Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Take time to seek out a better way, while exploring less traveled side roads along the path

Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

I’ve “Cured” My Slump! ha!

August 5th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Humor, Reflections, Tom & Me

Well, I figured out how to “cure” my slump.

I made my coffee a whole lot stronger this morning and drank more of it.  I’m wired!

To keep up the caffeine high I’m on, I’ve decided to go grocery shopping after lunch (which is always a downer in Picayune) in Slidell, next big town down the road, and to stop and have an iced coffee at Starbucks afterward to drink on the 18 mile trip home.

I figure that will give me enough energy to unload all of the groceries, get them put away and to prepare Tom a good dinner.  Being so slumpy lately and being on a diet, I haven’t been cooking too much.  Poor Tom is beginning to waste away to nothing and I’ve got to keep him healthy.  We have exciting things going on in our lives.  (Another reason to get out of the slump, don’t you think?!)

Cheers!!!  (I put in an extra exclamation point for good measure today and to reinforce my onward and upward state of mind.  ha!)  Many blessings to each of you today! Dee

Warning:  This use of caffeine to cure slumps or slumpiness is not recommended or touted for those who are not willing to play the coffee game.  If you don’t drink coffee . . . there’s NO other cure and you’re helpless (and hopeless, imho).  Cheers to you non-coffee drinkers.  You’re in trouble and need some cheering up!!!

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You Know You’re In A Slump When . . .

August 3rd, 2010 · 5 Comments · Blogging, Finding Direction Contests, Reflections

You know you’re in a slump when . . .

(1) you peruse Facebook and old email forwards for good material for a blog post.

(2) you’re too lazy to make fresh coffee and drink the leftovers from the last pot made.

(3) when you’re too lazy to do even that!

(4) you put off phoning anyone because you don’t have the enthusiasm or energy to even hit the buttons on the phone to call.

I could go on here, but won’t.  See, I’m in a slump and it’s too much work.

How do you know when you’re in a slump?  Surely, I’m not the only one in this close to three digit heat.  Let’s hear it, y’all.

I know one thing you’d better not be in a slump about and that’s entering the current Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest.  Some really good ones have come in, but some of you are procrastinating and you only have through August 15 to get them turned in.

Send them to me a jpgs.  If you need my email address, write to me from the contact form at the top of the page here and I’ll give it to you.  I’d like to have some more good ones and I know y’all have some, so share them with us!

That’s it for now.  Get to work going through your photos for the contest and stay “Un” slumped!!

Cheer!  (See . . . I don’t even have enough energy for more than “one” cheer.)

Dee

P. S.  At least, it’s now August and football season is close at hand.  Tom has a new Dallas Cowboys T-shirt and cap, so he’s ready to go.  Those accessories will go well with his new boathouse!  ha!

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“Das Boot” a/k/a “THE BOAT” – Epilogue

July 26th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Humor, Perspective, Reflections, Tom & Me

Tom is currently contemplating whether to take up a friend’s offer to let him come put “THE BOAT” in the water behind his house, which is located on a small lake with access to Lake Pontchartrain near Slidell.  He was thinking that he would do that as he took the boat out of the water over on the coast a couple of weeks ago.

However, that same day, oil and tar balls began to show up in the water of the lake in Slidell.  Undaunted, he still thinks he can get in some good sailing before the mess is too much.  I told him I didn’t think that was such a great idea.  For one thing, the boat has those brand new blue coats of paint on the bottom of it, up to the water line and a little above, with a second blue line trim running around the boat above that.

The other big thing (in my book, however I guess I’m no longer a true sailor) is that if he gets a tar ball caught up in his motor, that will be the end of the outboard motor and I said, “we are not getting a new boat motor.”  “Period.”  “Forget it.”  “No way.”

Sometimes one must stand her ground, and this is the spot I’ve chosen to stand on.

