Come Sail Away

Schooner and Key Bridge
Click on image for a larger view.

After today if I had an invite to come sail away, I would. We are swamped at the SLJ with product inspection after product inspection. Christmas is coming (don't remind me) and it's the biggest time of the year for toy trains. We are always busy, but this time of year we take being busy to the nth degree. We're testing model steam engines and these things put out a smoke from a mineral oil soaked wick. The tube of mineral oil (AKA smoke fluid) is marked non-toxic, but breathing the smoke it produces all day is not fun, and my job is listed as a non-smoking environment. I am also congested due to allergies and my ACM pain levels are up. It happens every time I do these inspections. It's the repetitive motion and it kicks my symptoms in no matter what part of the inspection process I am involved in. It's a great start to another glorious workweek.

The photo above was taken Sunday afternoon from the parapets of Fort McHenry. All sorts of boats, ships and sailing vessels were on the water. The Bridge in the background is the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. The small island under the bridge at the left is Fort Carroll Island. Built in the 1850s it's been unmanned for decades and off limits to visitors. Michael and I were on it once back in the late 1980s. One summer we took a small aluminum boat out to it from the family shore home. We ignored the “beware of attack dogs” signs (it's an abandoned island!) and gave ourselves a little tour. It was, and still is overgrown and rundown. That’s kind of how I feel right now… rundown. Since I can’t sail away I’ll have Calgon (or my cheap equivalent thereof) take me away.