) there's a mechanical lever at the end of the rack.

Found it - it worked. 

Anyway, I was looking at 120 nm of motoring, now I'm looking at 160 mi of sailing.  Let's hope the wind holds without getting nasty high - there's another system coming through and I hope to be in somewhere calm by then.  We'll see, it'll be close.

Have a great day.  BTW - I'm on the other side of the date line - it's your bday here now.

Love Dad
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At 21/10/2011 4:59 AM (utc) our position was 32°25.14'S 176°46.76'E

Fly fishing for the 165lb sucker

My Uncle and I tried fly fishing last weekend, and whoever says its a relaxing sport obviously hasn't tried it with us... I mean it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... then it's a sport, so I can see where it's sport status comes from. But we were yellin' back and forth... at each other, at our lines, but mostly at the flying errant hooks.

I was momentarily disgusted when I thought he hollered "Betcha didn't catch a perch on your first cast!"... it was all okay though, because he'd said "birch". It started out well, at least I thought it did, I was getting my line at *least* 15 feet out in front of me... Then I caught the bush behind me. Four times. Followed by the cedar tree. Grampa Max chuckled, shook his head, made a couple suggestions then cast out his bobber, and leaned back against a tree to enjoy the entertainment.

That Cedar tree, over on the right there.

 I finally turned myself parallel to the shore, covering twice as much area right (fishing in front *and* behind myself) but who are we kidding, it was mostly to avoid stripping the trees. An added bonus was Don directly in my line of sight... especially when I saw him wading in, removing his soaking wet t-shirt?

Yep, that's right he fell in the lake, and because I'm sensitive like that I laughed... really hard! Immediately it subsided to nervous chuckles, as it occurred to me that karma was going to get  me. I mean I had already slipped a couple times...

You know that thought that as soon as you think it you'd better act on it? Like one of your guardian angels is yelling at you and it finally pierces your self-assured consciousness with a wedge of doubt. This was one of those thoughts. I reeled in, waded in and took off my shirt "just in case", waded back out and promptly fell in the lake.

Its a good thing our karmic balance was restored, I think it's the only reason we managed not to fall in the lake while trolling and fly fishing from the canoe... Even when we got the trout up to the side of the boat, *almost* in and it flipped off. We didn't have a net. That would have been more than a little bit interesting.

A sensible not-fly-fisherman (Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was no more than 6'2)

How to park the camper

It is very important, that when you go camping, as a couple you have worked out how to park a camper...

Man's criteria: The area should be relatively flat.
Wife's criteria: Closer to the washroom, closer to the picnic table, must have the nicest view available, and... I suppose relatively flat.

It is important to note here that the Wife's relatively flat is not the same as the Man's relatively flat. In fact these figures can differ by almost a foot.

Start off with a light verbal fencing. Both arguing in favor of the spot they've chosen as the right one... even though they both know, Man will come around to the Wife's position when she says: "You're such a good driver honey, I'm sure you can back it in here no problem." At this point Man's ego puffs up his chest by blowing hot air up his... *coughs* and says "Of course we can, we are Man!"

Next the wife assumes the role of the air traffic controller, consistently standing *only* in the blind spots using a rare dialect of hand signals known only if you're telepathetic... all the while shouting helpful hints into the roar of the exhaust including such phrases as "Yep just a little bit further, no no tuck it in a bit... yep, no the other way... straighten out, wait pull forward a little... hang on... oh yeah, yeah you're good... now you just need 4 more inches" (This is similar to the relatively flat size discrepancy thing...) Man's muttering and grumbling drowns in the rumble of the diesel, which has saved many a marriage.

Finally comes the device of measuring levelness... followed by the shovel, and most of a box of flat firewood. A half-foot stack of firewood on one side, a trench on the other, and some serious golden horseshoes later and you have yourself a perfectly level camper. Be sure to build up that bottom step though, as the camper has more or less attained porch height status!

Woman's Conclusion - "See honey, I knew you could park it here, nice work! Just look at this beautiful view!" Translation: I told you you could do it ;)

Man's Conclusion - "If I'd gotten out here before her, I could have had the camper parked and set up in 10 minutes and been drinking a cold one already!"