Saturday, April 23, 2011

Again?

You might have heard that the St. Louis area got clobbered on Friday. The tornado that trashed Lambert International Airport also passed within just blocks of our house. Half an hour later, there 'bout, it appeared to have Boulder marina in its sights. A handful of the assembled debated where would be the best place to ride out such an event, the bath house maybe? Or perhaps against the back wall of the clubhouse? I figured a solid chuck of fiberglass that weighed in at around 23,000 pounds, was sitting low in the water without a mast, and hidden behind a breakwater made of boulders, would be about as good a place as any. But like all good mid-Westerners I stood out on the porch gazing westward figuring it was not yet time to run, and wondering if I could spot the thing amid all the lightning. There was clearly a big 'n nasty out there somewhere; but in the end it passed just a couple of miles to our north. First a nut-job with a laser, and then a big time storm that just misses both my house and then my boat(s) - and me standing next to them. Though the chances of winning are far smaller than the chances of getting my ticket punched by a tornado, maybe I should play the lottery next week anyway?


After all the excitement of last night today was just a long - rainy - have fun working on the boat - kind of day. The water system is figured out, leaks are spotted and marked, (the only good thing about all day rain) and the parts list is waiting for a visit to West Marine. I am still adding things to the work list faster than I am getting them off, but I will sleep pretty content tonight, feeling like the day was spent making solid progress.

I even went sailing for a bit with some friends, but incoming late afternoon storms chased us back to the marina after an hour or so. At least there is water in the lake now.

3 comments:

TaylorMad1 said...

I am thinking you are the next lotto winner you just need to get a ticket!

S/V Veranda said...

I think a higher power is telling you that he approves of the boat plan and you should be going...asap

TJ said...

Working on it. If this rain keeps up we may be heading out sooner than we think, just floating over what used to be the American Midwest and out into the ocean. It has been a near constant moderate to heavy rain here for the last 36 hours or so, with no let up in sight. Good for working on the inside of the boat, but I'm not getting much done with the rigging.