It's A Hard Life

All Work and No Play

Yeah, it feels like another job at the moment – well, almost.  Everyday we have things to do.  We keep finding new storage areas, which then have to be emptied out, cleaned, sometimes, depending on the usage, we have to lay down wall paper to make it look and feel cleaner too.  And because we keep finding new storage areas, we have to unpack and re-pack again so as to put things in their most logical or accessible places.  What fun!  Well, it is a little bit.  Its fun to discover new things.  For example, yesterday we found a hammock!  Can’t wait to get that baby up and into use!!

We’re still working below deck, but are almost finished (I think).  We have to find the post for the emergency tiller (for manual steering, in case we brake a cable connected to the steering wheel, etc.).  It should be under our bed.  Don’t know how that would work yet, cause the bed is below deck and you can’t steer from there (well you could, but you can’t see where you’re going!).  We think it means we’d have to stand up on the bed, put our head out the hatch and steer with our feet.  It is for emergency only, don’t forget.  I guess if the steering breaks we’ll have to do whatever is necessary.

Yesterday we started the engine for the first time.  The cats didn’t like it much.  Piggy stayed hidden all day.  But Archie was fine after the first time.  I guess once he recognized the sound he was ok.  But it sure is loud below deck.  Maybe one day he’ll be ok, or else he’ll be hiding away (and probably praying) until we shut it off.

We found down here there are a lot of “flaming hot” or even “extra flaming hot” munchies.  Even Lays makes chips like that.  There are cheetos and Doritos etc.  Sharon loves them (Neil, not so much).  We’ll bring back a bunch for Lionel and Moe (at least) to try.

We’ve seen a sea lion hanging around.  There is a fish market nearby and he comes by around 11 am every day looking for a hand out.  We didn’t have our video camera handy, but got some pics with one of the Iphones. 

We also discovered happy hour.  $2 for fish or shrimp tacos and $1 for a can of tecate beer.  It pays to be an alcoholic.  We found $5 rack of ribs at the supermarket (already cooked) and tried the restaurant “5 Guys” serving great burgers and fries.  Sharon was also able to use her age to get discounts “Yeah 55 and older”.

We won’t be sailing for a while yet.  Next, we’ll be going over the deck, which means all the lines, etc.  And learning the engine some more.  Captain Marty says next week we’ll practice going in and out of the slip under power.  Docking is the most difficult part of boating, so we need to spend some time on it.   We’ll be doing more once we move to our new marina (Kona Kai) on March 1.  Sharon likes the name cause it’s Hawaiin.

We’ve been taking the dinghy out for a spin every afternoon, along with our beer and wine.  Its calming.  Need the calming influence from time to time as we can get on each others nerves. Every relationship has their moments. Got a video here so you can see where we’re moored.

http://www.youtube.com/user/carrollsites#p/a/u/1/B6zCVfVLx4Q
http://www.youtube.com/user/carrollsites#p/a/u/0/ciY7znlCoH4