This will be the last mention of the horrible winter blizzards of 2015 and what a bunch of dumb asses you guys are who live anywhere above the Florida state line. I sure hope it is anyway. How much more of this crap can you stand?

Here's Steve and me weathering the coldest day of the winter (it did get down to 32 last night but it's going up to 80 tomorrow, what the hell?) out in the Tiki hut with a blazing fire in the stove, taking it easy and contemplating going for a midnight boat ride (which we did) and then there's Richard Honan up in Boston playing in the snow yet again, worrying about the snow load caving in his roof. Those guys even postponed the annual row boat in the ice race till spring because of all this. I really should stop showing you these pictures, we have enough transplants as it is.

This is Helen and some of her quilting girls tonight. I made them a huge room to do all of their creative work in, it's 12 by 40 feet with a view of the river. When I get too old to make boats I guess I can take up sewing and spend my days indoors.

Our friend Scotty is putting a new motor on this 35 year old wooden boat. It was built by George Lazier of Sarasota and still looks prefect. George is one of the last of the great old time wood builders who's boats all look like this; you should see some of his carvel planked sailboats, they look like glass boats.

Whoever owns this one doesn't let water stand in the bottom. The wooden boats we build usually get glassed to hope they look like this for a while.

Here I am feeding an apple to Cessna and a little horse. There's also a tiny Chihuahua between my feet. Cessna thinks this thing is just a big dog and actually gets him to play with her. He lives across the street from me. The airplane is a B-17 that flew over last week. Steve got this shot from our dock of it flying out of the Sarasota airport. They were selling rides for $400 a crack. We were laughing about all of the strange stuff I send you from here, I do live in an unusual place.

The Texas 200 attracts many strange boats, here's one, Gene Berry or someone who knows him has a sense of humor or maybe just wants to make a point; make the dam boat strong and keep this sign under the water. This race is run in very shallow water, is hot as hell and has strong winds. I have put the main instigators on notice that I'll give them hell if their boats break any rudders or centerboards. You know it's going to happen so do something about it dumb ass. Last year a dozen or so boats had rudder failures.

You know a perfect boat when you see one. This is a perfect boat for it's intended use; fast, shallow water running with a touch of comfort. All boats in Florida should have a top. There's never a time when should be out in the open so why not make a permanent one that looks good and is useable. This one is perfect.

Here one that Pat Johnson of Pensacola is just finishing up. He's tired of going slow so he's putting a 70 on this classic looking boat. Someone gave him an old mahogany Chris Craft hull that was totally gone except for the bottom. He used that as the starting point for this nice little cruiser. I really like the concept of this boat; cool looking but still goes like crazy. They also have a costal race here in Florida in the summer, the Fl 120. This one is a lot more user friendly and power boats are welcome to come out and play with the sailboats, why not it's a good excuse to be on the water and not everyone wants to sail or camp in a tiny boat. This "race" is up in the Panhandle, we need in the summer farther down south.

His boat gave me the push I needed to start one of my on. I love "Helen Marie" but sometime I want to get somewhere fast. It's going to be a traditional looking, high speed, all weather, commuter boat. It will have the look of a lobster boat with a fixed hard top like the "Mega Yacht" . It'll be 18 feet long with a 40 or 50 hp motor so I can get up to 30 or so and still run in shallow water. These pictures are the second day of the build; I found the old strong back I used for "Helen Marie" out in the woods, bought some of this OSB from Lowes for $8 a sheet and laid out the molds from some plans we had around here. All I need is a table of offsets to get the basic hull and I'll make up the rest as I go along. None of this wood will stay in the boat, the hull will be a plywood and glass build with nothing that will rot exposed. I had forgotten how much fun it is to begin a new project with nothing but a vague idea of what it'll look like.

Our John Deere tractor needed a new hood and here's the one I made for it. If you still haven't realized that we're all just a bunch of old kids this should convince you. And I'm the conservative one. The guys were suggesting big ears and even came out with deer antlers to put on; I have to draw the line somewhere don't I? It's a good thing we have Howard here to keep all of the mechanical things running. He can fix anything.

Grand Daughters sure grow up fast don't they. Here's Laylah and me trying on Jamie's body armor back when she was just a little thing and her now hanging with a famous "Big Foot" driver. She'll probably grow up to be doing something I know nothing about. This ceramic armor weighted about 40 pounds and it was all I could do to stand upright with it. Those guys are in a whole lot better shape than I am.

One of you (Scotty I think) sent this. It's actually a good idea, will keep me focused on the important things in life when I'm too old to do the real thing.