Kaimusailing

I ordered 8 picture frames from arttoframes.com in Brooklyn, NY. I was offered a 10% off coupon or free shipping on first order over $75. The order was about $150 and shipping would have been $31, so I took the free shipping offer. The order was 4 mahogany and 4 walnut stained oak picture frames for 12x18 prints.
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The activities of last weekend's 4 day weekend left me sore and achy, it will take all week to recover, if I take it easy. NFLnetwork is reairing preseason games and I watched Monday Night Football on a Tuesday afternoon. Air conditioned boater's lounge.
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I was wondering how to kill the afternoon, it was so hot. I was OK with it, not as bad as Georgia, and out of the blue Eve, the artist asked if I wanted to go on a ride with her. What? Of course. Sounds like another version of last weekend's early beginning, but I wasn't feeling giddy from blood pressure this time. I waited for her in the marina's boater's lounge. I watched the second half of last weekend's football game between the Jaguars and the Saints. It was worth watching, but I wasn't too chagrined to turn it off and sit in Eve's big SUV, albeit with her rapidly growing black lab bitch licking me.
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We went to How Sweet It Is, a sprawling mecca of stuff, they have everything there. Landscaping supplies, ceramic planters, lawn decorations, and even a farmer's market kind of store with all sorts of gourmet goodies. I hadn't had lunch and was starting to feel famished. We went to Tall Tales for a late lunch, joined by Diana, Eve's friend. Crushes, orange and grapefruit flavored, lunch, beautiful day. On the way back to Crisfield we stopped at the Legion for a couple more drinks and watch the sun set over Jaynes Island.
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The next day might have been a hangover day, sure felt like it. Stayed in the boater's lounge, air conditioned, to watch some replayed preseason games of the NFL. Stopped at Cornelia Marie's house to check out an umbrella for the picnic table. She was off to a Happy Hour with the ladies and I was not invited. I have never gone to the Happy Hour even though I really like all the participants. I was off to the Red Shell Shanty.
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At the shanty I ordered an orange crush and 5 chicken fingers with blue cheese dip. We turn on the big screen and we get it on a football game, a replay of the same game we saw here about a week ago. Same game shown at the same time, 4 PM, when the shanty opens. It was a lot later than 4 PM when we got the game up, but it was still early in the first quarter. We knew the Jets had won over the Packers, but the score now was only Jets 3 and the Packers looked like they were playing well. I remembered Zach Wilson threw 2 touchdown passes in the first half and we were almost done with the first quarter. Did he throw 2 TD's in just one quarter of play? Indeed.
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I remarked that the last time this happened, last week, I was sitting alone watching football and Eve the artist and her friend Diana stopped in for crushes and some food. Tonight is an exact replay, I say the women will come in right after this play, and just then, hey look, it's Cornelia Marie's mother coming into the Shanty. I was glad to see her. I think we can handle almost anything as long as we have a friend. We talked and I like to hear her talk in her Massachusetts accent. It began to get hot in the Shanty, no not that, c'mon, the air conditioning was struggling. We went outside. We talked and talked. Sometimes you are talking just to let the other person get it out of their system. Sometimes you need some help yourself, and then hope you have a friend you can talk to. She is terrible, she spews out double entendres one right after the other.
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Others arrived, the walking wounded of the last fiasco, just yesterday, and maybe the day before, I can't remember. One of the worst protagonists was missing, Miss Eve, the artist, and the organizer of us in Crisfield. We found her at the Legion begging us to come over. What an amusing cast of characters, which I expect I might be one, not by design. I bummed a ride over to the Legion.
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Eve was there on the deck, in the corner, where we had been before. I tried to get into the chair next to her. It was damaged and I sat at a tilt. Others began to show up, I could see them, but I couldn't get up out of my chair, it was so tilted back and to the right, more and more.
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The chef was grilling steaks, Eve was feeding me little bites of steak, like giving out doggie treats. Maybe she really wants a male dog. Diana who was kind of across the table bought me another orange crush, watch out Diana.
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Cornelia Marie suggested I vacate the chair and she picked it up and twisted it back into position. Suddenly I was sitting in an erect chair, great move Kid.
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The next day started blurry, not sure, was I coming down with something, or could this be a nasty hangover? I had to make it to the showers. I didn't wear a shirt. I wanted to get some tan before the pool party next week. Went to CM's house, not sure what the plan was. It was early in the afternoon and I could guess she wanted to get something done. There was another step on her back steps that needed to be replaced. We already had a balk of lumber to trim to fit. We had a ton of tools in the basement, and ultimately all of them came out to do one thing or another. I had forgotten my reading glasses, which made a further safety hazard, not only could I not see what I was doing, the glasses weren't there to deflect debris headed for my eyes.
