Why yes - I *am* an abysmally bad blogger - why do you ask?!!

Wow. Almost two months since my last "blog!" How bad is that?!! (don't answer - that's a rhetorical question!).

There's actually been plenty of blog-worthy "stuff" going on (being wed to an un-diagnosed OCD is "good" that way!), but I just-plain-haven't been able to keep up with all of it!!!

My bad - but what're ya gonna do, right?!!

You can lodge a complaint to 1-800-Who-Gives-A-Sh**! Right?!!

Yeah, so... Anyway - Yes, we have a BOAT now. Rog, in his typical OCD fashion has taken Tazz-The-Spazz's refrain of "Throw-my-Toy, Throw-my-toy!" and converted it to "Let's go sailing, Let's go sailing!" It's positively f*cking maddening, I tellya!

Well, one of the clinchers for us (initially) was the fact that Lazy Lightning (who IS a good boat, BTW) came with a 110% genoa. Well, San Francisco Bay SUMMERS are pretty challenging - windwise - all on their own. Add a genoa to that and, well, that's just a bit TOO much sail for MY tastes!

And my goal, after all, is to spoil ALL of Roger's fun!!!

But - and let's Get Real here - all of my bay-sailing experience has been with folks who have - wisely - only had 90% Storm Jibs.

And - for those who might be unfamiliar with "sailing stuff" - let me clarify: The foresail on a sailboat is the sail on the FRONT of the boat. Jibs, generally-speaking, only go as far back as the mast (100%). Storm jibs fall slightly shy of the mast (90%). Genoas exceed that (110-150%+). And Spinnakers (big, colorful "hot-air ballooon" lookin' things) are like genoas on steroids. The foresail is your "Power-Sail." They are particularly powerful on downwind runs (Spinnakers, especially).

Well, with the "challenging conditions" on the SF Bay, I had some reservations about the idea of sailing with a genoa. In fact, I pretty-well "dug my heels in" and made it PAINFULLY clear that we would NOT be sailing w/a Gennie... So the first half-dozen sails (or so) were Mainsail Only - much to Roger's dismay (so no upwind-runs - since you can't go upwind w/o a foresail).

In fact, I took it a step further and indicated (quite clearly) that we needed to order a "working jib" and a roller furler. Working jib = foresail that makes it "as far as" the mast (and does allow you to sail upwind). Roller Furler = a doohickey that makes it possible to open (and CLOSE!) the sail from the cockpit by "spinning" the foresail around the forestay - as opposed to having someone scramble up onto the cabin top to hoist (and/or unhoist) the sail.

The beauty of a roller-furler is that it enables you to decide how much foresail you have "open" to the wind. We opted for a CDI FF2 Roller Furler and IT ROCKS!!~!

Anyhooooo.... We ordered the Furler and a new 100% Working Jib. We opted to hire a professional rigger to install the sumb*tch. It's on the boat and all is good....

We got the roller-furler and new, working jib installed just over a week ago, Life is good.

But "Small Craft Advisories" STILL apply to us! I really don't want to turn this blog into a b*tchfest so I'll skip much of what I'd like to blog about.

Anyhoooo.... I figured I'd post some videos to keep ya'all (whoever ya'all might be!) entertained, in the meantime!

Rog haulin' @$$

Rog getting ready to dock the boat...

Yo Ho Ho Continued... Boating Insanity

Holy Cow - It's been well-over a month now! Jeesh!

Sometimes "Real Life" gets in the way of Blogging, I think!

...Anyhooooooo... $14,900.00 *was* suspiciously cheap for an '06 MacGregor 26M - considering that *most* of the Macs you see listed (similarly equipped/similar vintage) were "asking" $25-$30K...

The story on that boat was: It was a Repo. According to the broker (And they're like clergy, ya know?! Taking vows of "Honesty" and all that) [Note dripping sarcasm], "The former owner took REAL good care of her - She's in REAL nice shape!"

And Rog (love him dearly, but honestly, he is a smooth-talking salesman's wet-dream) took him at his word. "Look! I found this boat in Long Beach - and the broker says she's in really good shape - and it's a STEAL!" (Or words to that effect). And "We've been talking about this for years and years - and we keep saying 'Next Year' [True enough] and - dammit! - I'm TIRED of postponing my DREAMS." (and yada-yada).

