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How are you going to beat this?  Life in the Bahamas is about pretty water… Georgetown and having the right guests show up at the Exuma Market!

I have been looking at some of the you tube videos on the Bahamas.  There’s some good stuff out there that really brings me back.  I recognize all the places because my wife and I have been there on our catamaran.. most of them many times.  Some of the video should be sponsored by the people that sell boats…lol!  It almost made me want to buy a different boat and “go bigger” but I really love my Seawind 1000.  I might trade even for a lagoon 440 or a Leopard 47…. but that’s about it.  I second what most of the videos relating to cruising say regarding the cruiser community.  There is no other group in the world like cruisers.  Think about it…. if you meet somebody on a boat 400 miles from nowhere.. that guy pretty much qualifies… right.. he did what you did so you automatically share a unique commonality.

Sailing a boat to a remote location isn’t something you do by accident.  That being said… I like to tell folks that the picture perfect moments only constitute 10% of what you get as a cruiser.. but they make the other 90% well worth it!  And… the very worst of the 90% get burned into your memory forever.  If you were meant to be a cruiser those scary moments eventually become the highlight reels, a life reference that grounds you rather than being a deal breaker.  So often.. the wild times of an adventure become the best part.

I contend that the bad things that always happen (given time) become a life base, a steak in the ground that keeps you from worrying about the stupid stuff that truly doesn’t matter. While cruising you may discover more than pristine beaches, you may find out who you are.  You may discover that happiness is more about reducing how long it takes to smile after the bad times, than it is about what color shoes to wear.  Go fill your eyes with the memory of baby blue waters, I promise it makes you see things differently.  I contend… your about as happy as you make up your mind to be.  Especially if you understand that the outcome of the really bad stuff was settled before you even left the dock.

99% of the bad stuff is handled up front if you chose a great boat, it will take care of your learning curve without bloodshed, you can smile about your presumed “near catastrophe” much sooner if you have the “right stuff”.  You would be amazed what a boat will handle, normally much, much more than the occupants…..  How many reports have you heard where the sailors are rescued from certain death in a storm… then they find the boat happy as a lark on the open ocean all alone… without a skipper.  It makes you realize that the skipper and crew are certainly the weakest link in a bad weather survival situation.  Any “failure” during a storm is more often related to the human element, if his first decision was a good one.

If your living life with no chance of your day to day activities making a scab or at least a sunburn… your not really living.  I’m not saying be dumb and dangerous, but go… throw off your lines with the best boat you can afford because you’ll probably need it.  Here’s the apparently secret “key” to the all important and much debated question of “whats the right boat”…  here it is… free of charge…. if you learn quickly buy a light fast boat.. if not buy something big, slow and heavy so you will be able to smile quicker after the storm.  Some folks need more “training” than others…..lol.

That’s it.. that’s the golden rule of boat buying.  You don’t need to know how to do it all before you go… all you need to do is buy an appropriate vessel, arrange to get good weather information and get out there!   Getting good weather data these days is a snap.  You might not know how to sail when you leave.. but you dang sure will when you get back!!!  and remember, the 10% on both ends of the “amazing scale” are what life is all about.  The middle 80% just gets you there…..

sv Sea Yawl Later !!

I have been following the Volvo Ocean Race of 2014-15.  It’s an amazing 39,000 mile 8 month race around the world on identical 69′ carbon fiber sail boats.  You can find the site at www.Volovooceanrace.com   I highly recommend watching the 5th leg that’s happening now as they transit the Southern Ocean, the most remote location on earth.  There is enough information and video online that you can mentally put yourself there.. so much so that in the back of my mind I keep find myself wondering who’s leading all day long……  I can feel myself speeding over wave after wave… watching that main so we don’t jibe in a crazy overpowered downwind run… but I’m doing it from the air conditioned comfort of my office…lol.

