Snow Day!

The kids are home from school today - a few inches of snow shut down Seattle. People were stranded for HOURS on the freeway - JeffUppy spent 20 hours going from Burien to Woodinville – his truck was firmly stuck in the snow, so he spent the night with family friends and had his truck pulled from the snow this morning. He said he passed 500 to 1,000 abandoned cars on the freeway this morning. Cars everywhere.

Jana and I are working from home – I took a little break and took the kids sledding! Now my back hurts! :-)

John Lennon said it best

John Lennon said it best
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

I've got blisters on my fingers!!

It's great to sail on holidays... all the windsurfers like to B.S.
"remember the Easter storm a few years ago?"
"oh, yeah, it was BLOWING!"

And now we can talk about the Thanksgiving 06 session... it was cold, lot's of logs, gusty, 20-30mph winds - and three guys out today - Matt, Wes and me.

The wind has not stopped for weeks, and my hands are turning into ground beef.

First my hands go numb from the cold.
Then, I'm sailing a HUGE sail for the conditions, so I'm holding on for dear life.
Finally, my blisters start ripping and sand crawls deep into the holes...

Christmas present idea #2: Glacier Gloves

It blew like crazy

Launching at Three Tree Point
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

Since "wes called the Coast Guard" I've decided to start wearing a life jacket... this was the only jacket in my boathouse, now I'm looking for a stylish version with a pocket for a strobe light, flare or horn.

I sailed for 1.5 hours on a totally OP'd (over powered) 5.2 - Wes was on a 3.7! (his 3.7 was in his 4.2 bag... we thought it looked small as he was rigging it).

Lots and lots of logs and a few HUGE jumps for three tree point. I'm hurting now... soooo sore. After i got off the water it started hailing!

Lupe's new chin

Lupe's new chin
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

Lupe went under the knife yesterday.

Tumor-lump-thing - gone.
Festering wound - gone.
super-huge-mole - gone!!

All night long he whined in pain. I slept on the couch to help him turn over, etc. - it was really sad to hear him in pain, I had to carry him everywhere - i thought "did we do the right thing? he's getting old - can he handle surgery?! how long will it take to recover?"

Then, like magic, he jumped out of his bed this morning and limped for the door. He can walk!!! No way!! I opened the door and he started walking down the stairs... whoa! I scrambled for my shoes and ran after him... when i caught up with him he was down in the road with Pam and Rio - going for a walk!! Now, keep in mind, this dog just had surgery. He walked to the Indian Trail, then i made him go home.

An hour later he snuck out and walked the beach a few times!

I think Jana put it best when she said "Lupe is INSANE. He really must be a Kleitsch!"

Nukin Wednesday

Before the wind kicked in
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

The wind went effen crazy on Wednesday - the wind gods presented 2 hours of great/insane 5.2 wind off Three Tree Point. 25-35mph gusts made for a fun day - sprinkle in a ton of floating logs (ding! ouch!) - and wow, I'm still smiling! This photo was taken before the wind went berserk.

Wes was completely blow off the water on his 5.2. He rigged his 4.2 and caught a few runs, but got caught off the point (in a wind shadow area) and did a lot of swimming.

Oh, I finally went back and picked up my windsurfing gear over by Seahurst Beach. It was lying in someone's front yard for a few days. There were a few dirty dog tracks across the board - surfer dog.

The Brain Thinks...

Sometimes Jana uses my computer at night, while sitting at the dinner table, on the couch, etc. This morning i found my browser open to likebetter.com

I took the quiz... and this is what "the brain" thinks about me:
1. I'm a teenager
2. I'm a boy
3. I'm a night owl
4. I'm religious

The Brain was close... Take the quiz now, it's fun!

My trip to bozo beach in Seahurst

It’s reassuring to know the Coast Guard is friendly, responsive and willing to help crazy windsurfers. On several occasions I have been very close to calling the CG for Wes… but Sunday it was Wes who finally called the CG for me. Luckily for me, I made it to shore, under my own power, about 5 miles from home, before the cavalry arrived…

It all started when the wind died suddenly, and shifted to the SE. I was South of Three Tree Point on my 7.3, it was raining, stormy, cloudy. With every attempt at getting back to shore I found myself further and further away. At one point I almost decided to swim, but it would be a long swim, about 1.5 miles, against a ripping tide. And I was freezing at this point.

So, I decided to head out to the middle one more time for another attempt at getting back to the point… but, I crashed in the middle, and that’s when Wes called the CG. With the rain and fog blocking his vision, Wes didn’t see me up-haul the sail… I was looking for ANY boat to bring me back to shore.

The GC radioed two tugs in the area that were escorting a tankard. They broke away for the rescue, a CG boat in the area was sent and they fired up a helicopter! About 30 minutes later I landed approx. 5 miles away and the search was called off.

A nice guy in Seahurst let me use his phone, and my windsurfing gear is still in his front yard.

My tongue has a patch of nasty salt burn on the tip. This is caused by hours of excessive wind, salt water (sometimes gulped – yuck!), and singing while windsurfing. Today I was singing All Along the Watchtower… it’s a great windsurfing song. For a few minutes a was singing Crimson and Clover (Joan Jett version) – what the hell was I thinking?!?

I’ve been windsurfing twice in the last 24 hours – both great sessions even though the beach is clogged with logs from the recent flooding. I took this photo at low tide. At high tide the “log soup” is 15 feet wide - it looks like the trash compactor scene in Star Wars. I had to battle through a few logs on my way in/out today – it got kinda hairy when I was getting pounded by logs in the beach break, luckily R2D2 (wes) was there to save my sail.

Karsten tells all

Karsten brought home an "About my Dad" paper that his teacher helped him complete... I don't know if i should be scared or proud of these answers? The answers are correct - but they make me sound like a junk-food-geeky-football-fan! Ouch... The truth hurts.

About my Dad - by Karsten:

Dad helps me build things.
Dad is special to me because he likes me.

-- Dad's Favorite Things --

Food: Pizza
Book: Star Wars
Hobby: Go to work
TV Show: Football

Windsurfing Flip-Flopper

If I'm not in the mood for C89 dance music or KEXP (my favs), then I'll dial in NPR on my way to/from work... and of course, John Kerry's lame joke was all over the news yesterday. But what got me, was how the announcer called him a "windsurfing flip-flopper"! That's a great name for my kinda lifestyle! I love to windsurf and i love flip flops. And even better - "Congratulations! windsurfingflipflopper.com is available!"

Here's the transcript, or listen to the wav clip here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200611020008

ROBERT SIEGEL (host): Mara, it sounds like the Republicans have been in need of a good issue and they thought they found one in Senator Kerry.

LIASSON: They certainly think so. This is something they are trying to use to fire up their base. They need to in the remaining days before Election Day. Even at the expense of returning voters' focus to Iraq.

Now, this is a little bit of déjà vu all over again because that windsurfing flip-flopper has provided the Republicans with ammunition again, just like he did in the campaign of 2004. And Vice President Dick Cheney was out on the campaign trail saying John Kerry was for the joke before he was against the joke.

Went numb, but had fun

On Monday I got home fairly early - and hey - it was windy! Blowing about 18-20 from the North. I grabbed my board and enjoyed 1 hour of windsurfing on my 7.3. The session got really fun when a fully-loaded-big-old-container-ship went cruising by. It was throwing a 3 or 4 foot wake - huge! As a windsurfer this is a dream come true. I jumped, jibed, rode, jumped, jibed, rode - overall, i had three runs over the swells - i was having so much fun I didn't even notice that my hands had gone numb from the cold.