My poison ivy has finally started going away, so I'm making progress on the boat again. Not sure when I'll start painting, but I've been working on getting the deck nice and smooth and it's looking really good. I'll make a couple more passes today and see how it goes.
However, we're in the middle of another heat wave, so I can't do as much as I'd like. I heard a report on the radio that this is officially the hottest summer on record for this area -- an average of almost 5 degrees hotter than normal. Guess I didn't pick a great time to work on the boat outside.
We're also right in the middle of hurricane season. I don't think it'll be too bad here, but with the streets flooding out in front of the boat yard all the time, I'm a little concerned about the potential for heavy rains. I'm on the North side of Long Island, so the winds won't be as much of a problem, but flooding might. My boat is in the back of the yard at the highest point, so I should be okay. I just need to make sure I've got plenty of provisions, just in case. With a supermarket only a couple hundred feet away, I pretty much walk over and get whatever I need on a daily basis, so I haven't been keeping much on the boat. I'll make a run this evening after it cools off and buy a weeks worth of supplies. It'll be a good test anyway, and I think a week is a good measure since most of the trips I'd like to make are easily measured in weeks (not months or years).
Star watch:
I've been using the Stellarium program I downloaded to help identify stars in the evening. It's been working out well, but with all the lights around in both the yard and the supermarket next door, I can only see the really bright ones. I'd like to be able to pick out and name the ones normally used for navigation. I think that's around 25 or so. My nautical almanac lists 57, but I'm not sure how many of them will really be that useful. However, I wouldn't be able to see over 50% of the ones list at any one time anyway. There are also a few planets, as well as the sun and the moon that navigators use. When I was a kid, I learned to find polaris. Back in Houston, it was pretty low in the sky, but up here on Long Island, it's right at 40 degrees from the horizon.
Radio watch:
Right now, I'm working on learning Morse code. I'd never really thought about it before, but when I looked online for some resources, I found a Morse code parse tree -- parse trees are used in computer science, and I've used them to help parse regular expressions. Morse code is designed to be as efficient as possible, so the more common characters are higher in the tree, i.e., require fewer "dits and dahs." It also makes it easier to learn it that way, because I can envision the tree and follow it to find the character, digit or symbol I want. Anyway, it's pretty cool.
I know it probably sounds sorta weird to say it's "pretty cool," but it really is. I taught myself how to parse regular expressions and wrote programs using flex and bison to parse fixed format fortran, which is an early language that's not very easy to parse -- it came along before much of the research in languages had been done. I got to where I could parse about 99%, but there were still some cases flex and bison couldn't handle well (at least not in my hands, however, most experts say it can't be done with those tools anyway). I'd looked at the gcc parser before I decided to use flex and bison, but since it was hand coded and deeply embedded in the action code, I figured writing my own would be easier and more instructive. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to work on it again someday. Basically, I'll take what I've learned and start over.
Call sign watch:
I finally decided to go ahead and request a shorter call sign. I put in the request yesterday, and I think it'll be granted, so I should have the new, shorter one in about 3 weeks. I requested NV5L, which was available and is a heck of a lot shorter, and easier to remember, than KF5HBT.
Boat watch:
I'm going to do a little to the deck today, but will probably spend most of the afternoon under the boat working on the portholes. I'm going to see if I can use some epoxy putty to fix the places where the aluminum has corroded away -- most of them are fine the way they are, but a few of them won't seal properly due to the corrosion and missing metal.
Zoe watch:
She doesn't know it yet, but it's about time for another bath. To simplify things, I combine her bath with her heart worm and flea medications, and try to do all three around the first of the month. It's going to get up to around 90 this afternoon, so that'll be a good time to cool her off. I might even wash some clothes while I'm at it.
31 August 2010
27 August 2010
Stellarium
If I ever want to do any serious ocean sailing, I'll need to hone my celestial navigation skills. To that end, I'm downloading some open source planetarium software named Stellarium. Hopefully, I'll be able to use it to learn how to identify stars and constellations. I know a few, but not very well.
Poison ivy watch:
I've still got a pretty active case, and for some reason it itches more at night, which means I'm not sleeping well. I'm still hoping it will all go away soon, but even this morning, I see some new patches on one finger.
Zoe watch:
The weather has been really cool for the last couple of days, but is forecast to warm up again over the weekend. I opened up the cover this morning to allow more air flow by tying the lower edges to concrete blocks set out about 15 feet one each side of the boat -- similar to what I had at the old location. I'd hoped I wouldn't need to do that, but the cover holds so much heat that it gets pretty hot when the sun shines even when the temperature remains cool. It looks sorta like a fly tent and gives Zoe a much larger shady area as well.
Boat watch:
I've been getting a bit more done, but the poison ivy has really put a dent in it. As long as I can finish by late September, I'll be fine. I figure I really only have a couple weeks of work left, and could finish in less than a week if it were in doors, so we'll see.
Poison ivy watch:
I've still got a pretty active case, and for some reason it itches more at night, which means I'm not sleeping well. I'm still hoping it will all go away soon, but even this morning, I see some new patches on one finger.
Zoe watch:
The weather has been really cool for the last couple of days, but is forecast to warm up again over the weekend. I opened up the cover this morning to allow more air flow by tying the lower edges to concrete blocks set out about 15 feet one each side of the boat -- similar to what I had at the old location. I'd hoped I wouldn't need to do that, but the cover holds so much heat that it gets pretty hot when the sun shines even when the temperature remains cool. It looks sorta like a fly tent and gives Zoe a much larger shady area as well.
Boat watch:
I've been getting a bit more done, but the poison ivy has really put a dent in it. As long as I can finish by late September, I'll be fine. I figure I really only have a couple weeks of work left, and could finish in less than a week if it were in doors, so we'll see.
26 August 2010
Creamer's book
Just got Creamer's book. I had planned to wait until I got to Texas to order it, but with all the delays, I decided to go ahead and order it last weekend and got it today. It's a beautiful day, and I should be working, but I can't resist taking a look at it first.
Poison ivy watch:
There doesn't seem to be an end in site with this stuff. I seem to keep getting addition outbreaks. I've even got it on the palms of my hands now. It is much better than before, and it's only been just over 2 weeks, so hopefully I'm closer to the end than the beginning of the whole affair.
Boat watch:
Finally have good weather again, so let's hope I can make some progress.
Zoe watch:
She's stretched out in the shade of the boat parked next to us enjoying the day. Andrea, a local woman with 2 dogs of her own, gave her some treats outside the market this morning, so she's happily dreaming of peperoni.
Poison ivy watch:
There doesn't seem to be an end in site with this stuff. I seem to keep getting addition outbreaks. I've even got it on the palms of my hands now. It is much better than before, and it's only been just over 2 weeks, so hopefully I'm closer to the end than the beginning of the whole affair.
Boat watch:
Finally have good weather again, so let's hope I can make some progress.
Zoe watch:
She's stretched out in the shade of the boat parked next to us enjoying the day. Andrea, a local woman with 2 dogs of her own, gave her some treats outside the market this morning, so she's happily dreaming of peperoni.
23 August 2010
Moved the boat
Tommy moved the boat for me this afternoon, so other than stowing some gear underneath and running extension cords, she's all set. She was in the North East corner next to the pyromaniacs, and now she's in the South East corner next to the supermarket parking lot.
Zoe watch:
I got the boat ready to move this morning, so I spent a couple hours this afternoon hanging out with Zoe waiting for them to come over and move me. We got a lot of rain last night, but it's been nice all afternoon. It's overcast, but the high is only around 70 and the lows last night and tonight around 65. I'm still getting used to the small spread -- I'm used to Houston where it can be 20 degrees or more, whereas up here it can be as small as 4-5. Zoe's pretty calm, so she ended up just sleeping in my lap most of the time.
Poison ivy watch:
Looks like it's finally starting to go away. I got what appears to be a secondary outbreak on my hands and legs, but other than a large patch on my right thigh just above my knee which is swelling a bit, it's already starting to dry up and go away. The original patches have all dried up and peeled. I think the cool weather is helping.
Boat watch:
I did a little work on the deck today, but plan to start full days again tomorrow -- assuming the poison ivy continues to abate. I'm going to do a little more fairing, i.e., smoothing, on the deck, particularly near the drains, before I start painting. I bought some dewaxer, so I think I've got everything I need now. I'm starting to get excited again, so hopefully the last little bit will go quickly.
Hurricane watch:
Looks like it's about to pick up after a slow start. Hopefully, I'll get some nice weather for a while so I can finish up and get her into the water in September and be able to sail her a bit to make sure everything's okay. If all goes well, I'd like to head South sometime in October. We'll see.
Zoe watch:
I got the boat ready to move this morning, so I spent a couple hours this afternoon hanging out with Zoe waiting for them to come over and move me. We got a lot of rain last night, but it's been nice all afternoon. It's overcast, but the high is only around 70 and the lows last night and tonight around 65. I'm still getting used to the small spread -- I'm used to Houston where it can be 20 degrees or more, whereas up here it can be as small as 4-5. Zoe's pretty calm, so she ended up just sleeping in my lap most of the time.
Poison ivy watch:
Looks like it's finally starting to go away. I got what appears to be a secondary outbreak on my hands and legs, but other than a large patch on my right thigh just above my knee which is swelling a bit, it's already starting to dry up and go away. The original patches have all dried up and peeled. I think the cool weather is helping.
Boat watch:
I did a little work on the deck today, but plan to start full days again tomorrow -- assuming the poison ivy continues to abate. I'm going to do a little more fairing, i.e., smoothing, on the deck, particularly near the drains, before I start painting. I bought some dewaxer, so I think I've got everything I need now. I'm starting to get excited again, so hopefully the last little bit will go quickly.
Hurricane watch:
Looks like it's about to pick up after a slow start. Hopefully, I'll get some nice weather for a while so I can finish up and get her into the water in September and be able to sail her a bit to make sure everything's okay. If all goes well, I'd like to head South sometime in October. We'll see.