Having almost two trip around the world’s worth of ocean miles on a sailboat, it’s great fun to place myself in their shoes…. with the great coverage and graphics available on the VOR, I find it easy to “witness” the race in as much of a personal way as I ever expect to.  I have NO desire to make non-stop passages across the open ocean.  I can guarantee you that less than 10% of my sea miles were sailed at night.  The short videos of the VOR boats managing those large southern swells interest me to no end.  I can’t get enough of trying to catch some hint of what these highly skilled professional sailors are doing at the helm…..  how they attack the ocean and angle over the giant waves.. not for best angles of comfort… but for the best speed!!!  I feel like I am very adept at steering fast at sea.  I understand and have tested the physics of it for many years……  most of it on a catamaran.  That being said…. I am seldom in the company of anyone to learn from when it comes to ocean steering.  Any scrap of information I can find on the subject is of supreme interest.

Most ocean sailors are more about comfort and navigation, and I get that but I like to go fast.  In 2012 I was asked to helm a big catamaran “Alternate Lattitudes” owned by a charter captain to compete in the biggest race in the Gulf of Mexico.  The race is called the “Harvest Moon Regatta”.  It’s a 24 hour race from Galveston Texas to Port Aransas.  The race is timed to sail at night under the full October moon (hence the name).  The first 1/3 of the event carried just enough wind to make it feel like a race.  Our chosen path (close to land) gave us our first advantage as we rode a nice current flow spewing out of a certain (not to be named) coastal estuary.   We did very well on the first part of the race staying very shallow.. after all we are on a catamaran!

The weather gods had fun with us that year.. we all knew there would be a pre-frontal calm 1/2 way thru the race, followed by a strong Norther.  All boats knew the last 1/3 of the course would be a fastest.  I was at the helm quite a bit during the first third of the race, when the wind died I went down to get some sleep.  Our main slatted and rattled as we waited on the inevitable wind from the North.  Some of the sailors followed the last bit of wind as far offshore as they felt comfortable in an attempt to stay powered up, that turned out to be a mistake.  They didn’t gain enough on the fleet to make a difference, and….. it did several bad things.  It brought them well off the Rhumbline.. but more importantly… now since I was hugging the shore, I would get the heavy 30 mph wind half an hour before they would.  My calm would be over much earlier!  The third negative is that they now had to fight their way back to shore in heavy seas to make the finish line.

We expected 30 to 40 knots on the beam as the frontal boundary passed.  My alarm clock was the boat itself….. the props began to windmill underneath me as we started moving again.  I woke up when I heard the bearings start to roll.  These cruiser type races are primarily crewed with invited guests, rather than professional sailors.  A big part of the event is the comrade-re and fellowship… the enjoyment of doing the Harvest Moon.  There was a Dutch gentleman on the wheel (an experienced monohull sailor) when I poked my head out of the cabin.  I asked him if I could relieve him….. the wind and waves built quickly and were already whipping.  He said no. he had it so I went about my business trimming sails to the ever building conditions.  His response was to leave it alone, that he had it like he wanted… not wanting to waste the good wind I made my way back into the cabin.  

I mentioned to the owner that I needed to be at the helm, there was speed to be had… but I didn’t want to be rude to the gentleman at the wheel.  Hints were made, minutes passed like hours… lol.  Then I tried again, but the Dutch fellow declined, this time I didn’t stop… I almost begged him to let me have the boat.  During my more than obvious begging session, I noticed were averaging about 9 knots… not bad for a 44 foot 20 ton cat, but I knew there was lots of speed in those 3 footers building to 4.  Then it happened.. he gave me the helm.

