We were just sitting around thinking about how the boatyard takes their time and there is such little communication about when they will come and change out our electronics… when I said to Ben, ‘Hey, what if we start taking apart the old electronics (the chart plotter) and only go as far as we feel comfortable and maybe by the time they get to us we will have taken most of it apart and put the new stuff in. whadda ya think?” He thought that was an excellent idea. So today away we went slowly and methodically at disconnecting the chart plotter. That was easy. Then we started to pull the electrical cords, of course, being careful to make sure that when we pulled a cord we replaced it with a leader line so we can string the new lines later back through the same small holes. The radar cord was a thick cord that was tied by a cable wrap (Ya know those plastic wraps that you pull one side through a hole on the other side and zip it tight.) that wraps were every foot or so… things were going smoothly until way down in the belly of the stern (back of boat under the wheel where the quadrant – steering mechanical mechanism – lies) under a support beam was two tie wraps. Ben tried for a while to get the one but no luck. I was small enough to get my body inside a locker and my arm and one hand under a board where I could snip the wrap! WE thought that was it but then when we pulled nothing happened. Sure enough there was one more tie wrap. Ben went in under the cockpit upside down, slid his head upside down and could barely get his hands under to snip the last tie. He was amazing and did it! Then he said, “There is no need to panic.” I calmly responded with, “Yup no need to panic, I’m right here and I can give you a hand.” I looked down the tiny helm seat and thought, “man he is squished in.” He got there by gravity and now how will he get out. Luckily he could pull the quadrant around enough so he could slither back out. It took some time but he made it. Phew, I was just thinking whom would I yell to help pull him out? But no need! It was exciting and I did not take any pictures with my iphone cuz it was too hairy of a moment for me to think about a picture!

Today there was a cute moment in my mind where I thought, “it feels like were playing house.” Now for you girls you might get my gist. Remember when you were little and you took all the blankets from the house and made a fort and then everything was about making a cute little house. Life was good, no worries at that moment, the spring air was crisp, the chores were done, nothing else to do but play in your kid-made fort/house. Today I had a moment where I was putting things away and felt just like that. It must be a dream. Life is good, no worries at this moment, I felt accomplished in our work and the air was cool and I smiled.

I'm sure Ben has been talking about Lila or at least I think so. Since my camera is all washed up, I thought I would put in a cute picture of Lila after a night of crusin' the boatyard. Funny! in the morning about 7am the employees start arriving and she hears them so she tries to run across the boat yard lickity-split. I hear her collar dingaling-ing then I hear the employees laughing at her run across the yard and fly up the ladder and in crash in the boat full steam ahead! then most of the day she lays around as tired as any cat could be. She is such a joy! We met another person with a cat on her boat, her cat walks on a leash too!

Welp almost time for bed. We are listening to the Twins game and watching it on the iphone. technology! Ohhhh...

... some of you have asked why did we demast? a few reasons: we are moving our current radar from behind the stern pulpit (It was mounted on a tall pole, see old pictures for placement, it seemed to get in the way when we would tack) now it will be on the mast (most people have it on the mast, up high and out of the way). also our anchor light which is lit when we are at anchor, it sits on the very top, it is super important to have it on at night - one time last year a speed boat at night (i'm thinkin they might have been drinking "college" drinks) came speeding through and at the last minute saw us but yelled as they drove by, "we can't see your light". there was also a time in annapolis where we could not find our boat right away cuz we could not see the light either. it is good to inspect the rigging every so many years and have it re tightened by a professional. we could have asked the yard to climb up and mount the radar but we thought we had enough things to do to take it down.

i'm beat! going to bed! have a blessed memorial day weekend. My sister and brother in-law are coming this week to williamsburg so we will happily meet up with them sometime while we do all this waiting.

Kayaking Escapades!

Kayak Plan A, B, C ok Plan D – And another camera bites the dust – or should I say another camera drowns.

