Ok, due to that fact that this site isn't really meeting our current lists of needs, I have started a different blog page. Here is the addy. http://goneracin.blogspot.com/ I will now be posting on there, and as time allows, be transfering all of this page to there. Fun fun! So update your info on us, and we will see you there! I will keep this blog open for the time being, until all is updated there, but will not be posting here. So you there!

You know, I'm just having a really hard time getting my mind around how many people are reading this! Wow! The daily stats just keep climbing!  Now I feel guilty when I don't post something regularly. So that being said, here you go. This weekend is Patoroes. For those who aren't familiar with the state, it is about 1 hour (ish) north of Wenatchee. Not to far from Chelan. This is looking to be a sweet race to! They have fireworks scheduled, live music, and many other things to do outside of the races. Just the two of us going, which means I get to talk on radios and hold the boat. hmmm hope I don't get wet. I don't think the radio would like that to well. So I will give you updates when we get home. Oh yah, it is official, we are now 2 points behind for national points, sucks. Ok, I guess I should work now, being I am here and all! Ta Ta!

well, wasn't that just fun and entertaining. I can't believe that last call! Everyone was off plane, not just Jean. Everyone. That has to be one of the must frustrating singled out calls I have heard in a while. Well, I guess that is just the way it goes. That's all, I just thought that I would state my thoughts. Well, I have a screaming, cranky, past needing sleep three yr old, so I be going now. I will update you on all later. Night!

Well, things didn't work, so we didn't get the newbie this past weekend. I guess it will be a few weeks till we have the chance to get it, so no pics of it yet! Sorry! Here is my ? for the week. Where will YOU be for Seafair?

2 points. 2! Oh, do you want to know what I am talking about? Sorry. I just looked at the high points, and even though the current page shows us being #1, we know what we took at our last race, and what the boat closest to us took, and when the points get tallied, he will be a whopping 2 points ahead of us. !!!!2!!!! Not 100, no even 5, but 2! Ok, sorry, that just sucks. At least it could be a even number, but to say that we are losing the high points because of 2 points, well, how lame is that?! hehe, ok, I feel better. I had to vent a tad bit. What really sucks is that he will jump ahead by the middle of August, because he is able to afford going cross country to the nationals, where as we aren't. That is points and a half. So even more than. Oh well. At least we can say that we carried the high points for a good six months. At least that! Ok, go enjoy your day, I am sitting here patiently waiting for that amazing wind fall of money my horrible scope told me was going to happen today!

Well, I guess we did some damage this weekend. Nothing big and bad, just broke the turnbuckles on the skid fin. That could make it hard to stay in the corners!  The bracket for it is also bent, so we need to make a new bracket, and pick up some turnbuckles. Nothing much. I think this is going to be a few weeks of time devoting to our other boat. Did I tell you? We are picking up our newbie this weekend! Now we get to sit and moan over how much work there is to do on that one. Remember, this one is just the hull. Nothing else. All the pieces are there, just not together.  So fix this, build that, look over there, doesn't add up to alot of work this time around. LOVE IT!!  So that is all! Just thought that I would give you that little update. When we get the boat, and I get around to it, I will take some pics of it. I think that I might do some type of photo page, this one doesn't hold that many, so if I do that, I will post the link on here. Have a good one!

Well when I said it was going to be hot, I didn't think it would be as hot as it was. Ouch triple digits when racing sucks. We got home today, and are now freezing! We were in triples all weekend, the nights cooling down to a cold (Ha!) 80 ish degrees. So as far as the race went, it was one of those weekends where it just goes. Sweet, simple, no stress, just get in and go. I love races like that. They are so few and far in between, that you almost forget they happen. Then you get one like this last one, and it makes you remember why you really love racing. Just for the fun of it. We placed 3rd for the weekend. Again. I think that that is just our place for this summer. It just seems to fit I guess. Nothing went wrong with the boat, nothing happened, just raced. Easy really. So great for us, but uneventful for writing a blog. We did get a new a prop this weekend. But that is about all that happened. So we now have 3 weeks off, then off to Pateroes. So that is really about all I have to say for now, not much info I know, but hey! it happens!

