July 2013

After complaining about the cold wet spring it's now too hot and humid. And it's still wet.  My site at Wildwood gets a lot of the park's runoff and I've had to put patio stones down along side the road so I don't get stuck. Not much sailing has been done but I've finished the stained glass sign (in photo), have a third of a rug hooked and between thunderstorms have made new flower beds (still a work in progress) and have kayaked a few times.  My new kayak is a bit tippy but I haven't fallen out - yet.

Steve and Anita came back to participate in the Rum Runner Race (we came in 3rd) and Fish Fry at the Sailing Club. We miss them not being there all season.

Chris polishing off their 2nd place bottle of rum

Steve & Anita, greatly missed at the club.

Kayaking in St. Marys:

More scenic than Wildwood Lake

I don't put much on here about dancing but I'm still doing it. This is from Karen's 60th birthday party, that girl knows how to celebrate.

June 2013

Remember back in December when we dragged the Sirius home? I forgot to mention that part way home we realized there was no rudder. I blame the weather - it was soooo cold we were both in a hurry to get going and I didn't pull out the check list so I guess it's my fault (so I've been told).  We got them to ship the rudder to Jeff in Michigan and Gerry took a wee trip over the border to fetch it.

Gerry painted the bottom, how did I get out of that?

Didn't get out of cleaning the inside.

June 9 we actually got around to putting her in the water. There was a little bit of excitement when we thought we were also missing the boom but Gerry had put it in a "safe" place and it took a while to find it.  Since she was completely derigged it took forever to get all the stays, shrouds, turnbuckles, etc sorted out and with greatly appreciated help we (the royal "we") got her rigged and in the water.

up with the mast

messing with the sail

What's this? We're beating Les.

Seems the Sirius is faster than the Matilda, guess we'll keep her.

May 9, day of stupidity - or not

I have always hated the carpet in the trailer (will not come clean and is very worn) and decided to do something about it. Gerry is back in the Bahamas and can't stop me. I foolishly thought the bottom layer of vinyl was the original flooring and that I could maybe live with that. I was wrong as you can see there is bare plywood so I had to paint the floor after hours of scraping off the backing of the bottom layer of vinyl. The temperature dropped drastically after the first coat and I had to wait days before I could apply the 2nd. Despite sanding in between and waiting between coats the paint still feels a wee bit tacky weeks later. Yes, I used interior floor paint.

carpet fought back

2 layers of vinyl

backing needed to be scraped off, fun

Ta da

I think it turned out pretty good so wasn't all that stupid. Thinking about ripping the rest out - up the stairs and bedroom - now that just might be stupid.

Saskatoon March 18 to ........

Apparently Saskatoon is in the same boat - no spring and a mountain of snow. Saskatoonians are a hardy bunch. As soon as it gets above 0 degrees celsius they think it's warm. People are driving with their car windows down wearing short sleeved shirts; kids are biking wearing sweaters; the waitresses in a restaurant were wearing dresses and flip flops. I'm still bundled up in my winter coat and mitts.

Abby is 5 and has just graduated from first year Sparks - I attended the ceremony - it was much like herding cats.

I got to go and watch her get her immunization shots. Poor kid had to get one in each arm and Sally came so close to fainting she threw herself on the examination table so she wouldn't hit the floor. Both girls got juice boxes and shared an ice pack.

Today I was the helper at pre-school - my hat is off to all teachers of small children.

We are still awaiting the birth of Abby's little sister - any day now, any day now, any day now.

The day has arrived - healthy baby girl August was born April 29 weighing in at 7 lbs, 5 oz, little sister to Abby!!!!

Will soon be back to Ontario for Omi :(

Spring - did I miss it?

We've been home for weeks and are still waiting for spring. The temperature in the Bahamas has been in the mid 20s - perfect (in my opinion) - guess I shouldn't have left until now and flown straight to Saskatoon. The girls (and me) are anxiously awaiting the birth of Abby's sister!!

The temperature here, except for one day has been disappointing to say the least and I don't think any one enjoyed the freezing rain and power outages. 

The best part of returning is reconnecting with friends. Remember Chris' valiant attempt to prevent damage to the boat when we jibed and she got that horrific bruise from the main sheets? Well, the bruise is gone but she seems to have a permanent dent in her arm. You got to see it to believe it.

First time ever I watched the much touted Release of the Swans in Stratford. They parade down the road from their winter home. I do think it will be my last watching of the Release of the Swans (yawn).

Leaving paradise tomorrow!

Busy getting the boats shipshape before returning to the chilly chilly north. Lots of stuff to sort and store and pack. There's always one last thing to do but this time Gerry's on the ball and hasn't waited until the last minute to return the anchor (that Mallory and Eddy pulled out for us) back to its location. Once in a while you have to check that the things you hope will hold the boat in place during a hurricane are still in good shape.

Clever use of a fender - using it to float the anchor

 While he was in the water he also replaced one of the zincs.








And a totally unrelated subject:

My shower buddy

Heads, holes and humane

HEADS    We're returning north shortly and I suggested that Gerry not mess with the head on Dirty Girl until he comes back because I'm sure it will not go well. We had serious siphoning of sea water back into the holding tank which has been fixed twice and now he wants to negate all that work trying to fix a serious odour problem. His solution is to pull the holding tank out (so he can get to the hoses) and pump right out through the macerator. So after much effort the tank is out and sitting on the dock, the toilet has been tested and it appears to work but you have to go to the breaker panel in the salon to flush the toilet (temporarily). All is well - maybe. He heads out for coffee, showing me how to use the toilet - flick the breaker, extra water in a jug or pump the handle, yada yada yada. Well you can all guess how well that went when I tried it - it didn't work. The macerator pump grinded on and on but nothing left the toilet. Typical. Gerry is late getting back from coffee so I go over to Ramblynn - yep, you guessed it - not working either so we now had no working head - wonderful. Ramblynn was an easy fix (handle was just stuck) but alas Dirty Girl involved more ingenuity. Lots of messing around in the bilge trying to get really really old hoses to bend. ABS piping installed outside (attached to the pump-out connection) and voila - a cheap fix, but not a perfect one. Flushing the toilet now involves switching back and forth between dry and wet flush, crossing of fingers and exasperation when it takes 50 pumps to flush out (sticky valve?) You have to pump until it sucks air and leave hardly any water in the bowl or it will fill up and up and up. And of course there's a mystery leak - sometimes, but not always, so I get to mop up seawater every once in a while. I am not pleased. A proper thru hull has been promised the next time she's hauled out. Oh, almost forgot - the smell is gone!!

side view

top view

HOLES
The jeep has developed 2 good sized holes in the floor so off we go to the free market (aka bush) for some hardy metal to do the job.

Cutting apart an old stove

I wandered down the road and found 3 signs in perfect condition.

Cutting to size

tarred-in patch

Small children, pets, and feet are no longer in danger of falling through the floor.






HUMANE

Freeport humane society had its annual benefit dog show and rummage sale. The photo is the "potcake" event.  Potcake comes from the congealed rice and pea mixture that local residents traditionally fed stray dogs.
Here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potcake_dog

Rummage sale

Potcakes are great dogs

They have a real problem with stray cats and dogs and every year they run free spay and neuter clinics.