So, he came come up with an alternate plan, which went like this:

(1) He wanted to put in a long gravel driveway down on the lower end of the front of our property so he could put the boat and trailer on it, instead of having it on the grass next to the garage.  Having the boat on the trailer on the grass up close is not only unsightly, but is also killing the grass beneath it.

The last two reasons above earned him enough permission from me to call our builder/contractor to come give him an estimate.

Tom described the gravel he thought would look nice that one of our wealthy neighbors has in his side yard.  Turns out to be a “special” gray gravel that is twice as expensive as regular gravel.  I couldn’t believe it.

Well, yes I could, knowing Tom and how he always gravitates, as if by magic, to the most expensive whatever it is he wants to purchase.  Again, I stood my ground and said “forget it.”  I was against the whole gravel driveway scenario to begin with, but was beginning to wear down.

Then he decided it would be nice to have cross ties along each side and a shed at the end, as a place where he could store all of his boat extra parts and pieces when the boat wasn’t in the water.  The shed could also hold all of his paraphernalia from Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest that now clutters the garage so that it is nearly impossible to get in and out of the cars.

Our builder came out and Tom got a price.  Then, Tom decided to add to the equation a concrete foundation upon which to place the now metal shed we were going to have to buy, so that the shed could be bolted down.

So, now we were up to a “regular” gravel driveway, cross ties all along each side, pouring a concrete foundation, buying a metal shed to place on said foundation, a culvert at the street’s edge, and, oh yeah – it seems a tree that is in the way is going to have to come down.

All of this is so that we can place the boat and trailer on it (along with its monthly liability insurance) since Tom can’t put it in the water anywhere around here due to the oil spill.

I got to thinking about all of this and came up with what I thought was an even better solution.  SELL THE BOAT!

I mean, he can no longer handle it himself, there’s no place to sail within hours of driving and it costs a whole lot of boat dollars just to have it to look at, much less sail.

But, he’s not to be deterred.  So, now I’m thinking that maybe the thing to do is (1) let him do all of the above additions to the property, which hopefully will be considered assets, (2) get a small window unit air conditioner for one of the two shed windows, (3) let  him put the two old furry bean bags out there that he won’t allow me to part with, (4) and have him go out there with his brand new cell phone (remember the other fairly new one got salt water in it and died trying to get the boat out of the water), where he can watch the NFL channel on his phone.

He was all excited because his “new” new phone has the NFL channel with all Sunday and Thursday night games.  I figure this will present the perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of those games, while he sits there in his bean bags looking out the other little shed window at his sailboat in front of him.  What more could a guy want, ya know?

Me . . . I’m going to sit in the house watching football on the 60″ HDTV and pretend Tom’s gone sailing.

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“Das Boot” a/k/a “THE BOAT” – Conclusion

July 20th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Humor, Philosophical, Reflections, Tom & Me

Time had streamed rapidly by, gliding from a cold winter, into wet spring and now into the morass of hot, humid heat called summer on the Mississippi gulf coast.  Tom remained land locked.  He fretted and frittered his time away, necessitating me taking a longer time away from home than usual.  It was too sad to watch.

May proved to be a completely unproductive month for sailing and now June loomed on the horizon.   I was back home from a trip, but days for sailing were rapidly dwindling away what with a convention planned, a second Texas trip, vacation.  The weather continued to be uncooperative, too.  Tom watched the oil spill coverage diligently, as well as the weather, which was now showing an impending first hurricane.  His spirits were glum, to say the least.

But, then he got a break.  Two days on a June weekend in between other activities, hurricanes and bad weather magically appeared.  He was excited.  I started to say thrilled, but somehow I hadn’t seen that emotion in him in quite some time, maybe even a sailing season or so ago.

Tom lined up his helpers, hauled the boat to the harbor behind his big SUV, got his boat in the water, get the mast up, and all that done before the first “teeny, tiny” problem arose.  The little outboard motor that he had just filled with gasoline before leaving home wouldn’t start.  It was out of gas.  It had all leaked out somewhere along the way adding to the gunk in the water or on the land going down to the water already generated by the oil spill, unfortunately.