Well Jim likes to think it was the speck, I like to think it was the wire. All in all, it might not have been either one, but something worked! It ran. It really ran! So for the weekend, the western divisional's, we finished 3rd overall. We had a big turnout. We had boats show up that haven't ran in forever. And once again, the record was broke. Wasn't us, but still, what a fast heat that was! So I keep wanting more than third, but with the amount of boats, I am VERY happy with this one! We still had a few problems, some against another boat/driver, and some with our boat. The one thing we kept running into with ours, was that it was going to fast. Go figure. Every time it would start hauling butt, it would get to light, and he would have to get on the wing to get the boat back down to the water. That really eats up speed to have to get on the wing. As far as the other boat, well, a fairly new driver to the sport, and a little on the aggressive side, alot on the cocky side, and he really doesn't know the ups and downs yet. He hasn't broke to many of the rules, but as far as safety (his and others) he really sucks in that department. You really can't take a boat going 100 mph through the rooster tail of another boat going the same speed, and not at some point in time run up that tail. It happens, it happens alot, it hurts. The boat can run right up that rooster tail, all the way to the top, and then where do you have left to go? Yep. A long fall back down to the water. He did it last year, flipped it, came back out this year two races ago, and has already gone up a good handful of tails, luckily not flipping, just some flying. But when he does it next to MY husband, well the result is a really ummmm mad? wife! I almost lost it on Sunday, I don't know when or if I have been that ticked before. But kudos to myself, I didn't say a thing to him. I didn't even give him a dirty look. Ok, so I had to put about 300 feet between myself and him, but I did that. Soooo now that my witching is done.....(sorry, I can and will get worked up on him for awhile I'm guessing) On to other things. Better things! We are still #uno in the nation. WOW! We held our own, and hope to keep holding! I have to throw out a big thanks to our newest sponsor as of this weekend, King Concrete in Renton. They stepped up and helped us get through the rest of the year! Yay!!! Thank You George and Nancy! (and Shell to!) So, now onto the next race, which is to the east side of the mountains. Oroville. Hot, dry, fires, long drive, did I mention hot? That is this coming up weekend, so we aren't even unloading the truck. We do have to put a new axle on the trailer, thank you major pothole on I-5. Ouch! Had to baby the trailer home.  Ok, I have cranky kids, and so I am going to run! Hope you have a great week!!

Oh please, oh please, oh please..... So, we found two things that could be the problem. The problem is, we won't know until the boat is on the water. And if you know the SJ's, there isn't really anywhere we can test it here.  To much driftwood, to many "friends". So we cross our fingers and hope for the best. So here is what we found. Jimmy found an absolute minuscule piece of something in the carb, which could be it, maybe not. Then I found a short in the wiring. Which once again, could be, maybe not. Nothing is screaming out "this is it!" So here we sit. Hoping. The short wasn't huge, and honestly, it was alot of movement to find it, and we just aren't sure if that would happen while in a heat. The speck in the carb was just that. A speck. Soooooo we have torn it apart, replaced all lines, wires and pretty much anything else. We have to have found it! We are very much in #1 high points, and the divisionals are a big thing. Not to mention, we might have a new sponsor. !SWEET! But the extra pressure to do well, well...... we will see how that goes..... So off to Black Lake on Friday, I put out a call to all the local (read western Wa) to see if any know of a lake that we could throw the boat in to test on Thursday. So far not really, found 2 in eastern Wa, but then we would have to leave tomorrow. And hello! we both do have to work to support our hobby.....Thought about putting it in Sportsman's, but I am sure that would go over well, not to mention, we really couldn't get up to speed or turn a corner well. Or at all. Ok, just thought that I would let everyone know what was happening on this end. I won't be able to tell you how it went until after the race. There isn't anywhere that I can get a wireless connection down there, not even the cell's work. So I will update on Monday whenever we manage to get home.  So have a good one, it's supposed to be toasty warm this week! A little foggy right now though! Ta Ta! 