21 August 2010
Getting ready to move the boat
I asked Kevin, who manages Coneys, if I could move the boat to a different part of the yard yesterday because the folks who live on the other side of the fence where the boat currently sits, keep setting off fireworks. He agreed, but said it would probably be Monday before they could move her. I'd hoped I could avoid moving altogether and go strait into the water, but recent setbacks mean I'll be here a few more weeks and I don't want to have to deal with the fireworks problem -- they set some off again last Sunday. I mainly just don't want to come back from a walk to find a burning boat -- my cover already has several small burn holes in it.
Right now, I've got a bunch of stuff stacked under the boat, so I'm going to work on getting it cleaned up and moving most of it on board this weekend. That'll make the move much easier. There a few things that will have to stay down there, e.g., I'll leave the boom, whisker poles, and fuel down there, as well as the old crumbling cockpit locker partitions and a few old hoses, but everything else, mainly the portholes, can come on board.
So today, I'll start off by doing laundry and cleaning up the cabin to make room for the portholes (can't remount them till I'm done painting) and other gear. Laundry doesn't take too long, I just use a 5 gallon bucket and wash it under the boat. Once I get to sea, I'll use sea water for the washing and rinsing and just a small amount of fresh water to rinse off the salt -- even better, do it in the rain and use rain water to wash and rinse -- but since I'm in the yard, I just use fresh water from the hose and fill the bucket back up a few times. I think the rule of thumb is five buckets, normally setup in a row with each one a little cleaner than the last as you rinse each item in them successively. That's roughly what I do, except that I only use one bucket and empty it each time.
I also fixed one of my sandals today. The piece that goes between your toes and attaches to the sole on the left one had broken a while back, which sorta disturbs me since they're only 2 months old. I fixed it by sewing it directly through the sole with a #4 waxed sail mending thread. I'll probably have to fix it again before long, since the thread under the sole with end up chaffing and getting worn away as I walk, but at least I'll get some more wear out of them. The right one hasn't broken yet, but it's loose, so I may go ahead and re-sew it this evening as well. I prefer this pair to the ones I've been wearing because they don't mark the deck. The other pair I have are much nicer, but leave little black marks on the deck if I'm not careful.
Zoe watch:
It's a beautiful day today, so she's just hanging out under the bow. We took a long walk this morning down to the town dock so she's sleeping right now, but I'll wake her up and take her out for short walk after I finish washing my clothes. We'll take another long walk later, but it's too nice not to take a walk this afternoon.
Poison ivy watch:
It's mostly gone, but my right hand still itches a little and there are a number of places on my legs that still itch too. It bother me a little last night, but not enough to get up and put on my cream. As soon as the rash is gone from my hand, I'll start working on the deck again. Since the solvents I'll be using might make the rash worse, I decided to wait a few more days until it's completely gone.
Right now, I've got a bunch of stuff stacked under the boat, so I'm going to work on getting it cleaned up and moving most of it on board this weekend. That'll make the move much easier. There a few things that will have to stay down there, e.g., I'll leave the boom, whisker poles, and fuel down there, as well as the old crumbling cockpit locker partitions and a few old hoses, but everything else, mainly the portholes, can come on board.
So today, I'll start off by doing laundry and cleaning up the cabin to make room for the portholes (can't remount them till I'm done painting) and other gear. Laundry doesn't take too long, I just use a 5 gallon bucket and wash it under the boat. Once I get to sea, I'll use sea water for the washing and rinsing and just a small amount of fresh water to rinse off the salt -- even better, do it in the rain and use rain water to wash and rinse -- but since I'm in the yard, I just use fresh water from the hose and fill the bucket back up a few times. I think the rule of thumb is five buckets, normally setup in a row with each one a little cleaner than the last as you rinse each item in them successively. That's roughly what I do, except that I only use one bucket and empty it each time.
I also fixed one of my sandals today. The piece that goes between your toes and attaches to the sole on the left one had broken a while back, which sorta disturbs me since they're only 2 months old. I fixed it by sewing it directly through the sole with a #4 waxed sail mending thread. I'll probably have to fix it again before long, since the thread under the sole with end up chaffing and getting worn away as I walk, but at least I'll get some more wear out of them. The right one hasn't broken yet, but it's loose, so I may go ahead and re-sew it this evening as well. I prefer this pair to the ones I've been wearing because they don't mark the deck. The other pair I have are much nicer, but leave little black marks on the deck if I'm not careful.
Zoe watch:
It's a beautiful day today, so she's just hanging out under the bow. We took a long walk this morning down to the town dock so she's sleeping right now, but I'll wake her up and take her out for short walk after I finish washing my clothes. We'll take another long walk later, but it's too nice not to take a walk this afternoon.
Poison ivy watch:
It's mostly gone, but my right hand still itches a little and there are a number of places on my legs that still itch too. It bother me a little last night, but not enough to get up and put on my cream. As soon as the rash is gone from my hand, I'll start working on the deck again. Since the solvents I'll be using might make the rash worse, I decided to wait a few more days until it's completely gone.
20 August 2010
Navigation without a compass
I mentioned Marvin Creamer in an earlier post -- he did a circumnavigation without any instruments, i.e., without a gps, compass, sextant, or even a watch. I haven't ordered, or read, his book yet, but over the last few days I've been trying to re-hone my land navigation skills while recovering from poison ivy.
One of the things I've been trying to get better at is estimating distances. NATO forces use the mils system, 6400 mils to a circle, to estimate distances for artillery spotting. Basically, it's 1 meter will be 1 mil at 1,000 meters (you can use yards or feet too, but they normally use meters -- a click on military maps is a grid square that's 1,000 meters on each side). Using this formula, a circle is can be divided into about 6,283 mils, however, NATO rounds that to 6,400 for simplicity.
With this formula, you can estimate the distance (d) to a target of know size (s) by estimating the mils and using the formula: (s/mils) * 1,000 = d, e.g., if you assume a man is 2 meters tall (a little over 6'), then he's 2,000 meters away if his height is 1 mil. If his height is 2 mils, he's only 1,000 meters away, and so on. Maps, and more importantly for me, charts, normally list the height of important landmarks, e.g., lighthouses, so you can plug those values into this formula and quickly figure out where you are vis-a-vis some known point.
Figuring out how many mils is also easy. The rule of thumb is that the width of one of more fingers held out in front of you at arms length will represent a certain number of mils. The standard measures are: index finger - 30; index + middle finger - 70; index + middle + ring finger - 100; and so on. I've measured my fingers and found them to differ slightly, but in general, these will give you results that are close enough. (my fingers might be a little off due to the poison ivy, so I'll recalibrate them again later)
Another thing that I recently discovered was that you can use the crescent moon to find South in the Northern hemisphere -- not sure about the Southern hemisphere. Just extend the line made by the tips of the crescent to the horizon, and that's South. I think the accuracy depends on your latitude, but I'm not sure what that change is. I noticed that it was pretty close last night, so I'll try to calibrate it for my current latitude, ~ 41.5 degrees N, this evening. I'm not sure if Creamer mentions this in his book, but hopefully I'll get a chance to read it soon.
Poison ivy watch:
It's much better today, but I still haven't started doing any real work. The original patches seem to be going away, but some of the ones I got later are still in full bloom.
One of the things I've been trying to get better at is estimating distances. NATO forces use the mils system, 6400 mils to a circle, to estimate distances for artillery spotting. Basically, it's 1 meter will be 1 mil at 1,000 meters (you can use yards or feet too, but they normally use meters -- a click on military maps is a grid square that's 1,000 meters on each side). Using this formula, a circle is can be divided into about 6,283 mils, however, NATO rounds that to 6,400 for simplicity.
With this formula, you can estimate the distance (d) to a target of know size (s) by estimating the mils and using the formula: (s/mils) * 1,000 = d, e.g., if you assume a man is 2 meters tall (a little over 6'), then he's 2,000 meters away if his height is 1 mil. If his height is 2 mils, he's only 1,000 meters away, and so on. Maps, and more importantly for me, charts, normally list the height of important landmarks, e.g., lighthouses, so you can plug those values into this formula and quickly figure out where you are vis-a-vis some known point.
Figuring out how many mils is also easy. The rule of thumb is that the width of one of more fingers held out in front of you at arms length will represent a certain number of mils. The standard measures are: index finger - 30; index + middle finger - 70; index + middle + ring finger - 100; and so on. I've measured my fingers and found them to differ slightly, but in general, these will give you results that are close enough. (my fingers might be a little off due to the poison ivy, so I'll recalibrate them again later)
Another thing that I recently discovered was that you can use the crescent moon to find South in the Northern hemisphere -- not sure about the Southern hemisphere. Just extend the line made by the tips of the crescent to the horizon, and that's South. I think the accuracy depends on your latitude, but I'm not sure what that change is. I noticed that it was pretty close last night, so I'll try to calibrate it for my current latitude, ~ 41.5 degrees N, this evening. I'm not sure if Creamer mentions this in his book, but hopefully I'll get a chance to read it soon.
Poison ivy watch:
It's much better today, but I still haven't started doing any real work. The original patches seem to be going away, but some of the ones I got later are still in full bloom.
19 August 2010
Warm Beer
Although I'm still in the yard and hooked up to shore power (I'm really just using a regular extension cord right now since I've removed the socket in the cockpit while I'm getting ready to paint), I still don't have any refrigeration on the boat. I've got an "ice box," but that's exactly what it is, an insulated box built into the galley where you can store food along with a block of ice.
I don't keep anything on board that requires refrigeration, but would occasionally buy a 12 pack of beer, and when I did, I'd also buy a 10 pound bag of ice. Even so, the ice would melt before I could finish the beer, so the last few would always be cool at best unless I bought more ice the next day, which I normally didn't.
Anyway, I decided to simplify things and now whenever I buy beer, I just get a single 6 pack and no ice. I still get to drink the first few cold and the last few warm, but don't have to worry about the ice at all.
