Apple Blossom, for those who don't know, is a pretty damn big deal for the town of Winchester, raising millions of dollars by drawing in thousands of people. There are dances, a circus, a carinival, the largest firefighter parade in the country, therefore the world, there are dinners and luncheons, and foot races, the grand feature parade, and more. I like it mostly for the people who live along the parade route usually have some kind of party going on. We watched the grand feature parade from three locations and two of the three fed us beers, wine, and had a pretty good spread. The other did not provide snacks but we had our rolling coolers with us and they were packed with beer and wine. As you might imagine a weeks worth of this kind of frivolity make for a long recovery.
Allergy season is here and has landed on my face. I made it to the allergist three years ago and began my regimine of twice weekly getting shots to "better my quality of life", or so Winchester Asthma and Allergy Clinic would have you believe. Many hundreds of shots later I am still having reactions and now the medication in the syringe makes my arm, typically where I get poked by the cutest little grandmotherly nurse who has a sadistic side the size of the Apple Blossom's Firefighters Parade, did I mention that's one huge frickin' parade?, swell to the size of a grapefruit, itch, and become in general sore for a day or two. Anyway, I suppose the shots are working because so far this year I've only had blinding swelling once as opposed to thrice weekly in years past. Let me just say that waking up with your eyes gummed shut, stumbling to the shower and having to melt away the over night build up of slime and grit that has crusted your eyes closed ain't no fun!
The Ladyfish is back on her trailer! Finally all painted (on the bottom, the top I can paint while she's on the trailer), keel back in place, new halyards and we're ready to go. Only two whole months later than I had hoped but hey, the water is still going to be pretty cold right now anyway... SO BACK OFF! I'm happy it's done and I'm sure wifey-poo will be glad that I can now clean up the basement, a bit, and the yard a bit more. The basement can't be cleared out completely just yet because our mega-deck isn't quite finished yet. It's only been 14 months that the tools and lumber have been laying about and now we're a Mir, no, mere three or four hours away from calling in final inspection. That's three or four hours of labor away, not literal time. That translates into late summer by my calculations.
I'll leave you with this:
