The power of a single word

Yesterday's post that mentioned the word "hoopie" brought out two great comments.  You can see them below the post that contained the word.  It's interesting how some words will have enough power to bring back memories.  It's almost like such words flip an unknown inner switch and, poof, the memories pour forth.  Ah, the power of a single word!

We managed to get a lot done on Boat Prep yesterday. I even whacked off my paddle! Yep, I took a hacksaw to the aluminum shaft of an old Carlisle canoe paddle and whacked off almost a foot of the shaft length. Then I put the T-handle up close and personal to our bench grinder and chewed off enough of the flimsy metal so I could pry out the T-handle. After de-burring the shaft and slopping on a lot of silicone, I pounded the T-handle down into the newly-shortened shaft. It will make a much better spare paddle for the Lynx than a typical long canoe paddle. It's also going to fit into the new paddle bag I'm having made at Rachel's Place. I've never vandalized a paddle before so it felt a bit odd.
Luckily, it turned out great.

We also put together a real nice first aid kit by robbing stuff from our various household and truck and camp kits. After I find a spare airway for CPR, the kit will be complete. Speaking of CPR, I wonder what the ratio of breaths to compressions is these days. I think I heard a rumor that they've said "skip the breaths" and focus on compressions. Hum...this means some research lies ahead.

The big Boat Prep work involved getting our air pumps organized and "proofed." This took a fair amount of time as various nozzles had to be retrofitted for the new boat. Everything's feng shui now and we have the perfect dry bag for the pump, AIRE repair kit, first aid and some rudimentary tools. Writing this reminds me I need to find a signal mirror. I actually know how to use a signal mirror. Most people carry them but have no clue how to use them. I've practiced use of the little buggers flashing an Arizona neighbor while we used our cell phones to discuss whether the flash was visible from 8 miles away. I highly recommend such practice even if you never plan to actually use a signal mirror in an emergency. Why? Well, flashing off someone from 8 miles away is a lot of Huck Finn-style fun.

Hopefully, we will wrap up all the Boat Prep stuff today and move onto something a little more practical like Food Prep. We'll be leaving Tuesday morning for Heather's Place. She's having a Memorial Service for her Dad who passed on in January. There's going to be a lot of people there for the service. After everyone leaves, Heather wants us to stay awhile and help her work online to sell her Mystic Canyon Ranch down by Mountain Home. Then, we are hoping to go camp along the Salmon River for a few days. We might also spend a couple of days in Salmon helping Debby @ RSVP. This last option is real sketchy and totally "iffy."
There's no lack of stuff to do up in Custer and Lemhi Counties--two of our favorite places! Anyway, the Food Prep for this trip is real complicated since it's customary that we provide at least one meal while we're at Heather's Place. Luckily, there are two great grocery stores in Challis and a superb market in Salmon.

All of this Boat Prep stuff could be for naught. The water simply might be far too high everywhere even next week and the week after that. Wouldn't it be ironic and hilarious if we go to all this trouble rigging the boat and get up to the Salmon River and shake our heads and say "No way!" Oh, well, I guess we might as well savor the joys of simple Backyard Boating. It's kind of like armchair boating, only different.

Enough rambling and digressions! Have a great day & Cheers, jp

PS--Ironically, the first website I found when checking into CPR was a paddling website! Naturally, some guy wrote up a real nice synopsis of the "new" CPR procedure(s). Click here to see the website and the procedure(s). I think it's 2 breaths to every 30 compressions now. Click here for a real nice printable one-page CPR "cheat sheet."