Well, I didn't immediately say "NO" which, of course, meant "Yes," Right?!

So - Long Story Short (and it *was* a long story - but I didn't have an opportunity to capture it - Sorry!!!), Rog *also* found a boat on Craigslist - down in Newport Beach. 2005 MacGregor 26M - asking $20,000.00.

We made arrangements to fly down and check out the boats toward the end of April. I did my homework on both boats by printing out the NADAGUIDE values for each boat (Boating equivalent to Kelly Blue-Book).

I also managed to locate BoatGuru John (from many earlier Boating Adventures - he's one of the key players in the Haul-Out Page, as well as the Albatross Adventure). Presently, he's working as a Marine Surveyor, inspecting BIG ol' Tankers and whatnot - out of San Diego. Bless his heart, he agreed to drive up and meet us up in Long Beach to look over Bachelorette #1 (The Repo Boat) - and since Newport was on his way back - he checked out Bachelorette #2, as well.

As it turned out, Bachelorette #1 was not quite as "well-loved" as one might have hoped. Agreed, the former owner *hadn't* removed everything of value prior to her reposession, but she was lacking a trailer (which could prove to be a bit problematic, seein' as how we wanted to bring her back to Northern Cal!). Yeah, she was definitely in need of some serious lovin' - and my days of bringing *those* kindsa boats home are OVER!

John scrawled out a list of necessary repairs - breaking 'em down into "Must be done RIGHT AWAY" versus "Can wait 'til you can afford it," along with ballpark estimates.......

Turns out the $14,900.00 boat was gonna end up costing somewhere in the realm of $25,000.00 when it was all said-and-done...

I'm skipping the gory details at this point. But I will note that, when John cornered the broker, even *he* agreed that an offer of $10K would probably be more realistic. But he also noted that the bank probably wouldn't accept it...

On to Bachelorette #2:

Lazy Lightning is her name. Turns out that's an old Grateful Dead tune (so much for re-naming her Parrot-Dise, in honor of Jimmy Buffett!). She was owned by Gary and Joanne. Gary's an airline pilot for United Airlines and extremely anal and fastidious. He's kinda like Roger's doppleganger!

Well, Lazy Lightning is a boat who's had a TON of lovin'! She even spent some time in the Hawaiian Islands (when Gary got transferred, they paid to have the boat shipped to Kaneohe for a couple of years). G&J were the second owners (they bought her from a guy - an old DeadHead from the sounds of it - up near Sacramento). They were more into "entertaining" [read: Drinking] on Newport Harbor so they mostly motored. The sails are practically brand-new! (To say nothing of the fact that we received Every Single Manual that goes along with Every Single Piece of Equipment on the boat - which really *is* a Good Thing!)

Gary, being fastidious, wouldn't even let us LOOK at her 'til he'd had a chance to give her a thorough scrubbing. Hell, he even *bought* new carpeting just before we arrived because he wanted her to "show" well!

So John gave her a thorough once-over and proclaimed (to us) that the choice was a No-Brainer! Yeah, there are a small handful of minor issues - but nothing Mission Critical - so we ended up making a "reasonable offer" which Gary and Joanne graciously accepted.

"Holy sh*t - We bought us a boat!"

Funny little side-story there. Rog and I had discussed our "Plan of Attack" before we flew down to SoCal. Not knowing which boat we wanted, and knowing - at the same time - that both boats *did* have several "interested parties" waiting in the wings. We knew that we needed to be able to Act Fast. I suggested that we should be in a position to present cash (thinking "Cashier's Check") to demonstrate our sincere interest. Rog took that literally and was traveling with $5,000.00 CASH ("Are you freakin' kidding me?!!").

We'd also had a conversation with G&J the night before. Joanne was the Money Gal and, based on Craiglist warnings, she was dubious of accepting a Cashier's Check - fearing counterfeits. She wanted us to arrange a wire-transfer. Well, Craigslist warns against Wire-Transfers as well! And I was pretty adamant about NOT wanting to part with unrecoverable money!!!

We'd kinda deadlocked - before we even arrived - about "how" we were going to handle the transfer of $$... Bear in mind, we haven't even SEEN the boat, right?!! Rog handed the phone to me and Joanne expressed her concerns about accepting a Cashier's Check. I also expressed my concerns about wiring money, and we "agreed to disagree" until we met and actually SAW the boat!

