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Tie a knot

and move on.

The Duke of Wellington (of Waterloo fame) said of the French, “They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid set of harnesses. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot and went on”

I think of that quote often when things are not going just as planned, but philosophy is not really the point of this post.  I just thought I’d throw it in there.

Today, I want to talk about actual knots, because I found this really cool website that shows you how to tie them in a way that you can actually understand.

Animated Knots

Now, you may ask yourself why this is important.

Maybe it isn’t.

You may get through your entire life without having to tie a knot.

But I spent 19 days on a boat once.  It turned out to be useful to know how to tie up to a dock.  And an anchor.  If it had been a sail boat, I’d have needed a lot more knots—and probably a lawyer.  Sailing involves a lot more judgment calls than power boating, and the MotH* and I would probably have killed each other—after we ran into a lot of things.  I might get a Windpaddle some day (when I’m feeling flush) and just try it, but that’s another post, too.

The thing about me and knots is roughly the same thing about me and Gin Rummy.

I have had Gin Rummy explained to me countless times.  I’ve played Gin Rummy.  If you asked me to sit down for a game right now, you would have to explain it to me again.  I cannot retain the information.

I don’t really understand that, because I can remember how to play poker and Old Maid and even Piquet (which almost nobody knows how to play nowadays).  I can’t remember how to play Mau-Mau, but that doesn’t count.  I’m convinced my brother was making up those four thousand rules as he went along.

Anyhow, me and cards—that’s probably also a post for another day (lots of diverse post ideas in this one, and I still haven’t gotten to the point!).

The point is I have trouble remembering how to tie knots.  Even the Square Knot that comes with a mnemonic (right over left and left over right) causes me trouble.  Is right always right?  Or do you switch hands when the rope crosses?

But I’ve found animatedknots.com, and I am going to master some things.  I’ll probably never know how to play Gin Rummy, but this time next year, I am going to know how to tie a bowline!

 

 

* MotH = Man of the House

Not a creature was stirring

Fortunately.

Saturday, we had the annual Boat Parade Party at my house.  This is due to the annual boat parade hosted by a local restaurant.

Boats from far and wide—or, at least, from the immediate vicinity—get all dolled up with lights and voyage circuitously around the inlet for the enjoyment of residents and all comers.  The boats that are small enough to fit under the bridge make a circle of our little creek before joining the main parade.

One of the stand-outs this year—of the ones small enough to come our way—was a boat fully equipped with fireplace, pajama-and-bathrobe-clad children and a loudspeaker from whence issued the full narration of Clement C. Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas, otherwise, and more familiarly, known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

So, there were some creatures stirring on the boat.  There was a captain, a pilot, a driver, whatever you like to call him, and there were some waving children.  But they didn’t stir very much—and a good thing, too.

I never did figure out quite how the vessel was configured, but it sure seemed to sit awfully low in the water.  The hearth upon which those cozy-looking children were seated was, maybe, an inch above the waterline.  Any untoward stirring and there was likely to be some untoward soaking.

Miraculously, the parade made two circuits around the creek and everybody stayed dry—as far as I could tell.

It was a most successful parade.  Last year, there were only about four small boats.  This year there were twice as many.  And they made two passes!  And there were lots more people on either bank to cheer them on.

It’s quite fun to clap and yell and applaud as they go by our side and then to hear all the cheering out of the darkness from the opposite shore.  A whole lot of individuals forging a community of joy for one evening.

And it was especially miraculous this year—when something that makes kids happy seems even more important than usual.

Minn-Kota and Manatees

Waterfront living.

We’re finally getting our waterfront lifestyle together.  We’ve had a small boat for a while.  And our house has a boat ramp.  It’s not so easy, however, to put the boat in and out of the water, since we don’t have a truck with a hitch (and since I don’t really want a truck running over my labyrinth several times a week).

So, we had to put up a boat lift.

No sooner did we get that done than all kinds of things got in the way of excursions.  We had company.  We had to go on a series of trips.  The weather has been god-awful hot, and who wants to be out on the water in the baking sun under those conditions?  We had other house projects that needed work.  And then, it rained.  Day after day.  (The grass is looking good–but then, you have to mow the grass.)

All of this is leading up to today’s Monday Miracle–which is the latest improvement to the whole boating thing.

We got a trolling motor.  A Minn-Kota Edge. Yesterday, we took it on a shake-down cruise.

It works great!

It’s bow-mounted, and so easy to put in and out of the water.  Five speeds, forward and reverse, so it can get you moving pretty fast–if that’s what you want.  And it’s so quiet.

This is how I like to travel by boat.  I prefer the slow speed.  And the quietness is great.  We came right up on some manatees just hanging out in the back part of the creek where there are no houses.  Because the motor is quiet, we could get fairly close.  Because it is slow, we were in no danger of injuring them.

I love having manatees in the back yard.  (The alligators–not so much.)

(Speaking of alligators and manatees, you can check out the Manatee Web Cam.  It’s off-season for manatees at Blue Spring, so they are alternating live manatee-less streams with some videos.  I like the one where the manatee chases the alligator out of the water — althoug, at my house, I’m hoping they just leave them in the water.)


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