Ohhhh.... we're out of gas.

While driving Britta to preschool today the car made a funny lurch. Humm, this feels like the car is running out of gas... a quick glance at the gas gauge... oh crap!!!

Jana was driving just a half mile ahead of me... i quickly grabbed my cell phone... speed dial jana... straight to voice mail. WHAT?! Dial again... voice mail. crap!!!

The car is really lurching now. I was able to get the car to sputter to snake hill, and we coasted all the way down, but at the bottom, next to the Normandy Park Pool, it was over.
"we're gonna be late for preschool Britta."

With Britta on my shoulders we started hiking to Preschool. It's frickin freezin. blowing 25 mph. i'm wearing clogs. hiking up hill. about a third of a mile.

We had a nice conversation on our walk...
Me: "The car eats gas, and when the car has no gas in its tummy... well, then it wont run."
Britta: "Feed the car some leaves."
Me: "No... that's silly. You know what the car would say? It would say BLAH!"
Britta: "Feed the car some branches."
Me: "Blah!"
... and this conversation went on till we got to preschool.

Teacher Linda was super nice and insisted i borrow her car to get some gas.

I drove her car up to the gas station, borrowed a can of gas, pumped one gallon. Drove back to the Subaru.

Poured the gas in the Subaru. Drove the Subaru back to the gas station, returned the gas can and filled up the subaru.

Then, I drove the Subi to Preschool, parked the Subi in the parking lot, and started my walk back to Teacher Linda's car parked down by the pool. At least the walk back to her car was downhill... but then it started raining, hard, sideways, frozen/slushy/snow rain. greeeeaaat.

f-f-f-freezzzzing!

Saturday: 4am. It was frickin nukin. 40+mph gusts.
Wes gave me specific instructions "call me when you wake up. immediately. no matter what time. i MUST know the wind speed."
We'd been watching the storm approach. waiting. hoping it would peak at 9am. not 4am.
At 4am i thought... should i call Wes? is it light enough to sail?
Ahh, forget it. back to bed.

Later, as the Seahawks kicked-off, the sun broke out, the winds steadied, and i left the Hawks game to catch 45 minutes on my 5.9. Good choice too, since all the hawks action happened in the 4th quarter!

One thing i noticed on Saturday. It was cold. like frickin norway cold. my hands were numb on the second ride out. i tried sucking my thumbs to stop the pain/freezing - no help. So this got me thinking... how cold was it?

The wind was 21mph. air temp 40. That makes the wind chill = to about 30. oh, and the Puget Sound is a balmy 48.

There's a good rule of windsurfing in the Puget Sound... add the air temp and the water temp (40+48=88)... and use this chart:

Over 100... you'll be toasty.
90 - 100... you'll go numb
under 90... shrinkage, instant numbness, loss of brain cells, hallucinations, euphoria!

just a typical new years day

New year's day
Originally uploaded by B-TownMom.

As the King and Queen of Three Tree Point (we're now half way through our year-long reign), we sported the crown jewels, posed with Terry the Polar Bear, had some spiced wine and took the plunge on New Years day. An amazing 20+ people dipped this year! Our local paper, The Highline Times ran this story... Many neighbors turned out to cheer us on. We love the good people of Three Tree Point. :-)

...make it cool!

In the lazy days after xmas my son and his friend Henry were playing with legos... i suggested a lego battle...

Henry: what's a lego battle?
Me: You build a big ship, and then you ram 'em together! No hands... only ship to ship battle!
Henry and Karsten: YES!
Henry: Oh yeah, you've got to make your ship strong, and powerful, and cool!
Karsten: Oh yeah, strong and powerful.
Me: and cool!

I had to be sure Karsten knew that 'cool' was a requirement. :-) Now that I've been married to Jana (a designer) for 12 years, i know - cool is important!

A new hole in the worst possible location

It was cold and windy today. But for some reason i felt unusually cold as i was standing on the beach... I grabbed my windsurfer and headed into the sound when a sting in my crotch made me jump! I looked down and noticed a large hole in my wetsuit - gasp! What the heck?! I took a closer look... i could see the family jewels through this hole!

On a day like today my hands are sure to go numb. In fact, anything outside my wetsuit goes numb. So you can imagine my horror when i thought about what 'else' could go numb today... I've heard about blue balls, but i sure didn't want to see any!

I dropped the board and sail and headed to the boathouse. must... find... something... to... save... balls.

packing tape. that'll work.

After a few well placed strips of tape, i was on my way.

I windsurfed for an hour on my 5.2. Wind was 20-25.

And no, they didn't turn blue... but i could sing higher than normal.

hockey mouth

hockey mouth
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

Karsten jumped off the school bus today...

me: how's that tooth? did it fall out yet?
kk: no. but don't touch it. i want it to fall out at school.
me: let me pull it out, then you can watch tv.
kk: no! (waving his hands like he's signaling a ship)
me: let me pull it out... then you can have a cookie AND watch tv.
kk: no dad. no!
me: well, you know... the tooth fairy brings money, and with money you can buy candy or toys... (kk was rubbing his chin thinking this over, hummm)
kk: well, ok, you can give it a wiggle, but don't pull!
me: ok, i'll give it a little wiggle... open wide... YANK! :-)

He looks like a hockey kid now.

Eddie would go

Do you remember the "Eddie Would Go" bumper stickers? Of course you do. they're classic. the stickers inspired a whole generation of us to say - what the hell - why not - Eddie would do it! Of course, all those years i had no idea who Eddie was. I just knew he was a bad-ass surfer.

I just finished a library book Stealing the Wave, The Epic Struggle Between Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo. As it turns out, Eddie Aikau was the undisputed king of Wiamea bay. After his death Quicksilver created a big wave surf competition in his honor. The competition could only be held if the surf was over 20 feet. One morning the judges woke up to 30 foot waves and decided to cancel the competition "too big" they said. Mark Foo, a big wave superstar, tried to convince them to run the competition by taunting "Eddie would go!" The judges thought this was a good argument, but decided to cancel the competition anyway - but the phrase stuck, and was used by Quicksilver to promote the event.

I had a 'Eddie would go' moment today. I was on kid duty and the wind kicked in - blowing 25 to 35 from the South. It was beautiful! Big swells, no logs, low tide. I HAD to go windsurfing. Then it hit me "Eddie would find a babysitter, then go!" After a few quick calls I found a kind neighbor to watch the kids while i got my fix. :-) I got an hour of OP'd (over powered) 4.7 (that's a small sail). It was snowing in parts of Seattle today - my hands were frozen - but i had a huge grin!

Oh, regarding the book. I couldn't put it down. Loved it. I'm not sure if the book is for everybody, but if you like surfing and/or if you're crazy - then you'll find it reassuring to know that there are other crazy people out there too. This book is like candy for crazy people.

Oh, there's a great quote in the book from Buzzy Trent "A wave is not measured in feet and inches, but in increments of fear". The same could be said for catching air on a windsurfer.