Well, the concerns voiced - on both sides - were certainly "valid" because it's natural, these days, to worry about getting ripped-off in the course of an "online" transaction. I'd even gone so far as to look into Escrow Services (which - as it turns out - there's a whole OTHER world of scam-artists - sheesh!!!). In the end, once we met, we all felt pretty comfortable with each other. Plus, I explained to Joanne that I *had* been the manager of the Cashier's Check Dept for BofA for MANY years - so I was very-much-aware of counterfeiting scams and could certainly understand her concerns...

Anyhooo... We were pretty simpatico, and it turned out that they really didn't want CASH-cash (Oh, irony of ironies - they "bank" with the same Credit Union we'd gotten our loan thru!). So we invited them to accompany us TO THE BANK so they could WATCH the teller print-out the Cashier's Check. And they laughed and joked about how we'd gone to "so much effort to set-up a bogus Wells-Fargo Bank so we could pass them a counterfeit cashier's check!" I laughed and joked, too, about how "it cost us 5x the price of the boat to rent this warehouse and set-it-up to look *just* like a Wells-Fargo branch!"

We gave 'em the money. They gave us the pink slip. We did the transfer thru DMV. And the following weekend, we drove home with a boat hitched to the back of our truck!!!

Finding a place to STORE the boat was another story altogether. Again, I'll spare you the play-by-play, but we ended up finding an inexpensive marina in Redwood City so we don't have to deal with launching and retrieving her every time we want to go out (more irony there: I wanted a trailerable boat so we *wouldn't* have to keep it in the water and deal with the add'l maintenance that goes along with that).

Sooooo.... In the interest of brevity (Oops - Too Late!), I'll close this post with this "We are Boat-Owners!!!" Holy sh*t!!!

More stories to come, I'm sure................

Yo Ho Ho - and What the Hell Have I Done??

Okay... I've been a Bad Blogger again! Over two weeks since my last blog post :::GASP!:::

But the truth is, I've been a bit pre-occupied...

For those of you who've wandered over to my Home Page, you may have already determined that I've got a bit of Crazy Boater in me. There's a lot of "background story" there - from my very first boat, Aesop the Snark sailing dinghy; Through assorted other small boats (inflatables and sailing dinks from 9-16 feet); "Graduating" to Solitaire, my 32-foot Custom Sedan Cruiser/Floating Home (I lived on my boat for six years); Fully succumbing to Boating Sickness when I added Tartan, a Luhrs 32-foot sportfisher, to my fleet; Then *thinking* I was going to offload a couple of boats and upgrade to SeaTease, a 36' aft-cabin trawler up in Seattle (That's a story that never got told, but I alluded to it on my New-Millenium Romance page)...

Well, when I got married, I gave up the boats and became a Landlubber. That lasted for several years. The Harleys kinda distracted me for awhile, but Boating Sickness is terminal, I'm afraid! Once you've got it, you're doomed for life!

Albatross was my last "Project Boat" and I had a total blast with her. I kinda/sorta attempted to blog my way through that project (so it's a big ol' honkin' long page!).

Anyway, it's not my intention to re-hash my boating history. Suffice it to say that I do know my way around boats!

So Rog and I had been going to boat-shows and talking about buying a sailboat for the past several years, right? We pretty much had our sights set on a MacGregor 26M, all along. They aren't the BEST boats in the world (not by a long-shot!), but MacGregor does make a reasonably-priced boat with a LOT packed into a relatively small, trailerable package. "It is what it is" as they say. And it should suit our needs, for now.

So anyway, we kept going to boat shows, and climbing around on the display boats. And every year we'd say "Next year..."

Year-after-year we said this until finally Roger decided "Enough already!"

I mean, the economy's down so it is definitely a Buyer's Market. And where, in years past, we couldn't find any 26M's on the "Used" market, now all of a sudden we were seeing plenty!

Rog found a 2006 listed on Yachtworld.com for $14,900.00 which - I'll be honest - was suspiciously cheap...

To Be Continued.............

