No Joy in the yard
We have abandoned Journey for the weekend.
The yard can't pull the stick until Monday, due to the rains and lack of work ethics. Apparently, working very much past noon is against some code of theirs. Instead of fretting over the situation (read: bitching and ragging to Al all weekend about something beyond my control)
We decided to bail, head to Wendell and camp out at our daughter's with her and our grandchildren. It helps that a second birthday party looms Saturday for Chad.
We spent a good part of the rainy Wednesday testing 12volt circuits around the boat. The Starboard side seems like it took a greater hit from the lightning. All the interior lights there are blown to smithereens. We have checked out the wiring and purchased new bulbs. Testing will resume Monday.
The water pumps, bilge pumps, shower sumps, and windlass seem fine. Radios are toast. I hope to salvage the remote VHS unit, as it was disconnected at the time and down below. I will try to re purpose it at the Nav station.
Al has removed the only stuck seacock and found a socket to tighten back into place - it's in a tight spot. Also he removed all the water strainers for me to clean and reinstall. This is so both of us know how and where they fit. The only one with a lot of eel grass was for the rear air con unit. Of course, the air cons are reportably both blown from the strike.
A lot of stuff has been ordered, and I will keep a running list of all those things in "boat projects".
I have gotten my wifi antenna back from my grandson Caleb, and it should mean uninterrupted internet signals at the yard and the slip from now on. (yea!)
The yard can't pull the stick until Monday, due to the rains and lack of work ethics. Apparently, working very much past noon is against some code of theirs. Instead of fretting over the situation (read: bitching and ragging to Al all weekend about something beyond my control)
We decided to bail, head to Wendell and camp out at our daughter's with her and our grandchildren. It helps that a second birthday party looms Saturday for Chad.
We spent a good part of the rainy Wednesday testing 12volt circuits around the boat. The Starboard side seems like it took a greater hit from the lightning. All the interior lights there are blown to smithereens. We have checked out the wiring and purchased new bulbs. Testing will resume Monday.
The water pumps, bilge pumps, shower sumps, and windlass seem fine. Radios are toast. I hope to salvage the remote VHS unit, as it was disconnected at the time and down below. I will try to re purpose it at the Nav station.
Al has removed the only stuck seacock and found a socket to tighten back into place - it's in a tight spot. Also he removed all the water strainers for me to clean and reinstall. This is so both of us know how and where they fit. The only one with a lot of eel grass was for the rear air con unit. Of course, the air cons are reportably both blown from the strike.
A lot of stuff has been ordered, and I will keep a running list of all those things in "boat projects".
I have gotten my wifi antenna back from my grandson Caleb, and it should mean uninterrupted internet signals at the yard and the slip from now on. (yea!)
On the Hard. 3/30/2011
I feel like this would make a good
Blues song. It has all the elements, longing, sorrow, being unable to chart
your own destiny, unrequited love, Yes. Because we are not out sailing our
beloved Journey, but stuck here, in the rain, on the hard. Crank up a good
blues tune for me. When it rains, all work, or what passes for work, ceases in
this yard. Therefore, our mast is firmly sitting on our keel, supported by the
two uppers. Case closed. Boom, sails, lower shrouds, fore and backstay removed,
it rocks the boat gently whenever a breeze stirs. And I freak. "It's gonna
break or pull the boat over!!!!' Well, I do think that, even if I try to remain
calm outwardly.
We
can't even clean the boat's topsides. So we move little piles of junk around
inside the boat. It makes us feel productive.
Today
is the first time I have been able to get internet without hauling the laptop
down the scary ladder, across the yard to the covered porch and hooking up to
the wifi here. I used a USB extension cord I bought for the printer, and
hoisted the Verizon dongle out the hatch. I hope it's not getting wet. If I
loose my connec
Just
kidding. It's amazing what will pass for entertainment around here.
The
trip up was uneventful, as we couldn't sail. We took both sails off for the
mast pull, so we motored for 5 hours. It was cool and overcast with a foggy
haze so we couldn't see much of the shorelines. Basically, we just had to
follow the chart. No plotter, not depth, only a handheld VHF, we only saw three
powerboats and one barge and the ferry, so it was quiet on the water Monday.
So how full is the
Blazer? 3/20/11
Except for us, the car is full. How full can one get a car?
It reminds me of a story I heard… stop me if you’ve heard this:
It reminds me of a story I heard… stop me if you’ve heard this:
There was a teacher who put a large clear glass beaker on
the desk. He filled it to the top with golf balls. “Is the beaker full?” he
asked his students. They replied it was. He then took a jar of marbles and
dumped them in. They filled up the voids between the golf balls. “Full now?” he
asked. “Yes!” the students said. He then uplifted a jar of sand into the
beaker.
The sand filled in between the other items to the top of the beaker. “Full
now?”
he asked. The students thought a little about it, but the consensus was that
there was no room for anything else. The
teacher reached below the desk and pulled out a bottle of coca cola. He popped
the top and emptied into the beaker. “Now it’s full.” He told the class. They
considered this, and one of them asked why he had used the soda instead of
water.