Scanning the instruments and GPS, I noted that our ETA at the jetty way point to end the race was just past 2pm.  The crew set about trimmed her like I wanted…  and I began looking over my right shoulder at the waves… hunting holes in the water behind the ever increasing waves, Alternate Latitudes immediately sped into double digits.  As the waves came around on our rear quarter and got bigger.. the fun really began!  We surfed well into the mid teens holding speed for quite a while each time we got running.  I don’t recall our best speed exactly, but we saw over 17 knots more than once, not bad for a 25′ wide charter condo with 4 bathrooms!  The owner had never seen over 14 on his boat since he owned it.  Everyone on board was grabbing leather… lol.  They couldn’t imagine a 20 ton charter boat making that kind of speed.  I told them it was easy… I’m no genius.. if you putt 22 tons of fiberglass on a long slippery slope you WILL go faster for a short time.  Eventually the waves came more on our aft quarter… and were at just the right angle, I could surf them for what seemed like minutes before the wave passed under our sterns.  The tricks to make that happen are complicated with many points to understand…..  then build on that to understand the skill of wave surfing in moderate conditions.  Anybody can surf 8 footers, but surfing 3 and 4 foot waves is quite a challenge.  I may take the time to explain my sail sets and steerage in detail on another post.  It’s a multi-faceted subject with lots of “ifs” to consider.

As it turned out… we won the race by almost 30 minutes.  We rounded the turning way point I talked about earlier at 1:30pm.  We had gained just over the amount of time we won by, in the last 1/3 of the race surfing a 4 bathroom condo into the high teens.  Just before noon, we were passing some of the first boats to leave Galveston, the big mono’s.  It was almost comical how fast we went by some of them as we surfed by 8 knots faster.  I’m sure there were jaws dropped all over the big monohull’s deck…. lol.  I’m not disapproving or condescending when I say this.. but there is no physical way a cruising monohull can achieve the speeds we were making on those conditions.

Watch the Volvo Ocean Race.. it’s crazy!  When I say the monohulls couldn’t keep up with Alternate Latitudes that day……. I was correct only because there were no 69′ carbon fiber ocean racers in it!   They are 9 days into the 5th leg, and 5 of the 6 boats are less than 3 miles apart!  Those guys hold the speed I instantaneously surfed to… all day long.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty

Spring officially starts tomorrow!  Last week the temps ranged from near freezing to 84 degrees.  Somewhere in the middle of that would be just fine.  I love warm weather, probably because of my affinity for water.  Lets see, I think I got 2 new boats since last post…. You can’t have too many you know……

Getting ready for lawn mowing, paddling my new canoe, bringing SYL to Louisiana, and playing on the kayak.  I got a cool kayak.. it has peddles that flap wings under the boat for propulsion… coolest man powered gadget I own.  The canoe is fun too, it’s not brand new.. in fact it was made in 1910, about the time the wright brothers invented the airplane control system.  Not many people know this, but the wright brothers didn’t patent the airplane, they invented the best way to control a flying machine!  Anyway.. my canoe is fun to paddle around, shes beautiful and handles nicely.  Great to have some nice man powered boats on the calm little Bayou.

I’m still working in Baton Rouge, only 60 hours a week now so it’s not so bad.  I get one day off a week, that makes it easier than working 7 days a week 13 hours a day.  Anyway… spring is coming… nice.

SYL Rusty

It’s the last week of February, I know it’s go-sailing time because I got the email from Chris Parker (the sailing weather guru) that my subscription is about to expire.  We always re-upped before leaving for the Bahamas to make sure we had access to his great weather information.  I guess we will be saving that $200 this year.  Last week when I got the Email, it must have commemorated the anniversary of our last departure.

Normally we leave Texas for the frosty trip toward Florida and points beyond about this time of year.  The cruising season unofficially starts with the Cruiser Regatta in Georgetown Bahamas around March 1st.  This year I couldn’t have left until the end of March due to the current job, but that’s not why we aren’t going this year.  Linda has been on the boat long enough and wants some roots.  Any off time I get will be spent working on the lake house.

The reason for this whole post is; this morning while we were saying our hellos to the night shift and talking about their night….. one of the guys jokingly said “There’s no place I’d rather be”.  Let me put that in context for you… it’s 38 degrees and drizzling here in the refinery.  His joke instantly made me think of exactly where I would like to be magically transported at that moment.  There is a little deserted island in the middle of the Exuma chain that instantly came to mind.  Somehow thinking about that little island, the shallow sand bars with ankle deep sand, baby blue rippling water and 80 degree days…. gives me warmth.   The memory of the places I’ve been on SYL can even make an oil refinery at 5AM, with it raining and 30 degrees much more bearable.

