The engine for my boat got tuned up on Friday — I’m embarrassed to say that my problem getting it started was simply that I had not adequately primed it. Still, this being my first engine, it was good hanging out at the shop picking up knowledge for the hour or so it took to do that, as well as wandering through the boat yard peeking at all the speedboats and examining how they were put together, the steering systems being of the most interest to me right now. I don’t think I’m going to build a steering wheel for this boat, but perhaps on the next one I will.
Caitlin took these photos of me testing the boat with the engine in place. Holy fun! It runs great, corners nicely, and doesn’t take on water other than the expected flooding from being such a razor-shallow boat. I wasn’t sure if it would have issues with sliding, but the only problem is that the mounting for the engine still isn’t strong enough, even with the reinforcement I added — the “by the plans” default is ridiculously flimsy! So before I go out again I’m going to completely rebuild the back of the boat (or just go on to the next boat and not stress this one). The ominous creaking/cracking made me worry I was going to have the rear tear right off and my engine would sink to the bottom of the lake.
Nefarious chickened out and played on the beach with other kids instead of joining me — not that there was a whole lot of room in the boat once the gas tank and oar and bailing bucket were there… I pretty much dwarf it as you can see.
One should never google ones symptoms — it’s likely to make you a hypochondriac. So anyway, when I googled for my various symptoms, all I got was lots of people saying “these are my test results, and here’s what’s going on, and no one knows what it means!” The one place you don’t want to be an engima is in a doctor’s office I think… Oh well.
Nefarious and I played chess with rockets today (the sugar candy that’s called “smarties”, I think, in the US), with each piece’s value representing how many rockets you get to take from the “bank” when you capture the piece… I figure it’s a good way to teach her about weighting, not that she doesn’t have a solid grasp on chess. Usually I win of course, but today she beat me fair and square, and then we did another hour of reading on The Emerald City of Oz during which Nefarious ate nine oranges, and would have continued was it not getting too late.
I started to work on a new painting — first one in a long time — based on an old French illustration of women salting their husbands in order to enhance their libidos. Here’s a sketch… Other than that, tomorrow is a rushed day, because first thing I have to get a bunch more bloodwork done (the third time in recent days that I’ve had to do so) since the last results contained something that requires follow up that they could not tell me about on the phone… hmm… then I rush to the school for a “tea party”, and then I need to take my new engine in because I can’t get it started (GRRRRRRR!). I did however rebuild the back of the boat to support its weight a little more securely.
One of the things that I always have in my truck (admittedly in part because I’ve never bothered to take it out) is a kite. A couple days ago at the park we ran into one of Nefarious’s best friends, and the weather was perfect with a light wind, enough to lift the kite but not enough to lift their small mass into the trees. Even her friend’s two-year old brother got in on the fun, although he had some trouble on account of wanting to stop every five feet and turn around and look up at the kite. They more than ran off the calories of their ice cream cones by dashing up and down the field over and over.
Here’s an illustration of Nefarious and her friend mentioned above as (of course) princesses.
And in my marginally “exciting” news category, I bought myself an early solstice present — a 9.9hp Mercury outboard for the boat! I have a terrible fear that the mounting for the engine (which I’ve already had to beef up just to make the engine fit) will be insufficient in strength, and that it’ll tear apart and my expensive engine will sink to the bottom of Lake Ontario. So tomorrow may include completely rebuilding that section of the boat with something I’ll feel a little more secure about. It’s funny because the engine weighs about twenty pounds more than the boat does! But anyway, I’m very excited about Sunday when this all will be tested.
Been having a great weekend so far. Nefarious had a sleep over with a friend on Friday night, so Caitlin and I were able to have one of our rare date nights, and went and saw Terminator Salvation… I’m a huge fan of the Terminator franchise and especially of the TV show, and I hate to say it, but the movie was a massive let down and I wouldn’t recommend it — it’s really a “dumb” movie and not in a fun way. Worst of the Terminator movies by far, and up against The Sarah Connor Chronicles — a very smart show — it really blows. Nonetheless, it is always a pleasure going out.
Then today we ate sushi on the beach and played with the boat — as I’ve already blogged at length — and when we got back home I finally took Nefarious up on the roof as I’ve been promising her for a while. I love having roof access, even if it involves an unfinished surface, a trip-inducing maze of stolen cable TV wires, and a treacherous (for someone as wide as me anyway) climb up through a skylight, which today tore a hole in the ass of my favourite shorts. Not that this will stop me from wearing them… There’s something serene about roofs. Then Nefarious went and watched some more martial arts training, and another friend came over to hang out for the rest of the day and lasagna.
I have high hopes for tomorrow as well, but now UFC 98 has my attention.