He had to have someone tow him in his boat around the piers to his boat slip.  (Which we now had been paying for month by month for nearly a year with no boat use.)

That was disgrace enough, but the problem appeared to be simple and easily repairable.  (Note the words “appeared to be” closely.)  A screw seemed to have fallen out, or been jolted out, of the motor, causing all of the gasoline to leak out.  He and his best friend, Ron, went nearby to Biloxi to a boat store, but they did not have said screw in stock, nor did they recognize it’s kind and shape.  But, not to worry.  Tom had the boat motor owner’s manual and quickly found the parts he needed.  He ordered two sets of two different screws, bolts, do-hickys . . . you know -  one cannot be too sure in such a spot and must take all precautions against not having all needed parts when time is of the essence.  And the order was only slightly more than $50 bucks (albeit only $5 boat dollars).

I just about had a heart attack upon seeing the bill when the order arrived.  Four lousy little pieces of metal and they cost MORE than $50 bucks?!

But, what’s a husband’s happiness to be compared to, you know?  Besides, he had greater problems to deal with.  The exhausting heat and humidity caused him to stay in the SUV with the A/C going full blast about half of each day of the weekend, and that added up considerably, as well as concerning me greatly about his health.  Then, he just did not have the strength alone to get the second boom up on the boat from which one of the sails is rigged.  So, he had to find more help for that a second day in a row.

The next weekend, motor parts in hand, he got another break in the weather and wandered back down to the harbor.  I never did get the whole picture on the next part of the deal, but either the screws weren’t needed at all (after the $50+ expense, plus whole extra set), or else when replaced didn’t stop the gasoline leak.  Plan B developed, in which the motor was to be unlocked from the metal cross beam to which the lock was attached, the motor lifted, taken out of the water, driven home and taken to a boat repair shop, one being conveniently located close to home.

Tom has four sets of keys to the boat, each set consisting of about 10 or 12 keys on four rings.  He had two sets with him at the boat, but none fit the lock on the motor that was locked to the cross beam on the back of the boat.  So, what did he do?

He called me up, of course, and said, “Dee . . . what did you do with my extra two sets of keys to my boat?”

A roar of dead silence ensued while he revised his question.

He didn’t even know where the sets of keys were, much less where THE key was to THE lock on THE boat, etc, etc.

He never did find THE key.  So, Plan B-2 developed in which he would borrow a friend’s specialty hacksaw to saw off the cross beam to get to the lock to get the motor off of the boat.  All he had to do was buy a new blade for said saw.

He did, and even got the motor off without too much trouble, just with more help.  Got the motor fixed, too.  After refurbishing the entire carburetor on the thing.  (Chi-ching, chi-ching – don’t ask – I’m incapable of repeating the cost, boat dollars or not.  And I haven’t even mentioned the newly painted, “much needed” “bottom job” on the boat that he had planned to do himself, naturally, in the spring, but which had to be done professionally after he went in the hospital for heart surgery.)

Meanwhile, we were in and out of town and sailing time was zipping on past, unrelenting.  So were the effects of the oil spill in the gulf.  Oil and tar balls were washing up everywhere.  The clock rolled around to the last day of June, the harbor closed, with booms blocking all entrances or egresses, and Tom realized that as soon as he got the motor back on the boat, he was going to have to take the boat out of the water, again, still unsailed for the season.

He clumped over to the harbor master’s office and gave up the slip.  He called his worthy friends who stood by him like real sailing men do and came to help him get the boat out of the water.  It was a dreadful day.  And it wasn’t even over.

The final next to final twist occurring that horrendous day was that he had a flat tire on his boat trailer on the way home at about the same time he realized his fancy cell phone was totally dead because he’d left it in his sailing shorts and it had gotten submerged in salt water while trying to get the boat on the trailer.  They were having trouble with it, you see.  (Yeah, tell me about it.)  He luckily was close to a gas station and borrowed a stranger lady’s phone to call me, not to let me know he was okay or what time he was coming on home, but to ask me to call Ron to come over and help him, if he could.  Ron could, and did.

