Passport

Daughter #1 graduated! Got a nice gift from Ted G: A Kobo ereader from Borders books, loaded with 100 books!!!!

A phone call just after midnight. It's POW. Canada customs would not let her car into Canada--demanded that it be imported to Canada and registered in BC. PW drove back to Bellingham, checked into a hotel. She'll need a ride into Canada, my role.

woops, my passport is in aberdeen. Drove there to get PP. then up to B'ham. Tried to call Zeke and Flip to get permission to stow car at their house. Kari, new to me, was housesitting. Gave permission by proxy.

All under natural light

All under natural light

The eggplant joined a few upstart pea plants in the hot tub room. It was attacked by aphids which succumbed to permethrin. It only takes one or two aphids to regenerate.

Also in the hot tub room, Cindy's red pear tomato, Oregon Spring II tomato, Sub Arctic Plenty tom.

In the living room in front of big windows: Amber colored tom, unknown tom that formerly lived under lights.

Strawberries on the deck in 7 self watering boxes.

Inside in self watering boxes:

• Choysum.
• baby carrots
• cilantro

Closer to finishing Tern 14 kayak

With only installation of the seat and the back band left. and bulkheads and hatches, which are a pain in the neck. Then gobs of sanding and varnishing. Wish I hadn't bought so much varnish earlier. Possibility of it turning into a wax or solid chunk of organic jelly after so many years in the cans.

In preparing to move the seat forward in the epic, I looked at the kayak hull, noticing severe wear on the cloth. The boat goes up on the rack for repair. Needs new cloth on the bottom. I'm glad Tom Cartmill suggested I move the seat forward. Even though I could see the defect from below the hull, I never thought to check the hull from inside. Defects correspond to two pads of closed cell foam under the seat, which I cannot recall if I placed them. Apparently, abrasion by foam damaged the hull.

The Huki OC1 is ready for paint, but I may just yet be able to figure out how much catalyst to add to the gel coat. Might be able to avoid having to buy topside paint from West Marine. Rudder also is as close to ready as ever, but haven't chopped off the upper rear corner yet.

Seems like only the Pygmy Coho will be ready to race anytime soon.

Even the extra dwarf choy sum

is coming up. The seeds were a bit dated. 2008, maybe. Hoping some cilantro will grow, but John F. already has some thriving in his greenhouse--I've been invited to steal veggies anytime--no need to grow my own. Maybe grow some midget carrots and radishes.

Grayland for clam digging. clams in all sizes, but not very many big ones. Was told the clamming was very easy yest.--difficult today, taking 1.5 hour to get the limit. went to Half Moon Bay and then the Groin to watch surfers try to ride breaking waves--they live dangerously. Surf shop to look at warmer neoprene booties.

It's 62 degrees out. even at that temp my hands got cold kayaking today. Resumed the stroke revision which corrected problem throwing water on my back and head. Not really sure what my stroke looks like.
I bought a refurbished Kodak waterproof digicam. About $90. Need to cancel XM radio to pay for that. I am still spending money. Need to watch it.

The music for Bob Richardson's last concert in GH isn't really difficult--just need to spend a few minutes looking at it. Never knew I'd like Shostakovich. Good stuff.

Glued on the lower coaming for Tern 14. Glassed the upper coaming and hip braces.

Looked at cost of repairing drysuit gaskets. about 75 as DIY job.

I bought a refurbished Kodak waterproof digicam. About $90. Need to cancel XM radio to pay for that. I am still spending money. Need to watch it.

Garden

The third sunny day of spring finally arrived yesterday in Western Washington, where we get much more than our share of rain. My shaggy lawn commanded me, "Mow. " We did go paddle our kayaks first, but I still had to mow. I had to cut with the lawn mower at its highest setting--meaning I'd have to return again to give it the cut it usually gets. I use an electric mower, which I like better than any gas mower because it's lighter and quieter and needs no maintenance, aside from sharpening the blade. I still hate to cut the lawn, though. If only the moss would take over. I have almost as much moss as grass on my yard, but it still cannot muscle out the grass.

I put in blueberries on my side yard 2 1/2 years ago, laying down weed cloth and bark mulch on top. The grass tried to poke up where I planted the bushes. I stayed ahead of the grass and it hasn't made more than an occasional feeble effort.

It is time to own my yard again. I want to build a raised bed garden to grow food. a deer fence around it. more blueberry bushes.

Canoe repair Kayak building

A week ago, I took the outrigger canoe up the Wishkah River, About 1/4 mile up, I ran into a log, which forced the rudder up into the hull. I inspected the damage--big hole. I paddled back to the put in and found that about 8-10 lb of water had entered the hull. After letting it drain out, I got the boat home to dry some more. The next day, I sanded with a Dremel a rectangle around the defect and laid in a small patch of fiberglass. A day later, on inspection of my repair, I saw that the defect was too big for the cloth to be rigid. I cut through the glass above the gash, mixed some epoxy thickened with wood flour and filled the defect. It is now hard and rigid. It just needs paint, a bit of sanding and back into the water!

I bought a Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 kayak kit six years ago, started building three years ago and was adding glib quotes on the hull, when I got distracted and stopped building. I resumed building 3 weeks ago. I have logged about 54 hours building now. I have the deck on the hull, glassed and have started work on the coaming (cockpit rim) Reading ahead & knowing the instructions I combined steps to avoid delays incurred by waiting for epoxy to cure. All of the coaming pieces and the hip braces I have coated with epoxy today. Tomorrow, another coat of epoxy to lower coaming, hip braces and upper coaming.

John F. called today. He just got back from NYC touring with Meryl. He & I took the double OC up the Chehalis for about an hour. I didn't do much coaching other than to suggest that he rotate a bit more, bend the blade side leg and push the boat forward while stroking. Good speed.

Breakfast and dinner: I fried brown rice with frozen mixed veggies and egg. Fish sauce is anchovies, water, salt and sugar. good.

Lunch was open faced tuna sandwich with tomato and Swiss chard from the tote in the front patio. good.

Garden note. Baby choysum is coming up--don't remember how many days they took to germinate. Planted Cilantro today. More blooms on the tomato plants. Shook them a bit, hoping to pollinate and get fruit. three snow pea plants doing well.

Also tomorrow, to Walmart for Clamming license and call Gh college for tickets.