September 20, 2015
Re: Letter 42 of 3
Dear Riley,
I realized after I had written last week that I never mentioned our spear fishing/free diving adventure. I had spent the better part of a day building a second pole spear and upgrading my other one with a fiberglass extension and new style of tip with greater holding power. I had done a gear assessment and determined we had all of the equipment for two sets of colder water diving minus one diving hood. I decided I could probably do without the a hood so we headed up to DC around 12:00 and had all our gear moved to the selected dive site a little after 1:00 p.m. We had to hoof it a fair distance because we were on the West side just north of the buoys designating culinary use. The amount of gear was sufficient to justify two trips by two people. I had given Parker the 7 mm wetsuit and hood, which was quite snug and took about 15 minutes to work into. No sooner had we gotten ready to go into the water, Parker got a call reminding him that he hadn’t yet gotten his senior picture taken and we had about 40 minutes before the deadline.
We took off our gear, left it by the reservoir, and ran off for the senior picture. On the way back, we picked up the wheeled cart I purchased for my tree sprayer and hauled it back up to the reservoir to carry all our gear when we came home. Back at the reservoir and once again in full gear, we worked to adjust our weight so we were close to neutrally buoyant. We could see that within 30 to 50 feet of the shore the water was quite turbid but supposed that beyond this, visibility would be considerably better. As it turned out, visibility near the shore was about 12 inches and 50 feet out from shore visibility was around 12 feet. We spent the time figuring out the limitations of the equipment and working to equalize our ears all while trying to get to a bottom which seemed far beyond our reach. I don’t know how deep it was, but the shore was quite steep and you didn’t need to be far from shore before it was at least 20 feet deep. It was a little unnerving to dive down into the murk without knowing how far you needed to go and when to give up and turn back. (Note to self; a hood makes a big difference and prevents throbbing cold headache.) I also kept getting a cramp in one of my legs which made things even more complicated. After an hour and a half we were ready to throw in the towel and we hadn’t even taken the spears into the water. We were both a little down at failing to produce anything for the table, but we did enjoy the time together and the adventure. I’m thinking we need to fine tune some equipment, get a few more important pieces, and hit this reservoir earlier in the season before all the algae clouds the visibility so much.
Yesterday I made four loaves of sourdough and gave three away. We were just sitting down to eat the fourth loaf and Josie decided she wanted olive oil, salt, and pepper on hers. Before I knew it she was trying to carry the bottle of oil herself, which was a little too heavy and cumbersome for her little hands. I heard a thud and turned to see the lid shooting across the floor, the bottle on its side, and copious amounts of olive oil pouring from the top. Olive oil had shot a full 10 feet in some directions. It splashed on the lower cabinets and the refrigerator and there was a fair amount across the floor. It was a disaster, but Cambry and I laughed and I set about figuring out the best way to clean it up. Josie ran upstairs and shut herself into her room after assuring us it was just an accident. We both called her back and told her she wasn’t in trouble. Bad idea! She ran back in to the kitchen and immediately wiped out on the largest puddle. This covered her hands, feet, legs and clothing. Cambry took charge of the bath while I reclaimed the kitchen. What a mess!!
The remainder of my Saturday was spent moving the remaining sides of my cement planter boxes, stowing them in the back yard, and repairing the van. Would you believe it? In order to get to the rear spark plugs and oxygen sensor I needed to remove the entire housing for the windshield wipers and still needed to do much by feel. By the time I completed the project it was sundown and I was beginning to suspect that whoever engineered that vehicle was very likely serving time in prison as a psychotic serial killer. I never did make it to clearing out the garage so we could park the car and some new bikes in it. Perhaps next week??
Well, it’s really pretty late and I’m afraid I’m going to miss you, so I’ll send you what I’ve written so far. We’re doing well and enjoying this beautiful time of year as well as the blessings from having a missionary out. The time just flies by. MN just gave his return missionary address and it seems like he just left. Keep up the good work and continue to be faithful and diligent in doing everything in your power to allow the Lord to bless you.
Love,
Dad
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