So I am sitting here at work, and get a call from my honey. GUESS WHAT?! well here, just let me copy and paste....  01110 - 5 LTR Rank Boat # Name City,State Races Total Points var rank=0; 1 31 JIMMY MAULDIN [FRIDAY HARBOR, WA] 8 1455 2 98 WALLY JOHNSTON [HELENA, MT] 9 1455 3 20 JUSTIN WEYMOUTH [WOODINVILLE, WA] 7 945 4 61 TERRY LEBLANC [YOUNGSVILLE, LA] 5 860 5 34 BRIAN OCONNOR [PALM CITY, FL] 5 745 6 25 CRAIG BONAR [E WENATCHEE, WA] 4 705 7 75 THOMAS D ENGLISH [CINCINNATI, OH] 4 618 this is the national high points......

Well, going through the boat, we have found some small stuff, but nothing that would contribute to the way it is performing. FRUSTRATING! Really annoying let me tell you. So we have taken a little break from working on the boat, and have doing some fixing on our camper. I just can't even look at the boat without getting frustrated right now. So as you can tell, we are still stumped. Trust me on this, when we do find something, you will know! I will be screaming from the roof tops!  SO that being said, have a grand day!!

ok, I am going to try this again. Sorry. First the blog wouldn't post anything, then I coudn't log on to it at all. Then I finally get on, and I was sicker than a dog. Still not up to speed, but am able to have a complete thought now. Although, now the whole house is sick. Well, I at least got mostly done before they started. I guess that is a good thing. Sooo the boat. Here's the thing. We don't know what is wrong with the newbie. It seems to run fine on smooth water, but as soon as it hit's rough water, (which is normally pretty fast) it seems to be choking itself. Soooo that being said, at Issy, we replaced the fittings, went through each hose from the fuel cell on out, tore apart the carb, checked and wound up replacing the plugs and distributor. Found nothing wrong. So we came home, tore it apart completely, did leak downs, vacuums and other tests, found nothing. Replaced all the hoses, connectors, packed the cell full of foam, checked everything again. Nothing. Ran at Richland, same thing. Soooo anyone have any idea's? We are out. And for me to admit that is bad. Jim has been building motors for as long as he can remember, and even though I am still learning, I can point out things. He can't get a finger on this one. Not to mention, however many other people we have talked to. Oh ya, we also went through all the wireing. So here we sit. Thankfully our next race isn't until the second weekend in July, but it is a important one. Divisionals. Double points. We are sitting at the top, and this could kill us in points for the season if we can't figure this out. So here is my plea for help. If you have any thought on what this could be..... talk to us! goneracin@rockisland.com    

Where to start? Let's see...Issaquah. The new motor didn't run as well as we hoped for. Don't get me wrong, it will rock once the bugs are worked out, but till then, well...not so grand. We are having a fuel issue. It seems to be that we are for whatever reason, not getting fuel in the corners. Easy fix right? Ummm you would think. But after going through everything possible, we havn't figured out why or how. We have now replaced pretty much everything from the fuel cell out. And hoping that would solve the problem, we took it to Richland. Where it still did it. Again. We missed Sat of racing, due to a wedding, (Congrats D & R!) So we raced on Sunday. Pulled a 2nd and a 3rd. I know, that sounds decent, but the 3rd wasn't much to brag about. Only 5 boats ran, 1 died mid race, and the other was having just as much (or more really) trouble as we were. We should have placed higher in that heat, but due to some crappy judging calls, that is where we sit. So we are home, and now all sick, so this is a short one, I don't have the energy to even sit here and type. Every letter is a supreme effort to hit. So I will do better in the next posting, I swear!

