Nov 24 - more around the house

I puttered around, took down the oars and wheel over the front door, filled some holes with drywall mud and a few other yawners. The oars were attached with one wood screw each, the wheel with a lag screw through the center ... whoops, the wheel weighs a ton ! It's white, painted like the oars, and I assumed that it was wooden. Nope, it's brass. I'm going to strip the paint off and see what it looks like.

My major project of the day was to do some deck work. I used the little electric power washer on the deck at the dock and part-way up the walkway. The paint, and I use that term loosely, has instructions that if the surface is too hot, wet it and then paint. That's a new one !

It's a semi-solid stain that is in water suspension, not water based per se. Odd stuff, it actually painted the rough deck better where it hadn't dried because the particles would flow into the cracks. Using partly a roller and partly a brush, I blew through the gallon pretty quickly and probably hit 1/4 or less of what needs to be done. I'm betting that the oil based Cabot product that we used on the cottage would have worked better and would last longer. I want to think about this some more before continuing to put this product down.

Before the deck work, Abby and I went for a boat ride. This was basically another test ride. Does it start ? Does it run ? Does it accelerate ? Does it run after slowing down ? The answer was "yes" to all of these questions ... yay !

The boat trip did not have an auspicious beginning. Abby already in the boat, turn the key ... whrrrr ... oh darn, this battery is really shot ! Even though it had been on the Battery Minder, it didn't have enough power to run the starter. Wait ... double-check the connections at the battery / tighten the wing-nuts ... rrrruummm ! It was the connections all along ! I'll get some more time out of this battery after all !

I watched another couple of Warehouse 13 episodes, I'll be through the 2 seasons on Netflix pretty soon. Sandy and I watched another X-files episode before dinner.

Speaking of dinner -- chicken on the grill with leftover acorn squash from the night before, potatoes on the grill and peas. The two chicken breasts weighed two pounds so we didn't even touch the second one. That will be Sandy's lunch for the next couple of days.

I washed the car. The X5. Once a year whether it needs it or not. I used the shop vac on the floor ... wonder of wonders. The little panel where the passenger side mirror attaches to the car has paint bubbling. Perhaps I should take it to BMW and inquire about the rust warranty ? It's only a 2004; surely I shouldn't have any rust in 7 years. I don't think that it's worth the effort !

Onward ? Plans for today ? More deck work ? Not sure. I'd planned on a few days off the bike and I'll probably "break that fast" tomorrow rather than today.