I was up at 7:30am for what had the makings of yet another busy day. After making coffee and exercising, I walked Ykraps under a mostly cloudy sky. Lindsey sand lil’ rocky had spent the night so there was little private time save for my run.
As I was finishing my run the cloudy skies had already given way to sunshine. And when my shoes hit my own driveway, Glenn was just pulling up in Bob’s Colorado pick-up truck. Glenn was there to ready for yet another family party. This time it was Aunt Char’s. I wasn’t sure that Mindy and I were going to make it. We both had plenty of other things to get done and both of us were a little burnt on family gatherings. As Glenn left for Char’s, Lindsey and lil’ Rocky left for home. At the same time, Mindy’s kids were leaving to spend the entire afternoon with their dad. Suddenly, Mindy and I found ourselves completely alone for the first time in quite a while.
I spent some time putting the rest of our camping gear away and then cleaning up the kitchen. Mindy was planning on a trip to the Flower Factory and possibly even a trip into school for more classroom prep. I figured that I would work on the boat. In the end, however, Mindy and I decided that it would be nice to see the family all together one more time since we won’t see them again until maybe Xmas. After a quick shower we hopped in the BM’er destined for Aunt Char’s. The gig started at 11am but we weren’t arriving until almost 1:15pm. I hadn’t seen my cousin Brian since last Xmas, and had never met Char’s new Beau, Tim. Charles and Melissa were there as were Mom and Uncle Chuck. My mother was still noticeably pissed after Glenn broke news to her that he wouldn’t be heading back to her place until a day later. But then again, she feels slighted on most of his visits these days. She lives 100 miles away while the rest of the family is all fairly local.
We all left Char’s around the same time. Mindy had to get moving and I had to get on the boat thing. When we got home it was nearly 2:45pm. Where in the hell had the day gone? I jumped in the BM’er and Mindy in her van. She left for the Flower Factory and I left for Home Depot to get some Electrical connection sealant. I needed this to protect the new slave solenoid terminals. When I returned I began working on the boat. I took my time so to be sure and do the job right. One by one I removed the many brass nuts from the old solenoid. After cleaning all the connections I slowly and methodically began reattaching the wires to the new solenoid. Just then my Mom, Glenn, and Uncle Chuck pulled up to reluctantly drop Glenn off. He would be hanging out until leaving for an African Music concert sometime around 6:30pm. I continued working on the boat.
After completing the mounting, I used the liquid electrical tape to seal the connections. I put on two coats and did a better job than what was done with the original. After finishing the mounting and re tightening the v-belts, I hooked up the water to the motor muff and gave it a rub and a whirl. It started first try. All subsequent attempts (10-15) proved equally as fruitful. Knock on wood - the starting problem seems to have been eliminated! Of them all, this one was the most frustrating since it has literally plagued this boat for twelve years.
And to think, the starter, alternator, and battery have all been replaced as potential causes. It may turn out that the root problem was a $20 part. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
As I was wrapping up the boat thing, Jamaican brought the kids home. Glenn was kind enough to entertain them while I put things away. Mindy was still a good 45 minutes from being home.
Among other things, Glenn attempted to give Jacob some bike riding lessons. Once Mindy arrived home, I had to take Glenn over to his good friend Scott’s home. I took the boat too figuring that I’d drop it off at Lee’s RV’s after dropping Glenn. Jacob came along too. He likes to help me with the boat. I knew when I dropped Glenn that that might well be the last I’ll see him for quite some time since he’ll be down at Mom’s through the duration of his trip. The next possible visit may either be a T.G. trip out there for me, or a XMAS trip home for him. We’ll see. We had a great time and crammed in a lot of fun over the last ten days.
After dropping Glenn, Jacob and I headed to the boat storage facility. That went as expected. We were back home by 7pm when Mindy encouraged the kids to get a bath. While they bathed, I watered my front yard flowers. Despite a few recent showers, they were pretty darn dry. After the kids bath and after I finished watering flowers I went in to read a bedtime story to the kids. We read Good Night Moon.
After the story, I fired up the grill. Mindy had defrosted a couple of steaks for our enjoyment, and had already whipped up tow garden salads. To complement the steak and salads, she whipped up some broccoli with melted cheese too. The steaks turned out terrifically. After dinner we hung on the deck for about an hour talking about the coming week, weekend, and the end of summer.
It’s hard to believe it, but this marks the end of Mindy’s 12 weeks of vacation. She was a little melancholy. This also marked the end of my five planned summer vacations. Other than weekends, I don’t have any scheduled time off until Thanksgiving. Regardless, I still hope to make the most of the remaining summer weekends by getting the boat out a number of times as well as going on another camping trip or two. We do have Labor Day Weekend coming up in two weeks, although that’s usually a fairly busy boating weekend, especially if the weather’s nice.
In addition to the end of her summer, I know that Mindy was a little put out by all of the drama surrounding my daughters. We agreed to not allow those issues to harm the life we’re building together. We headed to bed around 10pm. Mindy headed up before me. I stayed back and checked a few football & baseball scores.
