I have to go in the lake tomorrow. Water temp at the surface is about 69 F. Kids happily swim in water like that all day, or until they turn blue and their mothers yank them out. I do *NOT* like being cold, not even a little bit. But I gotta do it. When I was 16 Sally Brown and I jumped into the Detroit River when there was still ice on it, but it's been quite a while since I was 16.
I was fishing off the dock this evening, tossing a bobber with a leech to the reeds since there was a very nice NW breeze to help carry it out there if I cast high. After a bit I noticed that my slip bobber wasn't erecting. I tend to notice when things aren't erecting as expected. Reeled it in, found that the bobber stop on the line had gone missing so the hook, bait and sinker were going to the bottom. It happens. Hm, I rummaged in my shirt pocket. Sho' nuff, there was a bit of dental floss in there. That'll make a fine bobber stop, just wind it on the line like a needle knot or a snell, snug up and trim. Got to the trim part, dug out my trusty Gentleman's Folder pocket knife.
Part of the perverse nature of inanimate objects is that tools have a strong affinity for lakes. Cosmic forces yanked the knife from my hand to fall to the dock, and then conspired to make it bounce and rotate in both roll and yaw so it could exactly fit between the deck slats and get to the lake beneath. It'd take 1000 tries to get that right at a carnival with a kewpie doll at stake, but with a lake beneath the slats the outcome was as certain as sunset.
I really like that knife! They're not available any more. I want mine back! It's a one-hand opener, very thin, very light, 3" ATS34 stainless blade heat-treated to Rc 59-60 that takes and holds a razor edge.
Earlier today I'd used it to scrape corrosion from some battery terminals. After that, four licks on a ceramic "steel" restored its keen edge to where it'd cut thru a ripe tomato skin by its own weight.
I don't know if ATS34 is magnetic or not but I'm inclined to doubt it. Else I could use the big donut magnet on the end of a string -- except that the magnet is in the bed of the truck and I drove the Camry this trip. So I gotta dunk my dainty self.
The good news is that I know right where it dropped, the water is quite clear and it's a firm sand bottom, not loonshit like in some MN lakes. Even if I can't see it, I should be able to feel it with my toes. Fortunately, it was folded when it dropped.
Minnesota Mary, who thinks 40 is wet teeshirt weather, offered to do the honors while very tactfully avoiding any use of the term "candyass". It's tempting, but I'm the one that dropped it so I'm the one that should fetch it.