I was off last Saturday for the first time in 14 days and finally got to explore the water up and down the Bayou.  It will be a wonderful place to tour this summer.  The bayous have great big cypress trees and spanish moss everywhere.  There are nice houses lining the bayou, I can imagine the water will be a teeming with activity when it warms up.  SYL will make a great party barge up and down the river with plenty to see and wonderful places to anchor out for the night.

Rusty

So far this year has been a new experience.  A life changer….  When you relocate to a new work location there’s always that propensity to “re-invent” yourself because your always meeting new people.  This year I have been working too many hours to get a feel for Baton Rouge.. how I fit in it, much less get a clear feel for our re-invented life.  I simply haven’t been off to get to know the place.  Right now I’m working 13 hours a day, 14 days on and one day off for the next couple months, so I’m staying at the RV close to work.  I have been sick with either a cold or the flu since Thanksgiving.

Between the cold medicine and work hours my life has pretty much been a blur this year…..  I have Christmas toys I haven’t got to play with yet…   Don’t feel too sorry for me though, it’s the life I chose, but I am in the “trenches” right now.  How my life works is… I normally get a year’s worth of hours earned in 6 months, then we take off the rest of the year, unfortunately we have been buying large items, cars and RV’s so I have a couple years worth of long hour jobs to get caught up.  I have been told dreams of summer days on the Bayou, having friends over, going into New Orleans…. but right now I just can’t see that happening.  I have too much to do, too much to take care of.  Linda has been great virtually taking care of moving the house without me, we are both running pretty hard.  I need to get some things done at the lake house when the long hours are over.. so winding down takes back seat… again.  I need to get the sailboat here so we can use it to unwind.. but it takes about 4 days to make the trip and I don’t have 4 hours to spare much less 4 days.

Normally I can see a clear picture of the future… but right now I can’t see out of the ever deepening trench.  Re-reading that it sounds pretty hopeless…. in truth we have a lot to be thankful for and one day if we survive the war……. I guess there is a good shot at having what we want ….. unless it changes again.  Hope and Change…. I hope it doesn’t.

Happy New year everybody…..  The campaign slogan “Hope and Change” still seems to be our mantra.  An unpopular slogan for sure, but change can be good…. if YOU thought of it….

I have come to understand and identify three very different responses to change.  1. The first is exemplified by government edicts that have a zero chance of exciting us lower forms of humans in a positive way.  This first category of “change” is totally devoid of our input.  Making us “happy” about decisions we have no part in can take a long time (if ever) to accept no matter how good they might be.

Conversely if we have a choice in the matter these second two have more to do with personality types, than how they are served up… so there is at least some chance for happiness in them.  Changes that are personal decisions…. can be exciting for some folks, even addictive… believe it or not some people live their life looking around the next corner with great anticipation.  Often these people live in train cars, door stoops and on other peoples couch because structure is not as important as what they might see the next time they open their eyes when they wake up every morning.  Most people in this “anxious to go” category aren’t totally that polarized.  Many folks achieve at least some  structure in their life, but get tired of what it takes to maintain the status-quo and dream of unplugging.  The “Lukenbach Texas” crowd.  A small percent even come to realize that dream and go live on a boat, a cabin in the woods, or move completely off the grid.  3.  To others, change is never comfortable no matter who’s idea it is, they protect their choices and accomplishments fiercely.  Change is always a dirty word because they certainly wouldn’t bring it up and can’t believe there are people that do!  This group of folks will never understand how group 2 lives their life, but that’s OK….. nobody said we all have to think alike to enjoy our individual lives.

