Another long paddle.....

Today we decided to push everything else aside and go for a paddle. Yesterday, with Chris and Greyson over, we were pretty busy all day. After they left, Gail went grocery shopping and I started building a table that folds down against the wall for the Harrison Opera House. I got the basic table done, but spent the rest of today finishing up the folding mechanism. Chris will install the table and do some other small tasks on this job tomorrow. I took the job before I started working for Ocean Lakes. It can't be done on the weekend, and has to be completed by their opening on Oct. 3rd, so Chris volunteered to fill in.

We didn't want to head up past the Ocean Front since the Neptune Festival was in full swing. The "natives" refer to the Neptune Festival as the celebration that the tourists have finally left town. So, we headed south to the Back Bay for an open water paddle.

We launched at Horn Point, paddled all the way across to Sandbridge, cruised a couple of the canals, then headed back. The weather was great in the morning, but as we headed back, we could see a storm moving in. Our illustrious weather forecast called for a storm in the late afternoon. Guess what? They missed that call. About an hour after we got home, the rain pushed through.

Horn Point looking across to Sandbridge....
Sandbridge looking back to Horn Point....
The Captain paddling in one of the canals....
View of one of the canals....
All in all a great morning. It was a tough paddle with the wind and currents, but it was great to get back on the water, if only for 2 1/2 hours. Almost six miles.



Needless to say, we are both whooped, and it's back to work tomorrow. I need a vacation!

Newest Yakker, Toooo Cute

Chris came over today to replace the brakes on his truck and brought Baby G with him. Grandma got to entertain him while Chris worked on his brakes and I fetched the tools. Fun for all!!!!

While we had the kayaks out of the garage, we decided to introduce
Greyson to the sport. As you can see, he is a natural.



Next time we might try it on the water! HaHa.
The little guy is now scooting and rolling across the floor. He going to be hell on wheels when he starts crawling and walking. He already wants to "go" all the time. He can't just sit. Perpetual motion is his thing.

Toooo Cute.....
Give me my blanket and my thumb and I'm a happy camper.

Week two....

Well I got my second week of Community Inspector under my belt. Can anyone say "Over qualified"? The other inspector was out Monday and Wednesday through today, so I soloed for most of the week. Piece of cake!!!! But, I still miss my days off. More later.

Working for a living......

Boy, I really didn't know how good I had it. Working eight hours a day sure cuts into your free time. All we have time do do now is work. The weekends are now for house work. Saturday is mowing the yard, cleaning the house, and all those little things that destroy fun time.

We worked our butts off on Saturday so we could go kayaking on Sunday. The weather took a turn Sunday morning, too chilly for Gail, and by the time it warmed up, the wind came up with the temp. So, Sunday was a bust. Went and did a little shopping for fishing gear for the kayaks. Almost ready to give it a try.

Greyson brought his mom and dad along on a visit Saturday afternoon. Man, that kid is growing like a weed. He gets bigger every time we see him. He's almost to the point of scooting across the floor. Before you know it, he'll be running around getting into everything.

That's about all for now. The job is OK and I'm quickly settling in. Pretty soon I'll have it wired and might just have some time to relax.

More Exploring

Today we went exploring in our kayaks again. This time we went to the Lesner Bridge to launch. We have been there several times before to fish from the shore, but this was the first kayak trip. First things first. The anchor trolley system worked extremely well. I was able to set the anchor and easily move the anchor from the bow to the stern, thus turning the kayak 180 degrees from the anchor.

From the launch site, we headed down Crab Creek, into Pleasure House Creek, all the way to a dead end at Shore Drive, past Bay View Golf Course, around Pleasure House Point into Lynnhaven Bay. We paddled around several islands and over sand bars and flats. Map My Ride doesn't do justice to the islands and flats in Lynnhaven Bay. For a better view, go to Google Maps, Lesner Bridge Virginia Beach Va, satellite view. You can see all the islands and flats. Pretty awesome!

This was probably the best trip so far. Found many really good fishing spots, and there are many areas to beach the kayak and get out to walk around. We even hopped out on one of the flats.

We launched at 9:00 AM and landed at 12:30 PM. Three and a half hours of paddling. The last twenty to thirty minutes was HARD PADDLING against a very strong current. We'll plan better next time and use the current to help on the return trip.

This was our approximate route....


