Saturday, I woke up to an email saying that my waypoint generator had a bunch of Canadian airports with US-style identifiers (instead of CYRP, Carp was KYRP). I fixed that first. Then Vicki and I replaced the outside front floodlight which had a wonky socket. And we replaced the floodlights over the garage, which supposedly had a light sensor (although it was more of a randomness generator) with one that had a motion detector. Since we can’t find a switch for these lights, I like the idea that they won’t be on all night. This involved hacksawing off a bit of iron pipe conduit that was sticking out too far to put the box where I wanted it and some simple wiring. Or at least it would probably be simple wiring for somebody who isn’t scared of ladders and electricity (gee, my brother used to shock me with electricity and throw me off barn beams – see a connection?). But we got it done – I’m so domestic it hurts.
Sunday, I got up bright and early to be a safety pilot for Paul P. He’s been my safety pilot in the past, so it was only fair, even if it did mean getting up ungodly early. I took some pictures while he was buzzing around, but most of them sucked. Here are a few that didn’t suck too bad.
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Back at the airport, there was an ancient Dornier flying boat re-engined with modern turboprop engines. Cool!
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After that, I went kayaking again. This time I went a little slower, and went up all the way to Blossom Road. The river was still quite shallow, and fast. I lost track of the number of times I had to put down my paddle and push down and forward or backward on the bottom of the river because I was bottomed out. (Try that with a canoe!)
On the way back I took one of the other branches because this canoe full of girls can careering across the river and rammed me without making the slightest effort to slow down or avoid me – after they saw they were on a collision course, they all stopped paddling – and when I got to the fork there was another one of these canoes full of girls sideways in the river. But it worked out well – there was a Great Blue Heron on the bank of the river that I got a couple of shots of, and then some “ducks in a row”, and then a Green Heron, which I ‘ve seen very few of over the years.
The best pictures from today’s paddling.
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Unfortunately on the way home I noticed that I had a really badly sprained wrist. Unfortunately it’s my left one (I’m left handed), but I suppose the right would have been worse since it would be hard to shift my car like that. It was literally a big pain trying to put my kayak away afterwards.
What is picture #22 of?
How’d your elbows feel after that long kayak trip last week? Couldn’t have been too bad, or you wouldn’t have gone again, eh? Is your technique improving, or your health?
I’m not sure what you mean by “picture #22” when there are only 16 pictures there.
Ian, my elbows have felt a little dull soreness all week, but not as bad as they were after shorter paddles last year. Maybe my technique is getting better, maybe my pain tolerance is higher.
It’s actually the third one you included in your entry, but if you click on it, it’s 22 of 30 in your album.
Oh *that* 22. It’s where the Genesee River comes out to the lake. If you look closely, you can see the Rochester Fast Ferry’s terminal, the yacht club, and the swing bridge that’s going to fall down and kill people any day now.
Great pic of the line of ducks – so cute! What the heck is it with those canoes full of girl guides??!! My theory: they have strength in numbers, which makes up for their lack of care of skill and, they like bumping into paddlers for the company, kinda like being at the mall.
I remember the Miss. Train wreck, and what a calamity it was, but it seems so different somehow. Maybe time, maybe the change in telecommunication, maybe a million other socio-economic factors that make it seem as though it were a distant blip on our carefree Canadian existence…?
Hey Paul, great pix of the Dornier. That was at OSH this year, and was awesome to watch fly around!