This week so far has been really busy. Let me give you a run down of what we have been up to:

Leaks. We have a few leaks. What boat doesn't? One was in the forward hatch, right above our heads when we sleep. This one was high on the priority list! Another was in the hanging locker. This one was traced to a stanchion in need of re-bedding.

I started sanding and disassembling the forward hatch on Sunday. Once it was in pieces we were able to see where the leak started. Armed with some gooey, gluey, caulk we put it back together this afternoon. This hatch will not leak any time soon. Now it is time for the rest of the varnish...the never ending task. Here are a few progress shots. I will post a final photo once we have gotten all of the varnish finished.



This is what we started with.









This caulk takes 7-10 days to harden before we can start sanding. So next week I will clean up all of the edges.

The hanging locker had been leaking for a long time now. Much longer than we have owned Anastasia. The good thing was that it had not done much residual damage. Just some water stains and mildew. Still, it was a yucky cleanup. Once clean and dry we hit it with some fresh paint and I have just finished hanging up our foul weather gear inside.

The lead photo is me perched just outside of the hanging locker. Here is another shot showing the inside.



Yesterday we went to Costco and purchased our new house bank batteries. We started in Newport News which is about a good 1 1/2 hour drive from Deltaville. It just so happens that we were there last Friday night too with Maxwell's parents. On Friday, Maxwell scoped out the ones he wanted but said, "lets wait until next week and we will come back for them." Famous last words... Needless to say, they were not there yesterday when we went to get them. And, this is not an item Costco is going to restock. But the nice lady did tell us that the Norfolk location (that is 2 hours from Deltaville) has 15 in stock. So we decided to head to Norfolk. Once we got there we made our purchase and began to head home. This is where the fun started. It was around 4pm on westbound I-64 when we found ourselves in the company of many, many other vehicles. So many that no one was moving. It is hot on the interstate, really hot. Especially when surrounded by so much pavement and exhaust pipes. We found ourselves with short tempers and longing for our bay-side breeze across the foredeck. After 2 hours of sweltering traffic we were moving again through a stretch that should take 20 minutes. Once back to Anastasia we were exhausted and relieved to be "home."

Tomorrow we plan to head out for the weekend. Our friends Dan & Kelly are having a get-together on Sunday and we are going to take our time sailing to Yorktown.

As I am writing this entry, there is a gentle rain pouring down and beautiful lightning illuminating the night sky.