{"id":3944,"date":"2014-05-10T11:29:10","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T16:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bismarck-mandan.com\/?p=3944"},"modified":"2014-05-10T11:29:10","modified_gmt":"2014-05-10T16:29:10","slug":"an-uplifting-night-for-me-and-the-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bismarckmandanblog.com\/?p=3944","title":{"rendered":"An uplifting night, for me and the boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"riverboat_crane_28917\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of another First Day of the Rest of My Life, it was a blessing to have a date night with my sweetie as our boys went out with their grandma.\u00a0 After a satisfying Italian dinner we went for a little cruise and saw that the riverboat was about to be hoisted into the Big Muddy.<\/p>\n

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\"riverboat_crane_28950\"<\/a>The gigantic crane from CJ (I like those initials, obviously) was already in place, and the conditions appeared to be perfect.\u00a0 It suddenly occurred to me that, even though I’ve been unable to wield it in a while, I had my camera in the truck.\u00a0 Since my wife is among the most gracious of women, she agreed that it’d be fun if we stopped to watch and take a few photos.<\/p>\n

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\"riverboat_crane_29063\"<\/a>Nothing happens quickly with a crane; when heavy things start moving quickly, damage occurs.\u00a0 After all, mass x velocity = FORCE.\u00a0 That’s the last thing one needs when balancing a load high above the ground.\u00a0 Slowly but surely the crew eased the big ol’ boat into the river and held it in place until the pilot could get all systems up and running and power it out into the channel.<\/p>\n

You may notice a gap in the sequence of my photos.\u00a0 That’s because, as a video guy, I felt the urge to actually shoot some video clips of the event.\u00a0 A time lapse would have been nice, but the dock’s undulating movement from passing watercraft made that more hassle than I’d prefer.\u00a0 So here are a few video clips I slapped together this morning:<\/p>\n