I was up at 7:30am for what had the makings of yet another busy day. After making coffee and exercising, I walked Ykraps under a mostly cloudy sky. Lindsey sand lil’ rocky had spent the night so there was little private time save for my run.
As I was finishing my run the cloudy skies had already given way to sunshine. And when my shoes hit my own driveway, Glenn was just pulling up in Bob’s Colorado pick-up truck. Glenn was there to ready for yet another family party. This time it was Aunt Char’s. I wasn’t sure that Mindy and I were going to make it. We both had plenty of other things to get done and both of us were a little burnt on family gatherings. As Glenn left for Char’s, Lindsey and lil’ Rocky left for home. At the same time, Mindy’s kids were leaving to spend the entire afternoon with their dad. Suddenly, Mindy and I found ourselves completely alone for the first time in quite a while.
I spent some time putting the rest of our camping gear away and then cleaning up the kitchen. Mindy was planning on a trip to the Flower Factory and possibly even a trip into school for more classroom prep. I figured that I would work on the boat. In the end, however, Mindy and I decided that it would be nice to see the family all together one more time since we won’t see them again until maybe Xmas. After a quick shower we hopped in the BM’er destined for Aunt Char’s. The gig started at 11am but we weren’t arriving until almost 1:15pm. I hadn’t seen my cousin Brian since last Xmas, and had never met Char’s new Beau, Tim. Charles and Melissa were there as were Mom and Uncle Chuck. My mother was still noticeably pissed after Glenn broke news to her that he wouldn’t be heading back to her place until a day later. But then again, she feels slighted on most of his visits these days. She lives 100 miles away while the rest of the family is all fairly local.
We all left Char’s around the same time. Mindy had to get moving and I had to get on the boat thing. When we got home it was nearly 2:45pm. Where in the hell had the day gone? I jumped in the BM’er and Mindy in her van. She left for the Flower Factory and I left for Home Depot to get some Electrical connection sealant. I needed this to protect the new slave solenoid terminals. When I returned I began working on the boat. I took my time so to be sure and do the job right. One by one I removed the many brass nuts from the old solenoid. After cleaning all the connections I slowly and methodically began reattaching the wires to the new solenoid. Just then my Mom, Glenn, and Uncle Chuck pulled up to reluctantly drop Glenn off. He would be hanging out until leaving for an African Music concert sometime around 6:30pm. I continued working on the boat.
After completing the mounting, I used the liquid electrical tape to seal the connections. I put on two coats and did a better job than what was done with the original. After finishing the mounting and re tightening the v-belts, I hooked up the water to the motor muff and gave it a rub and a whirl. It started first try. All subsequent attempts (10-15) proved equally as fruitful. Knock on wood - the starting problem seems to have been eliminated! Of them all, this one was the most frustrating since it has literally plagued this boat for twelve years.
And to think, the starter, alternator, and battery have all been replaced as potential causes. It may turn out that the root problem was a $20 part. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
As I was wrapping up the boat thing, Jamaican brought the kids home. Glenn was kind enough to entertain them while I put things away. Mindy was still a good 45 minutes from being home.
Among other things, Glenn attempted to give Jacob some bike riding lessons. Once Mindy arrived home, I had to take Glenn over to his good friend Scott’s home. I took the boat too figuring that I’d drop it off at Lee’s RV’s after dropping Glenn. Jacob came along too. He likes to help me with the boat. I knew when I dropped Glenn that that might well be the last I’ll see him for quite some time since he’ll be down at Mom’s through the duration of his trip. The next possible visit may either be a T.G. trip out there for me, or a XMAS trip home for him. We’ll see. We had a great time and crammed in a lot of fun over the last ten days.
After dropping Glenn, Jacob and I headed to the boat storage facility. That went as expected. We were back home by 7pm when Mindy encouraged the kids to get a bath. While they bathed, I watered my front yard flowers. Despite a few recent showers, they were pretty darn dry. After the kids bath and after I finished watering flowers I went in to read a bedtime story to the kids. We read Good Night Moon.
After the story, I fired up the grill. Mindy had defrosted a couple of steaks for our enjoyment, and had already whipped up tow garden salads. To complement the steak and salads, she whipped up some broccoli with melted cheese too. The steaks turned out terrifically. After dinner we hung on the deck for about an hour talking about the coming week, weekend, and the end of summer.
It’s hard to believe it, but this marks the end of Mindy’s 12 weeks of vacation. She was a little melancholy. This also marked the end of my five planned summer vacations. Other than weekends, I don’t have any scheduled time off until Thanksgiving. Regardless, I still hope to make the most of the remaining summer weekends by getting the boat out a number of times as well as going on another camping trip or two. We do have Labor Day Weekend coming up in two weeks, although that’s usually a fairly busy boating weekend, especially if the weather’s nice.
In addition to the end of her summer, I know that Mindy was a little put out by all of the drama surrounding my daughters. We agreed to not allow those issues to harm the life we’re building together. We headed to bed around 10pm. Mindy headed up before me. I stayed back and checked a few football & baseball scores.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.