We have Kayaks for the boat this year. We plan to use the Kayaks more than using our dinghy. So that is Plan A. Since that is the plan we both thought we should learn how to flip over then flip back. It seems so easy in the movies or when you watch the sport. I had my son explain to me how to right a kayak. First you get in and have another person help spin you around so you get used to the feel of turning upside down and then back up again. Do that over and over. Then you add the paddle to propel yourself up.

All seems easy and looks easy too and if my son can do it well I can too, although he told me it took him a week or two of being in a class before he successfully did it. Well I’m athletic, I like canoeing, how hard can it be when it looks so easy.

So I asked Ben to spin me around the first time. I have to admit I was hesitant to tip over for fear I would not be able to pull the skirt off. Have no fear Ben is hear. So, here I go. I said again, please spin me. He said he would. Well I flipped upside down and nothing… upside down I lay. I leaned over and pulled the skirt, out I popped and I looked at Ben with crabby eyes. He said, “I couldn’t flip it around.” Well I did not say it but I thought, that is because you were standing at the bow. Duh, how did you plan on spinning me from there? Anyway water over the kayak as they say. So I tried again, and again, and again. Then I thought shoot if he can’t right me how can I do it? So I said, “Your turn”. I was done plus if he can learn it he can teach it to me.

I watched Mr. confident go upside down and … nothing. Out he popped. He tried many more times than me. Nothing… then he asked, “what did Jason teach you.” I repeated what he had said. Ben tried again and again. I finally decied to pull up the other kayak (kinda like pulling up a chair to watch tv or something) I beached the kayak on a sand bar and continued to watch as Ben tried over and over and over.

Ok, so that was plan A, we go kayaking, the kayak saddening gets flipped upside down and we both skillfully right the plan B, I flip over, pull the skirt. Roger I can do that… check. Now I watched Ben as he flipped then emptied the water from the kayak and then jumped back in. Oh great, I’m not too good at getting back in a canoe and I know I can’t flip a canoe right up! So Ben successfully emptied the kayak then flipped it up. I thought he was standing on the bottom. He was not. It was my turn. Here I go… paddle paddle… flip… pull skirt… pop my head up… now go back under the upsidedown kayak drain the water as much as possible… the with all your might throw the kayak up in the air and right the kayak… I gave it my synchronized swimming power egg beater kick with my legs and TADA! I did it. I amazed myself, I think I amazed Ben too. I did it my first try! Check

Plan C try to get in the Kayak. Ben demonstrated a few times. It all took upper body strength. Yeah right I have not arm strength! I tried and tried and tried. Then I thought enough of the guy way I need to do the finesse way. I grabbed the back end and slid on to the back but still could not get myself in the boat. I tried twice then I tried the front and I slid on my belly and plopped in the boat and I did it… phew that was plan D. So now when we are out and if I get flipped by a big wave or wind I can get back in.

Now what about the camera? For those of you that know me I have the worst luck with cameras that is why I have a water proof, drop proof, and dust/sand proof camera! What could go wrong? I have this amazing Pam proof camera until now. Ben had put the camera in his pocket like he always does. We love our camera, we take it everywhere and get great pictures. Well I asked him to give the camera so I could get his first try on film. He pulled it out of his pocket and the trap-door that protects the usb port was flipped open. OH NO! here we go again! The camera was full of water! I loved that camera. I had it for 2 years which is the longest I have kept a camera.

No pictures for you all except for iphone pictures until next week when we get a replacement camera for me. (I can’t live without a camera and I have been so good at posting pictures too. I was on a roll.)

And there you have our kayaking escapades.

Today was a hot day. We took our sanding work and brought it under the trees in the breeze to sand old weathered parts, ahhh . that was much nicer and cooler. Last night was a hot night to sleep, but tonight is turning out to be very cool. We met this French couple from Quebec. They are going home today so we had a going away party for them tonight in the gathering area. They are so funny. I love their accents. Humm what else did we do today. Oh we biked to town about 1-2 miles to the west marine to get a few things. On our way we stopped at an antique store and ice cream shop… tough life. God is good.