Chichester's boat was partly financed by the Whitbread, so he had a beer keg built right into the keel and used a hand pump to fill his mug with Whitbread beer whenever he wanted. The keel is normally the coolest place in the boat, but other than when he was in the Southern Ocean, I doubt his beer was ever cold. I have no plans to add a keg to the keel, but since my main water tank is down there, at least my drinking water will be cool.
Zoe watch:
She's back under the boat sleeping right now. It's a little warmer today, but with the breeze, she's nice and cool down there.
Poison Ivy watch:
Some of the original patches are starting to dry out today, but I still have blisters in between my fingers. I switched from 1% hydrocortisone cream to 2% diphenhydramine hydrochloride which seems to dry it out better and isn't as greasy. It itches a bit more, but at least it's drying out. Also, Gill just gave me some vinegar and baking soda to mix up and put on it, as well as some calamine lotion he had. I'll try that this afternoon, but at this point, I think it's just a matter of time before it's all gone.
Boat watch:
Haven't gone back to work yet, but might wash down the decks again this afternoon. I need to wash and dewax everything before I can paint, and then dewax again after each coat of epoxy. I should be able to wash down the decks without bothering the rash, but will probably wait on the dewaxing since the chemicals, xylene or toluene, might make it worse -- I don't want another setback.
I don't keep anything on board that requires refrigeration, but would occasionally buy a 12 pack of beer, and when I did, I'd also buy a 10 pound bag of ice. Even so, the ice would melt before I could finish the beer, so the last few would always be cool at best unless I bought more ice the next day, which I normally didn't.
Anyway, I decided to simplify things and now whenever I buy beer, I just get a single 6 pack and no ice. I still get to drink the first few cold and the last few warm, but don't have to worry about the ice at all.
Chichester's boat was partly financed by the Whitbread, so he had a beer keg built right into the keel and used a hand pump to fill his mug with Whitbread beer whenever he wanted. The keel is normally the coolest place in the boat, but other than when he was in the Southern Ocean, I doubt his beer was ever cold. I have no plans to add a keg to the keel, but since my main water tank is down there, at least my drinking water will be cool.
Zoe watch:
She's back under the boat sleeping right now. It's a little warmer today, but with the breeze, she's nice and cool down there.
Poison Ivy watch:
Some of the original patches are starting to dry out today, but I still have blisters in between my fingers. I switched from 1% hydrocortisone cream to 2% diphenhydramine hydrochloride which seems to dry it out better and isn't as greasy. It itches a bit more, but at least it's drying out. Also, Gill just gave me some vinegar and baking soda to mix up and put on it, as well as some calamine lotion he had. I'll try that this afternoon, but at this point, I think it's just a matter of time before it's all gone.
Boat watch:
Haven't gone back to work yet, but might wash down the decks again this afternoon. I need to wash and dewax everything before I can paint, and then dewax again after each coat of epoxy. I should be able to wash down the decks without bothering the rash, but will probably wait on the dewaxing since the chemicals, xylene or toluene, might make it worse -- I don't want another setback.
18 August 2010
I don't own a gun
In fact, although I've shot a lot of weapons, including machine guns (which might explain some hearing loss), I've never even bought one. My father gave me a couple of shotguns and a bolt action Remington that was essentially a smaller caliber version of the USMC sniper rifle (which is a Remington 700 with custom barrels), but I ended up giving them all away within a few years of getting out of the Corps. I wasn't into hunting, there really isn't anything I want to kill, and I'm not afraid of anything, so they didn't seem necessary -- plus you have to clean them all the time.
So, I don't own a gun, and don't want one. In fact, merely owning a gun would probably increase my chances of getting into a situation where I might find it necessary to use it, which would be deadly -- I wasn't trained to wound people. The following goes for anyone, not just former military: if you pull out a gun, you better be prepared to use it; And if you do use it, make sure you take out everyone around you who might be a threat. In light of that, I chose not to have one -- I don't want to kill anyone, ever, for any reason, and that includes the death penalty. When my time comes, it comes, and if by chance it's a gun that kills me, at least I won't be the one that bought it -- I'll let some other poor dumb bastard pay for it, I have other plans for my money.
The other problem with all the guns around is that they sometimes get into the hands of the "wrong" people. Now, I'm not talking about criminals, they'll always get just enough firepower to overwhelm their victims (which means a lot nowadays, since so many people have guns), but I mean those folks like the guy involved in the terrorist attack in Texas today. (in case somebody has a problem with my calling it a terrorist attack, don't worry, anytime someone tries to blow up a police station, be it Baghdad or Dallas, it's a terrorist attack -- skin color and religion don't matter)
Sure, he lived in the country and could have gotten the fertilizer and gas anywhere to make his bomb, but he also had a bunch of guns. Guns he used on police. A guy I knew at my last job had a tag line on his email that read: "Half the people your meet are below average." Well, I'm pretty sure this guy was one of them, but does that mean we need to give him free access to that much fire power?
Hunting is one thing, but you don't hunt with a semi-automatic pistol. I should know, I carried one for years in the Corps, and although I was a decent shot with it, it was only effective for about 25 yards. Heck, if you get that close, you might as well use a knife. And as Molly Ivins eloquently put it, "I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives."
I have a few knives on the boat (which aren't weapons), but if I had to choose, my weapon of choice would be pugil sticks. I'm 1 - 0, with pugil sticks. That's because when we had to fight another platoon on the "bridge over troubled waters," and I won my one and only bout. Our Senior Drill Instructor had the bright idea that he'd have the guide and all the squad leaders (I was 4th squad leader, and everyone, including the guide, had to align on me when we marched), fight first, then go back to the barracks to prepare everyone for inspection later that afternoon.
Normally, they align everyone by height, with the tallest/biggest going first, so at least the first couple of rounds are fair -- if you get knocked off the bridge, you get soaked and are eliminated. But since he wanted to get us out of there as quickly as possible, he put us at the front of the line and we had to fight much bigger guys right off the bat. Luckily, I was the only one who won his bout and didn't get wet. Even so, I had to go back to the barracks with my wet colleagues and didn't get to fight again. I've always wondered how I would have done. Not that I would have won, there were some pretty big guys out there, but the guy I beat was a head taller, so who knows. I was able to get low and hit him a couple times and knock him off balance, so my height may have been an advantage.
Zoe watch:
She in the boat with me right now. They're mowing in the yard, so I brought her on board after our walk so she wouldn't get hit by a stray rock or anything. It's only going to get up to the high 70's today, so the cabin sole is nice and cool.
Poison Ivy watch:
It's been about 6 days, so it's getting much better, with some of the original areas dry and red, but it seems like I keep getting new outbreaks all over. I cleaned the ladder and a few other surfaces and changed my bedding, so hopefully that'll help. My hands are much better, but since the hydrocortisone is a little greasy, I haven't tried to do any work on the boat. It would just make a mess that I'd have to clean up before I could epoxy or paint. I might end up loosing another week.
Also, I got an email from my sister Karen after my last post. She wrote me about the first time I got poison ivy. She didn't say how old I was, but I think it was before I started school, perhaps 4 or 5. She said that we (I was probably just an innocent bystander due to my age) were burning weeds and I got "smoked," as she put it. I had it on my eyelids, scalp, under my armpits, everywhere. She said I had to lie on the couch under a sheet with calamine lotion spread all over me for a few days. She didn't say it, but that's probably also the time when I went from being one of skinny Hinton kids to the only chubby one. I remember getting a lot of cortisone shorts, and always being really hungry around this time. After I got over it, I remember overhearing my dad say that it was the cortisone that made me so hungry all the time.
Although I've read that's a common side effect, he probably experimented a bit with me and gave me too much. As I got older, he told me other stories of how he had over medicated others, including his nurse: once by over injecting some sort of substance to collapse the little spider web varicose veins in her foot. He said he got tired of trying shooting each little vein and finally gave her a bunch in one of the larger ones which turned her whole foot white. He was afraid she was going to loose it, so he kept her under observation for the rest of the day (kinda reminds me of Charles Bovary treating Hippolyte's club-foot), but it seemed to have turned out alright. I'm pretty sure she still has both feet.
The other time was when he over induced her when she was in labor with her second son, who was as he said, "limp as a dishrag" when he was delivered. No wonder he named her sole beneficiary in his will. Which is also why I declined to contest it. That and the fact that I'd prefer to make my own money, albeit not a lot. Luckily, I don't spend much.
So, I don't own a gun, and don't want one. In fact, merely owning a gun would probably increase my chances of getting into a situation where I might find it necessary to use it, which would be deadly -- I wasn't trained to wound people. The following goes for anyone, not just former military: if you pull out a gun, you better be prepared to use it; And if you do use it, make sure you take out everyone around you who might be a threat. In light of that, I chose not to have one -- I don't want to kill anyone, ever, for any reason, and that includes the death penalty. When my time comes, it comes, and if by chance it's a gun that kills me, at least I won't be the one that bought it -- I'll let some other poor dumb bastard pay for it, I have other plans for my money.
The other problem with all the guns around is that they sometimes get into the hands of the "wrong" people. Now, I'm not talking about criminals, they'll always get just enough firepower to overwhelm their victims (which means a lot nowadays, since so many people have guns), but I mean those folks like the guy involved in the terrorist attack in Texas today. (in case somebody has a problem with my calling it a terrorist attack, don't worry, anytime someone tries to blow up a police station, be it Baghdad or Dallas, it's a terrorist attack -- skin color and religion don't matter)
Sure, he lived in the country and could have gotten the fertilizer and gas anywhere to make his bomb, but he also had a bunch of guns. Guns he used on police. A guy I knew at my last job had a tag line on his email that read: "Half the people your meet are below average." Well, I'm pretty sure this guy was one of them, but does that mean we need to give him free access to that much fire power?
Hunting is one thing, but you don't hunt with a semi-automatic pistol. I should know, I carried one for years in the Corps, and although I was a decent shot with it, it was only effective for about 25 yards. Heck, if you get that close, you might as well use a knife. And as Molly Ivins eloquently put it, "I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives."
