Sailboats

Sailboats are on my mind for some reason, and I am busy researching how to build one. So for most people a description of a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money at. I am way too cheap for that type of thing, and I stumbled upon a blog on square boats, or sailing barges/scows. These are simple to build, square boats designed around full sheets of regular plywood. The skills required are moderate carpentry, which I can fake, and basic material. I am thinking that the final design will be a cross between a RV and a liveaboard sailboat. It will be built such that it can be lived in as an RV, while still on it’s trailer, so no water required. It will also be easy to launch and rig up the sail, so that if water is available, a quick enjoyable sail is practical.
My wife requires some minimums, such as indoor plumbing and walking headroom. This is not too bad, as I am the taller at 5‘7, so a 5‘8 height is enough for us (6‘ might make it easier to resell in the future, if things change)
I am planning on building the shell one summer, and then stripping the bits out of an old RV to get the fridge/stove water tanks and other bits. An old trailer I sold to a friend is one likely candidate, or maybe our present fifth wheel . I would like to weld up a custom wood stove for it as well, I have some ideas on that in my head as well.
This has nothing to do with Kung Fu, or the continuing repair of my lower back issues, it’s just what I am reading and thinking about right now. I don’t expect to start construction for at least two years either, but when I was looking at building a house, it took ten years of design and research first, and sailboats are nice to read about and plan as we go into the cold season.
Dennis Donohue

Mud Hero Rocks

This past weekend we had an awesome experience, I was part of a team that participated in Mud Hero, a 6km (with what felt like 2kms vertical traversed as part of that) obstacle course. True to my motto, I sacrificed speed for maximum time in the mud, and staying with other members so that no one would be left behind. We had a large portion of the most active Silent River I Ho Chuan members (8), and a fair number of past members of the team as well, plus a few more affiliated members from the school, 17 in total, plus another 8 that were not old enough to run. A great time was had by all, many of us camped at Gull Lake before and after, for many good memories. The only thing missing was the other I Ho Chuan members who were unable to run showing up to cheer us on or post encouragement, as we crawled through the final mud pit by the finish line. This was a SRKF event, and we have the shirts to prove it. This was a true team  effort and I would like to personally thank Sihing Lowery and Sihing Csilliag for organizing the team sign up, and convincing me that I could actually do this race. You Rock!

Dennis Donohue

Death Racers thumbs up!

Congratulations to the Death Race Team! You 5 did an amazing job. Next weekend, Mud Hero’s. I am off for a few days relaxation and to get some of the jobs around the house done. I am getting constantly reminded by my elbow that it is not healed; it is so easy to just reach out to do something, then get the pain feedback. My chiropractor says it is a bit of tendonitis. Due to this, my numbers are way down, with no pushups until I get some healing. Hopefully I will be able to function for the Mud Hero’s event, I may have to pass on some of the obstacles, or at least take the easier option. 

I was recently involved in a facebook conversation regarding someone being against a pipeline for the tarsands, because an unidentified group, (the Royal “We”) presumably the Canadian Government, and or Canadian Society, should be instead promoting Green Energy and solar panels as a goal. Now these are all lofty goals, which I share, but what does the opposition to a pipeline really have to do with them? Now I may have been influenced by concurrently reading the ArchDruidReport, and attendant comments, so I am biased on this subject. I have been active in the solar energy field for over a decade, and have invested a considerable amount of time and money in trying to walk the talk. When someone tries to conflate two items, such as Tar Sands & pipelines bad, solar panels good, with no real connection between how stopping one will lead to improvements in the other, I get ornery. If it was a case of there are X many million dollars that can be spent on either oil sands or solar energy and conservation, but not both, it would be a different story. The funding and permissions required for the two are only very indirectly related, and have completely different drivers. Green jobs, solar panels and conservation are all domestic issues, and could use much better legislation, but require a change in general attitudes more than funding increases that benefit fly-by-night operators. The oil (or tar) sands are a different story. This is all about exports, and keeping the 900lb gorilla to the south of us happy (be careful, or they will drop a few hundred tons of high explosive “democracy” on you). Shipping crude oil out and importing finished product is another matter, which revolves around the economics of building new refining capacity in North America when there is already more than required, just in inconvenient places, is another subject. 

So what has any of this have to do with Kung Fu? For me, it is all about whether you actually go out and do something to change your world, or just sit and gripe. I may not be the fastest progressing student at Silent River, but I am doing something about what my goals are.  

An Excellent bootcamp

This weekend we enjoyed an excellent bootcamp, thank you to all the instructors and organizers. The lung drugs I am on have certainly made a difference, as my shuttle run and 2km run times were vastly improved, and I didn’t have to throw up after either! All the seminars were very enjoyable, and I now have two more weapons that are actually legal to carry in Canada. It was nice having the RV there to just climb into after as well, maybe we can get a few more next year.

Dennis Donohue

Back from vacation

We are back from our vacation in Montana, and I am catching up on yard work and greenhouse stuff this weekend. The most interesting discovery at home was in the greenhouse, where I set up the automatic watering system at the last minute before we left. It turns out that I missed one button push, so that it did not actually water while we were gone. I thought that the plants looked a little dry and heat stressed, but overall were doing well. So I went to adjust the programming on the timer, and found my error. Normally the consequences of this would have been a lot of dead plants. In this case though I have been experimenting with a soil mix recommended in the book “Square Foot Gardening”, which is 1/3 each of compost, peat moss and vermiculite (exploded mica rock, which acts like a sponge) and the plants made it through OK. So if you are going to be gardening, I recommend reading and following his book.

Dennis Donohue

Tia Chi, Violence and NovaBrik

July 7, 2013

   This weekend we started section 4 of the Tia Chi form class, which is where I started a year ago. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the moves, the terminology and the stances. I don’t directly remember the moves, but I noticed with all experienced people in the class that we went a lot faster than last year, so I think I am getting the hang of it. I figure that I may actually know the form by the time I reach retirement age.

    I thought that the Demo last Canada day went very well, and was somewhat surprised that my cane application with Sifu Prince was judged “most violent”. After all it was just an old guy with a cane defending himself, right? Spears and Swords and other scary looking implements of destruction seem like they should be the violent ones, not an innocent little cane. Must be Sifu Prince’s acting skills, thank you for being a great partner.

   In other non-kung fu type stuff, other than trying to fit more projects into my life, I think that we have found the product that we would like to put on our house in place of the poorly installed, mouse friendly vinyl siding that is currently there. The product is called NovaBrik, and is a concrete block veneer. This will add 3 ½ inches of thickness to our walls, but once installed it will be completely mouse proof. I am intending to tackle just one side of the house at a time to make the project a bit more bite sized, as opposed to an immense, overwhelming task. It will also be a learning curve, as everything with this house has been, but it is the only way that I can see to get what I want (the vinyl was not our first choice, but we needed something to seal up the outside, and it was getting into November that year we built). So if you are considering something like this for your own house, and want to get some hands on experience, I expect this fall I will be needing a bit of help.

Dennis Donohue