Posts by Chuck Curtis
My dad, my brother, and three nephews visited this past week. All five of them stayed with us for the week. It was much too busy of a week to write all about it on a tired Sunday morning. Instead, I’ll upload pictures.
Thanks to Will, Ben and Brady for helping.
The summers here feel like a giant waterslide. We jump on in early June and splash at the bottom in August. It is fun no doubt, but one big blur as the summer flies by.
The boys have a busy summer the weeks they are here, with only one week maybe free just before they return to school. The first week on the waterslide, the boys had soccer camp and my mom came and visited.
This week sends Will on a solo adventure to St. Louis to spend a week with my dad. I drove him to Boston this morning and watched him board a Southwest Airlines flight. It brings mixed emotions – I love that he is having an adventure; but it is also sad to see him starting to grow wings and fly farther from the nest. I think he was more nervous than he wanted to admit. Of course, I probably was as well. Now he is there, he has a fun week planned. He will get to see his cousins that he hasn’t seen in two years, maybe visit Six Flags and the City Museum, spend a night camping on a river, and maybe a bike ride if time can be found.
Ben is at Project Oceanology this week. He gets to spend the week out on Long Island Sound exploring the world living in the coastal waters. He also gets a whole week without his big brother bothering him at home. I think it is exciting for him to get a chance to a camp by himself, and not be overshadowed by his brother. Today he went to Pine Island and seined for fish along the shore, catching fluke and flounder.
We have one day off this weekend, Sunday. I think a day resting will be needed (though who knows, maybe a short trip to the North Lake beach will be fun).
When the boys return in August my brother, his kids, and my dad will visit for 8 days. Finally, in late August, we will have a week without any camps or visitors planned. The boys have asked for a day to just take it easy and play video games. I’m inclined to give it to them. We may also take the sailboat out for an overnight camp to Long Island – I’ll have to see how the weather is that week.
And after that we splash down into the next school year.
It is blueberry season. We have six blueberry bushes (2 each of 3 different varieties), but have typically only gotten a significant number of berries from two of the plans. It is looking like we will get berries from all six this summer, though only two of the bushes have ripe berries this early.
Fresh blueberries for breakfast today.
Susanna and I took the “new” inflatable dinghy down to the river and spent a few minutes enjoying the evening on the sailboat. We took Targa with us. He hates the water. So does Tucker. But Targa doesn’t get carsick, so he gets to the be the first to visit the boat.
Of course we had to row the dinghy from the launch to the mooring…
Yesterday, the boys and I picked up a used 10′ Achilles inflatable dinghy. It is an older model, and wasn’t in the best shape. But it was only $80 so it was difficult to pass up. The boat building project is going slowly, so I decided it would be worth picking up a functioning dinghy until I finish with the one I’m building. Or maybe I just like collecting things – I’m taking a break from collecting lumber, so maybe I’m starting with boats. Okay, not really, but I’m guessing that someone in this house wonders about that…
The dinghy had been kept in the water without any anti-fouling paint, and had barnacles on the bottom. Two of the air tubes also have slow leaks in them. It should be a quick project to paint the bottom and fix the slow leaks. Since the boys and I picked up bottom paint at the boat store yesterday and didn’t get the stuff to fix the leaks, today I’m painting the bottom. The air leaks will have to wait until later this week.
First step was to clean the boat and remove the barnacles. Last night I scrubbed the entire boat, and carefully used a putty knife to remove the barnacles. This morning I let the remains of the barnacles soak in vinegar and then rinsed and let the boat dry. After the boat was dry I sanded the bottom as smooth as I could without damaging the fabric. I again rinsed the boat off and then cleaned the bottom with a solvent (I used MEK because that is what I had – and it dries very quickly).
Susanna and I moved the boat into the shade to make it more pleasant to paint, and to make sure that the bottom paint didn’t dry too quickly. I finished the first coat, and will let it sit for 4 hours and then apply a second coat this afternoon. I may apply a third coat, because I think there will be enough for a third coat in the can, and I may as well use it up (though maybe I can store it in the basement and get try to get another coat out of the quart next season).
Now back to the workshop.
Babysitting Leslie this weekend. Ben is happy to have a dog that will sleep in his bed. Targa sleeps in Will’s room; Tucker is too annoying; Leslie is just right. Except for waking up at 5:45.
Every year, the Preston Veterans Memorial School 4th grade class puts on a play (musical). This year it was Ben’s turn to be in the play. I recorded the song he sang – please excuse the poor audio quality, it was recorded on an iPhone.