Turns out the tire was not just flat, it was stripped.  So, now add a new trailer tire to the new doors (some with three, some with two coats of varnish), new bottom job, new lock, new keys, new cross beam, newly refurbished carburetor on the motor on the boat on the trailer that was doing all of its travel over land, not the over the windblown waves of the oily mess in the gulf of Mexico.

It still took a while for him to make it home.  Longer than I would have thought, even with the flat tire, and of course, I assumed the worst.  Which happened.  After he got the flat fixed and was on his way, a state trooper pulled him over to see his registration and insurance papers.  While I faithfully keep our current insurance papers in both vehicles, Tom could not, for the life of him, find the latest, up to date card in his vehicle.  I can only suppose that the officer saw how frazzled Tom was, because he let him go, telling him to find the card and make sure he kept it close.

The boat is now home sitting in the driveway in the way, rather than on the grass.  It doesn’t even have a tarp on it at the moment.  Tom keeps trying to think of someway to get that boat in some clear water where he can have fun sailing and relaxing, leaving the cares of the world behind.  He’s plottin’ and plannin’, but I see no hope, myself, nor do I see that he still has that will to keep torturing himself like this.

Yet . . . he thinks he’s come up with a solution – of sorts.  When I heard his plan, I came up with a solution of my own.  So, while this may be the conclusion to one chapter of his boat life, next time I’ll share with you the Epilogue.  At least for now.  Till next time.

Cheers! Dee

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“Das Boot” a/k/a “THE BOAT”

July 19th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Humor, Perspective, Stories, Tom & Me

I haven’t written about “THE BOAT” lately.  Oversight on my part.  Although, you have to admit there’s been a whole lot of other activity going on in our lives.  Like Tom’s 5 heart-bypasses March 31 and recovery.  My 1,750 mile trip to Texas and back.  Etc, etc.

But, believe me, boat happenings have been ongoing this entire time.

Some of you will remember me discussing das boot last summer when I briefly went back through our “boat history” up until he purchased the present one.  Last August I talked about his purchase of some expensive marine plywood to make a new “door” down into the tiny cabin.  I called them “Men Don’t Measure” and “Men Don’t Measure – Conclusion” for obvious reasons, when you read the posts. (Here and here – the photos are gone, but the links still there, so you’ll “get” the picture.  ha!)

He’s had the boat for two and one half years, so this was to be his third summer of sailing fun in the sun, blowing with the breezes, leaving all of the cares and worries of the world behind.  He had gotten the boat “all fixed up,” which is interpreted “everything he could think of to load the boat up with that I would be willing to go along with and pay for, if only he could convince me the items were all dire necessities to keep him alive and relatively safe out on the water alone.”

He half-heartedly worked on staining his marine lumber doors for the boat throughout the winter months.  The boat sat in the yard next to the driveway up to the garage with a blue tarp over it.  Staining went slowly, then ground to a halt about thanksgiving, with winter not yet completely upon us.  But days were short, nights were long and there was an abundance of football games and other major TV entertainment attractions to keep him from having to even think about that second, then third, coat of varnish each side of all three pieces of lumber needed.

He  decided to wait until early spring to regain his enthusiasm for boat “work,” as opposed to boat “play,” and kept napping in his recliner.  But I told myself, at least he’s not out spending “boat dollars” (Greg & Patrick, you will remember that this is somewhat equivalent to “guitar dollars,” an amount that boggles an average wife’s mind, especially one not given to piles of shoes).

Early spring arrived.  Cool sailing days were just around the corner.  Tom didn’t feel well.  After a trip to the ER turned into a two day stay, with needed heart by-passes set for a week later, Tom’s visions of sailing on the breezes faded a bit from his mind.  Staying alive moved to the number one place in his thought processes and stayed there for another two months as he endured complications and setbacks with his health before he could even return to work.