This is killing me! I can't get this to go.. We had a long weekend, and now, this blog is not functioning right, so I will try this one more time. I can't type this much! So we put a new motor in, and long story short, it ummm didn't meet our standards. Well, it will, it has the possibility, just some big bugs to find and fix. We finished 2 or 3 on the first heat, 3 on final on Sat, then Sunday, 3rd and 3rd. I'm tired of 3rd's...... I WANT MORE! hehe don't we all? So overall, it was 2nd for the weekend. We have Richland coming up this weekend, and have a whopping 3 (now 2) nights to work on it. Ouch... As soon as I know this is posting right, I will fill you in on all the gory details of our boat racing flops this weekend, lets just leave it at I now know what it is like to want to be done with it. At least for a few minutes... I think that is all it lasted. And just for the rumor mill on the island, even though it was announced that I (Tandi) was driving, I wasn't. We came home to emails, voice mails and a note on the door. So thanks for all the congrats, but it wasn't me.....ok, this is all I am willing to try pushing through here, so I will attempt a real update tomorrow... night!

hmmm. When it comes to Issaquah races, we expect the fall one to be crappy weather, but the June one is normally beautiful. I was looking at the weather forecast for next week, and guess what? Yep. Rain. Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. Yuck. We are going to be in the camper to. Which means we get stuck in the camper or canopy while not racing, and under umbrellas and canopy's during the races. Yuck again. So, I have been talking everybody into going to this race, due to it being huge, but you might want to check the weather once closer to the weekend, and see how that will effect you. Just thought that I would give you that sucky update! Hope you enjoy this weekend, not warm, but mostly sunny!

So I was just going through the web site for Issaquah, (our next race), and wow! Even if you don't like boat racing, (and my guess is it at least interests you, or you wouldn't be here) there is a huge amount of things going on at this race. Let's see, we have the boats, the normal cool car show, the food courts, then a motorcycle show, and a sport boat show, (the ones who can top 100mph if they felt like it) then there is also bands, dances, the outdoor bar thing..... all kinds of stuff! So here is the web site if your interested in this race!  www.tastinracin.com  

Well since we have a small break in between races, we have had the time to go through the boat. And we are glad we did! We found some small things to be fixed, and then WHAM! A motor mount was busted. I can see it now, hauling butt down the straight stretch, hit a minor roller, and hello baby! Let's see how high that motor could fly! Hehe, ok, maybe a little exaggerated, but you get the idea. So yah for small breaks in the schedule! So that being fixed, we are dumping the new motor in for Issaquah. This is normally a rough course, and our boat seems to have a love/hate relationship with it. Which is better than alot of others, who just have a hate. So, that is all for now. I was really just here to post some pics from the last 2 races. 1 for each. Enjoy!

Well what an interesting weekend that was. Saturday we didn't start racing until around 2:30, then 1 heat was ran before we had an hour wind hold. Yes, it was windy on Sat! We finally got our boat out, and in that 1st heat we pulled a 4th. For the final we were 3rd. Barely. Our boat and one other were head to head literally the whole heat, and the other took it by 1/4 of a boat.  Sunday, it was beautiful, hot and not windy. We started alot earlier in the morning, so the day went quickly. First heat I think was a 3rd, final a 2nd. And it was a close 2nd! It makes for such a cool heat when boats are battling, but really sucks when you don't get the win. So, all in all, we did manage to finish 1st for the weekend in points, and a trophy for 2nd in the final. So, we are currently standing (still) 1st in region 10 high points, and I think 2nd in the nation. That one is hard to calculate though, with all the different races going on nation wide, and in Canada, the points revolve alot. But I know we had alot of people commenting and grumbling this weekend about our point standing. Cool is about all I can say. So our next race isn't until June 1st. This one will be in Issaquah, and to date, our boat either loves it or hates it. We are putting a new motor in, and will have a new tow vehicle by then. That means that we can now take our camper and tow the boat, which in turn means no hotel or dining out. Money saved!! I have to point out to the islanders that the ferry isn't going to be any different with the new set up compared to the old. You know, over 30 foot long gets the same charge as those over heights! And we already hit that one! I am dreading the summer prices coming up though. That always hits hard. But, I can't complain to much, it is our choice to live here and race! Well, I am running away, I have much to do this week. Hope you have a grand one! I will post pics soon, I promise!