I have a few knives on the boat (which aren't weapons), but if I had to choose, my weapon of choice would be pugil sticks. I'm 1 - 0, with pugil sticks. That's because when we had to fight another platoon on the "bridge over troubled waters," and I won my one and only bout. Our Senior Drill Instructor had the bright idea that he'd have the guide and all the squad leaders (I was 4th squad leader, and everyone, including the guide, had to align on me when we marched), fight first, then go back to the barracks to prepare everyone for inspection later that afternoon.
Normally, they align everyone by height, with the tallest/biggest going first, so at least the first couple of rounds are fair -- if you get knocked off the bridge, you get soaked and are eliminated. But since he wanted to get us out of there as quickly as possible, he put us at the front of the line and we had to fight much bigger guys right off the bat. Luckily, I was the only one who won his bout and didn't get wet. Even so, I had to go back to the barracks with my wet colleagues and didn't get to fight again. I've always wondered how I would have done. Not that I would have won, there were some pretty big guys out there, but the guy I beat was a head taller, so who knows. I was able to get low and hit him a couple times and knock him off balance, so my height may have been an advantage.
Zoe watch:
She in the boat with me right now. They're mowing in the yard, so I brought her on board after our walk so she wouldn't get hit by a stray rock or anything. It's only going to get up to the high 70's today, so the cabin sole is nice and cool.
Poison Ivy watch:
It's been about 6 days, so it's getting much better, with some of the original areas dry and red, but it seems like I keep getting new outbreaks all over. I cleaned the ladder and a few other surfaces and changed my bedding, so hopefully that'll help. My hands are much better, but since the hydrocortisone is a little greasy, I haven't tried to do any work on the boat. It would just make a mess that I'd have to clean up before I could epoxy or paint. I might end up loosing another week.
Also, I got an email from my sister Karen after my last post. She wrote me about the first time I got poison ivy. She didn't say how old I was, but I think it was before I started school, perhaps 4 or 5. She said that we (I was probably just an innocent bystander due to my age) were burning weeds and I got "smoked," as she put it. I had it on my eyelids, scalp, under my armpits, everywhere. She said I had to lie on the couch under a sheet with calamine lotion spread all over me for a few days. She didn't say it, but that's probably also the time when I went from being one of skinny Hinton kids to the only chubby one. I remember getting a lot of cortisone shorts, and always being really hungry around this time. After I got over it, I remember overhearing my dad say that it was the cortisone that made me so hungry all the time.
Although I've read that's a common side effect, he probably experimented a bit with me and gave me too much. As I got older, he told me other stories of how he had over medicated others, including his nurse: once by over injecting some sort of substance to collapse the little spider web varicose veins in her foot. He said he got tired of trying shooting each little vein and finally gave her a bunch in one of the larger ones which turned her whole foot white. He was afraid she was going to loose it, so he kept her under observation for the rest of the day (kinda reminds me of Charles Bovary treating Hippolyte's club-foot), but it seemed to have turned out alright. I'm pretty sure she still has both feet.
The other time was when he over induced her when she was in labor with her second son, who was as he said, "limp as a dishrag" when he was delivered. No wonder he named her sole beneficiary in his will. Which is also why I declined to contest it. That and the fact that I'd prefer to make my own money, albeit not a lot. Luckily, I don't spend much.
17 August 2010
My First Time
I got an email from my sister Karen last night concerning my last post. In it, she recalled the first time I got poison ivy when I was I child. Thankfully, I don't remember the details, but according to her, I got it when we (not me personally, since I mush have been around 5 at the time) were burning weeds in the back yard and I got what she termed as "smoked." She said that I got it all over, including my eyelids, scalp, armpits, etc., and hand to lie on the couch for several days under a sheet with calamine lotion smeared all over me.
I sorta remember it, but not the part about the couch. I do remember that this was about the time I went from being one of the skinny kids around the house to one of the not so skinny (think of Lance Berkman, aka "fat elvis") from all the cortisone shots and subsequent appetite. I guess I've never really been fat, but other than some of my time in the Corps, especially after I got mono in boot camp, I've never been thought of as skinny either.
I dropped out of A&M after the Fall 1979 semester and went up to Lake Placid for the Olympics. I ended up volunteering at the Bob and Luge, and due to my friend Bud Avakian (hope I spelled that right -- haven't seen him since), got to seem all the USA hockey games, including the last 3/4 of the USA-USSR game. Although we both worked at the Olympics, me at the Bob and Luge as I've mentioned, and him at the Cross Country venue, we didn't have tickets and had to sneak in to all the games. The first one was easy because we got "crowd control" cards signed by my boss Joe Pete Wilson, but after that, they got more difficult, and it was almost impossible to get into the USA-USSR game. The only thing that saved us was an LPOOC member who persuaded the girl operating the elevator to let us on. Once we were in, we were in.
So, after the games were over, Karen bought me a bus ticket and I came back home. I had been persona non grata at home when I'd left, but I guess the way I "helped" the USA beat the USSR got me off the list and I was allowed to enter the house again (I think I was officially kicked out only about 3 or 4 times: once when I was 16, once just after New Years right before the Olympics -- which turned out really well, thanks! -- and again on Christmas Eve 1988 -- which also turned out well, since I was broke and ended up moving to Houston and getting a job with one the of the top law firms in town, Baker and Botts, so thanks again!)
I got back around spring break and went to visit Nancy on the other side of Houston. We hung out for a couple days and on one afternoon took a bike ride around the neighborhood; She lived in a nice area off I-10 and Gessner. It was a beautiful day and we ended up at Memorial City Mall, which was only a few blocks from her house. She may have been showing me where she worked on school breaks. Anyway, as we rode through the parking lot, I saw the sign for the Marine Corps Recruiter and asked her if she'd mind if I went in to talk to them, since I'd been considering joining. I mainly just wanted to talk about officer programs, but after about an hour, Nancy called her mom and told her I'd enlisted. The USA-USSR game had been on 22 February 1980, and I arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego on 20 March 1980, less than a month later.
Everything was going pretty well, but about the time we were getting ready to go North to Camp Pendleton for infantry training and rifle range qualification, I started getting sick, and the the first long run after our arrival, fell out for the first time in my life. Whenever you fail to do something in boot camp, they normally PT the hell out of you -- there are no prizes for second place in the Corps -- but when the assistant DI asked me why I fell out, I pointed to my swollen neck and whispered I was sick; I had to whisper because at that point I could no longer talk. They placed me on bed rest, but when I didn't get any better after several days, they sent me to the hospital.
When I joined the Corps, I think I weighed about 160-165 pounds, but by the time I got the the hospital, I was only around 145. They said I had mono, so I stayed in the hospital for about a week, and was then sent to a convalescence platoon in San Diego. I was supposed to stay there for a few weeks, but since I was a reservist and wanted to complete my training by the time school started back up in the Fall, I requested to go back to training as soon as possible and missed just over 2 weeks. Unfortunately, that was just a bit too long, so I wasn't allowed to rejoin my original platoon and got stuck in another one.
I sorta remember it, but not the part about the couch. I do remember that this was about the time I went from being one of the skinny kids around the house to one of the not so skinny (think of Lance Berkman, aka "fat elvis") from all the cortisone shots and subsequent appetite. I guess I've never really been fat, but other than some of my time in the Corps, especially after I got mono in boot camp, I've never been thought of as skinny either.
I dropped out of A&M after the Fall 1979 semester and went up to Lake Placid for the Olympics. I ended up volunteering at the Bob and Luge, and due to my friend Bud Avakian (hope I spelled that right -- haven't seen him since), got to seem all the USA hockey games, including the last 3/4 of the USA-USSR game. Although we both worked at the Olympics, me at the Bob and Luge as I've mentioned, and him at the Cross Country venue, we didn't have tickets and had to sneak in to all the games. The first one was easy because we got "crowd control" cards signed by my boss Joe Pete Wilson, but after that, they got more difficult, and it was almost impossible to get into the USA-USSR game. The only thing that saved us was an LPOOC member who persuaded the girl operating the elevator to let us on. Once we were in, we were in.
So, after the games were over, Karen bought me a bus ticket and I came back home. I had been persona non grata at home when I'd left, but I guess the way I "helped" the USA beat the USSR got me off the list and I was allowed to enter the house again (I think I was officially kicked out only about 3 or 4 times: once when I was 16, once just after New Years right before the Olympics -- which turned out really well, thanks! -- and again on Christmas Eve 1988 -- which also turned out well, since I was broke and ended up moving to Houston and getting a job with one the of the top law firms in town, Baker and Botts, so thanks again!)
I got back around spring break and went to visit Nancy on the other side of Houston. We hung out for a couple days and on one afternoon took a bike ride around the neighborhood; She lived in a nice area off I-10 and Gessner. It was a beautiful day and we ended up at Memorial City Mall, which was only a few blocks from her house. She may have been showing me where she worked on school breaks. Anyway, as we rode through the parking lot, I saw the sign for the Marine Corps Recruiter and asked her if she'd mind if I went in to talk to them, since I'd been considering joining. I mainly just wanted to talk about officer programs, but after about an hour, Nancy called her mom and told her I'd enlisted. The USA-USSR game had been on 22 February 1980, and I arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego on 20 March 1980, less than a month later.
Everything was going pretty well, but about the time we were getting ready to go North to Camp Pendleton for infantry training and rifle range qualification, I started getting sick, and the the first long run after our arrival, fell out for the first time in my life. Whenever you fail to do something in boot camp, they normally PT the hell out of you -- there are no prizes for second place in the Corps -- but when the assistant DI asked me why I fell out, I pointed to my swollen neck and whispered I was sick; I had to whisper because at that point I could no longer talk. They placed me on bed rest, but when I didn't get any better after several days, they sent me to the hospital.
