It might seem that this truck can drive on water but
it is how we get things done in the islands. It is actually strapped to a barge
on the way to another job on a choppy day. No big deal around here.
Up, up and away
Last month I wrote about my finally taking to the air in my
plane, thanks to my friend Ian partially breaking a promise he had made me when
we first met years ago. As his career had been flying, selling and teaching in
this particular aircraft, he told me up front that he would not teach me to fly
it. Fair enough, but when he saw me ready to leave for another 8 months without
having flown my bird, he took mercy on my worthless soul and took me up anyway.
In the final days before leaving, he flew with me twice more.
This is where he partially broke his promise in that while he will not be my
instructor, he did spend 3 hours “showing me stuff”. Little stuff…like taking
off, landing, making coordinated turns and doing circuits (flying at proper
altitude in a specified pattern to come in for a landing). You know, little
stuff like that that could be useful.
As in most other things in life, it looks easier than it is.
In 3 hours I did manage 1 takeoff completely on my own and several partially
assisted. Landing still feels like as if I am jumping out of a high rise with
the flames licking at my back. I know it is not the case of course, so it is
more like feeling that at best we have a 1 in 5 chance of surviving this.
Compounding my exhilaration was his insistence to place his
hands on my shoulders at what felt like critical moments when I was ready to
shout “YOU HAVE THE STICK!!!” [My plane has a front and back seating
configuration, not side by side. Since he was in the back seat and I in the
pilot’s seat, placing his hands on my shoulders was to show me that he did not
have his hand on the stick which controls the aircraft]
Time and again, he
would end up taking control at the very last moment, much too late for my
comfort level, while I was about to crater us 30 feet from the runway, and end
up having us make a great landing** while the
sweat was pouring down my forehead and my heart was beating out of my chest. He
was forcing me to work the problem but shezam, I can barely taxi! Clearly, his
confidence in me was much higher than mine.
Then, moments later I would say “let’s do it again!!!” You
can take a virtual flight with me on the video below, from takeoff to landing.
**The official difference between a good landing and a great landing is
that in a good landing, you get to walk away. In a great landing, you get to
use the plane again.
“Life is not
measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”
The fleet grows, again
In the final days before our departure from the Island for
the next 8 months, if there is one thing we don’t have time for, it’s silly
distractions. We have a lot that needs seeing to in closing up for the season
and precious little time to do it in. But, 36 hours before we left for
California, we came across two water toys we just could not pass up. Assigned
to test them, I went from 0 to 50 in seconds, rode them hard and put ‘em away
wet. (I am sorry if it sounds crude but it is what happened).
Always mindful of
our kid’s input on how we can become better parents [sample dialog… “good
parents would get a…”] we think we have found a pair of winners. So, the next
morning on our way to the airport to fly back to California, we stopped by the
bank and finalized the purchase of two Yamaha 800 cc wave runner jet skis.
This is very bad as upon our return in June, we risk having
TOO much fun when frivolity will be the order of the day as opposed to getting
anything productive done. It is not an easy life we lead….
Note to kids: Get your PWC (personal water craft) licenses
before you arrive, or you can follow me in the canoe.
California dreamin’
12 hours after bagging the Jet Skis on the East Coast, we
were in Los Angeles on our way home.
Without a car.
Since we are now going to spend 4 months a year here, we obviously
need a vehicle since it is not reasonable to rent one for such extended
periods. So, we picked one that is part car and part pick up (Ford Explorer
Sport Trac XLT). Janice has finally put her foot down about my transporting
bags of cement in the sedan. It’s kind of cool, being truly a vehicle for 5
inside albeit with a short pick up bed in back. This is a nod to the fact that
my bride will never run out of great ideas for things for me to do.
Let the games begin
The very day I retired 8 years ago, we drove off to launch
our version of “Pee Wee’s big adventure”. At the time we thought that we would
be traveling between Europe and the Island for 2 or 3 years, and then
reintroduce our home in California into the mix. Time sure flies when you are
having fun.
