How to ignore current politics
Dinner in the cockpit
Panoramic photo of our marina in Deale, MD
The answer: Get so busy you don't have time to read all that stuff online. Start with essentials. Make sure your water system works. We can't wash dishes, shower or flush a toilet on our boat without good water pressure. A leak in the system makes the water pump run continuously, soaks the cabinets around the leaky connections and fills the bilge. It was a looming crisis of our own making after John's third attempt to finish the galley faucet installation last Sunday night.
Cindy, our interior tech, came to the rescue Monday morning. She saw that John had gotten everything right except the small plastic white bushings, costing about $2, that enabled the bigger hot and cold water lines to connect to the smaller faucet lines. The job was quickly declared a success, smiles and hugs all around. This is a good start to the week. We now have splendid water pressure pump and a jazzy, water saving galley sink faucet.
The answer: Dive into the weather. You can't ignore the weather when living on a boat. We worship the weather god hoping she will smile on us; but she's a peevish god who takes joy in tweaking expectations with surprises. Work and leisure must sync to the weather so well laid plans change, often.
By Monday mid-morning, a steady rain soaked Dolce Vento. Six of our portlights leaked and must be re-bedded before we leave; however, the good news is that the waterproof spray we applied to the Bimini and Dodger a few days before held our aging, thinning canvas leaks at bay. One more coat applied this week 'sealed the deal' so to speak. On Tuesday and Wednesday the rain subsided, but lead gray, angry clouds bludgeoned across the horizon.
The answer: Focus on the tasks at hand, large and small, especially the small stuff that so easily gets put off when it's good sailing weather. Chores inside and outside of the boat were accomplished, including the mundane and routine tasks of head cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping. Then we cooked several creative meals, relaxed and watched new NCIS, Bull and NCIS New Orleans episodes using the CBS app on John's iPad. He managed to set our broadcast programming for our Bose TV system to only one PBS station. Hey, nobody's perfect and you can only watch nature shows for so long.
The answer: Fantasize. Thursday, September 22 the first day of fall and the blood orange harvest moon brought light, dry, warm, not hot air, sunshine and light breezes. We imagined ourselves in Key West, but since we weren't, and I was energized by the brilliant blue sky with birds soaring on the updrafts. I spent the day on my butt and knees polishing the boat's metal work, inspecting every piece to ensure it health, re-taping cotter rings and adding pull lines to the snap shackles (excuse my boat talk, please). My hands and fingers could no longer move as I dragged myself up to the showers, but like any good OCD person, I was proud as could be as we watched a perfect sunset while eating blackened salmon in the cockpit.
Despite my twenty-five year old memories of living aboard, I wasn't sure if we were really going to enjoy the close quarters on a boat, but so far its very good. It's a cozy space, easy to tidy up and the joys of organization pay-off big time. Also, John is in the same room with me working instead of disappeared in an office. We are easily together, but separate. The water is at my door step. That's makes my world right.
As I've told you, we've successfully avoided current politics this week by focusing on the weather and projects. We are most pleased about the sail work. It's completed today with the delivery of the stay sail and its bag. The stay sail is a smaller sail used for stormy weather when the big Genoa - jib is too much for the power of the wind.
There are still several important small projects to be completed before we leave. I'll report our progress next week. However, we close the week with THE BIG DECISION: We will sail south on Tuesday, October 11, barring unforeseen weather. The nine-year old car with its nicked rear bumper (it suffered from the braille method of parking much too often) will be sold on the 10th. Then the adventure begins for real and, when not sailing, we'll follow politics through social media and our newspaper apps. Those can't be left behind.