Shutting down the house

Thursday, take care of the last minute business: Load the van. Hook up the trailer. Shut down the house. Hit the road. It's a plan. Too freaking cold and almost out of fuel. The plumbing better get drained before everything freezes. Brrrrrrrrrr!

The tires on the boat trailer were a little low on air. I've a little 12 volt compressor that works pretty well so I thought it would be straight forward. Nope. The tire filled up just fine, but then the nozzle froze to the value stem. All the air came out while trying to get it off. The second time worked better.

At the 11th hour we decided to get the little boat registered. It's small enough that it doesn't need any paperwork if rowed or under sail. However, put even a tiny electric motor on and it has to be registered. That's all well and good, but unlike a manufactured boat, mine doesn't have a serial number. To get one a police office had to come to the house and fill out some paperwork. That went off in the mail, but we'll see how it goes.

The town clerk wasn't too sure what to do. The ladies at the DMV were thumbing through their manuals trying to figure it out. The cop didn't look too sure he knew what he was doing. How much you want to bet it'll go through the first time?

There's a funny thing with bureaucracies. Governments set up a whole series of rules and regulations. At some point someone way down the pecking order has to put these policies in effect. The best people know how to phony up the paperwork and get things down. The worse thing that can happen is to have someone who's unsure of themselves and require every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed. I'm guessing that worse come to worse I'll have to send off more paperwork or talk to someone on the phone.

Once I get the number I'm tempted to register the boat in Florida, just for grins and giggles. I haven't played with their bureaucrats yet.

-Sixbears