Diving in Winter

Vladimir wReggie’s return from Soyuz 65? No.

Yesterday was December 3 and it was 27 degrees when I woke up... and I went scuba diving in the quarry.

How I did it and not die?

Remember the dry suit I said I wanted? Well I finally sprung for it and it arrived yesterday. A dry suit allows one to dive and stay dry.

I met my dive buddy at the quarry at 9AM. The air had warmed to the low 30’s. The surface temperature of the water was 60 and it went down from there. At the bottom is a constant 45 year around.

A dry suit has built in boots to size and rubber seals around each arm hole and the neck. One climbs in through the front zipper, gets the feet settled, then the arms through the holes and then the head. Then each seal is inspected to make sure everything is seated.

In the suit I wore two pairs of heavy socks, long underwear, a long sleeve tee shirt and a sweat shirt and sweat pants.

Lastly the whole thing is zipped up with a waterproof zipper and the rest hooking up a pressure hose and then the usual stuff.

I went in the water and was amazed to realize it actually worked. As I got deeper the water would squeeze on the suit and I would allow bursts of air in to push back. This is a bit tricky and will take some practice. The way to exit air is through a valve on my left shoulder. So I had to keep my body aligned so that the left shoulder was the high point when I wanted to bleed off some air.

The hood is not the proper hood for the suit so that will have to be changed but otherwise I am very happy to be able to dive now in cold water up to freezing with as much clothing as I need to stay warm.

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WARNING - Side effects may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

2 Thangs Before the Blog

When one live lives in rural NC a firm appointment is before dinner (lunch) or after dinner. It is then assumed that 4 hours either way of noon is on time.

All the women broke out their leather boots yesterday. I swear some I saw are going to have a vacuum lock when they try and pull those boots off.

And now on to our regular blog already in progress....

Haley was barking loudly this morning around 3 AM. I got up to comfort her and asked her to stop barking.

At 3:30 AM the barking continued. I got up and rebuked her. Surely this will work... after all the governor of SC was rebuked and all is well now..

No, at 4 AM the barking continued and I got up and gathered the pack and called for a formal censure. Rarely have we called for a censure.

The last time we had a censure was 1998 when Peaches uprooted the Hibiscus and shook the root ball flinging soil all over the house.

I hate to be this severe and harsh but by golly if Congress can deal out this kind of punishment every 20 years then I should too.

The house is quiet now.

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WARNING - Side effects may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

It is Winter

Dang...out of nowhere it is winter. The trees are stripped naked and it is cold all the time.

I guess it is time to do what I do in the winter.

It came through rather dramatically and I like that. It rained, got windy and picked the trees clean then left us with calm cold.

What was it that I do in the winter?

So cold that the coop heater came on in the hen house.

It is time to buy that snuggy I tells ya.

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WARNING - Side effects may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

The Homeless

I read an article the other day that in many circles local governments consider people who live in RVs homeless and therefore undesirable.

People who live on boats are treated as eccentric, if not well to do free spirits.

Folks within the cabin doors they are the same people. One is a floating RV and the other being a dirt boat. Both are self contained living quarters.

How they choose to remain mobile is different with its own set of challenges.

So buy a half million dollar RV and you are trash. Buy a half million dollar boat and you are caviller and living life to the fullest.

Makes perfect sense.

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WARNING - Side effects may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

2010 Vacation Recap

I started to write this morning to defend myself on the amount of leisure time I take.

You see the book by Tim Ferris, The Four Hour Work Week, tries to do what I already do but my way is better.

I prefer to work in long spurts then take a week or so completely off. Tim professes that one should derive income some way passively, adjust your lifestyle to that income, and then enjoy.

Fortunately I don’t just work to sustain myself, I do a job I love. And I love my time off. What could be better...all the while I never shun my responsibilities of saving for retirement, health care, taxes, giving etc.

So let me recap a year in wReggie terms, February a week in St Croix, March 5 days in Las Vegas, April 6 days at The Masters, May 7 days in St Croix, July 10 days at Jekyll Island, GA, September 7 days in St Croix, October 14 days in Jekyll Island, GA, December 4 days in Banner Elk, NC, December 4 days in West Plam Beach, FL.