I haven’t met many that are totally polarized to one end of the three schools of thought.  The closest example of heavy polarization might be the overwhelming response to Obama’s decision making process, he seems to not be able to help himself, but hey.. he always knows what best for you and me right?   Hope and Change…….   it would be nice if I believed he even hoped we would like his change… but it doesn’t seem to matter to him.  Honestly though, regardless of how he swings his club, I don’t think all his decisions have been wrong.. just poorly delivered.  Even the best steak you can envision… cooked to perfection becomes inedible if you serve it on the underside of a nasty garbage can lid.  I guess there’s no time in his agenda for fireside chats or Ronald Reganisms that bring people along with him.  All I can say is you get who you vote for…  I’m not a big political guy… but I believe we missed a good chance at fine leadership last time.  America has certainly become a country run by minorities and yuppies that think they are serving some higher purpose by listening to crap like Feracon, Jackson and that other little weasel that makes his pay by enticing discontent.  If I was a black man…… I would be ashamed of that kind of leadership.  I guess you take what you can get.

When we started this blog it was mainly to keep our family and friends in touch with us while we were on our grand adventure, sailing in the Exumas.  A secondary reason was to have a permanent record of our trip to enjoy later on when memory fails, which for me seems to be sooner rather than later!  Now that we are not actively cruising and have no immediate plans to cruise, I found myself asking the question about continuing the blog.  I couldn’t decide.  One of my favorite sayings is to not decide IS making a decision so I guess the blog will continue with the occasional entry about………..

There have been massive changes in Rusty and my life in the four years since we started this season in our life.  Four years is that really all it has been……….seems so much longer.  I can say that deposing of the majority of your possessions, selling your home and living on a boat for three years teaches you a lot about your self.  To still be self discovering in your sixties has its pro’s and its con’s.  The most important discovery was that I am NOT a cruiser.  I love to sail, I especially loved the Exumas, but to live full time on a sailboat is just not the life I want to live.  So I know I don’t want to be a full time cruiser and I know I want to live in (and out of) a house.  Right now we are in our RV in Baton Rouge and I really like Baton Rouge……..I love Louisiana.  No, that is not exactly right…….I love the people in Louisiana.  Everyone is so friendly, outgoing and welcoming.  We went to the Farmers Market this Saturday and I felt like I was among friends I had known all my life.  Conversations were struck so easily, the cajun music was playing, people were laughing and even though it was very crowded no one was pushing or even in a bad humor.  I loved it.  It has been a long time since I felt like I was “home” and that is how I feel here in Louisiana.  I would move here permanently in a heartbeat except for two things…….it is a long way from family and there really isn’t a good place for SYL.  I don’t know that I am ready to give up sailing and I feel sure Rusty does not want to give up sailing.  Rusty would be perfectly happy sailing off into the sunset forever…….

So for now, Rusty will work in Baton Rouge, I will spilt my time between the RV, the lake house and Friendswood, Texas.  Shawn my new grand baby has acid reflux and taking care of him has been a challenge.  I  just got back five days ago and may need to go back this week.  We will see……

Sea Yawl Later!!

Linda

Fall weather is amazing isn’t it?  The cool mornings and bright sunny days are hard to beat this time of year.  My morning starts when I get in the car at 5:14 AM, we are not on long hours yet so I don’t get to work until 6:30.  Mornings are cool and nice with a bit of dew on ground before the sun comes up.

We are still liking Baton Rouge, or at least I am… Linda has been in Houston helping with the baby for a few days now.  This weekend I brought dad’s truck back and picked up Linda’s Mustang.  It hadn’t been driven much since we left for the Bahamas the first of this year so this was a shake down run of sorts.  A few weeks back I put a new battery in it, drove it to town, aired up the tires and washed it because I knew we would need it soon.   Before we left I’d been fighting the cooling system, looking for a leak because the system kept getting low on coolant.  It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely losing water.  I did all the regular things, had the radiator checked, changed the hoses, water pump and radiator cap but it was still a nagging issue.  Saturday the slow leaking problem revealed itself by becoming a large flowing leak!  The 3/4″ fitting that brings heater water from the engine to the heater finally became dislodged rather than remaining slightly drippy.