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When we replaced the previous step a while ago, it was a fight, I wrecked part of the stairway stringer, which required a repair under suspicious eyes. It was repaired, but I was still suspect, and now we were doing another one. We couldn't find the torx bit that we could use to remove the rusted deck screws. We wanted a T-25 bit. We made do with a T-20. The electric drill would strip the screw heads, so we had to unscrew the deck screws by hand with a right angle ratcheting bit driver. That took a while, but it worked. We were working together, that made me glad. What didn't make me glad, CM had no cool beverage for her overworked slave labor. We took a break.
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We got some seltzer drinks. These you don't want to run out of in hot weather. Two cases. Tasted sweet, but it was cold. We sipped as we drove back. Somehow we packed in a run to the waste transfer place. I needed to wash my hands now, CM took a shower. We were off to the steak grille at Eve's house.
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We contributed some baking potatoes and some good cabernet. The women were drinking pinot grigio. But then there were defectors, getting some of the Black Box Cabernet. CM's mom was there as well as Eve's friend Diana, plus now we had Kahlua, Nori, and another dog going crazy. The courses of food are coming out, one right after another. Cucumber salad, tomato/cheeze/basil/vinaigrette. Some kind of potato concoction, hey, I bought baking potatoes, OK, I tasted it, OK fine. The steaks came out and were set aside as is accordant with steak cooking policy. When the steak is finished on the grill, it gets about 15 minutes rest reorganizing itself as a gourmet steak. We ended up in so much conversation, devouring the cucumbers and some potato, it was time for the steak and we were ready.
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We were the bad crowd, as in, I've fallen in with a bad crowd. I remember a bad movie later at CM's house, not sure how I got back to the marina. I remember shutting off the radio that had been playing all day while I was gone. Need sleep.
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Woke up, made my normal breakfast, ham and cheese omelet sandwich. Big mug of coffee. Feeling dry and thirsty. Tried out the laptop onboard in the cabin with the high power wifi antenna, bingo, streaming video, and what everybody wants, LA Times crossword. Feeling pretty rank, had enough sweat, and slept in my shirt, damp, I don't know how Cornelia Marie gets me out without a shower, oh, just come on over, I think there must be another project.
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She's pressure washing the front porch steps out in the sun. I zoom in on the bike and throw it on the lawn, can't prop it up against the steps now, can I? I let her work, I'm like a dog on a leash who knows after duly training, not to jump in just yet, your mistress will wipe her brow and look your way and gladly give you the pressure washer gun of torture, yes, now you can do it.
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Pressure washing is a rewarding experience when you're holding the gun of torture, blasting crap off of your, well hers, stairway. She had an old teak bench, weathered, and I had remarked how good it would look with a clear finish, if we could clean up the old teak. She said she liked it as old teak. Then she went at it with the pressure washer torture gun. I couldn't believe it. She blasted it up one side and down the other. Well, maybe we can turn it around and do the other side, NO, she says, we have to bring it down on the sidewalk. I help her. I did some blasting and knew that she would step in when I was spent and unable to continue, she blasted like hell, from up on the porch the bench looked like new teak. She had tendrils of sweaty hair around her face, her clothes were soaked, she blasted and then took a break. It looked like the work was done and I just had to check a few areas and clean up, but no, I found by rolling the bench over, there were many more areas to blast. I worked around and got them all done. She pointed out edges that had been missed due to the angle of the pressure washer. I got them.
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I took a break and drank another Mango Lemonade Seltzer. It was cold and fizzy, and there was possibly some alcohol in there. Don't drink if you are pregnant.
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We put things away carefully. We had won the war. Defeated the green stuff on our pressure treated items. We closed the basement and tool shed. CM said we have to go to her mom's. She had said previously, well maybe my mom might have dinner with me, but I can't invite all my friends there. Her mom was throwing a pizza party. She invited all of CM's friends, who are also her mom's friends, the bad crowd. CM took a shower and changed clothes. I washed my hands. I could smell myself like an old wet dog.
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At her mom's waterfront house I walked all the way around to the dock and then up to the dockside entrance to the place. Oh, it's Andy. I still had to pad through the place to let CM and Nori in. You can't hear the door knock out on the deck near the dock.
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The conversation went all the way down the women's gauntlet, including, guy's don't look or listen to this, birth of children and of puppies. "My husband almost died when the nurse showed him the placenta, bless his soul." I kind of paraphrased that. They did it to me too. Years ago. I didn't pass out.
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We broke up the dinner and packaged some leftovers. None of that pizza for me. We'll do better ourselves next week when we recreate Pizza Night.
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The photo is of the Small Boat Harbor from CM's mom's dock.