He leveled his gaze at the student and replied. “Because things are better with
Coke.”
the desk. He filled it to the top with golf balls. “Is the beaker full?” he
asked his students. They replied it was. He then took a jar of marbles and
dumped them in. They filled up the voids between the golf balls. “Full now?” he
asked. “Yes!” the students said. He then uplifted a jar of sand into the
beaker.
The sand filled in between the other items to the top of the beaker. “Full
now?”
he asked. The students thought a little about it, but the consensus was that
there was no room for anything else. The
teacher reached below the desk and pulled out a bottle of coca cola. He popped
the top and emptied into the beaker. “Now it’s full.” He told the class. They
considered this, and one of them asked why he had used the soda instead of
water.
He leveled his gaze at the student and replied. “Because things are better with
Coke.”
How full is my car? I’m popping the top off the Coke now.
Will it all fit????? 3/17/2011
We are currently at our new home in
Florida, laying out and organizing the items we need to take to the boat with
us on this first trip.
Rules abound... Nothing fru-fru goes.
That means fancy pillows and galley equipment, as well as knicky-knacks stay
home this trip.
This is because there's just so much
stuff we have to take. Tools, cleaning and waxing supplies, repair stuff,
personal gear like foulies and sea-boots, life-vests, and clothes of course.
Hoses go, nice towels, Nyet!
Three pairs of shoes just for me, and
none are what I would call good shoes. Crocs (my oldest pair), my beat-up
tennies, and trusty sea boots. Don't ask me to go dancing.
Rubber gloves and brushes and the power
buffer made the cut. My e reader is staying put. I argued it doesn't take up
much room, no dice, not this trip.
I can't take the new carpet runners I
got for the boat, but we are taking the sawhorses and gangplank.
I really can't complain, I know this
stuff is needed for the work we have to do in the next few weeks. I can wait
for the "other" stuff for a latter trip.
What I can't wrap my head around, no
matter how hard I try, is where all this stuff is going to go. Not the boat, I
know there's enough room for it all there. I'm talking about the car! We have a
small Blazer, and right now I'm looking at a potential pile in the garage that
could easily fill a 15 passenger van.
We don't have a Tardis, so I have to
wonder, since I know this pile I'm looking at is the final "cut",
where in the hell will I be riding??
And so it begins ....2/24/11
Things are starting to happen. You might not notice, as with most things that
have a beginning, buying a boat has "pre-things". Stuff that has to
happen before the actual thing happens.
No,
I'm not rambling... yet. Given time, I'm sure I will, most likely just before I
start babbling and drooling.
It's just that, even though we haven't signed on the dotted line, I felt the
need to mention some of the "pre-things". If only to wrap my head
around blogging our lifestyle again. You know, shaking out the rust, clearing
the mental cobwebs, getting the words to flow. It ain't easy sometimes, as any
blogger will tell ya.
Knowing that our offer has been accepted by the seller has allowed us to start
doing a few things we had been reluctant to do and spend money on. Now this is
not to be confused with the stuff we have already done without knowing for sure
if the deal would come about. Things we "justified" only in our own
heads, apparently.
Those things included buying 600 feet of 5/8" three strand line. Believe
me when I tell you I don't know ANY landlubbers who feel the need to have a big wooden spool of
rope in their garage!
Then there was the "going out of business" sale at the local Hunter
dealership. We felt very fortunate to get a semi-private "heads-up"
about this little gem. Walked out with shackles, snatch blocks, instrument
housings, just all sorts of "good stuff". Of course, since we didn't
have a boat, some may have questioned our priorities.
But clearly, the purchase that took us over the edge had to be the marine
single sideband radio and tuner. Even though the price was unbelievable, and
notwithstanding that it was the exact model we were holding out for, even we
got the silly "what were we thinking" giggles with that purchase. I
mean, if you don't have a boat, of what possible use is a marine SSB?
It's called a Leap Of Faith. And we jumped right into it.
Now that we know we are getting our boat, we are still purchasing needed items.(I've
heard it never ends) We shipped off the
old bimini to the canvas shop that will use it to make us a brand new bimini.
I have finally ordered the new boat name vinyl decals. They will arrive soon
after we get to Fl. Then we can move them back to NC (where the boat is).
I have also ordered the new throttle/shifting handles. The ones on the boat are
stiff to use, easy enough to fix by removing and desalting them. But they are
ABS plastic, and original to the boat. After 22 years, they flex when I
use them.
Frankly, I have nightmares about one of them snapping off at the hilt, leaving
me with a look of impending doom on my face and a piece of handle in my grip.
Right ahead, there is something very huge and solid and I can't stop what is
going to happen next. Fortunately, after that everything fades to black.
Believe me, I can screw up on my own, I don't need the help of equipment
failure, so new stainless steel handles are on the way. Whew! Another imaginary disaster narrowly averted!
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