Winter Blues

[Salty19]

OK, this topic had to get started at some point.  So why delay? Let's hear your winter blues stories. Misery loves company.

Mine story is I have a new to me, barely used beautiful custom CP19XL that I haven't been able to sail yet!  It is, of course, in storage an hour away so I can't even see it to tell it stories about how I'll take care of her and the adventures we'll have this summer.  She's lonely in that cold, dark barn.   Another problem is the DMW are threatening to impound the boat since the PO has not been able to produce a title for me yet on the trailer (boat title/reg is fine).  That is getting fixed, but never again will I buy a boat without ALL paperwork finalized.  Talk about stress...

Why do we live in the North again? (oh yeah..jobs, family..). 

Tempted to take a week off next month and trailer her down to SC, GA or FL.   Anyone with similar thoughts on a trip south?

[Craig Weis]

So what is a the PO that "has not been able to produce a title for me yet on the trailer?"
So many of us boaters in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin do not even have a license plate on our trailers. Who cares about that?
I happen to have one, as the paper work was all ready with the boat and the boats registration when I bought my C-P 19 XL.

I get a notice and a $25 or $45 fee each time the crooks and blood suckers in Madison want me to renew the sticker on the trailer's tag. My neighbor who is the chief of police in my little town said jokingly, "skip, don't even bother. You don't tow out of town." But wife follows the law and wastes a few dollars despite my best efforts.

Though I do feel your pain about not actually 'being on and near' the boat. If I had any money and any sense I'd move out of Wisconsin to a state having a better humane tax code and climate.

skip.

[newt]

Alright Skip- I'll bite. Where is a state that 1. Right now is warm 2. Has a humane tax code? and 3. Has no bloodsuckers on the payroll? (As I look at the powder snow build up on my Compac)

[Craig Weis]

Good question. Hummmm the down turn in manufacturing shows 28% of working age men, 25 to 54 years of age, do not have a job. Highest job loss since 1948. And this after several $ trillion bailout and stimulus. It's not working. Period. Another 85,000 more jobs lost in December 2009 I just heard on National Public Radio.

Well Wisconsin, a democratic controlled police state, is [I may be off by a few states] the #3 highest taxed state in the union of 50 states. So I guess 47 States are 'better' as far as taxes go. Business are leaving.

The weather, all I can say is go south, and west or east. Anything closer to the equator. I'm historically living on the 45th tropic of Cancer or Capricorn line, which ever it is, does not matter, the sun never goes further north then this line. Business are leaving.

I always ask, "Why is it that taxes collected is never enough?" The U.S. just finished the 3rd quarter of double digit reduction in both Federal and State Tax collections. UPS just laid-off 1,100 more after Christmas. Before Christmas UPS axed 17,000 and handled 77,000 fewer packages DAILY.

In our county, Door, we recently imposed an additional 5% room tax on visitors to the Door, in addition to the 5+% state sales tax...the city fathers here are ringing there hands, where are the visitors? Where is the additional tax money we already spent?
I say why are 'we' punishing people to drive up to Door County, stay, and spend there vacation money?
You want to kill something just tax it.

Cash for Clunkers. What was that? A tax cut. People went out and bought cars. Cash for Clunkers put cash back into people's pockets.
A 8% cash back to buy a house. You don't think that was a tax cut? It put money back into peoples pockets.
Our Governor is not running again. He signed in the largest tax increase in Wisconsin's history and he's moving out of the state. The tax has not taken effect yet. I can hardly wait.
Why is it that everything bad is associated with a UNION or a LIBERAL? Teacher unions, oppose teacher pay cut. Why is the top dog school administrator in Green Bay paid $1.1 million? Why don't we pay him $20,000. That would be more then I make.

What would you do if your taxes were cut by 35%? You would buy a larger Com-Pac.
skip might.

[Salty19]

Skip, here in Ohio you cannot screw around with vehicle licensing.  They WILL impound without blinking an eye.  Police WILL pull you over for no tag.  I do have an FOP card and that has got me out of tickets before, but I can't count on it.

They inspect boats when registering for the first time in the state. And they inspect the trailer when you register the boat.  No trailer registration...no pass inspection..no boat registration...no dice.  Period.  Well, at least that is how it is in the county I live in.

With that said my last trailer had a Michigan "permanant" tag on it.  Permanent means does not change (or so I would argue in court if I had to).  I never got it licensed here as since the boat was already registered in the state, I could forego inspection.  They only glanced it over mainly just verifying the HIN matched.   They did want me to get a new title and registration for the trailer, but it was not required since it had a MI plate and I had the registration.

On the trailer for the 19, I have no papers, no title, no registration, no license plate. To the authorities, it's a stolen trailer--thus the warning to comply.  The PO is indeed helping to get a transferable registration for the trailer, but right now I'm illegal.

