Saturday
- went to a memorial service in the morning, for a former co-workers
wife. She was about my age and had been battling brain tumors for
almost eleven years. A nice lady, and the tributes and memories of the
crowd reflected that.
In the afternoon my brother showed off his new (to him) house. It being
the first of the month they had turned off the power, but we had plenty
of light to enjoy the big bedrooms, family & dining rooms, the
pool, and - since it's on a hillside in Quartz Hill - the wonderful
view across the Antelope Valley.
Book #39 was The Biofab War,
by Stephen Ames Berry. Eh. Kind of a generic space opera. Easy to read in the
evenings when one is too tired & distracted to read a real book...
Friday
- back on the road, up to Lancaster. It's hot up there.
There are also serious issues with my sprinkler system that I need to
address, and some work on the utility trailer - the stake bed sides -
that needs to be done. And my usual yard worker has been gone for weeks
to Scout Camp, so the mowing is neglected. And I haven't looked at the rose bushes in weeks ;-) The garage is almost impassable and the carpets inside the house almost unspeakable.
Squirrel at Cambria beach, July, 2009.
Thursday 30 July
2009
Thursday
- Book #38
was The
Letter of Marque*,
by Patrick O'Brian. Excellent. We are getting to unknown territory now
- I read these, many years ago, but don't think I went much past this
particular book.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Wednesday
- talking to my friend S the other day she mentioned that when she
checked up on the cats Sunday they were at first nowhere to
be
found. As mentioned before, S is considered the epitome of evil, having
been the first person to take them to the vet. I, and others have taken
them many times since, but they have internalized the person
responsible as her.
So they always run and hide, and she has to track them down to see if
they are OK.
This time it wasn't too bad, after a bit she saw them there at
the top of the stair, peering down at her suspiciously....
Sunday
- well, I finished installing the exhaust line, and started the diesel
successfully. After a bit more pre-voyage preparation I headed out. No
problems, and I had a good sail, after a successful motoring
experience. There was a bit of fog so I mostly stayed inshore - the VHF
was full of CG & Vessel Assist rescues and also some talk
to/from
an aircraft carrier. Not wanting to be shouting 'STARBOARD' up at a
nuclear powered carrier I stayed in the less foggy area.
My sail handling was atrocious, but I haven't been out in a while, and
there is an outstanding issue with the jib halyards hanging up on the
forward hatch coaming and the forward lower shrouds. Very annoying.
Still, there were patches of sun and I experimented with running under
jib alone, under main alone (very slow), and even managed several
minutes of wing-and-wing downwind. Perhaps four hours until it felt
that the fog was getting thicker, then I headed in.
The schooner below was directly downwind of me at about a half mile, so
I tacked out into the channel and down, and when I came out of the fog
she was directly upwind
of me
by the same half mile. So it goes. Note the fairly good sized yacht
forward of her - I'd put her length at 70-90'. No topsails. Lots of
passengers, and I think she anchored for a bit.
There were some big swells coming in out of the southwest, and that was
neat. A lumpy horizon - I've seen that from a kayak, but not a
respectably sized sailboat. Neat.