You know when you go on a va-ca, and you have enormous amounts of things to think about? Well that is kinda what it is like for a race. We have to pack our clothes, and all the things you use on a daily basis. Plus if we are camping, all that stuff to. Then food, drinks. Have to make sure we have alot of Red Bull on hand.....the reason? It is the best way to let you down slowly after a big adrenaline rush. You don't just crash. Then the boat stuff. This is the hardest, takes up the most space, is the heaviest, and unfortunately, doesn't all go in/on the trailer. Alot ends up in the truck. My poor truck going over the pass, towing the boat, loaded to the max, is a sad, sad, thing. We need a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. We have been looking, but things just never seem right for that type of payment....I'm sure you understand that! So we are off to Entiat this weekend, hoping that the getting there is easier than it was last week for Lawrence. We are supposed to be in the apple blossom parade on Sat, but I don't know if we are going to get there at a early enough time on Friday to get any sleep, so not sure if we will be in it or not. Although we should do to the sponsor factor. We'll see. Currently we are sitting 1st in points for our region, 4th in the nation. This I can handle!

Well doesn't that just say it all? After a rough start of actually getting to the race site, the weekend once started, ROCKED! The first heat of the day, not our class, had a boat flip on the second lap. Same spot as Jim last year. The second heat, our class, the first corner after the start line, we had a boat spin out literally right in front of us. Thought we ran over it. So they restarted that heat, minus the one boat, and on the second lap, another boat flipped. Same spot as last year. So after yet another restart, we pulled a third place. I was a little jumpy after all the boats going over, so I talked a bit more on the radio's than normal, which I think in turn affected how Jim raced. Our second heat on Saturday we somehow managed to pull first! Whoo hooo! So then to Sunday. Some more boats flipped, some blew motors, and one in our class broke the speed record. Congrats Jon! We pulled second in that heat, nobody wanted to blow Jon's chance of getting the record, so we weren't really fighting for placement. The final heat on Sunday was pretty blah. After a weekend of boats flipping left and right, (I think we saw 7-8 go over, 4-5 blow motors, 3-4 spin out) and the rain and wind kicking in, and the record being broke, no body's heart was really in the final. We took a third. Over all, we placed 2nd for the weekend, which currently puts us 1st in points for the moment. Entiat is coming up in a few days, and we were elected to be in the apple blossom parade (5 miles!) prior to the race on Sat, so that should be a interesting way to start a race! So I will post pics when I get them, and keep you updated for Entiat.. Have a grand week!!

Wow, I can't believe it! We got the yard mowed, the garabage to the dump, the house cleaned! I finally got a weekend home, without having to work on the boat, or be at a race, so my house got some attention. Cool. Ok, so this Lawerence Lake coming up this weekend, and I am being a little nervous. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that this is where we killed the boat last year. I wonder how many butterflies I will be able to count on Saturday? It doesn't seem like Jim is worried though. Ok, this is a quickie, I am at work, and should be doing work stuff I guess. So, I will update on Monday on how it goes!

Racing again. Breeze in my hair, bee's too! The sound of the boats, the water and....SUNBURNS! Well I really sucked at keeping you updated over the weekend didn't I? Well in my defense, I was exhausted, sun burnt, and starving when we got to the hotel. So we ordered pizza, took a cold shower, and passed out. Pretty much in that order to. So here are the stats. Sat: 1st heat of the day, we took 4th place. For the final: 1ST! The sucky thing here is that our first heat was the 3rd heat of the day. Our final, was the last heat. That is about the equivalent of 5-6 hours of nothing to do but sit in the sun and fry. Which is what we did! I was nice for the first few hours, got to catch up on all our friends, and meet all the newbies, but 5 hours is just to long. So then, on Sunday, we took 3rd and in the final, another 3rd. So we somehow finished 2nd for the weekend overall. Not sure how those points added up, or I would tell you! So no damage, no needing fixes, no anything to do's. (Except slather lotion on the sunburn's) So we now have 2 weeks of not really having to work on the boat, until our next race. Which is Lawrence Lake. The flipping one. Oh what fun. The joy, the excitement. Ok, gonna go now, really should be working ,being I am here....... Oh! I tried getting pictures, didn't work, kinda hard to do when the battery is dead, so next time....

