Five O'Clock Somewhere

Welcome to Five O'Clock Somewhere, where it doesn't matter what time zone you're in; it's five o'clock somewhere. We'll look at rural life, especially as it happens in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, cats, sailing (particularly Etchells racing yachts), and bits of grammar and Victorian poetry.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Barn raising

A break from trailer building

After two solid days of working on the trailer, it felt good to take a break, although at the end of the day I’m feeling restless and dissatisfied. The Rio Grande Sailing Club has acquired the franchise to run the mast-up storage lot near the main boat ramp at Elephant Butte, and we have been making improvements to the facility, including resurfacing the lot and acquiring a mule – a motorized device to move boats around the lot more safely and conveniently than having people drive cars and trucks around. To prevent theft and vandalism, we got a storage shed, henceforth to be known as the “mule barn,” and today, we had the barn raising.

Overall, the day was a success. We got the barn put together, and afterward we gathered at the Fleet 141 Compound for food and social activity, and there was a lot of laughter and some poetry and even a bit of song.

But still, I feel, well, sort of flat. Partly it may have to do with the holiday weekend, which has great noisy crowds of people descending on the lake. Partly it may have to do with feeling extremely out of touch, because I have now been four days without Internet access, not even email, and it will probably be two more before I am even able to post this or the previous blog post. I suppose I’m really in a sorry state if I so seriously miss the company of people whom I know only as electronic manifestations, but I do.

Still, it isn’t only the electronic world that I miss. There are people who are not here – and I can’t really blame them, given the horrific nature of the crowds this weekend – but I miss them, and there were other events that made it worse. I almost wish I’d gone back to Albuquerque today.

1 Comments:

Blogger Pat said...

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if were crowds of sailors instead of jet skiers running amuck, speed boaters blasting away, and a general run of drunks, clueless people, and hooligans?

By the way, who was at the barn raising?

Maybe tonight and tomorrow morning things will have calmed enough to allow you to get out.

Here at Heron, things are very quiet. A few boats from the marina went sailing, plus a group of Hobie cats that were having a regatta, but overall the place is calm, and peaceful, like a great outdoor cathedral of wind and water set among the wooded hills and distant mountains.

Sun May 28, 10:29:00 AM MDT  

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