None of these vacations were comped and I paid for them all. All were taken inexpensively except for the annual Feb Trip to St Croix where we tend to live it up more on air fare and lodging.

Who would want to retire from a job they love and a lifestyle others dream about?

HOME WORK ASSIGNMENT - copy and paste the following into Google Translator: pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch . Then set the translator to German to German. Then listen.

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WARNING - Side effects of this blog may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

A Pizza Induced Dream.....

I dreamed I was dropped hanged for a crime that I did not remember. It was efficient and painless.

I did remain in a state of awareness after I died and literally got up and walked around. Some people could see me and others couldn't. I could see some folks that were hidden from the living.

Everything was free now. I could eat meals and tab was on someone else. I stayed in hotels for free.

But I was alone and lonely.

I woke up very thirsty and remembered that I ate anchovy pizza before bed.

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WARNING - Side effects may include: gas with oily discharge, headache or diarrhea.

The Holiday

There have been a couple of highlights over this long holiday weekend.

First Gigi and I celebrated 31 years of marriage Wednesday. I bought some nice champagne and we enjoyed the bottle in front of a fire after dinner out.

Then Thanksgiving Day I picked up the father in law from assisted living. He sat on the sofa and did what he does at the assisted living facility and work cross word puzzles.

My sister in law fixed some wonderful grazing food including a variety of stinky cheese.

My mother in law armed with the rumor that her ex now may be wearing adult diapers started swearing that the father in law had shit his pants. She walked around the room sniffing the air and settled on a spot between the FIL and the freshly cut cheese. I asked her to sniff the cheese and she settled down.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Water?

Like most folks I am drawn to water. Since I don’t live on water front property I have decided to explore the possibility of creating waterfront property right here at my home.

The house sits on a hill with the lower ⅓ acre down the hill with access to a creek. This lower ⅓ acre could make a stunning landscape addition. Ideally It would make a beautiful black water pond. I assume it would turn black in a few years from all the acid in decaying leaves.

Even more beautiful would be to reroute the driveway to bring guests around this pond.

It’ all a matter of money now. I have three contractors and hope to get bids soon.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Recovery Missions

I have been asked to lead 4 recovery missions underwater.

Two are anchor recoveries from two different lakes. An anchor with chain and all the rigging gets expensive.

Another is a golf bag recovery at out club from a pond. The bag was on a push cart with an umbrella when the wind kicked up and took it to the middle of the pond. He wants me to wait until after the insurance pays before I recovery it.

The last recovery mission is most intriguing. About 5 years ago my brother in law was repairing a 30 foot cruiser when it caught fire and sunk in 60 feet of water. The boat rests in a fresh water mountain lake.

Our mission is to recover tools and a sealed bottle of Grey Goose Vodka on board.

Once I get my dry suit in and a few dives on it then I’ll be ready to tackle these cold water dives.

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NEW- North Carolina is dead to me.

My State is a Very....

The State of North Carolina can kindly kiss my ass.

Today the former Governor is working out a plea deal to avoid prison while the former house speaker is doing hard time. The state government is crooked as a dog’s hind leg. But I knew that.

The coast and especially the Outer Banks are covered in mosquitoes and storms. It is cold and rainy in the winter and dreadfully hot in the summer and there are hurricanes. The waters are treturous hence, The Graveyard of the Atlantic as her waters are known by.

The mountains are cold and rainy.

The middle of the state is orange clay and looks like anywhere else in the lower 48. Nothing special, a McDonalds, Home Depot, a closed box store, interstate highways and trees.

Income and sales taxes are way too high.

But NC has been home for 54 years. But still NC….kiss my ass.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

NFL

So this is how it feels to be a dyed in the wool fan of the worst team in the NFL. I will take encouragement knowing that we have the number one draft pick (if Fox didn’t trade it away) and the knowledge that we will not linger here season after season like perennial losers Detroit, San Francisco and Oakland.