Moses Lake! It was a challenge just getting here. 1st we caught the boat, then had to go try getting a company to fix our radio's because their last fix didn't work. An hour later, we were on the road. Traffic jam in Seattle, exhaust broke in North Bend, had to stop and get that welded. Then half way over Snoqualmie, ran into a military convoy. Well, that was after the 20 ish mile backup behind them. Free sailing from there. Made it here around 7PM. So I have internet connection here, (obviously) and will keep you updated over the weekend. Wish us luck! And check out the new paint job (completed) pic!!

oh say can you believe, by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hailed, the boat stood there gleaming.. oh that's so sad, I should delete it.. but it gets the point across. Did you guess yet? It's PAINTED! Three color's no less! WOW! I haven't seen this thing in paint in just shy of a year... Remember mother's day last year? And guess what else? I took pics, AND the camera is hooked up to the comp right now. I could have danced forever when we took those stupid face respirators off our faces for the last time.  So let me fill you in on the the sad, sad details walking up to that wonderful final clear coat. 1. can we say sanding anyone? 2. cleaning shop, boat and everything of dust. 3. painting the blue coat. 4. sanding the blue coat because the paper and tape lines stuck. 5. painting red 6. cleaning lines between red and blue 7. painting white. 8. sanding blue a little bit more. 9. CLEAR COAT! 10. pretending we don't see those little tiny runs....(only two) So take a look, there are new pics over there. We will be in shop alot over the next week, so I might not make it to this. I will try. I plan on taking pics of the boat, when we buff it, and pull it into the sun.....so keep watching! We are in the countdown now! 8 days....

Well the last coat of primer went on last night. J walked in the door around midnight. Now we just have to scuff this coat, and I think we are painting this weekend! Yippee! With a whole 2 weeks to spare! Wow! Now for those of you who are new to this, trust me when I say, this is a first. The boat is normally still in the curing mode while driving down the freeway to the first race. I don't know why this seems to come so fast every year. It isn't like we don't know at the last race that the first one is in the spring. Yet it still jumps us every time. Some year, I have faith in the fact that we will have the boat ready by the end of Feb. Or better yet, by the end of Jan!! :-) I think that today is a daydreaming day for me! Maybe it has something to do with 4.5 hours of sleep, but I am being very optimistic this morning. Probably won't be so much by this afternoon......pretty grumpy would be my guess. Just in time to work on the boat. Honestly though, we aren't on it every waking moment like I must make it sound, I have been getting emails on how are we spending time with the kids, working on the house, or even getting laundry and dishes done. Well for those questions, I will say this. If you knew me well, you would know that it takes a whole lot of motivation for me to get the laundry and dishes done anyways, so the boat doesn't really change the frequency of those.(hehe) As far as the kids, I spend a good chunk of my day with them, so I don't think that the 2-3 hours in the evening are going to really be a bad thing for them. Not to mention that they are at the shop with us, riding bikes or playing on the computer or having broom races through the shop, whatever might entertain them that night. And working on the house.....*sigh* that's just a pipe dream. It might get done in the next 10 years. Maybe. I am being really optimistic on that one! Sooooooo on I go. Sorry, had enough questions about that, that I felt this would be simpler to put here than responding 40 million times.. So, I have every intention of taking pics of the boat tonight, so look for them by the end of the weekend, and you can see the lovely PURPLE primer we have on it now!! Tata!

