Writing scraps from 2023

Clearing out my draft folder before the lunar new year

I’m back on the horse of weekly writing and seasonal scrap posts for paid subscribers.

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WHAT WE MEANT WHEN WE SAID WE WERE BUSY

1. Life is so full at this moment, I could burst!

2. I wish we spent time together more often.

3. I wish I had more time to myself.

4. I wish I had more time for my art.

5. I am so overwhelmed with attending to other things, I have no idea how I feel.

6. I’m scared.

7. I wish I had more capacity than this.

8. I love you.

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Tip from Grandpa Gremel: save your dryer lint and use it to start backyard bonfires.

Some ducks I met on the Russian River in the Fall of 2016.

Float Plans

My friends and I went for a float down the Russian River years ago. We had inflatables in all sizes and shapes, a cooler of beer, and not a care in the world. We were going nowhere fast and that was exactly the point of the outing. The river moved slowly with low snowmelt in the Sierras, the sun was beginning to dip and the temperature followed too. We left one car downriver and the GPS on someone’s phone showed us quite a ways off still. The group was briefly separated by a tiny dam of sorts that needed to be walked around. We reconvened on the other side, but one person was missing.

Everyone’s stomach dropped and the group split up and down the river. After a few panicked minutes, we had a heated reunion of everyone in the party. I felt astounded and embarrassed having assumed that everyone who had opted into the float could swim. Blood pressures were high, but we needed to make tracks down the river to our vehicle. Everyone began paddling to their ability and everyone made it home safely. Alternate outcomes of our day felt a little too close and I’ve taken a more cautious approach when planning future outings with groups.

Before heading offshore on our route from San Francisco to the Chesapeake Bay, we designed a safety net common in sailing called a “float plan”. This plan includes documentation of the vessel, safety and survival gear, persons onboard, emergency contacts, and the itinerary. It is passed to a trusted person or group who will alert emergency responders if the sailor is overdue on the plan. We had a group (thank you Dave, Joe, and Emily) with a leader (Carla). Our group had a family member for each of us who would lead communications to relatives if something went wrong, and sailors who were invested in our well-being and could relay weather and other advice in 160-character texts via our Garmin InReach. When we had crew, we added an emergency contact of theirs to the message group.

The US Coast Guard created this template for boaters to fill out and send to a trusted contact on shore. The format may be helpful for hikers, skiers, backpackers, surfers, and other [insert verb here]ers.