About that time, I left town for a while, so he thought that might bring a good opportunity for him to, at last, get back out on the water.  But, he didn’t have the strength to put the boat in the water on the coast, get the mast up and the sails all alone.  So, he had to muster help.  That would take a little planning, but could be managed.

However, heavy, on-going rains didn’t cooperate, so the minutes, hours and days tick-tocked away what would have been excellent sailing days while Tom and his helpers watched helplessly.

Then, total disaster struck.  The oil well in the gulf blew and now not only Tom, who sails in the gulf of Mexico inside the barrier islands of Mississippi, but the entire gulf coast region had a nightmare on their hands.

Tom was not to be deterred, though.  A true sailor and captain persists in even the very worst of conditions, most of which were about to happen to him . . .

To Be Concluded next time, so stay tuned . . .

(Cheers, Greg!)  Dee

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Summer Time & The Livin’ is Easy

July 13th, 2010 · 9 Comments · Blogging, Finding Direction Contests, Photos, Videos, Reflections

Refreshing rain all spring has brought delightful summer flowers.  The clear currents of rain have brought bright splashes of flowers everywhere we’ve been.

My soul has been refreshed as well and inspired.

That is what I wish and pray for you, my friends.  I hope yours have been as well, so that you can tap into your creativity and capture some of God’s goodness in this summer season for my Finding Direction 2010 Summer Photo Contest.

This time I have left the word “Desktop” out of the title, but originally, that was what this contest was all about, for those of you who have joined the party late.  For, I have been blogging now for five and one half years.

You see, it was winter time and I had no good “desktop” photo to look at here on my computer.  I tire of having the same one all the time and tend to change out my desktop photos as the seasons change.  Thus, the reason – and hopefully – inspiration for you to participate.  To make my computer desktop and joy to behold.

Even more this time, I shall award a grand prize to the top winner who most captures – or finds – the photo that gently murmurs, “it’s summertime and the livin’ IS easy.”

Have fun while doing this.  It isn’t meant to be hard to do or anything more than sharing camaraderie with fellow readers and commenters.

Many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

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No Dragons to Slay

July 8th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Reflections, Uncategorized

I have no dragons to slay today, so I am at peace – for the first time in a good while.

Dragons have been attacking me from all around and for far as I could see.  Little ones, big ones, fast ones, slow ones, obnoxious ones and some that crept up upon on cats’ paws, nearly taking me out before I was even aware of them.

I feel as if I’ve been taking part in some of the stories told in the book of Revelation with dragons having seven heads, all clamoring for me at once.

What say ye?  Any dragons in your life of late?  If so, how do you feel about that and how do you conquer them?

I don’t know about you, but for me, trust in God to be MY great defender in all has been my life saver.

For the moment, all of my dragons are at bay.  How about yours?  I cannot sit and rest, too long, though, for wounded dragons sometime roar back again more ferociously than ever.

Still . . . it is good to have a still and quiet day now and again, you know?  I have longed for this day for the longest of times, too, which makes it doubly a pleasure.

Well, enough of dragons for today, how is your picture taking and collecting going for the Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest – theme, “Summer Time and the Livin’ is Easy?”  Entries have begun coming in and the FD Judges are chomping at the bits to get a look at all of them.  You have until August 15th in which to enter.

Remember that the photos do NOT even have to be your own,  for those of you w/o the gift of photography.  There are certainly lots of photos on the internet to choose from, if you don’t have access any other way to summertime fun photos.

That’s it for today.  Comment and let me know how you fight your dragons and give me some ideas about fighting mine, okay?!

Cheers!  And many blessings to each of you who read this.  You Dragon Slayers all!  (If you are really a “hidden” dragon trying to sneak up on me, forget it.  I’ve got you covered!)

Dee

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