When I joined the Corps, I think I weighed about 160-165 pounds, but by the time I got the the hospital, I was only around 145. They said I had mono, so I stayed in the hospital for about a week, and was then sent to a convalescence platoon in San Diego. I was supposed to stay there for a few weeks, but since I was a reservist and wanted to complete my training by the time school started back up in the Fall, I requested to go back to training as soon as possible and missed just over 2 weeks. Unfortunately, that was just a bit too long, so I wasn't allowed to rejoin my original platoon and got stuck in another one.
16 August 2010
Laundry day
Since I can't do anything else, I'm going to concentrate on laundry today. When I woke up this morning, the rash on my right hand and arm was actually worse. This afternoon will make 5 days, so last night was technically still part of day 4 and I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that it peaked this morning -- at least I hope it peaked.
Although it seems to have spread a bit on my torso and legs, the only real problem continues to be my right hand and arm where the blisters had gotten large enough that I couldn't close my fingers or make a fist. (if this bothers you, please skip to the next paragraph) I tried to drain the larger ones and all but a few are a lot better. Also, I'm not in any pain and the itching has pretty much gone away, so the only problem is that the rash still covers a large area and the blisters are making it difficult to do anything, e.g., although I can type, I can't really hold a pen.
However, I can do laundry -- maybe it will help out my hand. As I said, the rash seems to have spread a bit, mainly on my torso and legs, so I'm concerned that some of my clothing or bedding may still have some of the urushiol oil, which causes the rash, on it. It probably doesn't, as I washed the clothes I was wearing really well, but it never hurts to be careful, and at least it give me something to do.
Zoe watch:
She's enjoying the nice weather. We've had some rain, and it's been cooler. However, it might warm up to the mid 80's today and upper 80's tomorrow, but after that, we should back to seasonal weather with highs in the high 70's to low 80's. So as soon as I can start working again, I should be able to make pretty good progress.
Poison ivy watch:
I walked around the yard yesterday looking for poison ivy and didn't find any, not even close to the boat. I think I just got unlucky and found the few plants that happened to be along the fence behind the boat. It doesn't take much, especially if you try to pull them up which helps distribute the oil.
The funny thing about poison ivy is that it's peculiar to North America (evidently part of the Columbian Exchange, though it doesn't seem to have taken hold in the rest of the world yet), especially East of the Rockies -- East Texas has a bunch of it, which I seemed to have found quite often as a child growing up out in the country in Crosby. I've lived all over and never had a problem anywhere else other then here and in Texas. I don't even think I got into it when I was in the Corps at Quantico, Camp Lejeune, or Fort Pickett, which are all on the East Coast and where I spent extensive time training in field. I also spent time in the field at Camp Pendleton and 29 Palms, but I don't think poison ivy grows on the West Coast at all.
The funny thing about my time in the Corps in California was that even though I was from Texas and accustomed to the heat, it was there that I had my first problems with overheating. I've had trouble with the heat a few times since, most recently here working on the boat in 100+ degree heat (with the deck closer to 120). But the first time was when we were involved in a field exercise at 29 Palms in 1982. I was a scout-sniper in a STA platoon, and our platoon commander, who was the S2 for the company (S1 is admin, S2 intel, S3 operations, and s4 logistics) thought it would be a great idea for us to go out the night before the operation and setup a OP on the side of a mountain (btw, 29 Palms is in the desert, so this mountain side was just rock, sand, and a few scrubs, and no water).
The problem was that this was a last minute deal and none of us had even refilled our canteens yet -- we were just finishing dinner when we got the order to move out. A few of the guys, including me, tried to refill our canteens as well as a 5 gallon can from the water buffalo, but were ordered to stop and get on the helo that was already turning and waiting to takeoff. So we capped them and climbed on board. Shortly after they inserted us, we all realized how low we were on water -- some of the guys were completely out -- and started rationing immediately. We requested a resupply by radio, but under the circumstances, it was already pitch dark and the exercise was scheduled to start before dawn with an artillery barrage, they said we'd have to wait.
By about 9am, the temperature was already getting close to 100, and one of our guys was in really bad shape. I think he was one of the ones who'd gotten on the helo with empty canteens. We all shared ours with him and used his shelter half to create some shade for him. He quickly developed heat exhaustion, so we called for an emergency medevac, but had to wait for over an hour since they were in the middle of a live fire exercise. They eventually sent a CH-53 to pick him up and although it had more than enough room for all of us, they only took him and a couple other guys.
I didn't mind getting left behind, since at that point I was still fine -- I was just 21 at the time and still in pretty good shape from the previous summer I spent at Quantico. However, the strain of carrying him about 100 yards to the helo on the side of a mountain in the sand, they could only touch down the rear wheels on little ridge, pushed all us over the edge and the rest of us starting to get overheated too. It didn't help that they didn't give us any water either -- by that time we'd been rationing water for about 12 hours and many of us had been completely out for at least of an hour or two.
But the thing that did get me was that the guy who needed the medevac was an NCO, and when they took him, all the other NCO's went along too. Our squad leader, who was a sergeant, defended himself saying that he only went to make sure the other guy would be okay, but I don't buy it, especially since he didn't even try to make sure we had enough water to begin with.
That left just me and a few other LCPL's, PFC's, and Privates -- I was a LCPL (Lance Corporal) -- to wait for the helo to drop him off and come back for us, which took about 30-45 minutes. In fact, at that point, I was might have been the senior guy, but it didn't matter much -- we were all heat casualties by then.
After they came back, picked us up, and dropped us off at the command post, they sent all of us to the aid station for treatment. Most of us just needed to drink some water, but the guy we'd medevac'd was soaking wet and lying in a fishnet hammock with a large fan blowing him and one of the doc's spraying him with water to lower his body temperature. I think he was okay by that afternoon, but since we'd all been heat cases, they wouldn't let any of us go back out into the desert to finish the exercise and we ended up hanging out at the base pool and drinking beer for the next week and a half.
I have to say, that other than some of my time in the med, that was the best operation I was ever on -- at least the swimming/beer part. However, I still have a very low opinion of the 2 or 3 NCO's we had at the time, but it was just a reserve unit -- I didn't go active duty until late the following year -- and I never saw an NCO out in the Fleet (I was in FMFLANT) do something like that. I doubt these guys would have made it very far out in the fleet.
Although it seems to have spread a bit on my torso and legs, the only real problem continues to be my right hand and arm where the blisters had gotten large enough that I couldn't close my fingers or make a fist. (if this bothers you, please skip to the next paragraph) I tried to drain the larger ones and all but a few are a lot better. Also, I'm not in any pain and the itching has pretty much gone away, so the only problem is that the rash still covers a large area and the blisters are making it difficult to do anything, e.g., although I can type, I can't really hold a pen.
However, I can do laundry -- maybe it will help out my hand. As I said, the rash seems to have spread a bit, mainly on my torso and legs, so I'm concerned that some of my clothing or bedding may still have some of the urushiol oil, which causes the rash, on it. It probably doesn't, as I washed the clothes I was wearing really well, but it never hurts to be careful, and at least it give me something to do.
Zoe watch:
She's enjoying the nice weather. We've had some rain, and it's been cooler. However, it might warm up to the mid 80's today and upper 80's tomorrow, but after that, we should back to seasonal weather with highs in the high 70's to low 80's. So as soon as I can start working again, I should be able to make pretty good progress.
Poison ivy watch:
I walked around the yard yesterday looking for poison ivy and didn't find any, not even close to the boat. I think I just got unlucky and found the few plants that happened to be along the fence behind the boat. It doesn't take much, especially if you try to pull them up which helps distribute the oil.
The funny thing about poison ivy is that it's peculiar to North America (evidently part of the Columbian Exchange, though it doesn't seem to have taken hold in the rest of the world yet), especially East of the Rockies -- East Texas has a bunch of it, which I seemed to have found quite often as a child growing up out in the country in Crosby. I've lived all over and never had a problem anywhere else other then here and in Texas. I don't even think I got into it when I was in the Corps at Quantico, Camp Lejeune, or Fort Pickett, which are all on the East Coast and where I spent extensive time training in field. I also spent time in the field at Camp Pendleton and 29 Palms, but I don't think poison ivy grows on the West Coast at all.
The funny thing about my time in the Corps in California was that even though I was from Texas and accustomed to the heat, it was there that I had my first problems with overheating. I've had trouble with the heat a few times since, most recently here working on the boat in 100+ degree heat (with the deck closer to 120). But the first time was when we were involved in a field exercise at 29 Palms in 1982. I was a scout-sniper in a STA platoon, and our platoon commander, who was the S2 for the company (S1 is admin, S2 intel, S3 operations, and s4 logistics) thought it would be a great idea for us to go out the night before the operation and setup a OP on the side of a mountain (btw, 29 Palms is in the desert, so this mountain side was just rock, sand, and a few scrubs, and no water).
The problem was that this was a last minute deal and none of us had even refilled our canteens yet -- we were just finishing dinner when we got the order to move out. A few of the guys, including me, tried to refill our canteens as well as a 5 gallon can from the water buffalo, but were ordered to stop and get on the helo that was already turning and waiting to takeoff. So we capped them and climbed on board. Shortly after they inserted us, we all realized how low we were on water -- some of the guys were completely out -- and started rationing immediately. We requested a resupply by radio, but under the circumstances, it was already pitch dark and the exercise was scheduled to start before dawn with an artillery barrage, they said we'd have to wait.
By about 9am, the temperature was already getting close to 100, and one of our guys was in really bad shape. I think he was one of the ones who'd gotten on the helo with empty canteens. We all shared ours with him and used his shelter half to create some shade for him. He quickly developed heat exhaustion, so we called for an emergency medevac, but had to wait for over an hour since they were in the middle of a live fire exercise. They eventually sent a CH-53 to pick him up and although it had more than enough room for all of us, they only took him and a couple other guys.
I didn't mind getting left behind, since at that point I was still fine -- I was just 21 at the time and still in pretty good shape from the previous summer I spent at Quantico. However, the strain of carrying him about 100 yards to the helo on the side of a mountain in the sand, they could only touch down the rear wheels on little ridge, pushed all us over the edge and the rest of us starting to get overheated too. It didn't help that they didn't give us any water either -- by that time we'd been rationing water for about 12 hours and many of us had been completely out for at least of an hour or two.