Well, the 2 motors are getting close to done, just waiting for some last parts to come in. Guess what I am doing? Yep! Still sanding... I have just a few hours left on this coat, then we do one more coat of primer, sand that, then paint. For those of you who are wondering why so much sanding and priming, here's why. Unlike a car, we can't really use the bondo (sp??) to fill in the low spots, because believe it or not, that stuff is heavy! I know it doesn't seem like it, but think of how much that can weighs.... then transfer that weight to the boat. So we sand instead. This way, it fills in the lows, but the highs get sanded off, therefore, we are only filling the absolute needed spots. Now on to the paint. If you use bondo on a boat, it has the possibility of cracking or separating when the boat flexes. And it really flexes. We wound up using it on one line last year, and that line was bubbled under the paint after the first heat. So when we paint the boat, the real colors, we will use as little of paint as possible. Once again, weight. 1-2 gallons is pretty heavy! When we rack ours brains on how to get/keep the weight down/off, this is one of those "hidden" things. I mean really! Who in their right mind has really thought of how much weight paint puts on their car, boat....etc... I hadn't until I was carrying the paint into the shop a few years ago, and in my typical style, complaining the whole way about how heavy the stuff was..... Then watching a dawning look go across Jim's face, it came to me also on the weight.... Oh how some things get discovered! I am sure there are many people out there that are sitting there going DUH! I knew that already! Well in my defense, nobody TOLD me! So anyways, that is the really long reason for not using bondo..... And now students, that is your lesson for the day, I will be reviewing your knowledge on this next week! :-)

Man, in case you have forgotten, let me remind you how much I hate sanding.....YUCK! My arms hurt, my clothes are nasty, and I have a grand total of 1/2 a sponson sanded. Yuck. That is about all I have to say! But since you are here reading, I guess I will say a bit more. Hmmm let's see. The backup motor is almost done, not as pretty as the first, but almost done! We are rapidly coming up to Moses Lake, and really starting to feel the time pressure now! I have so many things going on already, that I am having a hard time coming to grips (why doesn't that sound right?) on having to add races into this packed schedule of mine. I don't remember who told me once upon a time that a mom might get some free time every now and then, but man oh man, they were most likely not a mom would be my guess! And I can guarantee they didn't race! On the flip side of all this, I can't wait to catch up with all our friends from the races. I keep in contact through email, but that just doesn't cut it for 6 months. So looking forward to that! Ok, I get to go sand some more tonight, so I will keep updating, and I have my camera in the truck to take some pics for you!

Wow! As I sit here on my computer this beautiful day, I think of all the things I should be doing on the boat. Instead, I took the kids to the beach. What else could I do? I know I should be sanding, but really, I have to be a good parent to!  It works well for an excuse doesn't it? Nobody can argue with that! Not even my other half. So anyways, we were looking at the calendar, ticking off days till our first race, Moses Lake. It is the second weekend of April. Early this year. Might be a tad bit cold to. I firmly believe that Moses Lake in the spring is a bad time for a race. I mean really, it gets so windy there in the changing of the season times. So I am guessing that our first race will be time taken to sitting on the shore watching how big the wind can get the waves. Freezing our back sides off to, would be my guess. On the flip side of that, if I don't start sanding, then the boat won't get painted, and Jim will have to spend time on that instead of the parts that are really needed for making a boat fly. I hope we don't do that again this summer. That would suck. Sorry, I am jumping from one thing to another today. To much sun. Is that possible? Probably not this early in the year here I guess. So we are trying to figure out how to paint the boat. STILL. We discovered last year that the blue was to much. Ever try spotting for a blue boat on the water? I can personally say, it is really hard. Take your eyes off of it one time, and it takes precious seconds to find it again. And I take my eyeballs off it alot, I have to see what the other boats are doing! So we are looking at putting some more white on it, but yuck! White boats are so, so.... I don't know, normal? Every other boat is white. Maybe this is why. Humm never thought about that till I typed it. Ok, so we are talking about reversing the colors, red into blue, more white and maybe more on the cowling, since it is the highest point of the boat. So have YOU looked at the race schedule yet? Do you know which one your going to? I personally recommend the first Issaquah race, not only is it the closest, but it also has a good car show, bands playing in the evenings, and a pretty good food court. This is a big race as far as spectators goes. Tastin N Racin is what this one is called. To get more info on it, you can go to this web site.    http://www.tastinracin.com I will be keeping you updated more often as we get closer to the big starting day, so keep checking back with us! Hope you had a grand beautiful day!!