I was out paddling the other day and slowly closed in on this old guy in a dory. Luckily I was wearing my rose coloured glasses and the dory stood out clearly against the harsh and dark reality of the surrounding sea. The old guy was wearing a black souwester, slickers, rubber boots, and an old ratty and well worn wool sweater that had obviously seen many and better days. His or'locks squeaked out a steady cadence as he pulled on two trunk like appendages that might at one time been matching oars. Coming up on him from down wind I was well aware of a different aspect of his character long before I could see the obvious charm of his gear and apparel. The competing and distinct smell of fish and sweat wafted dream like down upon me. For a moment I started to swoon. But, I gave my head a shake and brought my concentration back to the tasks at hand. Judging from the discarded junk, laying about the bottom of the boat, I could see regular and preventative maintenance was as foreign to the boat as regular ablutions were to the old gentleman. The paint was pealing from the dory. In places I could see where the rot had taken hold and was slowly marching onward eating up the healthy wood. In many ways the boat mirrored the old guy. Both were grizzled by time and the elements. Both were suffering from neglect. As I reached for his gunnel I gave him a cheery, "hello what a fine day for a paddle." Looking him firmly in his one good eye it dawned on me that I'd seen this man before. It was Captain Kangaroo. He broke wind! And followed up with swift and direct response, "Bugger off you twit. If'n you'rn anothern of those sentimental romantics - get stuffed." Then he rapped my knuckles with a belaying pin that he pulled from beneath the folds of the slicker. Taken aback, I let out a yelp and quickly apologized for intruding on his solace and started to back paddle. He reached down amongst the flotsam floating in the water by his feet and pulled up a dirty bottle. Pulling the cork from the neck he spat it toward me. "Say, you'n not happen ta have a four stroke Honda on that over grown cigar would you?" Then he took a long hard pull on the bottle. "Sorry", was all I managed to stumble out. He belched for an inestimable amount of time then without taking a breath launched into the following. "Just as I thought, your'n just like that Ralph and Doug always waxin poetic like. When all an honest man wants i'ns a top of rum and ta git out of this soup. Ya make me sick with all ya high flalutin stuff. Why we never had any of that crap in my day. Where you goin ya punk? I'm not done yit...." As the melodic tones of his bass voice boomed out across the water I serenely paddled on wondering; what in the hell did Ralph and Doug say to this old fart. Gordin Warner I tried to resist but the devil sitting on my shoulder made me do it. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> could see regular and preventative maintenance was as foreign to the boat > as regular ablutions were to the old gentleman. > > The paint was pealing from the dory. In places I could see where the rot > had taken hold and was slowly marching onward eating up the healthy > wood. In many ways the boat mirrored the old guy. Both were grizzled by > time and the elements. Both were suffering from neglect. > When I frequented alpine camps long time ago (just had more energy to waste), in first few days I tried to clean my sooty pans every day, and to shave every morning. As it turned out, neither of this was not only necessary, but even more - dangerous. Because freshly shaved skin is more susceptible to irritation when exposed to high-elevations UV and wind, and blackened surface of pan is a better heat conductor than shiny clean one :-). Another useful thing that I've learned was not to take any *new* hiking shoes in a multiday trip. Not because rotten ones are better :-), but because you need to wear new boots to shape, preferably in controlled environment of short weekend trip. Alex. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:33 PDT