They say the mind is the second thing to go.....!
08 September 2009
• RNSYS, Halifax, NS
by Mike
....well, at least in my case we know that ain't so. It's the first!
Today I thought I had a doctor's appointment in at Stad to see Judy Price, the MD who has been keeping me supplied with prostate pills since O'Hare decided to stop doctorin' and concentrate on a different kinda slice on the links. Fortunately the Admiral also keeps track of my appointments and she stopped me from charging out the door to a non-existent appointment. It turns out that I have to wait another day for my rendez-vous tomorrow. Sheeeesh!
We are having a bit of a last minute scramble this morning to get a few chores done and to do the first of the first parades on the engine that I have done in a while since we have been up on the hard. That was the first of two major steps that we took today - we're a boat again! Shortly after noon, the RNSYS yard crew did their normal excellent job and the hydraulic trailer continued to amaze as they picked Nelleke plus her cradle up and gently put them on the marine railway. In fact, the roughest part of the launch was the railway running down the ways bumping over muscles that had so unadvisedly decided to take up roost on the tracks. But, here we are, back at TD9 and, as we arrived, our friend Dave Hickey of DRH Canvas appeared at the slip to help with our lines and then to bring aboard almost all of the canvas work that he and his team had been doing for us. We now have new mattresses in all the cabins and are about to have new seats in the salon. The mattresses are wonderful and the one in our cabin even has memory foam on the top part of it. Barb is positively squirming with anticipation of sleeping in it tonight. In fact, when she first lay down on it she squeeled, "Oh, Dave! Oh, Dave! That feels wonderful!". She hasn't said anything remotely like that to me in bed for years. Of course my name isn't Dave, but still..... She even claims that the boat smells different now that the old foam is out. I must say that I had noticed something I just couldn't put my finger on it, so she is probably right.
We have been also at work rearranging the cockpit lazarrets to make them more efficient and as a corollary to get rid of stuff that we are not actually using. I have come up with the cunning plan of storing the crash kit - axe, bolt cutters, crowbar, pipe wrench, etc., on the lids of the seats, and we have already acquired rectangular containers to put everything in to keep them from rattling around while we are underway. Now it's simply a matter of putting the plan into effect.
I am writing this sitting at the dock, gently bobbing to the passing wakes, as it was meant to be. You can almost feel the relief in poor old Nelleke as she bobs and weaves with the elements rather than shuddering in place as she does up on the hard. She is rarin' to go and I can tell impatient for me to finish my jobs so that we can.
Our friends Alan and Heather aboard Moonlight Maid have moved to Halifax from St Margaret's Bay for the final stages of their preparations and are just down the Arm from us. I am hoping to get things done in time for us to spend the last day or two at anchor out at McNab's Island to give Peri some good runs and to test out our power generation. Perhaps Moonlight Maid will join.
Comments