Beach at one of the islands we stopped at......
Walking on the flats.....
Looking across Lynnhaven Bay to the Lesner Bridge.....
Cutting through an island channel.....
Turning around at the dead end at Shore Drive.....
Some of the scenery.....
All in all, a great day. We are both beat. It was hot (record high of 97 today) and pretty windy at times, with some hard work thrown in for good measure. We'll definitely go back again.

Tonight, a quick to fix stir fry for dinner, maybe another beer, and early to bed. Tomorrow it's back to work, for both of us.

One more thing, we both need to shoot more pictures with the new camera, AND keep our fingers off the lens. Too used to cameras with the lens in the middle, not in the upper left hand corner :)

Getting Ready to fish

Last week I started gathering the equipment we need for fishing. Starting with the basics and will work my way up.

Three rods, locked and loaded......
One thing I am concerned about, is equipment falling or getting dumped out of our kayaks. To that end, I have been looking for some lanyards to clip the equipment to the kayak. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay, so I made my own. Each one uses two S-Biners ( $1.97 each) and about 10 cents worth of rope. Total cost around four dollars, and better than most I have seen.

Home made lanyard.....
Lanyard on front rod holder.....
Lanyards on rear rod holders.....

One accessory that seems to be, at least to me, definitely required is an "anchor trolley". This is a line and pulley system that effectively allows you to move the anchor from the bow to the stern, and vice versa. This allows you to position the bow or stern into the current or wind.

All material for anchor trolley and anchor.....
Anchor trolley mounting hardware.....
1.5 lb. folding anchor and line.....

The anchor trolley system consists of: 2 Harken 29mm Carbo Cheek Blocks, 3 nylon clamps, 7 WellNuts, 1 carabiner, and enough line to connect it all together. Length of line depends on the length of the kayak. Below are some pictures of the completed anchor trolley system.

Stern cheek block.....
Looking toward the bow.....
Looking toward the stern.....
Bow cheek block.....
Anchor trolley system fitted with anchor.....

One kayak completed, one to go. Hopefully I will get it done today so we can test them tomorrow.

Next step, consolidating these into a "tackle box" system.

News..... Good, I guess

Thursday I had an interview with the Community Association about an opening for a Community Standards Inspector. Today they called me back for a second time. When I went in for the first interview, I dressed CASUAL. Shorts, t-shirt, and my Rainbows. So, they called me back today to tell me that I will have to wear closed toe shoes. Like they couldn't have told me that over the phone. The other reason they called me in was to tell me that I was their choice for the position. That info will be given to the Board of Directors for approval, and I should start Monday, 9/15/08. Damn, working 9 to 5 every day. I don't know if I can handle that after setting my own hours for so long. I can't remember when I last worked five days in a row.

We'll see how this goes.....

Busy Weekend.....

This was a busy weekend. Steph got in on Thursday evening. Friday Gail worked and Steph had a hair appointment with Brittany. I was taking her to her appointment when Brittany called to say the shop was flooded, not from Hanna, but from construction next door. Apparently they broke a water line. Appointment was rescheduled for Saturday. I had planned to go to Home Depot while Steph got her hair done, so we both went to Home Depot. I got some stuff I needed for the kayaks and Steph looked at some things she wants if she buys a house in the near future. I dropped Steph off to get her nails done and do some shopping and I went home. When I went back to pick her up, the rain from Hanna started. It rained off and on Friday night and into Saturday.

Friday night, Chris joined the three of us for dinner at Gringo's, a SMALL cafe that came highly recommended for their fish tacos. I wasn't impressed. All Chris could say was "$15.95 for a Carne Asada Burrito". Did I mention their prices were high?

Saturday morning Hanna really arrived. We had rain and gusty winds most of the day, but it wasn't nearly the storm everyone predicted, as usual. That afternoon, we went over to Chris and Courtney's so Steph could spend some time with Greyson. Also, Courtney was going to give Steph a ride to her hair appointment. Before they left, Chris wanted me to open my birthday present from him, Courtney and Greyson. Greyson even signed the card.

How's this for the ultimate present, my very own Chefs Jacket. I guess it's official now.
In keeping with the spirit of the gift, I prepared dinner for the crew. Grilled chicken, grilled sweet potatoes and grilled asparagus. Gail prepared a Chef's salad to round out the meal. I guess the best compliment came from Brittany. She said that she didn't like sweet potatoes or asparagus, but had never tried them grilled. She ate the sweet potatoes and even stole some asparagus from Chris' plate. Apparently she liked both.

Gail, Steph, Chris and I sat down to play some poker, while Brittany and Courtnay went to a friends birthday. We played for about two hours, and in the end Chris was the winner, one dollar ahead.