This fitting is deep in the back of the engine so any moisture that leaked vaporized on the back of the hot engine before it hit the ground.  Anyway… the leak became very apparent due to the large smoke cloud behind the car and lights flashing on the dashboard that was lit up like a Christmas tree.  Suddenly this 3/4″ hole in the system validated that the new water pump was working well….. it pumped coolant out onto the exhaust pipes at a high rate of speed.  I was only about 12 miles from the RV, so it wasn’t hard to temporize a fix that would last 15 minutes.  Luckily where it happened there was a water hose available next to a business that was closed on Saturday and a fellow stopped by in his Jeep to check on me, and he had some basic tools.

Sunday morning I removed the fitting completely and tried to hammer it back home into the back of the manifold but it wouldn’t stay so I needed stuff from the parts house.  Unfortunately the car was apart so I had to put it back together with the temporary fix and go for my repair parts.  After buying what I needed the repair went well and I seem to have solved the long term mystery of coolant loss, this mornings trip to work went well.

Linda’s car is a 1998 Mustang GT Convertible.  This fall weather makes it super nice to ride around with the top down.  I look forward to driving around after work in the RV park, visiting with folks and stopping by the pool.  It’s like having a golf cart to go visiting on…. but nicer.

There is a large public park behind the KOA campground.  Every evening I hear kids playing ball back there.  It will be nice to make an evening drive with the top down, take in the sights, sounds and smells of the cajun culture.  I’m anxious to get Linda’s car on it’s feet and ready for when she gets back.  I feel like the engine problem is fixed, I need to find a local upholstery shop that does convertible tops, our is getting a bit worn.  I guess that will have to wait until we have 2 cars in Baton Rouge.

Well, lunch is over I better get back to work.  I’ll be glad when my sweetie gets back but she’s where she needs to be right now, helping with her new grand baby.

SYL  Rusty

Well…… every day is still a possible life changing experience with Linda and me, but things are actually a bit more settled since my last post.

Linda and I are currently in Baton Rouge with our RV.  I’m working again, which is unfortunate and nice all at the same time… lol.   It feels good to a man to bring home a paycheck no matter if your dead broke or nearing retirement.  I believe one of the most unsettling things a man subconciously deals with when contemplating retirement, is laying down that finely honed sword he used all those years to bring home the proverbial bacon.  It truly does feel like relinquishing a weapon in battle.  I believe many men have that subconsious regret upon retiring but don’t recognize the uneasiness for what it really is.  Maybe if men understood his subconsious saddle burrs better, he might dismiss them easier and do a better job of retiring.  When my grandfather put down his sword…. I believe he never got comfortable again without it and that stole some of his joy.  In short, I guess it’s nice to be making a paycheck again.

We are settled, as much as can be on a construction job.  The vagabond lifestyle pays well, but the road gets old sometimes.  My travelling band is currently at ExxonMobil Baton Rouge for quite possibly the rest of the year.. maybe more.  Of course that could change with a phone call tomorrow.  Those that know me can validate our free flowing lifestyle…..  Some say their life is “fluid” meaning their life focus flows from place to place with relative ease.  My life is probably better described as “gassious”……. If somebody opens the lid, things change almost instantly.  Linda recently expressed a desire to be home more… to be less fluid.  I understand that and feel the same… but I find it ironic that some of the biggest instant changes in my life came about while attempting to satisfying my wife.  To this day I wince when Linda starts out a sentence in one of these two ways:  “I’ve been running some numbers” or “Iv’e been thinking.. pause……….”

Sometimes when she says I’ve been running some numbers it can mean something good is ab out to happen… but the second sentence rarely turns out comfortable.  I’m not complaining or talking out of school here….. it’s no secret I married a strong woman and I’m proud of it.  The long and short of it is… change is seldom a good thing unless you thought of it.  Read that again…. that’s an important concept to understand in life, I’ll restate it even stronger:  “Change is never good unless it’s your idea”.  I’m just saying…. It is probably wise to understand that you have a selling job to do on your spouse if you are the one with the life altering epiphany.  Don’t expect them to jump in your lap instantly with adoring looks… even if the change in question is something your spouse might like.   Maybe I should say it this way:  Change is never “instantly” good unless it’s your idea.  Linda and I are probably more amenable with change than most anybody you know, and yes, it would be good to live in one house for more than 3 weeks in a row.

