Wind Chill Wednesday Surf & Culture Report
Traveling through the great San Joaquin brought us to many interesting eateries. Like Scotty's, early in the morning, having a cup of coffee and a fritter with all the folks headed to work. Scotty was a Vietnamese guy who was obviously originally from Edinburgh. He knew his way around pastries and this fritter was a perfect example. Just as big as the Professor's head, he ate about a fourth and gave the rest to a homeless guy, who began to dance around his crutch like he'd just won the lottery. The anticipation of that much sugar will do that to you...
There's a front blowing through this morning and the wind is already onshore by 7.8kts. The sea surface has a significant tack and there's still a lot of red tide. 15 miles visibility under partly cloudy skies. The air temperature is 57.3° and the water is still 55.4°. High tide is at 9:35am +3.8' and low tide will drain the place at 2:21pm +1.8'. Remember those super high evening tides this week! It's +6.5' at 8:42pm. That'll float your boat or your hat, whichever you prefer... The 46221 buoy is reading a 3.0' swell out of 193° SSW. With this morning's high tide were calling it 1' to 2' and blown out. Maybe tomorrow...
The Professor and Little Warren (why the call him "Little Warren" at 6'1", 210lbs makes you wonder about BIG Warren) got to bed down in the master suite. They were arranging their stuff, when the Professor ran across these dolls near the foot of the bed. They had this brief conversation:
Professor: Dude, look at this...
Little Warren: Whoa, kinda trippy.
P: Kinda voodoo... You believe in that stuff?
LW: Naw, not really...
P: Yeah, me either. (pregnant pause) How about I stick'em in the corner and cover them up?
LW: Yeah, that's better...
P: A little too, "Chucky" huh?
LW: Yeah, for sure...
Then there's Bogarts...
From Big Wave Dave:
In British folklore, a boggart (or bogart, bogan, bogle or boggle) is a household spirit which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with or persuaded and become uncontrollable and destructive.
It is said that the boggart crawls into people's beds at night and puts a clammy hand on their faces. Sometimes he strips the bedsheets off them. Sometimes a boggart will also pull on a person's ears. Hanging a horseshoe on the door of a house is said to keep a boggart away.
In the folklore of North-West England, boggarts live under bridges on dangerous sharp bends on roads, and it is considered bad luck for drivers not to offer their polite greetings as they cross.
The Farmer and the Boggart
In one old tale said to originate from the village of Mumby in the Lincolnshire countryside, the boggart is described as being rather squat, hairy and smelly. The story goes that a farmer bought a patch of land that was inhabited by the boggart. When the farmer tried to cultivate the field the boggart got angry, and after much arguing they decided to work the land together and share the bounty. The farmer, however, being greedy, began to ponder a way to cheat the boggart out of his share. When they were debating what to plant, he asked the boggart, 'Which half of the crop do you want for your share, the part below the ground or the part above it?' The boggart thought for a while before answering 'The part below the ground.' The farmer sowed the field with barley. At harvest time the farmer boasted a big pile of barley while all the boggart had to show for his work was stubble. It flew into a rage and screeched that next time it would take what lay above the ground. The next time the farmer sowed the field with potatoes. At harvest time the farmer laughed as he claimed his massive pile of potatoes while the boggart was yet again left with nothing to show for his efforts. Simmering with rage, the boggart stormed off, never to return again.
(This is great - except we've named our Bogart... Ed.)
"When the surf breaks, we'll fix it..."
The Professor!!
