Just Sit Right Back And You'll Hear A Tale
2004-08-29, 12:39 p.m.

My fortune for today, the scariest damn thing I've ever read:

Those voices you hear make sense.

Who writes these things? They're on my computer's home page, just for fun, but my oh my if the wrong person reads THAT one...Then again, as the voices are currently telling me to hire a lawn service, eat some ice cream, and let Hubby do the cooking, perhaps there's something to that fortune after all.

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If you haven't already, hop over to GroovyGuru's diary and his slight happiness over the maiden voyage of The Boat. Dear Hubby is all a-flutter today as well, awash in the ecstasy of 1. having built it and 2. having not sunk it.

The first launch site was my suggestion, as the area is lush and grassy, with picnic tables and park for the kids. How was I to know the boat launch site was a 5 foot vertical drop into deep water? *sigh* The kids got in some romp time while the guys undid The Boat from the rack (which they designed and built, and works particularly well). It took awhile to unlash The Boat, as they were a tad cautious and used roughly 3 miles of cording to tie it on.

Once they lowered in The Boat, Hubby hopped in and took off. It's a sleek canoe and sliced through the water like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Because the drop was so steep, however, Hubby and Guru decided to go to a better launch area to try it out further. Several people asked them about the canoe with interest, one guy asked them to build one for him, and a couple of other guys were checking out the rack with envy. The guys pulled out for the next boat launch area, but I don't think the truck wheels touched the ground. They were floating on a big time happy cloud.

The second launch area was far better for boats and far less interesting for children. I surmise that our kids have totally lost all imagination. There were no video games, no televisions, and no multi-thousand-dollar jungle gyms, so therefore there was absolutely nothing for them to do. What could a kid possibly do in an expanse of trees and rocks except sit and whine? Heaven forbid the old standards like Freeze Tag or Red Light Green Light rear their creaky heads.

This time it was Guru's turn to play Skipper. The Boat maneuvered beautifully, with only a few complaints of unsteadiness. Little Squirt Guru was the first child to have a ride, mainly because he had donned his life vest two hours earlier in anticipation. Each child went for a 5-minute excursion before Mrs. Guru and I braved it.

I went before Mrs. Guru and determined quickly that YES, the boat could use some stabilization, YES, the seats should be moved so my hiney doesn't get soaked, and YES, I should have brought along my entire wardrobe in case my Professor hubby decided to take his Mary Ann on a 3 hour tour. (Note to self: learn to make coconut cream pies.) Mrs. Guru got a very bright idea and sat on an extra life vest for her outing, thus saving her from a boaty water butt during her turn.

So, after a successful launch, our Boat Buddies now have to tweak Boat #1 and complete Boat #2. I need to spend this afternoon retrieving some of the 500 digital photos we took. Guru announced before the launch that if Hubby flipped The Boat, he was going to upgrade to Gold Membership STAT (gotta have that image hosting!). I vowed the same should he go for an unexpected swim. As no one got dumped into the briny, our wallets are safe for now. But there's always next time...

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