But the thing that did get me was that the guy who needed the medevac was an NCO, and when they took him, all the other NCO's went along too. Our squad leader, who was a sergeant, defended himself saying that he only went to make sure the other guy would be okay, but I don't buy it, especially since he didn't even try to make sure we had enough water to begin with.
That left just me and a few other LCPL's, PFC's, and Privates -- I was a LCPL (Lance Corporal) -- to wait for the helo to drop him off and come back for us, which took about 30-45 minutes. In fact, at that point, I was might have been the senior guy, but it didn't matter much -- we were all heat casualties by then.
After they came back, picked us up, and dropped us off at the command post, they sent all of us to the aid station for treatment. Most of us just needed to drink some water, but the guy we'd medevac'd was soaking wet and lying in a fishnet hammock with a large fan blowing him and one of the doc's spraying him with water to lower his body temperature. I think he was okay by that afternoon, but since we'd all been heat cases, they wouldn't let any of us go back out into the desert to finish the exercise and we ended up hanging out at the base pool and drinking beer for the next week and a half.
I have to say, that other than some of my time in the med, that was the best operation I was ever on -- at least the swimming/beer part. However, I still have a very low opinion of the 2 or 3 NCO's we had at the time, but it was just a reserve unit -- I didn't go active duty until late the following year -- and I never saw an NCO out in the Fleet (I was in FMFLANT) do something like that. I doubt these guys would have made it very far out in the fleet.
15 August 2010
4 days later
I got into the poison ivy about 4 days ago, and it's at it's worst right now. I got a really good case on my right arm and right hand including in between my fingers, so I can't really grip any tools right now and have essentially stopped all work. Also, due to the amount of claritin I've been taking, I'm drowsy and wouldn't want to try to do anything involving tools anyway.
It normally runs it's course in a week to 10 days, so I should start to see an improvement any day now. Thankfully, the weather's better, but I was able to get hot water out of the hose and wash it down yesterday. I also read somewhere that you can use a hair dryer on it to relieve the itching for a few hours. I don't have a hair dryer, but do have a heat gun, so I used that, and it worked really well. I guess it makes the itching so bad that the nerves get overloaded and give up. It's a real mixture of agony and ecstasy.
Zoe watch:
Thankfully, dogs can't get it, so Zoe's doing fine. I took her for a long walk this morning down to the bank, and along the way, tried to spot the poison ivy plants. I think I've finally figured it out and found a lot more than I expected.
The most turned out to be along the fence at the local park. I saw one tree growing close to the fence that looked a little suspicious, so I took a closer look. A few of the leaves looked like poison ivy, but I wasn't sure, however, I did see several large hairy vines growing up the trunk of the tree. From the bottom of the tree, all I could see were the large green leaves, but as I stepped back and looked up, I could see that these stopped at about 30-40' and the fir tree continued for another 20. I could also clearly see several of the classic poison ivy 3 leaf pattern.
The key to this pattern is that the two base leaves grow out of the stem at the same point, and the center leaf has a much longer stem. They can have notches in the leaves, but will never be serrated, and may or may not be shinny and/or red in color -- search the web to find a better description along with photos if you're interested.
This poison ivy vine had basically taken over the fir tree, but the most amazing thing about it was that it was in a park, with the grass around it neatly trimmed. Several of the vines at the base of the tree were as big around as my wrist. Up until now, I'd never have expected to find poison ivy like this. I'd always imagined it would be along the ground, maybe a few feet high, but this was around 40' high.
I'm sure I'll be fine in a few days, so all in all, it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if I'll be able to spot it in the future. Which is a good thing, since it looks like it's getting much more prolific as well as potent. I read an article about it recently (New York Times, I think) and apparently, higher CO2 levels benefit poison ivy much more than other species, so look out.
It normally runs it's course in a week to 10 days, so I should start to see an improvement any day now. Thankfully, the weather's better, but I was able to get hot water out of the hose and wash it down yesterday. I also read somewhere that you can use a hair dryer on it to relieve the itching for a few hours. I don't have a hair dryer, but do have a heat gun, so I used that, and it worked really well. I guess it makes the itching so bad that the nerves get overloaded and give up. It's a real mixture of agony and ecstasy.
Zoe watch:
Thankfully, dogs can't get it, so Zoe's doing fine. I took her for a long walk this morning down to the bank, and along the way, tried to spot the poison ivy plants. I think I've finally figured it out and found a lot more than I expected.
The most turned out to be along the fence at the local park. I saw one tree growing close to the fence that looked a little suspicious, so I took a closer look. A few of the leaves looked like poison ivy, but I wasn't sure, however, I did see several large hairy vines growing up the trunk of the tree. From the bottom of the tree, all I could see were the large green leaves, but as I stepped back and looked up, I could see that these stopped at about 30-40' and the fir tree continued for another 20. I could also clearly see several of the classic poison ivy 3 leaf pattern.
The key to this pattern is that the two base leaves grow out of the stem at the same point, and the center leaf has a much longer stem. They can have notches in the leaves, but will never be serrated, and may or may not be shinny and/or red in color -- search the web to find a better description along with photos if you're interested.
This poison ivy vine had basically taken over the fir tree, but the most amazing thing about it was that it was in a park, with the grass around it neatly trimmed. Several of the vines at the base of the tree were as big around as my wrist. Up until now, I'd never have expected to find poison ivy like this. I'd always imagined it would be along the ground, maybe a few feet high, but this was around 40' high.
I'm sure I'll be fine in a few days, so all in all, it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if I'll be able to spot it in the future. Which is a good thing, since it looks like it's getting much more prolific as well as potent. I read an article about it recently (New York Times, I think) and apparently, higher CO2 levels benefit poison ivy much more than other species, so look out.
13 August 2010
More Poison Ivy
Got a pretty good case of poison ivy weeding around the boat. It's worse than before, but since the foliage was encroaching so near the boat, I probably would have gotten into it again anyway even if I hadn't cleared everything out -- but that doesn't make it itch any less. It's mainly on my right forearm and right hand, but I also have it on my left forearm and hand as well as a little on my legs.
I was able to put it out of my mind and sleep okay last night, but it's a struggle.
I was able to put it out of my mind and sleep okay last night, but it's a struggle.
12 August 2010
Yard work
The weather is much better today, so I cleaned and washed down the deck this morning. Since the humidity is still about 50%, I'm going to let it dry over lunch and wipe it down with solvent before I start filling the final nicks later this afternoon. I'm still not planning to mix more than about an ounce at a time, so it might take a few rounds, but I hope to finish it all up today. Right now, it looks great from about 5', but I want it to look great from about 1'.
Weed watch:
It was way too hot to do anything on deck yesterday -- got to over 110 just under the cover and the deck was over 100 -- so I was trying to stay busy cleaning up stuff both on and off the boat when I noticed the kid spraying the weed killer was heading toward us and it looked like he might make it to the boat by the end of the day. As it turned out, he stopped spraying after a few minutes later, but before he quit, I walked over and asked him not to spray near Zoe, and that I'd clear out the weeds around the boat myself so he wouldn't have to worry about it. He said that would be fine and promised not to spray near the boat.
So, since I couldn't work on the deck anyway, I spent most of the afternoon weeding under and around the boat. I didn't get all of it, but did do under the boat and one whole side including all along the fence from my stern to the electrical pole where I'd plugged in my cords, which was about 40'. I already knew there was poison ivy in there, but given the choice of getting covered again or risking Zoe getting into weed killer, I bit the bullet and started pulling weeds. I only ended up with a few patches on my forearms, so it's not too bad.
I still need to clear out a fairly large section along the fence just aft of the boat and along the other side, but it's not nearly as bad as the other side. The side I did was down hill and got a lot of extra watering whenever I used the hose, so it grew really well and parts of it looked like a lawn -- it's all dirt and gravel now. The other side is just regular weeds, so it shouldn't take more than another hour or two to finish it up. I'll probably work on it this evening once I've finished with the deck.
Fresh water watch:
I refilled the fresh water tanks again yesterday and the water looks and smells pretty good -- almost as good as the drinking water in the 5 gallon jugs I've been refilling every few days. Although I've cycled the tank several times, I'm still just using it for cleaning and washing, and don't plan to start drinking it any time soon; I'll keep using the 5 gallon jugs fir the time being. In fact, I might run some more clorox through it a few times just to make sure it's nice and clean. I've also noticed that the electric pump allows me to waste a lot of water very quickly, not to mention electricity, so I'm definitely going to mount an additional hand/foot pump once I get a chance. However, I'll probably wait until after I get in the water, and maybe not until I get to Texas.
Zoe watch:
Went down to watch the Yankees-Texas game last night -- wanted to see Berkman play -- and one of the waitresses gave Zoe a bunch of left over turkey breast. No wonder she always tries to pull me into the place when we walk by. She's sleeping under the boat, but it's threatening to rain, so I may have to bring her on board later -- I think she's dreaming about turkeys right now.
Weed watch:
It was way too hot to do anything on deck yesterday -- got to over 110 just under the cover and the deck was over 100 -- so I was trying to stay busy cleaning up stuff both on and off the boat when I noticed the kid spraying the weed killer was heading toward us and it looked like he might make it to the boat by the end of the day. As it turned out, he stopped spraying after a few minutes later, but before he quit, I walked over and asked him not to spray near Zoe, and that I'd clear out the weeds around the boat myself so he wouldn't have to worry about it. He said that would be fine and promised not to spray near the boat.
So, since I couldn't work on the deck anyway, I spent most of the afternoon weeding under and around the boat. I didn't get all of it, but did do under the boat and one whole side including all along the fence from my stern to the electrical pole where I'd plugged in my cords, which was about 40'. I already knew there was poison ivy in there, but given the choice of getting covered again or risking Zoe getting into weed killer, I bit the bullet and started pulling weeds. I only ended up with a few patches on my forearms, so it's not too bad.