My Letter to HGTV

I just thought I'd share the letter I wrote to the Scripps Execs today (Parent Company over HGTV and DIY Network). I also sent off several emails to their Garden-related Advertisers. Sears, surprisingly actually seems to have "read" my email and sent a response that they would fwd my letter to their Advertising Dept. The only other replies I've gotten are "Auto-Responders."

I do remain "guardedly optimistic" however. Maybe, just maybe, our letter-writing campaign will work!

I have been a long-time fan of HGTV/DIY/Scripp's Networks. Seriously - to the point where HGTV was tuned in almost the entire time that my TV was on.

But, over time, I'm finding myself watching HGTV/DIY less-and-less. The main reason? Lack of Garden Programming.

I'd always thoroughly enjoyed your weekend-morning line-up with all of the Gardening and Landscaping Shows. It was my Weekly Ritual: I'd pour myself a cup of coffee, settle into the recliner with my remote-control, and watch a good hour (or more) of Garden and Landscaping programs. It always got me "motivated" to get outside and "Get it done!"

My All-Time Favorite? Paul James' "Gardening By the Yard."

But over the past several years, you've shuffled the weekend line-up around and virtually eliminated Paul James (Sorry, I don't consider 4:00am, Pacific, to be a viable time-slot). I don't even know what you ARE airing on weekend mornings anymore - I don't bother turning the TV on (or when I do - it's NOT tuned to HGTV).

Now, I've also heard that Paul's contract has NOT been renewed. Yes, you are now airing the "final season" now (2008 episodes), But when I heard that GBTY is no longer going to be featured on your network, I was devastated. I still am! That was THE most informative, most enjoyable Garden Show I have ever seen! I think cancelling it is a HUGE mistake (And no, airing re-runs does NOT count!).

I had written to HGTV, in the past, about the slow-death of the "G" in HGTV - and only gotten a "canned" response telling me, essentially, that "HGTV values viewer feedback" (or words to that effect). Yet there was no change in the weekend line-up.

I wonder - Do you really value Viewer Feedback? Are you truly listening?

The Latest Trend right now is to go "Back to Basics." The popularity of Vegetable Gardening is at an all-time high. Even Michelle Obama is "in on the action" (and, in fact, "Leading the Way" for the Next Generation of Gardeners), by planting the first Vegetable Garden on the White House Grounds in generations! The economy is "in the tank" right now, and people are looking for ways to cut back on spending. And "Organic" (Read: "Green!") is all the rage. What better way to bring healthful food to your dinner table than to grow it yourself?

Let me say that again, for emphasis: The popularity of Vegetable Gardening is at an All-Time High - and HGTV/DIY's response is to cancel the last Quality Garden Show...

It just doesn't make any sense!

Oh, and I do want to make one point for clarification: There is a difference between "Gardening" and "Landscaping" Shows. This is an important distinction.

• "Gardening" is all about the ongoing care and maintenance of plants. That can mean flowers and trees; fruits and vegetables; composting; mulching; pest- and disease-control; and everything in-between. It can be a very economical Hobby (for many, it's a Passion!). And it certainly can be very "Green" (both figuratively and literally). Paul James focuses on "Gardening."
• Whereas "Landscaping" is bringing in backhoes, and truckloads of dirt, gravel and rocks. Oh, and plants, too. It's the "Instant Gratification/Backyard Makeover" that costs thousands of dollars and may (or in most cases, may NOT) last a Season or two. Ahmed Hassan is more "Landscaping." (Love "Yard Crashers" - just the same!).

We definitely need more of the former. If not Paul James (although he is, by far, The Best!), then someone "Younger and Perkier" - but it must be REALISTIC and PRACTICAL, too. *That's* what I love about Paul James - he gets down, gets dirty, and shows us how it's done in an entertaining, amusing, educational and realistic way!

* * * * *

There seems to be a belief that Gardeners are "too old" and that Garden Shows don't cater to your "Under-35 Target Demographic." I beg to differ. I have been gardening for more years than I care to recall (BTW, I am in the "35-45 Demographic"). I know I started well before I turned 35.

I'm also fairly active in our local Gardening Community and attend numerous events throughout the year. I observed that at least half of the attendees at a recent (City-sponsored) Composting Workshop were in their mid-30's and younger.

