Frankenfinger

Well, I guess it's about time for an update. The hand is mending. It hurts all day, especially at night, when I'm trying to get to sleep. I'm taking the bare minimum dosage of Percocet, just to get by. I've been having only one cocktail a day, in the late afternoon/early evening. I think I'll stick with this pattern instead of my former habit. I even got to be designated driver last night after going out for sushi with Teri.

Kim got a Garmin chip and a GPS antenna from Cathi for her new phone. It's pretty cool, and we can even use it while walking around the city. We joined Tradewinds under Lisa Chapin, so we'll be sailing Beneteaus, Ericsons, Dufours, etc. in the thirty-plus foot range for a while. My boat is safely in storage. Lisa might be making a daysail run down to Half Moon Bay (at the south end of the peninsula) with some Tradewinds friends, so once she's checked out, we'll be able to go out the Gate. She knows of some others that are sailing out to the Farallone Islands, which would be a great daysail, with lots of whale-watching potential. It looks like we'll be starting to get that blue water experience we moved out here for. Lisa has been the great catalyst we knew she would be. We can always launch the Twins on one of the free public ramps on Alameda too. It's not any colder in the winter on the Bay, because the wind dies down considerably during the winter because the valleys don't heat up as much. Sailing over to Treasure Island is high on our list since we missed the Hobie Around TI race a few months ago. I'll be interested in seeing how my hand performs.



As you might be able to tell from the pics, they shortened my middle finger about an inch because of the missing bone structure. It will most likely be permanently straight, with some flexibility at the hand knuckle. This means that a large percentage of my grip strength will be gone. We might have to check out electric winches.


I've been too bummed on a daily basis to work on the captain's license much over the last few weeks. I've been mainly escaping into sailing books. Kim's been busy all day, every day working on the insurance and financial ramifications of all this. I couldn't do this without her. It's too personal for me, and she's being very professional about the whole thing. I've been doing some coding for her, but my days are pretty open. We ran over to Woodcraft the other day to get a new finish to try that I found online. I went out into the shop and did a test piece, which may be the finish I use on some Morris chairs or the dinette set. Beemer's food stand will be the first piece I try it on, and it's been half-way done for three weeks. I'm anxious to get back into the shop, but first I'll be installing some safety equipment. Kim's Dad Joe, and Eric have been really helpfull with research and sending links for safety options.



I've got a doctor's appointment on the 16th where they'll be removing most of the pins and stitches. I think I'll try to find some Vicodin for that trip. As you can see from the x-ray from last week (see dark spot under middle finger pin), I've got a lot of bone to grow back ("That's what she said"), even with the shortened finger.

As you can tell, not much blogworthy going on out here. We're resisting the urge to say screw it and move back to Austin. Lisa's at the Annapolis Boat Show, looking at boats nobody can afford. Maybe we can get her to guest-blog when she gets back. I guess that's all for now. Later.