[Salty19]

skip, PO means Previous Owner.

[Craig Weis]

Well tell them you bought some steel and fabricated a trailer for your boat. Then ask, "So how do I register a homebuilt trailer?"
That's what I had to do when I built my home made dunebuggy from a bunch of pipe and VW engine, transaxle and front end.

skip. I lived in Sylvania, Ohio on the back side of a 40 acre lake dug out for sand to make a hywy overpass just North of Toledo, and South of Blissfield, MI.

[Salty19]

skip--regarding jobs...The one thing that has helped me stay employed is training and certifications.

The better you are at something, the more valuable you become, thus the less likely you'll get let go.  

An ISO certification (quality standards) may come in handy for you...just thinking out loud here.  Some letters after your name adds value vs. other employees that work next to you that don't have them.

[Glenn Basore]

Don't even think about California !

This state has to be one of the worst.

[kickingbug1]

 hey salty, our buddy john is in naples florida for two months----has a two bedroom condo and welcomed us for a visit---im sure he could accomodate you.

[Bob23]

   I don't get winter blues. I live in New Jersey and we have a tax on everything, including winter blues.  I like New Jersey's rich sailing heritage and it is something I'm quite proud of. Now if we could just export 95% of the lawyers to Pluto, we'd be on to something.
  My cure for winter blues is hanging around here, writing stories based (loosely) on my limited adventures, working, working, working, and working. I also use the time to maintain and improving the lovely and talented "Koinonia" (1985 23/2).
  Living in the north makes you tough, Salty. Ever seen any wimpy Maine-iacs?
  Bob23
 

[Salty19]

Steve--oh yeah, I forgot John is a snowbird!   May have to look him up!!!! One mention of this to Becky and she'll have plane tickets printed out before I finish the sentence. 

Bob- Yep, I've been a northerner all my life too.  I'm probably tough as 100 year old pitted, rusted nails, but nails nonetheless!  I just slowly keep moving west (NJ, then PA, now OH) on almost the same line of latitude. What was I thinking??   So do they tax pitted, rusted nails in NJ?   

So let's take a test to determine toughness..and this has happened to me twice.  Let's say you're remote camping in a tent in the mountains.  The closest neighbor is about 1 mile away "as the crow flies".  It's WV so there are all kinds of wildlife, including locals, wandering about in the hills.  It's 5:00am and you stagger out of the tent to relieve yourself from the beer you drank earlier in the evening.  You're a little groggy but still somewhat alert to  your surroundings.  You hear what can be described as a woman screaming for mercy, machine gears grinding, and a train screeching to a halt all in one sound.  But there is no woman, no gears, and no train.  It's a mountain lion/puma/couger/panther (all the same animal)  killing whatever it is they kill.  And it sounds like it's coming from just down the "holler".

Do you:

1.) Run to the truck like a pansie and get the heck out of there?
2.) Pee your pants and huddle like a prisoner of war around the remnants of the fire, hoping that lions do not like fire?
3.) Walk backwards to your tent and grab whatever weapon you can find, staying quiet, hoping it will go away?
4.) Take out your rifle and fire a couple of warning shots in the general direction of the lion?
5.) Take out your rifle, attempt to hunt down the mountain lion and yell "COME HEEEERE, BOOY!!!" while tramping through the woods?

So what do you think I did? And what would you do?

[wordnut]

I'm in Memphis where it can be over 100 in the summer. Tonight it will be 8 degrees.

[brackish]

Hey Salty 19, don't expect to come to Mississippi and find refuge from the cold.  It was 16 this morning and will be 12 tomorrow, neither day getting above freezing for the high.  And for the first time since 1987 we have snow on the ground that is going to be there for multiple days without melting.  It is on track to be the coldest winter/year in twenty, and could be the coldest ever.  Where is Al Gore when you need him? 

I've lived in Philadelphia, Bainbridge, MD,  Newport, RI, and Tulsa OK,  at various times and it feels colder here than it ever did in any of those places.

However, taxes are reasonable here.  No ones got any money anyway.

To beat the blues--I run about thirty miles a week, race when I can and hole up in my woodshop.

[Bob23]

Hmmm, Salty- I gotta think about this one.
What would I do? I might get another beer as quick as I could and re-ponder the situation. Probably grab my camera to get a shot. And pray.
What did you do?
I don't know you that well, but assuming you'll come clean here on the site, I'd say that being a former New Jerseyan, the correct answer could be based on your nationality.
   Me, being of Italian descent, might get nearer and shout: "Hey, get the hell outahere, we're tryin' to sleep!".
   But, you- well, I'm gonna go with you walked backwards to your tent, got your rifle, fired a couple of warning shots and then went back to sleep. Was I close?
  And, yes, we probably do tax pitted, rusty nails here. Damn, we seem to have a tax for everything.
Bob23