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We hope it's fixed, anyway. We called them about the overtemp alarm and they could take it yesterday, and they were able to fix it by today! So, I went and got it. Unfortunately while they were hooking it up to the van, apparently the mechanism didn't catch around the hitch ball, and so when I drove out of the driveway and there was a little bump entering the road, it DETACHED from the van! There was some yanking and noise and I could see it skewing around wildly behind the van. I pulled over immediately and went out to investigate and sure enough, no longer attached. First time those safety chains have been invoked!

I ran back to get someone to help, because although probably I could have lifted the trailer while I was running on adrenaline, I didn't want to do it alone in case I slipped or something. I also kind of wanted to show them their screwup... Three guys came over to help and they quadruple checked that it was connected before I went on my way.

No damage to boat or trailer, minor damage to the bumper of the van -- which I'd slammed into with the Leaf two years prior so it's not like it was any great loss. I decided not to make a claim against their insurance -- it was their fault, because they are the ones who actually did the hookup. Maybe it was also my fault for not checking that it was hooked, but I figured they do this every day. I've had the mechanism not catch before, and I could always tell it wasn't working so I would try to re-seat it until it was solid. But, like, the van's 11 years old and I don't care what it looks like. Cosmetic damage is great: it keeps thieves away.

It's still in the driveway because we're being cheap and waiting til the boat ramp police go home at 7 so we can launch for free.

I drove it a bunch this weekend, towing many children on a tube, who all had a good time, and the elder of whom kept asking for "faster", but there wasn't any faster to be had. I tried to waterski, got up on two but not one, and when I thought about dropping the 2nd ski, seemed like I was kind of sinking a lot and might not have stayed up. Jocelyn got up on one, but said that the ride was more work because she was plowing through the water so much.

The shop had said it was fine to drive it in this "running rough and not giving all power" state, even said it might be good for it, blow out crap that was in the carbs. But, no go. I ran through about 8 gallons of gas, I'd say. Put in the gas conditioner they'd given me last time, even. Hope they're done by the 23rd! I told him about the party and he seemed to think there would be no problem having it ready.

Valerie and Jocelyn went to Pride, but Ken and I stayed home. (Perry stayed home too, but he never does anything interesting. We did play a game this evening, which he won, and this morning he and I worked together to fix a couple of bugs on LambdaMOO, so it wasn't all solo computer play for him today.)

While home, though, we did useful things: Launched the sailboat! Had some trouble with the mast, had to raise and lower it a couple of times, but eventually got it in working order. The mooring had been dragged a little ways by the ice this winter, even though there wasn't much, so I put on my wetsuit and moved it back where it belongs. Then, since I was wearing the wetsuit and hadn't had any exercise besides raising the mast twice and running back and forth from the car to the trailer, I went for a short swim. Counts double, though, because doing anything in a wetsuit is tiring. Kind of fun to be that buoyant. Then I replaced the center seat in the canoe, which had collapsed, and we'd ordered a new one, but not got 'round to installing. So, vast lakeness! Yay.

Tomorrow Jocelyn has an end-of-year swim party to attend, 50 miles away, and I'm taking her. So there will be more water play. I hope I get to swim, not sure what's actually happening at the party. The hosting parent is a nervous ninny and keeps sending emails thanking me for chaperoning. I don't really intend to "chaperone", it was simply the easiest course of action because Jocelyn has something to do both before and after and will arrive late and leave early so carpooling can't work out.

The powerboat came back from the shop a couple weeks ago, and today we finally got around to launching it. A perfect day, very little wind, sunny and warm. We get down there, get it off the trailer and into the water, and try to start it. Grind. One little grind, and quit. Crap. We'd thought the battery was OK because it was raising and lowering the motor fine. Conference on the phone with people back home. We decide to jump it, our jumper cables are fairly long. Of course they're at home. So, back home to fetch them (I stayed with the boat). We were able to drag the boat close enough to the shore to get a connection -- "Don't do this near water", yeah right. Grind grind start. YAY. I drove around a bunch to charge the battery. Unfortunately some of the buoys that mark hazards in the middle of the lake have not yet been installed, so I had to remember where they were, which I apparently did successfully.

So, after joyriding, we returned to shore, where we "rescued" a couple of dead sailboats which had drifted near our shore in a recent storm. Some fussing to get them dragged to where we could portage them out. Boy are they dead -- so many holes in the bottom! We were able to drag them partway onto the dock and let them drain before dragging them all the way up the steps.

I'm not sure this is a brilliant move, however, because now we have these two dead boats, and we don't have a plan for getting rid of them. It's like, I picked up litter from the lake, and now I'm going to have to pay to get it hauled away. I've written to the local sailing club for advice. Likely the boats came from them anyway!

All this dragging of boats around has really tired me out. Plus the hour of sitting around in the wetsuit (someone has to be able to wade, possibly deep, in 55 degree water). Doing anything in a wetsuit is an enormous amount of work.