Picture is me sitting on Cricket way up in the air. We are what is called "sitting on the hard". Who makes up these sailing terms anyway?!

School & learning 5/26/10

We had two lessons in sailing to different places. The first was with Michael (old guy in the middle) he sails to the Bahamas every year for the last 30 years! He took us through our charts and taught us all we could absorb in 2 hours. Then after that we sat with Dave (seated on the left) he took us through the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) From Deltaville to Florida then across the ocean to Bimini. I took so many notes that I hope I can read them and remember somethings later this winter. Oh wait don't think we are going to the bahamas now. Nope we were just taking advantage of their knowledge. We plan to hopefully go to the bahamas this winter after hurricane season ends. (june 1 - Nov 1 is hurricane season)

(This summer we plan to possibly get to Maine.)Now last night we met with Darrell and Nancy to get us from Deltaville up north to Connecticut. (If we ever get out of here). We learned the path through New York harbor, the statue of Liberty and etc... I'm not too excited about New York except that it will be so big that my mind will not be able to comprehend what my eyes are seeing. "in-awe" will be the state of my being. It is Ben's dream to sail through New York as many of our ancestors did.

It is amazing to have so many people willing to sit down with you and pour over chart after chart and give to us their wisdom and insight. They all will warn you about certain areas we should avoid, certain kinds of tides and currents to watch out for. Some times I think, "wow, I can't believe all the great stories. I can't believe they did it. Wait a minute we will be doing that someday too." Everyone we meet that looks at our boat will say, "you have a fine boat to get you where you want to go."

There you have it for today. and look I'm on a roll for blogging. I have a list of things to get started on. Many smiles to you all! Pam

Mast got pulled! 5-25-10

It will be a while till we are in the water which is all apart of the experience.

5-24-10 Here is Ben helping the guys de-mast. I got to stay out of everyone's way and just take pictures. I'm sure the boatyard people are used to owners helping out. I was amazed at how you detach a few wires, untangle the boom with all the rigging, secure the halyards and it is ready to be removed. our mast is about 55 feet (our clearance is about 60 from water level). that is super long and on the ground laying down it looks very long or tall depending on its whereabouts. There was never a hairy moment or thinking I needed to bit my nails with worry. The Rigging guys know their stuff. This was a day event - readying the mast and such, then wait and wait, then work, then wait.

I'm still in land mode where you want people around you to be on a schedule and us to follow along with time frames that need to be met. My Minnesota "nice" doesn't get us anywhere. For example I went to talk with the boatyard scheduler to ask if he could tell us when things would be started, or atleast give us a certain day when he "thinks" they might get to us. He looked like I was rushing him, when I know he does not know the exact day but he at least knows the time the day before. He schedules the boat yard guys so he knows when he say who does what on which boat on which day. All I wanted was an email the night before the day they will come and work on the boat. It is all about communication. If we know what day then we won't sit around at the boat but we will explore, or meet other boaters, or go into town, or go visiting friends i.e. Becca and Jason (Steinmeier) Vande Wettering. So being MN I did not demand or talk more forceful about making sure he lets us know. The conversation ended by him saying, "well, if I have a guy ready to send to your boat but I don't give you notice, should I send him anyway" The answer was, "Of Course, yes!" oh well, I tried.

The weather is perfect. so what is a part of this experience? Well today is May 25th Happy Birthday to my father! "Happy Birthday Dad!" This morning we got up later than normal due to the boatyard was pretty quiet till about 8am. Had a banana and while on the hard we have refrigeration which makes it easy and yummy for food choices. Then Kurt the coffee partner came over with his dog Maggie. Then I did a bunch of computer work, personal and work. Tried to video chat with the staff but better luck tomorrow. We biked all around Stingray point. Very cute. Our bikes are funny, you get bikes as a part of the package here in Deltaville Marina. They are bikes where you sit tall (not like ten speeds) it is an old fashion - one speed - with brakes like when we were kids (not hand brakes but foot brakes) they all have big baskets so we can go to the market and to top it off big seats. I feel funny but I like them!

