Thoughts On A Sunday

It's a rainy Sunday here in the Lakes Region. Not that I'm complaining. Somehow it seems fitting, particularly for BeezleBub.

You see, this is the last Sunday of his summer vacation. As of 7:10AM on Wednesday morning he reports back to school to start 7^th Grade.

At least this year he's not feeling quite as anxious as he did last year. This year he's not “the new kid.”

I expect he'll do just fine this year.

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Cost cutting continues at the Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Manse, with Deb looking over every expenditure with a critical eye. One thing that makes it more tolerable is that we aren't the only ones having to do this. At least in our case we're doing it as a pre-emptive strike in an effort to keep our finances in order and to reduce whatever debt we have. Sometimes it's too easy to get deep into debt without realizing it. That damn plastic is very tempting. That's why we pay cash....or at least if we do use plastic it's a debit card.

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Speaking of cost cutting, we've avoided the temptation to let the boat yard pull the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout out of the water in October, do all the pre-storage maintenance, and store it for us.

When BeezleBub and I can do all of that for less than a tenth of the cost it makes no sense to pay someone else to do a less effective job of it. Besides, I'm a firm believer that any boat owner should know their boat from stem to stern, including the electrical system and all things mechanical. It makes it much easier to effect repairs or, at least, to diagnose problems when help is far away. The only way we can do that is if we do most of the work maintaining The Boat. The only time it will make its way to a repair shop is if we don't have the tools or the know-how to do it ourselves.

On the other hand, I'm just too cheap...uh... too frugal a Yankee to pay someone else to do something I can do just as well.

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I started reading the so-called “Nantucket trilogy” by S.M.Stirling after Deb bought me the books from Amazon. She'd read the review by Jay Solo, asked me if I was interested in reading them, and a few days later all three books showed up in the mail.

I have to say that it's even better than I thought.

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John Stossel looks at a particular sexual harassment suit and points out that in this case, it's ludicrous. Some folks just want to take the fun out of work just because they can.

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It seems that the MSM is working its hardest to turn the on-again/off-again Tropical Storm/Hurricane Ernesto into the second coming of Hurricane Katrina. On ABC's World News Tonight, weekend anchor Dan Harris was one of those trying to stir up a sense of impending doom. A local New Hampshire meteorologist says otherwise, saying Ernesto will likely be a strong Category 1 storm by the time it makes landfall in Florida.

Which is the truth? Frankly, I'm more likely to trust the meteorologist.

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Even as the hysteria over global climate change builds, at least one media outlet has taken a step back and looked at the debate with a critical eye. An article in the Laconia Citizen asks if there is too much advocacy mixed in with the science.

If I had to guess, I'd have to say yes.

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A discussion with a fellow Lakes Region resident and boater brought up the subject of boating on Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam. We've both noticed that the total number boaters on the lakes seem to be down from last year, but the incidents of really dumb actions by clueless boaters is up. I've never seen as many people doing incredibly stupid things out on the lake as I have this year.

It's scary.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it's still raining, school starts soon, and where the number of summer boaters will be falling off after Labor Day.