We wound up working for 11 days straight so we could finish the deck. By 'finish' I mean more like 1/2 the deck. the part we were working on is just the cabin top sides , the insides of the edge of the boat - the 'bulworks' and all the 2 inch wide white horizontal parts, so everything besides the non-skid, which is still alot of surface area. It was exhausting; 3 days of sanding followed by 3 hours of painting, walking 6 inches between painted surfaces. Scott said that was the hardest part. (the non-skid is non-skid so it isn't as important to look good - Thank God.) Luckily the weather was PERFECT for our final coat - the Gods were smiling upon us! The 2nd to the last they weren't; it was so windy 2 buckets of paint spilled over on the deck but luckily we saved the paint from dripping through the holes (where the hand rails go) to the cushions down below. So we took the next 3 days off. our 1st day I didn't officially get out of bed until 11 mostly because Scott brought me breakfast in bed so after I ate I took a nap. Scott was so excited about the paint job being done he spent most of his 1st day off pulling tape. We mostly did nothing else, I read a book and Scott did some touch ups on the paint job. Our 2nd day off we took a hike up a 500 ft(?) mountain and down. It is the mountain range between the boat yard and the shoreline where our favorite restaurant is, the Esterito. We had a great day and hike even had to go through a slot canyon to get back to the trail. We stopped for lunch and walked back the easy way to the boat where we hung out in the cockpit in the sun with beers. Scott crawled into our bed we have dubbed the 'Womb' because you have to climb in and out of it, and stayed the rest of the evening. I brought him food and drink and we read until it was time to sleep. Scott got a 24 hour flu the next day so he was down, then I got it the following day, so I was down - I think we needed an extended BREAK. We started the non-skid the next couple of days which is going slower than we wanted mostly because we have to wait 24 hours for the paint to dry - frustrating.

Hilo had his first sort-of bath today since he found his way into the engine room from the lazerette deck locker - yes, he's an outdoor kitty now. It's been alittle stressful for me, the overprotective mom. The 1st 2 times Scott let him walk around and I listened from down below. The 3rd time I forced myself to watch. He's really good though I think we even have him crate trained now since now he'll go out, walk around and then go and lay down in his crate (the one we have been carting him around in since we left ie 7,500 miles in the car - it fits him, his litter box and a water bowl very comfortably). We still don't let him out without someone out too since it is a 13 foot drop to the ground. He also ripped a nice hole in my pants ( I think I'll take up embroidering- I fixed it by stitching a palm tree over it - no plain mending for me) as he was falling back into the boat after an unsuccessful leap up through the companion way to get outside (and scratched my leg too).

We found someone to fix our dodger - finding supplies here is an adventure - she had mostly what we needed, I spent a day running around looking for a zipper - but found it.

I/we meet a very nice positively supportive woman from Taos (who also has a boat) but she left 2 days after we met. She had thought about buying a Westsail also but didn't. She was very excited that we were going to sail ours (someday). It's always helpful to get someone to remind you how exciting all this boat life is or will be.

Scott and I tried our 1st Mexican hotdog. We have been avoiding all the hotdog stands just because we'd rather eat carne asada tacos. A couple of our friends talked us into it (when we happened to be hungry). Mexican hotdogs are cooked with bacon wrapped around them and served in a bun with all kinds of stuff: mayo, salsa, melted cheese, catsup etc. etc. We decided we'd still rather have a carne asada taco.

Oh, and the rash on my face is FINALLY going away. We have deduced that it is from the respirator I have had to wear for the last 4 months. Though I still need to wear it now and again but at least not 8 hours a day.