Hauled Sal’s non-running boat today.  Out of the water, up the marine ways and onto the lower deck.  Removed engine.  Hauled that little sucker further up the hill to the shop.  Sal’s adamant, “We can do this thing!  I do not want to take it into some dishonest mechanic and pay $1,000 for them to blow out the carburetor or something.  We have fuel.  We have spark.  We have at least half a brain between us (?) and a shop full of tools.  We can do this!” 

“OK.  I’m in.  Can you carry it to the shop?”

“No!  And don’t be a smart-alec.  YOU have to do the heavy lifting!”

“Fair enough.  You gonna search You-tube to ferret out the glitch?”

“Nope.  YOU have to do You-tube, too.”

“Fine.  No problem.  But you realize that, if I do the research, you are then just the silent, cooperative, helpful assistant and I am the main mechanic.  Mechanic #1.”

“No way!  It is MY engine.  We are co-mechanics!”

And……..such is life amongst the blind leading the blind deep off the grid and eventually off the edge of a cliff.  Incompetent, but equally so.

I would admit to ‘not having a clue’ as to what is wrong with the motor but, after all this time, we actually DO HAVE clues (but just because Colonel Mustard was in the library does not mean he used the lead pipe…you know what I mean?).  WE JUST have clues.  NO REAL KNOWLEDGE!

Tomorrow, we haul my boat.  Service it.  Tie it down.  Then I service all the engines we own.  Oil, filters, top-ups, etc.  Then we check it all and make a mental note of what we did.  As long as I do EVERYTHING it is just a mental note and I will remember.  But, if I can’t get it all done, I have to write it down which chore was left undone otherwise I am re-doing more than one thing when we get back.

Never had to do that kind of crap before.  Now I do.

Excess food gets gifted to the needy (read: conveniently nearby) and anything vulnerable to the weather will be stored under something.  WE will check.  WE will prepare.  WE will pack and we will worry….for about a day and then put it out of our minds.  Have to – NOTHING can be done when you are a day (or more) away.

AND short term memory is at a premium nowadays.

Book #4 is being talked about a bit.  Not much.  No story in mind.  No clue of a story, really…  I have all sorts of great stories from ghettos, to bouncing in pubs, from sailing boats to working on Skid Row.  I could do travel stuff.  I could do a tome on mediations.  A really thick one JUST on separation agreements.

Stuff?  I got stuff.  I got stuff up the yin yang.  But a writer has to write what a writer feels like writing and cares about and all of that was then.  This is NOW!  So, we will likely do something with Charlie and Nancy in the now.

I have suggested we try a soft porn romance but Sal has ruled that out.

“Why, sweetie?  It’s just fiction.  It’s classed as fiction, presented as fiction and everyone knows it’s fiction.”

“I don’t care!  People already accidentally call me Nancy!”  

“Hmmmm…..no one has accidentally called me ‘Charlie’…..?

“Well, obviously!  Duh!”