Plus we will have a new coach, staff, labor agreement and perhaps a whole year off for all the bodies to heal if we don’t get a labor agreement right away.

By golly…we will be Superbowl champs in 2013!

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

I Miss First Grade Sometimes

Just for you children of the 1960’s when your elementary school teacher would make a seasonal themed bulletin board. I always liked the gaudy thanksgiving cutouts and especially the corn.

Throw in a pumpkin, apple, a few leaves and a nasty box and you got memory lane.

Yes sir.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Thursday Sermon

I have friends that temper their life with a coating of general misery as to imply that one must be miserable to be alive and one should only be happy when deserving and the proper amount of personal suffering has been attained.

Personally I prefer uplifting people…people whose temper rarely shows.

Life will deliver its portion of misery without you creating your own.

People will disappoint you and you yourself will disappoint others. There are many gray areas in life.

Please don’t fall into the trap of creating misery. You alone are responsible for your mood either good or bad. You have that power. Use it for good.

End of Sermon.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Well Explained

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Disgusting…But Cute

Haley gets a clean bill of health today from her doctor and a warm hug. She is trooper. No more bandages, medicine and it all worked out for the best. She is missing a leg but her other paw will have a full recovery. I am so thankful.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and could my curly bulbs now.

Going Paperless

I got no less than 3 telephone calls about my wReggie wRants post the other day trying to figure out who, or what set me off. All of them from readers that never post a comment but read none the less.

Check out this Obama truck. I saw this in the parking lot of one of my watering holes and had to do a double take. This wouldn’t haul 5 cases of cat food up a hill but it is cute. It would make a nice vender conversion.

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This blog is going paperless. All content is electronic and you should feel good! I might go and count my curly bulbs now.

Coop de Ville

Yesterday morning I decided to film a little morning action around the barn.

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The writer of this blog is the chairman of the board of the Duke Hunnicutt Poultry Institute and so expects readers to be impressed with the title. He is also is a published in the NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine magazine.

wReggie wRant

From time to time I get comments from folks like, “dude…you have way too much time on your hands”, with the intent of insulting what I do and write about on my blog.

First of all I have the same amount of time that everyone does. What I do with segments of my time is my business. Maybe others should spend their time more wisely and let the creative child inside get a turn. Lighten up and laugh. Its okay.

Second, the blog for me is my art. Go to an art exhibit where the artists are there showing their creativity and say, “dude…you have way too much time on your hands” and see how that goes over.

Third I get calls to sensor what I write mostly from people that aren’t regular readers. Let me be clear, this is mine and all mine. I will write about anything that I damn well care to write about.

I have written things that I regret but never eased or removed the words…I live with them. Believe me there is a lot of stuff I don’t say.

If you disagree with me that is fine but the words are mine.

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The writer of this blog is the chairman of the board of the Duke Hunnicutt Poultry Institute and so expects readers to be impressed with the title. He is also is a published in the NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine magazine.

This Morning....

I was in the mood for some comfort food so I broke out the taters, onions, fresh eggs, leftover frozen tailgate brats, and some toast with butter and coffee.

Oh my that was good!

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NOTE: This blog has gone green for your benefit. The writer now bathes in Bambu Earth Soap and allows chicken feces to return to the earth naturally. Plus I recycle, I like windmills and puppies and even use those darn curly lights President Bush made us use, the ones full of mercury. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy without me having to really do anything constructive.

Last evening when the sun went down….

We had a few folks over to help with chores. The construction is winding down for now.

I decided it was time to build the first fire of the season on the deck fireplace. We drank a few beers, ate a few oysters on the half shell and watched it get dark.

In the background is my guest house. Yes…I know…I need to clean the gutters.

Then I went inside and watched Rocky Horror Picture Show on Netflix on demand. That is one damn freaky movie that I’ll retire for another 20 years.

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NOTE: This blog has gone green for your benefit. The writer now bathes in Bambu Earth Soap and allows chicken feces to return to the earth naturally. Plus I recycle, I like windmills and puppies and even use those darn curly lights President Bush made us use, the ones full of mercury. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy without me having to really do anything constructive.