I remember the morning we left. We had spent a month storing
all of our worldly possessions in my workshop one room at a time until the
night before we left when we were down to a mattress on the floor in the living
room. That morning we got up, wrapped it and stored it with the rest of our
stuff. Janice got in the car ready to go and I sat down by the front door and
while real men don’t cry, I had a little sob. (We millennium men are capable of
showing our feelings and the chicks love it!) This had been the home we raised
our family in, had poured our hearts, soul and finances in and we were off on
an adventure expecting to come home in 2-3 years… but who knows?
Finally, 8 years later we are back home and are beginning to
settle in. Our long term renter left without any drama (we feared having to pry
him out with a crowbar) and overall the house was in good kit. There were
things that needed attention before we left so they clearly really need
attention now. Still, we reminded ourselves that while we raised our family in
this home for 20 years, our renter all but bought it for us in the time he was
here and we hope to enjoy it for the next 30 years ourselves.
The first order of business was to do about 30 things
simultaneously. We are moving all our furniture and worldly possessions where
it had been stored in my workshop back in the house, decide which ones had seen
a better day and had to go or be replaced. But you can’t move much furniture in
without cleaning and painting the place from top to bottom inside (not exactly
a figure of speech when the living room ceiling is 33 feet [11 M] off the floor)
and the bedroom ceilings are 12 to 17’ tall [4-6 M].
Meanwhile there are logistical considerations like shopping for
a new bed, flat screen TV (ours bit the dust 2 hours after we turned it on) and
computer (ours bit the dust the night before the TV went). Satellite TV service
reestablished, telephone and internet turned back on… yada, yada, yada. As a
result, it’s been two weeks since we have arrived and other than spending money
like our government on steroids, we don’t feel that we have gotten anything
done. Nevertheless, it’s taken us two weeks to do it.
Ironically, the key task we had set for ourselves this year was
to re-roof the house. While it needs to be done, the roofing product we wanted
to use was temporarily discontinued from production and will not be available
again until the first of the year. We debated using something much cheaper but
not at all what we wanted and decided to wait. We clearly won’t have time to
get the job done before we leave for Europe, so we decided to patch the
existing roof up to the best of our ability and put the project off for a year.
I thought that this would really free me up but Janice had
other ideas. Seeing a window of opportunity for a serious remodel throughout
the house, we decided to go hog wild. We had 90 days before most of the kids
arrived for Christmas so if we got down and dirty we should be able to get
quite a bit done. It is incredible how much you can do when you work at it 7
days a week from dawn to dusk now that we are retired, compared to working on
the place on Saturday and a few hours here and there between driving the kids
to all their activities when we lived here last.
Aside from the fact that we want to seriously update the look
of the place, we are mindful that there are many memories of their growing up
here that will be in play so we don’t want to disappoint them. With the clock
ticking, we had better have something to show you next month.
New web sites
Over a year ago, we came to
realize that we were due for a complete makeover of the web sites we have to
rent the island for a couple of weeks in the summer and our house in France
which we also use for home exchanges. Then, we decided it was time to
reintroduce our home in California into the mix so we knew that we would need a
third web site to be able to use that home as a vacation rental during the 8
months we would be away at the island or at home in Europe.
We discussed this with Carl our
web genius, and he created a template that would allow for all 3 sites to link
to each other, maximizing the exposure and encouraging visitors to consider
staying at our other properties also.
Janice came up with the name
“Vista Seas” for our home here, gathered the photos and wrote most of the text
while I semi organized the lot and Carl polished the whole thing in ways we
never could hope to so it would all work. Like all things brand new right out of the
box, we are thrilled with the result and invite you to take a peek. Again, you
can access all three sites from any one of the 3. Visit one and you will see
what I mean.
The sites have been very
successful (daughter Kami is currently with a friend on a home exchange in
Paris that Janice set up for her) Further, the weeks we make available to rent
the island are already booked to 2014. Of course, we will update the
pictures on the California site as we complete our current renovations but at
least it gives us something to work with.
Listen, I would love to stick
around and chat but the boss is reminding me of how many days are left until
everyone shows up for Christmas.
Gotta go.