Here's another interesting detail: Even though I'm not in your Target Demographic, I've been known to spend a surprising amount of money on my Gardening Habit. Not only at local "Family-run" Nurseries (Love to support "The Local Guy!"), but also Home Depot; Lowe's; Sears (our Rototiller = Craftsman); Troy-Bilt (Lawnmower); And that's just to name a few. Along those lines, I will be contacting many of your Advertisers and letting them know how much I miss the "G" in HGTV. If simple letter-writing won't work, then perhaps my spending habits can help drive the point home...

Please reconsider your decision to cancel Paul James' contract. And please, please, please bring back more Quality Garden Programming (in a viewable time-slot!)

Thank you.

HGTV Protest Campaign: Today's the Day!

Okay, I got my cuppa coffee... I got my laptop...

I'm doing MY part and sending off emails to HGTV/Scripp's Networks execs and advertisers...

Are you?

Check it out here.

I figure, it's worth a shot!

Ready for Spring to be Sprung Already! And "Join the Urban Garden Project"

So we're having a bit of a warm spell - during the daytime anyway. But nighttime temps are *still* ridiculously low (Whine-Whine-Whine!). I mean, it's April already, and we're still dipping into the mid-30's?! ("Waaahhhhh!")

But, ya see, I got all these Baby Seedlings that are quickly outgrowing my bathroom windowsill! And I'd prefer not to transplant, then transplant AGAIN (Yeah, I know - call the "Waaaaahhhhmbulance!").

Oh, and to top it off, the Santa Clara Master Gardeners had their Annual Spring Sale yesterday. I hooked up w/P, a fellow Garden-Geek, and I made her PROMISE not to let me buy ANY MORE TOMATOES!

So anyway... ever since I've gotten into this Gardening Thing - to the point where I'm going to Community-Sponsored events (like the Composting Workshop and this Master Gardener's Sale) - I'm discovering that our Fair City has all kinds of cool, secret gems!

Unfortunately, whenever I'm on these jaunts, it never occurs to me to bring a camera along! But anyway...

The Composting Workshop was held at Emma Prusch Farm Park which is actually in a pretty "marginal" part of town. But it's WAY COOL. It's totally like an Old-Time Farm, but they've built a park around it. And they've got "Community Gardens" where folks who may not have growing space can plot out their own individual veggie gardens. And they've got chickens roaming around and stuff. And they've even got a livestock barn where City Kids can raise their 4H/FFA animals. Yeah! Pretty cool! (And quite Appropo - considering that before the whole Computer Age hit, ALL of Santa Clara Valley was farmlands and orchards - I actually remember that!)

Yesterday's Plant Sale was held at San Jose History Park . This is kind of a "Back to the Future" place where it's all "Old Style Downtown." It was kinda hard to get a feel for the place yesterday, because of the THOUSANDS of ppl who showed up with Garden Carts, Little-Red-Wagons and whatnot to load up on TONS of plants. We were sadly unprepared and had to scramble to find boxes to carry our acquisitions! (Note to self: Next year, bring a rolling cart!).

I think I showed amazing restraint (No thanks to P!). I only added ONE tomato plant to my (already excessive) collection! I did pick up a 6-pack of climbing beans, a 6-pack of corn, a couple-three pepper plants (including Ancho-Poblano - a mild chili pepper ideal for making chiles relleno - Mmmmm!), a couple of squashes, and Good-Gawd - Not MORE seeds?!!! P is another Plant Addict so we weren't very good about restraining each other! (I think we're what'cha'd call Co-Dependents!)

Oh, and I picked up some more succulents. There was a lady doing a demo on planting succulents in sphagnum-moss "forms." I bought a little 10" Donut-shaped form and a bunch of succulent cuttings (succulents are insanely easy to grow from cuttings). I figured that'd make a really cool, low-maintenance centerpiece for our Umbrella Table!

When I got home, I decided to tackle the "Donut Garden" first (seemed easiest!). I dampened the sphagnum moss with a spritzy bottle and divvied up the cuttings. Used the pointy-end of a chopstick to poke holes in the moss and added the cuttings, using the fat-end of the chopstick to stuff 'em in.

I gazed at my handiwork and decided it looked a little "sparse." So I glanced over at my "Undersea Garden" and saw that it needed some serious cleaning up (Funny how one seemingly simple Garden-Project can grow into a BIG one!). The "Undersea Garden" was inspired by an episode of Gardening By the Yard. Link to that episode here. I've got this one recorded to DVD and I swear - I drool every time I watch it!

