Wayward Wandering

I have returned from another trip to Grass Valley and the Yuba river. We had a great time as usual and are ready to go back and maybe stay there for good. We're seriously thinking about it and how to do that.

It takes a lot of time to manage a blog - to pull together all the pictures, etc. - so this will be abbreviated as usual.

I mentioned I lost my toe nail from my previous trip down there. Here's a shot of my naked toe.



It doesn't look all that different than when it had a toe nail. By the way, I went back to the spot where I lost my fin, but the search and recovery operation was unsuccessful. The fin belongs to the river now.

We went to another (smaller) lake as well and rented another (smaller) boat and tootled around for a bit. Here's the boat.



The last time we went, we saw people with fast boats towing big inner tube like rafts behind them with gleeful riders bouncing around on top. We thought we would try something similar, but with only a 4 HP engine on the boat, it wasn't very exciting.



That's my wife going for a ride. Here's a closer view.



She enjoyed it.

The lakes and river were very cold, so we wore our scuba suits to swim in. That was the only way to go. I couldn't have even gotten into the water without it. I also wasn't dumb enough to jump off the bridge into the water, like some testerone-driven guys were doing at our favorite spot. It's like a 70 foot drop...and if you misjudge your jump, you might not resurface.

Anyway, I mentioned that last time we went to a haunted theater. Well, it wasn't so much of a haunting as it was an episode of the Twilight Zone. We wanted to go see Pirates of the Carribbean, so we did. But we were cutting it close on time, so my wife dropped me off at the front so she could go park the car. She was using my keys, since she left hers at the motel.

I bought the tickets and went inside and my wife came in very shortly afterward. Nobody was really checking tickets, so I went on to the theater while my wife went to the concession stand to get some goodies. Bear in mind we did not come in close proximity to each other at this time.

On my way to the theater I realized she did not know what theater it was in, so I came back to tell her, and she asked me for some money (coincidentally). I had my wallet in a fanny pack, and opened it up to get my wallet out to give her some cash. This was a two-handed operation. I say that because it is significant to the story.

I went in and sat down in the theater. My wife came in a few minutes later with her hands full, in the dark, and handed me a drink so she could sit down. From there, we proceeded to watch the movie.

After the movie we went to leave the theater and my wife could not find the keys to the car. My keys. The keys that she used to park the car before coming in. We searched the trash and the empty theater for the keys. It was the last movie of the night, and we couldn't find anyone who worked there to ask if they were returned to the lost and found. But we finally found someone, and they helped us look for the keys.

I decided to go out and see if they were locked in the car. They were not.

On the way back to the theater, just on a whim, switching to "cover all the bases and look everywhere" mode, I opened up my fanny pack. There were the keys.

Tried as we might, we could not for the life of us remember or figure out when the exchange of keys took place. It seemed that it could only have happened when I gave her some money, but I remembered putting my wallet back into my fanny pack at that time. There were no keys. It was as if the keys magically transported themselves from her to me. I am one of those people who is very particular ("Monk-ish"?) about keeping track of things, so I felt it was the very power of my will that brought the keys back to me.

It was very strange.

Anyway, on this latest trip, we went to see another movie (Little Miss Sunshine - GO SEE IT!!) and this time there was someone checking tickets, so I gave her a ticket while she stood in line and I went to get a seat. I told her, specifically, "don't lose it!".

She lost it.

I came looking for her after several minutes of waiting, and the ticket checker wouldn't let her in. Fortunately, the guy at the counter remembered us buying the tickets, so they let her through.

It was appropriate that we saw the movie in Grass Valley, because that is where the filmmaker is from.

So, to completely change the subject, I am eager to get my plane built, but it seems I will be in the design phase for some time. The more I think about it, the more issues come up, and the better my designs get. So, I'm not going to be hasty about building it.

But I did build a test stand last night so I can run some tests with my engine and generator.



I have a long way to go. And now I am taking a Java programming class on Tuesday and Thursday nights, so my time is really limited for working on it. I do plan to go flying this weekend, however, as it marks the 24th anniversary of when I flew the first plane I ever built. I still have that first plane! In fact, that is the one I hope to fly this weekend.

Well, I've got to run off to eat and sleep. More later!