Saturday - back in Lancaster. Mainly just doing some chores
around the house. Riley was delighted to see me last night!
Book #145 was Free
Nonfiction 2011,
a collection of non-fiction articles by Gregory Benford and others.
Very interesting. This was through the webscriptions.net site, a while
back.
Friday 9 December
2011
Friday
- down in Ventura. Returned in the evening.
Overhead varnishing work went pretty well, for a first effort. After
sanding I cleaned things up with a double pass of tack rags soaked in
mineral spirits, then put plastic drop cloths over all the interior.
The only place with any sort of good brush was Home Depot with their
Purdy brand of natural bristle, $10 for a two inch brush!
It went on in less than two hours, with only minor drips on myself. I
think there are a couple
of small runs, but nothing that can't be fixed. I used a finish with a
slight amber tint, which should look OK on the pecan-colored planks
that make up the overhead. The semi gloss looks startling shiny, but
that will dull a bit in a few days I think.
I thought of staying for the Oxnard Festival of Lights on Saturday
evening, but it sounded as
though my friends in Lancaster were a bit stretched watching my cats.
Also the
various boat owners arriving at the marina docks with coolers full of
beer and boom-boxes suggested that it wouldn't be restful sleeping at
the marina for the next
couple of days.
In the afternoon I had lunch with friends in Ojai. They had recently
lost a parent, after a long stint in the hospice. We talked a bit
about the relief when finally the ordeal is over, and the guilt at
feeling that relief, and the basic grief and feeling of loss. A tough
thing to deal
with, even when you know it's coming.
Thursday 8 December
2011
Thursday
- down in Ventura still.
I am sanding the boats main cabin roof (overhead) with 220 grit. The
finish
was starting to look a bit faded, so it's probably time for a
prophylactic coat of varnish. This sanding took a lot longer than I
expected, so it was well after dark by the time I finished. Once I have
the varnish on I can put the main cabin cushions back, right now they
are on top of the boat under a tarp, to help keep the dust down inside.
Book #144 was Methuselah's
Daughter,
by Dean Ismay and John Eddy. It's the story of a woman who is 3,500
years old, and who with eternal youth and regeneration powers is
thinking of telling her story to the modern world, finally. It's a good
enough book, though a bit uneven and episodic. It mentions, eventually,
that the persona the narrator (the ghost writer) see's is actually an
act, and that the reality of a person thousands of years old is very
different from any other persons psyche - but it stops there. I suppose
it's a bit like writing a story about a genius or superhero -
eventually you can't convey the true difference
of the subject. But I think they could have tried harder.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Wednesday - down in Ventura. Met
with the boss, did some work, then headed down to the boat.
The boat was in good shape, either no rain came inside the boat, or the
automatic bilge pumps worked. The first, I think, due to my putting
screens over the drains in the lazarette, which kept leaves and needles
from blocking them. Which, in turn, kept the lazarette from flooding
through the engine compartment vent into the bilges.
I should check to see if there is a better spot for the engine
compartment ventilation.
Tuesday
6 December 2011
Tuesday
- Still thinking about Zeppelins. I said on Sunday that the Hindenberg
loss was due to the Hydrogen, but it's at least as likely and perhaps
probable that it was static electricity and a very flammable outer skin
that really caused the disaster. That fire in turn passed to the
hydrogen gas bags, and the whole ensemble dropped to the ground, a
hundred feet or so.
So, what if the gas bags had been filled with Helium? It doesn't burn.
The static electricity and outer skin would still have ignited and the
gas bags themselves would no doubt have been destroyed by the external
flames; but very likely at a much slower rate without their contents
bursting into flame. The fall of the vehicle to the ground would have
been slower. The heat energy given off by the hydrogen would have been
less. So we would probably still have seen casualties, but probably not
as many or as severe as the actuality.
Monday 5
December 2011
Monday
- Book #143 was Dead
Eye: The Skinwalker Chronicles,
by Jim Bernheimer. The sequel to Book #142, and again, amusing and fast
paced. Here our psychic has to deal with skin walkers, ghosts powerful
enough to possess humans. His father was possessed, and left his mother
many years ago, and now there is a battle to get Dad (still kind of a
dirt bag) back from the ghost of a Spanish conquistador. There is a
civil war ghost on his side, and another skin walker who isn't
(entirely) evil that he cuts a deal with, and more.
Sunday 4
December 2011
Sunday
- Not much to say. Cold out.
I did want to mention one more thing about the Zeppelin's. Of the last
four built, Los Angeles, Graf
Zeppelin, Hindenberg and Graf
Zeppelin II, only the Hindenberg
was
lost in an accident. And that accident can be laid to using Hydrogen,
which she
wasn't designed for. All of which suggests that airship practices and
technology were improving to the point where travel by such was
becoming substantially less dangerous. Too little, too late, though.
Book #142 was Dead
Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman,
by Jim Bernheimer. This was light, fast paced humorous fantasy, in
which our (bit of a loser) protagonist discovers that he has inherited
the power to see ghost's, and help them "move on". This turns out to
not be very profitable, and not much of a help in dating either.
Amusing.
Picture of
the Week Photo Notes: Small boat with
spinnaker on SF Bay, 2001.