Undersea Garden

Sooooo... I cleaned up the Undersea Garden and scored a whole bunch of fresh cuttings for the Donut Garden (I even have "extras" for P)! I think it came out pretty nice - and it should look even better as the plants start to grow!

Donut Garden on Umbrella Table

Now I just need to remember to go out and spritz it daily until the cuttings take root. Thankfully, succulents are *very* forgiving. They love heat and don't require much water - so I think they actually stand a chance of surviving a summer on our patio! Hell, the Undersea Garden has been totally neglected - and sitting ON the [broilingly hot!] patio - for at least one solid year and *it* was overgrown!

My last project for the day was finishing up one of my Self-Contained, Self-Watering, Not-An-EarthBox® Planters. I posted about that earlier (along with links to an instructional page on how to make 'em). I'm going to plant-up some corn in this one - super-duper-dense planting (so they can pollinate each other easily). I've never had ANY success with growing corn, so my fingers are crossed that maybe this method will work! I thought I had clear plastic - but it got sizzled in the sun - so I'm just gonna use red plastic mulch and see what happens...

Self-Contained-Planter "Under Construction"

Self-Contained-Planter "Complete, but Empty!"

:::sigh:::

But temps are still too cold at night to plant any summer crops outside. So everything is sitting in the greenhouse for now.......


In Other News: I'm helping to "Spread The Word" about the The Urban Garden Project™.


Quoting from their site: Our goal is to encourage and catalog the creation of 100,000 urban gardens by 2020. For the purposes of our project urban gardening will be defined as anyone growing food and possibly even other resources i.e. backyard chickens, rabbits,etc. within city limits and yes, we do mean vegetable gardens! This can be a container garden on a fire escape all the way up to a full back yard of raised beds and animal cages. Producing a large percentage of the produce that you consume or starting out on the journey to get you there qualifies you for this project! No garden is too small for this project so sign up today.


I don't feel particularly "Urban" since we're definitely on the suburban fringes of San Jose - but, technically, we *are* in City Limits - so I joined 'em!


Anyway, if this is something that might interest you, go on over and check 'em out. They're posting all kinds of interesting ideas. I especially like their compact chicken-coop - but I don't think I'll be able to convince Rog that "fresh eggs" are worth it! Hey - Hens *are* legal in residential San Jose!


So that's the Latest 'n Greatest from my backyard.............

ATTN: HGTV "This is War!" April 13

Okay, I don't normally get into the whole "Online petition" "Forward this to all your friends" yada-yada stuff that floats around these-here intertubes. I've been online long enough to have developed a sense of cynicism about such things (and I *always* check Snopes before forwarding any particularly interesting "tidbits" of info...).

And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not really much of an "Activist" anyway. Takes too much energy!

But for this, I will make an exception...

This all started with Garden Rant. Actually, it probably "started" somewhere else, but that's neither here nor there, at this point.

Many of us (myself included) have "continued" the rant... And now I'm happy to see that someone is spearheading an effort to "get through" to HGTV and their sad departure from Garden programming.

Check out HGTV Protest Campaign. They're basically calling upon all us Gardeners to send emails, write letters, call, whatever on APRIL 13 (not before) and express our feelings about the disappearance of all "Garden" related programming. Not only to HGTV/Scripps Network directly, but ALSO to their sponsors, threatening a Boycott.

Okay, that might be a bit extreme... Or it might actually make a difference... Who knows?

Me? I'll definitely send an email off to the HGTV/Scripps execs, for sure. And I'll probably "selectively" contact some of their sponsors. There's actually a fairly extensive list on the Protest Campaign site - and I'll definitely be sending off notes to any sponsors who might have a "stake" in the Gardening World (i.e. Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Troy-Bilt, among others). Pizza Hut? Probably not...

But that's just me.

By all means, I think - any-and-all Gardeners out there - *should* jump on the bandwagon. Maybe, just maybe, our "collective voices" can be heard!

So go to HGTV Protest Campaign and join us on April 13!

Worst case: You'll waste 15 minutes of your life sending out a bunch of emails...

Best case? Maybe we CAN be heard!

Heck, it's worth a try, right?!