Oh yesterday we visited an old man named "Jimmy". He is 87 living alone and obviously has the beginnings of dementia. He has amazing stories and colorful language. He is so happy to see Ben and Kurt. The two guys met him at the park where they play tennis. since then they have come to visit Jimmy. Jimmy loves his chicken. oh my! he cooks his chicken everyday in a crockpot and leaves the chicken in there overnight and then in the morning turns on the crockpot to cook the chicken again for the next day using BBQ sauce. He manages on his own just fine, in-terms of "he knows what he knows". Like the mail lady seems to help him with little things, like calling the cable company etc. He does have a social worker that he says is trying to get him in a nursing home. He does not want to go. He has Meals on Wheels once a week. Someone mows his lawn now and again. He sits out in the front lawn to watch the neighborhood going ons. or sits in the back porch to be with his two precious cats, both tabbys and both have many ticks on them. I'm sure with his eye sight he can't see them. He has cable tv but since things are digital now his tv is stuck on channel 3! oh that is so funny, the cable works fine and the channels do switch but the tv only displays CH03. so he thinks it is only on Channel 3 and no matter how many times you explain it he won't get it, that CH03 is what the tv needs to be set at so the other channels work through the remote. oh my - try explaining that over and over and over. We took Jimmy to the grocery story, normally he walks or hitch hikes, its about a mile. One day Kurt took him to the boat yard and he had no idea there were boats over here. He's lived here 50 years. imagine! Our prayers and friendship go out to him. God put Jimmy in our lives and us in his.

welp it is getting late and I'll try to blog everyday, I had a few days to catch up so this got a little long. I'm going to post a few more pictures on my facebook for people to see.

Here I am at Deltaville Marina in Jackson creek just off of the Chesapeake bay.

It is time to blog to you all again. I have a few days to catch up on because I was getting acclimated. No more excuses, so here goes...