Since I got off the boat I have taken on some projects at the lake house.  I recently rebuilt some of the garage area.  One of the storage areas outer wall had seen water incursion so I tore out two walls and the roof over them.  I replaced everything from the concrete to the skyline with new wood and shingles.  That job began with a simple deep cleaning of all the storage areas.  I found some rot at the bottom of the walls so I removed the inner wall to look at it.  What I found included a leak in the roof that seeped into two exterior walls.  As I said it’s all new and freshly painted now.  I enjoyed the project and may choose (given the time) to do some remodeling and expansion we have dreamed about for years.  I have several scale drawings of what I’d do to the place given the time and/or money.  We found out hiring a remodeler is more expensive than building a new house so if it gets done I’ll probably do it myself.

I think we are going to like Baton Rouge.  We love the cajun culture, the great food and tall trees.  The landscape is very similar to where we grew up.  I didn’t think that meant much until we lived in Corpus for and extended time.  Scrubby trees and stickers in the yard are not as inviting as listening to the wind as it blows through the tall trees that also provide a soothing shade and soft green grass.  Here water isn’t a rare commodity, it’s a calming natural feature found often in our part East Texas.  I like that.

Linda has reconnected with friends that moved here years ago, so we have an instant community.  All in all life is good, as I said at the beginning, life is better these days now that I am successfully wielding my sword again, we are in a place we like…… and best of all we have friends around to share it with.

SYL  Rusty

I have been pretty busy at the lake house since I got home…. The condenser fan on the outside AC unit was getting hot and eventually quit.  I replaced it this week.  We have a large dehumidifier in the storage building that has been running full time for two years.  I put a timer on it so it would run 4 hours then turn off for 4 hours….  both those fixes will reduce our energy bills here at the lake.  When Erin bought a new house they moved stuff out of a storage room, some of it was ours and came here, it was deposited in the most convenient locations available because they were setting up or moving 2 other houses at the time.  I organized things that came here opening up several of the spaces inside the garage……. it made them easier to walk in and work out of.  We have 3 storage areas under the roof here at the lake house, now it’s possible use them again.  Tomorrow I’m going to put carpet in the bedroom, yesterday I drilled thru the countertop and into the cabinets below to hide a bunch of wires that Linda has been fighting in the kitchen… so that’s not an issue any more.  The projects haven’t been huge, but there are bigger ones on the horizon that need to be accomplished soon.  When your away for months it builds up.

Before we left for the Bahamas I was working away from home so there were projects I needed to do already…. my time at home these days is being used wisely.

Its hot and humid in Texas….. lately its been bumping 100 degrees outside, nothing like the high 80’s we had in the Bahamas.  I hear 2014 has been one of the least active hurricane seasons in recent history…. I’m glad how that worked out.  I lingered in the Bahamas longer this year than I ever have in the past.  The calm summer weather allowed me to discover some new territory.  The East side of all the Exuma islands are normally not accessible due to Atlantic swells against the rocky shores of the uncountable islands.  As remote as the Exumas are initially due to their location, this year I was able to go where few people ever go and found some historic and highly sought after beach finds.  It may be several years before SYL goes back to the Bahamas, I’m very glad I had the extra time in the islands this year.

New things are happening with me at work… I’m not sure how  it will all play out, but there is almost certain to be a big change for me.  The good thing is they are my options, rather than something happening to me so that’s always good.

Almost time for bed….  I’ve been back to the boat once and loaded the station wagon with items that need to come to the lake.  I suspect I’ll do that a couple more times soon….. make the boat a weekender rather than a long distance sailor.  I’ll remove lots of spares and tools I won’t need for local sailing… she came home without needing much repair but there are some things I want to freshen up like the batteries…. and I’ll send the broken generator for repair.

Lots of changes being contemplated so it’s exciting and unsettling all at the same time.

Sea Yawl Later !!    Rusty