I still need to clear out a fairly large section along the fence just aft of the boat and along the other side, but it's not nearly as bad as the other side. The side I did was down hill and got a lot of extra watering whenever I used the hose, so it grew really well and parts of it looked like a lawn -- it's all dirt and gravel now. The other side is just regular weeds, so it shouldn't take more than another hour or two to finish it up. I'll probably work on it this evening once I've finished with the deck.
Fresh water watch:
I refilled the fresh water tanks again yesterday and the water looks and smells pretty good -- almost as good as the drinking water in the 5 gallon jugs I've been refilling every few days. Although I've cycled the tank several times, I'm still just using it for cleaning and washing, and don't plan to start drinking it any time soon; I'll keep using the 5 gallon jugs fir the time being. In fact, I might run some more clorox through it a few times just to make sure it's nice and clean. I've also noticed that the electric pump allows me to waste a lot of water very quickly, not to mention electricity, so I'm definitely going to mount an additional hand/foot pump once I get a chance. However, I'll probably wait until after I get in the water, and maybe not until I get to Texas.
Zoe watch:
Went down to watch the Yankees-Texas game last night -- wanted to see Berkman play -- and one of the waitresses gave Zoe a bunch of left over turkey breast. No wonder she always tries to pull me into the place when we walk by. She's sleeping under the boat, but it's threatening to rain, so I may have to bring her on board later -- I think she's dreaming about turkeys right now.
11 August 2010
In the weeds
Not sure where that expression came from, but ever since it started cooling off a bit, everything started growing again and the weeds are threatening to take over the boat yard. It's really not too bad especially given that there hasn't been a need to trim anything since I moved onto the boat at the end of April. However, with the owners getting ready for the end of the season, they've decided to use weed killer to get it under control.
It's a big yard and the kid spraying it isn't really setting any speed records, so they may not even reach me before I leave, but just in case, I spent an hour this morning weeding around the boat to obviate any spraying around here. I don't want Zoe anywhere near that stuff, and she normally sleeps under the boat while I'm working.
I actually trimmed the vines and shrubs along the fence near my transom last night to try to keep the bugs, especially spiders, away from the boat. If I had a machete, I could quickly trim everything, but all I have are scissors and my rig axe. The rig axe is great for trees, but not good at all for weeds/grass. However, the scissors helped out a lot with the vines and small branches. I'll move stuff around a bit more this evening and clean up along the fence line and the other side of the boat. I'm mainly concerned with the area under and around the boat as well as the uphill area where a couple of derelict boats are stored, but it's so thick there, that I might not have much luck unless I can find a machete or sickle.
It was hot yesterday and even hotter today, but the forecast is for cooler weather for the foreseeable future, so maybe we've gotten over the hump. I still haven't done any painting though. I found a few more nicks on the deck and decided to go ahead and fix all of them while waiting for it to cool off -- I'd planned on priming it first, then just fixing what the primer didn't cover. I was going to try to finish up today, but it's too hot.
With the heat and humidity, there's really only a few short windows during the day when you can work with epoxy and expect it to come out well -- it either won't gel, or gels way to fast. I've been able to get almost all the filling done over the last week, but have had to throw out about half of it the last several times because it gelled before I could use it all. I'm sure there are better ways to mix it, but I'm basically learning as I go. I'm only able to mix and work with about an ounce at a time. Since the primer is also a two part epoxy, I'm afraid I'll have problems with it too if it's too hot.
Zoe watch:
She's sleeping under the newly weeded boat right now, but I think she preferred the weeds. She didn't say anything, but did look at me sorta funny while I was moving stuff around and pulling weeds. She got her bath a couple days ago, so she's all clean and shiny now. I don't plan to shave her down again, but it'll still take a couple of months for her fur to grow back. However, if we go South soon, I might need to revisit that -- the high in Clear Lake today is expected to be 95, with a heat index of around 105. I still don't know how hot the boat will get once it's in the water. I'm planning on adding canvas shades, e.g., dodger and bimini, as well as insulation between the deck and headliner, but that might not be enough.
It's a big yard and the kid spraying it isn't really setting any speed records, so they may not even reach me before I leave, but just in case, I spent an hour this morning weeding around the boat to obviate any spraying around here. I don't want Zoe anywhere near that stuff, and she normally sleeps under the boat while I'm working.
I actually trimmed the vines and shrubs along the fence near my transom last night to try to keep the bugs, especially spiders, away from the boat. If I had a machete, I could quickly trim everything, but all I have are scissors and my rig axe. The rig axe is great for trees, but not good at all for weeds/grass. However, the scissors helped out a lot with the vines and small branches. I'll move stuff around a bit more this evening and clean up along the fence line and the other side of the boat. I'm mainly concerned with the area under and around the boat as well as the uphill area where a couple of derelict boats are stored, but it's so thick there, that I might not have much luck unless I can find a machete or sickle.
It was hot yesterday and even hotter today, but the forecast is for cooler weather for the foreseeable future, so maybe we've gotten over the hump. I still haven't done any painting though. I found a few more nicks on the deck and decided to go ahead and fix all of them while waiting for it to cool off -- I'd planned on priming it first, then just fixing what the primer didn't cover. I was going to try to finish up today, but it's too hot.
With the heat and humidity, there's really only a few short windows during the day when you can work with epoxy and expect it to come out well -- it either won't gel, or gels way to fast. I've been able to get almost all the filling done over the last week, but have had to throw out about half of it the last several times because it gelled before I could use it all. I'm sure there are better ways to mix it, but I'm basically learning as I go. I'm only able to mix and work with about an ounce at a time. Since the primer is also a two part epoxy, I'm afraid I'll have problems with it too if it's too hot.
Zoe watch:
She's sleeping under the newly weeded boat right now, but I think she preferred the weeds. She didn't say anything, but did look at me sorta funny while I was moving stuff around and pulling weeds. She got her bath a couple days ago, so she's all clean and shiny now. I don't plan to shave her down again, but it'll still take a couple of months for her fur to grow back. However, if we go South soon, I might need to revisit that -- the high in Clear Lake today is expected to be 95, with a heat index of around 105. I still don't know how hot the boat will get once it's in the water. I'm planning on adding canvas shades, e.g., dodger and bimini, as well as insulation between the deck and headliner, but that might not be enough.
06 August 2010
Boat Photos
Although I haven't started painting yet -- the wind is blowing a bit too hard right now -- I thought I'd go ahead and share some photos of the deck. You'll notice that there are a bunch of lines tying the frame together. I added all them them myself after the original 1x4 purlin started coming loose. I replaced them with old halyards I ran from the fore and aft pulpits about 3-4' off the deck.
That was enough to strengthen it, but in order to paint, I needed to get the rafter feet up off the deck, so I added another band of purlin about a foot off the deck, then used additional lies to create collars, some of which I had to trice up midway in order to clear the coach roof -- that's the funny looking offset triangle you see over the coach roof in the middle of most of the photos. This enabled me to place the feet on the toe rail without having the slip off the side.
The large yellow areas in the peak, along the sides of the coach roof, and around the mast step are where I had to peel up the top layer of lament and replace the rotted out cork core. Most of that was done back late 2007, however, I did have to fix about 5 small areas in the cockpit over the last few months. I'll post photos of them once I'm done with the forward areas. I'll try to get some photos of Zoe too.
That was enough to strengthen it, but in order to paint, I needed to get the rafter feet up off the deck, so I added another band of purlin about a foot off the deck, then used additional lies to create collars, some of which I had to trice up midway in order to clear the coach roof -- that's the funny looking offset triangle you see over the coach roof in the middle of most of the photos. This enabled me to place the feet on the toe rail without having the slip off the side.
The large yellow areas in the peak, along the sides of the coach roof, and around the mast step are where I had to peel up the top layer of lament and replace the rotted out cork core. Most of that was done back late 2007, however, I did have to fix about 5 small areas in the cockpit over the last few months. I'll post photos of them once I'm done with the forward areas. I'll try to get some photos of Zoe too.
05 August 2010
Good day
It's starting to get hot, but I was able to get the deck mostly ready for painting this morning before it warmed up too much -- it's probably over 100 on deck by now. I still need to tape off the toerails and the few pieces of hardware that I didn't remove, but other than that and a quick wipe down with acetone, she's ready for the first coat. The forecast looks good for tomorrow, so I'll try to get started early while it's still cool. Maybe I can get a couple of coats on before it gets hot.
I finished up the bad section of starboard toe rail yesterday. I ended up having to use a little block plane to clean up the splice, but she looks pretty good now. It needs a little more filling, but I'll do that as I work on the other sections; There's a smaller section in the same area on the port side and a few smaller places on or near the transom, but they should all go really quickly. Hopefully, once they've been clamped and glued, I'll be able to fill all of them with one final mixture of epoxy and teak sawdust.
I'd never mixed teak sawdust with epoxy before, but learned the hard way that the teak causes it to setup much more slowly. I think it took about an hour for it to set, and was still easy to sand the next day. Now that I know how it works, I'll mix it up early and fill all the spots at once after I've given it a chance to start curing.
Once that's done, and the deck's have been primed, I'll cetol the toerails. The final step will be to caulk the edge, which I'll do before the final deck coats. I bought some one-part polyurethane, but might go with an epoxy instead. In any case, I'll put on at least one coat all over, then tape off and do the non-skid sections before re-coating the whole thing again. At this point, I might as well finish the deck completely before remounting any of the hardware of portholes while it's still on the hard and under a cover -- especially since the schedule's already completely blown and we're in the middle of hurricane season.
Zoe watch:
It's time for her bath again, so that's what we'll be doing as soon as I finish this post. She's under the bow sleeping right now.
Boat watch:
Cleaned the deck this morning and did a little final sanding. Will tape off sections later, either when it rains or once it cools off later this afternoon. Plan to move under the boat and and sand some of the teak that's the loose, e.g., the hand rails, companionway boards, and the teak handle on the sliding hatch, while it's too hot to do anything else.
