Sunday, September 30, 2012

End of the season, but not just yet.

The last month has tried my soul, my patience, and a few other things I won't name here, as I am trying not to behave like a drunken sailor.

About seven weeks ago, I was within striking distance of being able to launch the boat. A fairly significant illness in the family gave me the gift of making sure my priorities were in order, this meant the boat needed to wait. One or  two weeks after that, I was diagnosed with either plantar faciatis or a severely strained Achilles tendon in my right foot. The doctor said that there wasn't too much difference, they both hurt like hell and the treatment was pretty much the same. Stay off the foot and take these pills. Since my doc is also a good friend, I paid attention.

Since my bike is my preferred mode of transit, this curtailed my movement even more. God knows I love the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority, a.k.a The  Buses and Trains that sometimes move us!) but even at 50 plus years old, I can pretty much beat any bus to whatever destination I choose in the city when I ride my bike. They won't, and probably rightly so, let me race the trains.

So given my priorities with family illness and a semi useless right foot, (although the whole wooden peg leg, pirate scenario is kinda cool!) the boat has languished a bit here. I have stayed at home in my castle by the big lake, taking the occasional ginger footed walk with the dog over to the lake (it's two blocks away) and in general, have been pining to sit in the cockpit of my boat, puttering around on the water. 

In the last two weeks, I have been able to ride more, and my hopes started to rise that I might  get a few days of boating in. I spent some hours at the boat shop, last coats of paint, loading up the storage lockers, fitting in windows, etc., etc., getting the last details glued and screwed.

Speaking of screwing, the City of Chicago chose to close my boat launch ten days ago for renovation.Let me state this again, so you understand what these muthafu.....um...ok....you get the idea. They closed my damn boat launch!  There is a lovely sign there saying something to the effect of "See Ya Next Spring Suckers!" I stood and swore for ten minutes in three languages.

I have, in this last week or so, stopped swearing in two of the languages, thus freeing up what little is left of my mind to form a back up plan. There is another boat launch, farther away, but reachable.It's not ideal and it has some issues, but...........but............BUT........it may be possible to still do this. I may be making Thanksgiving dinner on board when it happens, but it may still happen! If you happen to see an ad on Craigslist in Chicago over the next few weeks or so that looks like this..."Wanted, Crane or helicopter rental near the Chicago River...." well, that's me launching my damn boat!

Patience me hearties.....

No comments:

Post a Comment