Rowing and Rain

Saturday the 26^th the rowing club hosted a fundraiser “row-a-thon” to raise money to offset regatta expenses from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. This day was also a home football game against Arkansas starting at 2:30. The excitement in the city was as crazy as the traffic.

I was awakened by the sound of heavy rain right at 4:00 a.m. UGH! It literally poured. But, right around 8:00 it slowly started to subside and the sky cleared a bit.

I needed to have some keys made up for the front gate of the club. I originally planned on having them made up at the hardware store in Northport on the way to the row. But…. If for some reason they did not have a blank I would be s—t out of luck. I promised to have the keys to distribute. Instead I went to Lowe’s. I have not been in this store for weeks. Walking in I was horrified to see the first aisle lit up with Christmas trees, and those horrible blow up yard decorations all over the store accompanied by the computer generated sounds. This gives me three months to work up my Scrooge attitude. How I’ve gotten to despise the Christmas holiday season crammed down my throat….. Enough of that rant!!!

The weather held and a dedicated group rowed “guests” in the sweep. We could take up to two riders in the 8. It is difficult to row and maneuver the boat in this fashion. Poor Trish in the five seat never got a break from rowing…she was integral to both the bow and stern section of the boat!

We were headed back to the dock when we heard the rumblings of thunder. “I don’t hear anything.” I innocently stated. “That must have been a dump truck!” said Robin. The open water is a VERY dangerous place to be during an electrical storm. We got back to the dock and could see the front of rain approaching us.

We were all soaked to the skin by the time we got the equipment all packed up and put away.

It sure felt good to get home and take a hot shower and get into dry clothes. I was beat from all the rowing. We did not do a lot of drill work, just easy straight out rowing. This was a perfect opportunity to concentrate on correcting all the things I do wrong… not opening my back till my legs are fully extended, not digging the blade into the water, reaching over the gunnel as far as I can to lengthen my stroke, sitting tall and not slouching my shoulders, etc, etc, etc….

Sunday I decided to finally clean up the brick patios. The spell of rain is supposed to be over for a while. Moss is everywhere on the brickwork. Fist straight bleach is worked into the bricks followed by TSP mixed in water. This is scrubbed around with a heavy push broom. Then the power washer goes to work clearing up the gunk.

I had company in the yard in the form of the birds and squirrels fighting for the bird seed. Hummingbirds have finally discovered the feeder I put up. They were battling over the nectar. For little guys they sure are aggressive!

Our Sunday row was cancelled due to lack of people. I was really disappointed, as I was looking forward to getting on the river again. I would think the people who will be competing in the upcoming regattas would want to get every second on the water they could.

Fall is in the air. The sun has moved south enough now to where the back yard is in shade for much of the day now. With not going on the river, I was able to get the back yard all mowed and trimmed up. The grass is exploding with the rain we have been getting.

This morning before daybreak I enjoyed my first cup of coffee on the cleaned up brick patio. Daggy and Stump emerged from their respective hiding places. Daggy took her perch on my lap while Stump sniffed around for interesting smells. He is walking on his sore leg pretty much all the time now with only a small limp. I can tell he is better in that he will sleep a lot now totally stretched out on his back. I can handle his leg and paw and not get growls or at the worst hisses. He even attempted to climb his favourite tree! He got part way up!

The UPS man just delivered a new battery to replace the defective one in the new "cox box". It was just installed and put on the charger. Hopefully this will solve an annoying problem with our new EXPENSIVE equipment.

Time to post this entry and get to the “Y”: I need to erg extra hard this morning to make up for not rowing yesterday…..