Book watch:
Almost forgot to mention: I finished Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" the day before yesterday, and enjoyed it very much, especially his descriptions of rounding the horn. Looks like "Voyage of the Beagle" will be the next one, in fact I've already started reading it. Although it covers about the same time period, the style is very different, almost analytical. I'm sure it will be very interesting, but just hope it will be as entertaining as Dana's.
I finished up the bad section of starboard toe rail yesterday. I ended up having to use a little block plane to clean up the splice, but she looks pretty good now. It needs a little more filling, but I'll do that as I work on the other sections; There's a smaller section in the same area on the port side and a few smaller places on or near the transom, but they should all go really quickly. Hopefully, once they've been clamped and glued, I'll be able to fill all of them with one final mixture of epoxy and teak sawdust.
I'd never mixed teak sawdust with epoxy before, but learned the hard way that the teak causes it to setup much more slowly. I think it took about an hour for it to set, and was still easy to sand the next day. Now that I know how it works, I'll mix it up early and fill all the spots at once after I've given it a chance to start curing.
Once that's done, and the deck's have been primed, I'll cetol the toerails. The final step will be to caulk the edge, which I'll do before the final deck coats. I bought some one-part polyurethane, but might go with an epoxy instead. In any case, I'll put on at least one coat all over, then tape off and do the non-skid sections before re-coating the whole thing again. At this point, I might as well finish the deck completely before remounting any of the hardware of portholes while it's still on the hard and under a cover -- especially since the schedule's already completely blown and we're in the middle of hurricane season.
Zoe watch:
It's time for her bath again, so that's what we'll be doing as soon as I finish this post. She's under the bow sleeping right now.
Boat watch:
Cleaned the deck this morning and did a little final sanding. Will tape off sections later, either when it rains or once it cools off later this afternoon. Plan to move under the boat and and sand some of the teak that's the loose, e.g., the hand rails, companionway boards, and the teak handle on the sliding hatch, while it's too hot to do anything else.
Book watch:
Almost forgot to mention: I finished Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" the day before yesterday, and enjoyed it very much, especially his descriptions of rounding the horn. Looks like "Voyage of the Beagle" will be the next one, in fact I've already started reading it. Although it covers about the same time period, the style is very different, almost analytical. I'm sure it will be very interesting, but just hope it will be as entertaining as Dana's.
02 August 2010
Wikipedia
I've found wikipedia to be very helpful, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. I just looked at the entry for Thomas Nuttall after reading about him in Dana's "Two Years," and the section that relates to Dana is completely false. It says that Nuttall was the basis for Dana's character "old curious," but Dana's work was autobiographical and contained no fictional characters. In fact, Dana had known Nuttall at Harvard and both had left Cambridge at about the same time, Dana as a seaman on the Pilgrim, and Nuttall "overland to the Northwest Coast."
According to Dana, Nuttall made his way down the coast and when he discovered there was a ship, the Alert, heading back to Boston, he took passage on the Pilgrim from Monterey down to San Diego and boarded the Alert when she was ready to sail. It was Dana's old shipmates on the Pilgrim who called Nuttall "old curious" due to his habit of walking the beach and collecting specimens. Dana said that he and Nuttall recognized each other immediately when he saw him on the beach, but once he got on board the Alert had few opportunities to speak due to the difference in circumstances, and discipline on the ship. Only occasionally, while Dana was at the helm on the night watch and the officer of the deck was forward, did Nuttall come on deck and "spin a yarn" with him.
The wikipedia entry doesn't mention any of this and presumes that Dana's work was fiction. Does anyone actually read anything for themselves these days? It reminds me of a story George Bass, one of my professors at A&M, told our classical archeology class. One of the large donors to his Institute of Nautical Archeology was a wealthy Oklahoma oil man, and at one of the donor receptions, he started talking about a book he's just read which he pronounced as "less miserables." Dr. Bass said that at this, the academics chuckled a little under their breath, but when the guy asked who else had read it, it turned out that he was the only one in the room who had. The academics had only read "about" it.
Now, I'm not picking on academics, because they've obviously read a bunch of other stuff, but it is curious, and I think it's true of most of us, that very few people read the classics, or anything else, for themselves anymore. Even sailing classics like "Two Years Before the Mast" aren't being read by sailors either. I mentioned it to a few people around here and of course they've heard of it, but no one had actually read it.
I remember Dale Baum giving me a poster a long time ago, right after I'd gotten out of the Corps and gone back to school, from the University of Texas entitled the "Texas List of Unrequired Reading." I'd been complaining about my poor high school education and how all the other students seemed to be so far ahead of me, and had asked him if he could suggest any works I should read to help me catch up. He told me not to worry too much about being behind and just start from wherever I was, then he pulled the poster down from his door and gave it to me.
It consisted of 96 titles evenly divided into 4 subject areas, Philosophy and Religion, Literature, History, and Science. The idea was to read one book a month during your 4 year undergraduate career; 48 primary works, and another 48 alternates. They didn't so much expect you to actually read everything, as to give you a starting point. How else would you know where to begin? At that time, I'd only read a few of them, one of which was "Pride and Prejudice."
I used to make an effort to read as many of them as I could, especially in the areas I was weakest. I used to keep track of which ones I'd read, but at some point I stopped worrying about it -- by then I'd read over a quarter of them and felt like I'd caught up. I eventually lost track of the poster and don't think it's available anymore, but you can still find the list online if you look. I printed it out not too long ago and have it somewhere. I'll have to break it out once I get the boat in the water and see what else I might want to tackle.
I'm not sure what any of this means, or if people read more, less, or about the same as they did before, but with all the additional leisure time we have these days, you certainly can't use the excuse that you don't have time. Also, I'm not sure if I'll fix Nuttall's entry, but I'll certainly finish Dana's book first.
According to Dana, Nuttall made his way down the coast and when he discovered there was a ship, the Alert, heading back to Boston, he took passage on the Pilgrim from Monterey down to San Diego and boarded the Alert when she was ready to sail. It was Dana's old shipmates on the Pilgrim who called Nuttall "old curious" due to his habit of walking the beach and collecting specimens. Dana said that he and Nuttall recognized each other immediately when he saw him on the beach, but once he got on board the Alert had few opportunities to speak due to the difference in circumstances, and discipline on the ship. Only occasionally, while Dana was at the helm on the night watch and the officer of the deck was forward, did Nuttall come on deck and "spin a yarn" with him.
The wikipedia entry doesn't mention any of this and presumes that Dana's work was fiction. Does anyone actually read anything for themselves these days? It reminds me of a story George Bass, one of my professors at A&M, told our classical archeology class. One of the large donors to his Institute of Nautical Archeology was a wealthy Oklahoma oil man, and at one of the donor receptions, he started talking about a book he's just read which he pronounced as "less miserables." Dr. Bass said that at this, the academics chuckled a little under their breath, but when the guy asked who else had read it, it turned out that he was the only one in the room who had. The academics had only read "about" it.
Now, I'm not picking on academics, because they've obviously read a bunch of other stuff, but it is curious, and I think it's true of most of us, that very few people read the classics, or anything else, for themselves anymore. Even sailing classics like "Two Years Before the Mast" aren't being read by sailors either. I mentioned it to a few people around here and of course they've heard of it, but no one had actually read it.
I remember Dale Baum giving me a poster a long time ago, right after I'd gotten out of the Corps and gone back to school, from the University of Texas entitled the "Texas List of Unrequired Reading." I'd been complaining about my poor high school education and how all the other students seemed to be so far ahead of me, and had asked him if he could suggest any works I should read to help me catch up. He told me not to worry too much about being behind and just start from wherever I was, then he pulled the poster down from his door and gave it to me.
It consisted of 96 titles evenly divided into 4 subject areas, Philosophy and Religion, Literature, History, and Science. The idea was to read one book a month during your 4 year undergraduate career; 48 primary works, and another 48 alternates. They didn't so much expect you to actually read everything, as to give you a starting point. How else would you know where to begin? At that time, I'd only read a few of them, one of which was "Pride and Prejudice."
I used to make an effort to read as many of them as I could, especially in the areas I was weakest. I used to keep track of which ones I'd read, but at some point I stopped worrying about it -- by then I'd read over a quarter of them and felt like I'd caught up. I eventually lost track of the poster and don't think it's available anymore, but you can still find the list online if you look. I printed it out not too long ago and have it somewhere. I'll have to break it out once I get the boat in the water and see what else I might want to tackle.
I'm not sure what any of this means, or if people read more, less, or about the same as they did before, but with all the additional leisure time we have these days, you certainly can't use the excuse that you don't have time. Also, I'm not sure if I'll fix Nuttall's entry, but I'll certainly finish Dana's book first.
Drew Carey
I read today that Drew Carey just lost 80 pounds. Good for him. I've only dropped about 10 since I moved on board, but I think he'd gotten quite heavy; I'm about the same as I was when I was 20, and wear the same size clothes as well, so I doubt I'll loose much more.
I haven't had a tv for a long time, but I think I remember seeing his show a few times. Although I knew he'd been in the Corps, it was hard to tell there'd been a Marine under all that extra weight, and I didn't know until today that we'd both enlisted the same year, 1980. I was in about 9 years total, with about 5 on active duty, but it looks like he only did his obligatory 6 years, probably all in the reserves. There's a photo of him as a corporal in camies on his wikipedia page -- looks like a totally different guy. Semper fi Drew...
I haven't had a tv for a long time, but I think I remember seeing his show a few times. Although I knew he'd been in the Corps, it was hard to tell there'd been a Marine under all that extra weight, and I didn't know until today that we'd both enlisted the same year, 1980. I was in about 9 years total, with about 5 on active duty, but it looks like he only did his obligatory 6 years, probably all in the reserves. There's a photo of him as a corporal in camies on his wikipedia page -- looks like a totally different guy. Semper fi Drew...
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