Sunday Chris and Courtney brought Greyson over for a visit. Check out this picture. What a goofball....
We continued the birthday celebration with Gail and Steph's presents. A waterproof camera with a PFD strap to float the camera should it happen to somehow get dumped into the water. How could that possibly happen?

Super camera. There are a lot of features I need to check out. One of which is not to put your finger over the lens, as seen in the picture below.

Sunday night, Chris, Courtney and Steph took us out to dinner at Otani, a Japanese Steakhouse. The food was great, but I ate entirely too much. We started with Tempura Calamari, had some Sushi (Spicy Tuna Roll, California Roll, and a Spicy California Roll topped with Spicy Crab meat), then came the main courses. Teriaki Chicken, Filet, Scallops, fried rice, veggies, lots of food. Did I mention the beer. Chris was drinking Saporro, I was drinking Kirin, Gail had her Corona, and Steph had Vanilla Vodka and Sprite. Great time. Turns out it was really a surprise for our anniversary.

Chris and Courtney.....

Gail, me and Steph.....
As you can see, everybody was having a good time.

Finally, Another Ride

Finally got to go for a ride last night. Gail got off work on time and the weather was great. After not riding all last week, it felt good to get back on the cruiser. We put in just over nine miles in an hour and a half. (See Below)



Might be the last ride this week as well. Steph gets in tonight, so we'll be visiting with Chris, Courtney, and Greyson. Of course, we are governed by baby G's schedule in that regard, and since he is developing quite an independent personality, HE is in charge. (HaHa)

In addition, the weather forecasters (guessers) are predicting we will get some effect from Hurricane Hanna over the weekend. We'll see.

Birthdays, Kayaks, and Other Thoughts

Well,yesterday was my sixty-once birthday, as in I was sixty once. All in all, a pretty uneventful day. While we were sitting around in the morning trying to decide if we were going kayaking, and if so, where, Chris showed up to finish the brake job we started last weekend. We had to stop last time because the guy at BAP/GEON gave him two sets of front rotors instead of fronts and rears. So he finished up the brake job while I supervised and fetched tools. While we did this, the wind came up so we scratched kayaking for the day.

After Chris left, we went and did a little shopping. First to Kohl's to see if they had a new bathing suit for Gail. And then to BJ's to stock up on meat. Then we watched a movie and gorged ourselves on Chinese food. We both went way over our calorie limit, but what the hell, we've been so good for the last 6 weeks, we deserved it.

Throughout the day, my mind totally wandered through the many years of my life. As I have aged, some say not so gracefully, I have come to realize that my life has been pretty good. Sure, I get grumpier the older I get, but I've earned the privilege! I wouldn't change a thing. The little things in life will continue to piss me off, because there are no BIG things. All is good......

This morning when we got up, it was a replay of Saturday mornings weather, around 80 degrees and dead calm. No question about it today, we loaded up and headed out. We decided not to fight Labor Day traffic at the Oceanfront, and opted to head for the Back Bay instead of First Landing. Turns out it was a great decision. The bay was calm and the paddling was easy. We decided to head south this time, towards Shipp's Bay. We cut across into Peter's Cove, then out around the islands, and were even considering paddling across the bay to the Sandbridge side. But, we decided to scout out a couple of large duck blinds about 2/3rds of the way across. After that, we headed back toward Horn Point and some distance up the channel we explored on the tour. Map of the trip below, 6.55 miles.




This where we launch at Horn Point.....
The "Boss" paddling toward Shipp's Bay.....
Heading toward Peter's Cove.....
Looking back toward Horn Point.....
Way off in the distance is the Horn Point launch area.....
Back on dry land.....

The trip was about three hours on the water. We did quite a bit of open water paddling out on the Back Bay. These little kayaks are extremely sea worthy and handle very well. As far as I am concerned, these kayaks have paid for themselves in just the three trips we have taken. The currency of the pay back is solitude, enjoyment, and exercise. I wish we would have started this years ago. About 99% of the time we are on the water, we are totally alone, not another person in sight. The peace and solitude is amazing. A real Zen experience.

While we were paddling, fish (some very large) were jumping everywhere. I think we found some very good places to fish. Next on the agenda is to outfit the kayaks for fishing. We need small tackle boxes, lanyards to attach to equipment, and maybe a small anchor for each. I might take a look later this week. Both Gail and Chris are bugging me to go fishing.

Not too bad for the first day of September.