Deanna and Dave drove me out on tuesday we left home and arrive in VA Wednesday. We drove straight here! so thursday was just sleeping and unloading my stuff. I forgot my razor - yup so I'm going hairy for a few days. That's not too bad in the scheme of things. I have met all of Ben's "guy friends". He has quite the male bonding thing going on here. I think Kurt might be sad he lost his coffee mate to me. I'm not getting in between those two. They can continue their coffee clutch in the mornings... I just happen to tag along. Then there is Roy, Dave, Hugh (which I have not met yet) and Graham. Here I thought Ben was lonely, ha ha ha, nope he was well taken care of, or maybe he took good care of those guys. Anyway what a nice community here. Everyone is so willing to help and tell stories of sailing. Especially Michael who is an 82 or so year old man that is all bent over with arthritis and he sails every year to the bahamas and back. He has been living on his boat for 30 years. yikes! He has many stories and on wednesday we have a date to meet in the lounge so he can show us the bahamas. ok, i have digressed ... friday was filled with moving our boat closer to the water but still on the hard. We are having a bunch of work done on the boat so we can sail it easier from the cockpit. That is we are mounting new equipment on the stand that holds the binnacle at the helm. I will be so happy to not run up and down the companion way to see our gps and charts and radar. The radar will be mounted in front of me so when the big ships are coming I can see them better without leaving my post. I can't wait. In doing this we need to de-mast the boat, so they can put the radar up there, the wind transducer, (tells us the wind direction and speed - now a real sailor would not need such an instrument, but I like things that rhyme with safety. and I will feel more safe with that, plus we need our anchor light to shine brighter! last year one speed boat was heading for us in the late night - they might have been a little happier than during the day time - anyway - as they just missed us they were yelling that they could not see our anchor light. ok they have a point.) Also some new exciting equipment is called an AIS humm what is the name oh yes, automatic identification system. this means when a big boat is bearing down on us we will be alerted on our radar the boat's name so we can hale them and we will send off a signal that we are around with our name. It also gives us information about the vessel plus their heading and speed. All good for me and good for those that come and visit. this all will take a while for things to get done on the boat. meanwhile we have our list of projects on the boat. I will get to those as the days progress. so today was us in a new spot. I'm sure Ben will talk about our precious cutie-cat named Lila! oh my she is a dear! She climbs up and down the ladder with ease. She explores the woods and prowls about during the night. You guessed it. Once we moved she was disoriented and went back to the place where the boat was and was crying and crying until the neighbor sailor picked her up and brought her back to us. She climbed up the ladder and did not move from this place all day. Right now Ben and her are out walking around so she knows how to get to the woods and back again. Today was a great day filled with to-dos. I'm also trying to work from the boat more this year so I did accounting stuff today, caught up on all emails, and I will tomorrow start writing scripts for some vlogs that our Deaf Advisory Board will produce this year. all fun! Oh and Ben bought me a small keyboard that hooks into garage band so I can play the piano and compose music on the computer. amazing. I'm sure I will have fun with that project in my spare time. So today we pulled off as much of the rigging that is connected to the mast as we were comfortable doing. We biked to a small farmers market and picked up some fresh strawberries and other yummy healthy food. Then at night we had the perfect date. there was a band playing just down the way. We kayaked - note the picture of me kayaking - this year we plan to kayak more than dinghy places. This was my second time kayaking - the first was on a calm day (see picture) tonight the waves all had white caps. humm if I was in a canoe I'd think twice about going out and also there would be a good chance of tipping. Ben was all gun-ho (as normal), i know I'm an excellent paddler and I've rarely tipped a canoe, but I have to say those white caps looked big from far away. We packed a small supper of sandwiches and headed to the kayaks. I got in and I said, "I have to say I'm a bit apprehensive with the white caps." Ben replied, "we only have to go as far as you want if you think it is too hard we will go back." On one hand I wanted to try the adventure on the other hand I have not tipped in a kayak before - i don't know how to right it once I flip over, I think I could pull the skirt off and get out if I could not right it. I brought nothing with me so to lose anything important except for my glasses (I have a spare pair but they are from the late 80s and are quite funny looking on me). So I cautiously got in the kayak and waited for Ben to join me. It was a little wave y at first and we had not even come close to the white caps yet. We were paddling against the wind and current. To my happy surprise I was moving forward into the wind and current and making progress. The waves seem to just splash around me. This was so fun, I was bobbing like a cork not tippy like a canoe! I felt real solid in the small boat. I decided to have a few waves hit me on the side of the boat to see what would happen and I just floated up and down. amazing - who would have thought it?! I could not wait to kayak back. we went to a concert called The Little Big Band. It was two women and one drummer. They play piped in music from the computer and sing live to that music. At first I was smiling inside as to how silly it was, but by the end of the night we were dancing to their oldies songs. It was very fun! It was then time to head back, it was dark. What fun it was to ride the waves at our backs! what a hoot! now I am in the cabin listening to the wind blow hard but not rock the boat. I have gotten a lot of sun today, worked hard on the boat and played hard with dancing and singing. All-in-all a great day and a great few days. Let the blogging begin. please feel free to comment or email or just plain call me for fun. I'm not that far away. blessings abound Pam

At the home front

Welp, i'm here in MN, nothing exciting to report. No bottom painting here. I bet Ben will leave me some fun of painting for when I get out there. (although I hope not) Here I have been cleaning and organizing the house. Also trying to figure out how to telecommute to work. I have a new laptop with video so the office and I can ichat or skype. I have a few big work projects going on not to mention quarterly taxes and such... blah blah blah... I will be helping Deanna pack her place and move back home. Yup, they come back. She will be looking for a job while staying here free during the summer. i'm going to go now and make a list of all the things I want to get done before I leave for the boat. Oh Kiko (our house cat) misses Ben. She sleeps in his closet for comfort. welp I better get writing my list... it will be a long one. It's good to connect with you all again. Captain Pam on dry land.

February and 7 degrees

Sitting at dunn bros coffee shop in front of a fireplace dreaming of the seas. planning my office work so I can be more efficent while sailing. here's to a good 2010!
keep smiling
Pam