"Babe, I'm a thousand miles away
And I just don't know what to say
'Cause Jesus only loves a man who bruises
But darling we can clearly see
It's all life and fire and lunacy
And excuses and excuses and excuses"
Our first time suspending a chaos ball on a doubled pulley system. I was able to hoist @sacrificethelamb up an extra ~20" higher from our previous suspensions using a standard 2:1 pulley. This body net is comprised of ~ 50m of rope and took around 45min to create.
Shibari and photos: me
Beautiful ball: @sacrificethelamb
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I wanna feel sorta proud of what I managed to get done today, but since I have no one to tell about it I’m inflicting it on all of you.
When I was a child our wading pool was this thing, a bit of scrap from the family fiberglass business Pop added a drain plug to. It was deeper that the wading pools most kids have, which was why it was so much more fun.
Anyway, eventually we grew up and didn’t need a back yard wading pool in town when we had our swimming pool at the shop. The wading pool got carried down to our river place and set on the drydock where it could be used to hold fish. I never fished (long story) but my father occasionally set fish traps, an uncle and his wife that loved fishing would visit very often, and there was this commercial fisherman friend that was always giving us more live catfish than we could eat (or, in my case because if my allergy…NOT eat). A tank to hold fish was kinda useful.
When my father got sick we stopped going to the river every day. Then life became a series if disasters, and we almost never made it to the river. Vandals did a lot of things. Break ins, graffiti, smashed portholes, gunshot damage, a smashed power box…and someone shoved our old wading pool into the river.
The wading pool ended up in the river, but between to the boat and drydock isn’t so deep nowadays with the river lower. One flange could be gotten at from the drydock with a bit of work, so for ages I meant to get it out. It just wasn’t a priority though. With houses falling apart around me, the animals to care for, and a new crisis everyday I couldn’t spend much time on something that can’t rot or move.
But the boat has serious problems. Again, long story, but it has an alarming list, water in the engine room, and is totally aground. My brother has decided the boat is the main priority over anything else. (yes, including a tree on the house, holes in the floor, no electricity, broken pipes, etc ….’cause he doesn’t live here) And he has ideas where that old wading pool would be useful.
On two different trips he made a stab at us getting it out. Things did not go well. We should probably leave it at that.
The thing was, unlike my brother, I spent decades helping Pop out in the shop where hauling and moving heavy loads using old fashioned manual tools was an every day job. I had ideas of how to haul the pool out I was sure would work, at least with a bit of persistence and adaptability in the moment.
Trouble was, I just didn’t have the energy to fight with my brother over everything. He can be….difficult…for me to work with. Together I wouldn’t be listened to, I’d get yelled out, I’d have to do things I knew wouldn’t work anyway just to prove it, and there was a very good chance someone would get hurt.
I needed to do it alone, before my brother could return in July.
I was absolutely certain we could do it. I wasn’t sure I could do it.
What I mean is, I knew what to do but everything would be extremely difficult for one person alone. Just for starters I’d have to haul with a come-along tied to the mast up on the boat, and I’d have to pull the pool towards the dry dock, and I’d have to hold logs back from jamming into the pool with the water current at the same time. I couldn’t be up on the boat AND on the drydock at the same time, let alone doing several jobs at once!
I told Mom in frustration after my first attempt, that I knew on the old days, with both her and Pop, the three of us could have done it in an hour. I also told her that if it had been before her stroke the two of us could have done it in an afternoon. But I was trying to do it alone, and knew of no one I trusted to help me.
I think I hurt someone’s feelings by saying I needed to do it alone. Even someone enthusiastic and meaning well wouldn’t be enough, it would have to be someone that I was sure had experience with this things. You could get seriously hurt with the things involved, or I could be so distracted trying to make sure they were safe I’d end up hurt. I had to do it alone so NO one would get hurt.
Yeah, the pics make it look simple. It wasn’t tons of silt as well as water filling the pool, the tilt of the boat and where I had the flange to fasten to pulling it into the side of the boat, nothing to tie to on the drydock in the places where I most needed them…..
I won’t bore you with all the details. Stuff happen. Difficulties were encountered and worked around. When the come-along on the boat had it’s lower mechanism jam I ended up having to lower thing by using the rope I’d tied the thing to the mast , which is NOT easy after a heavy load has pulled the knots tight that weren’t meant to be loosened under strain anyway. That sort of thing.
Point is, I DID IT! I got the dang thing safely on the drydock. Nothing was damaged and I got no injuries (other than when I was carrying the comealong over the plank at the beginning and got pinches). I am overjoyed!
You know, in a way it was fun. It was like the old days. The mix of figuring things out with your brain, while working your body hard, pushing yourself with an absolute determination and confidence that you will find a way….
That use to be what every single day was like growing up, and right up until the day Pop died. After Mom’s grief drove her to stop caring and then the difficulties I faced after Mom’s stroke got so overwhelming, I dunno. Nothing was ever as simple and straightforward as the old days. It was been tasks that were just beyond me, or at least too many of them at once that I didn’t know how to deal with. I have just felt so crushed by all that I can’t do compared to the old days where every day felt like accomplishments or progress.
This feels GOOD! Good to have done, but actually wonderful to do. It reminds me of who I have always been. I’m a Wolfe, and I did what we Wolves always did: we work our asses off with our mind and body to always find a way. I’m glad I can still do this, even if I now have to do it alone. The Lone Wolfe can get by when she has to! LOL
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