.....of Nelleke. After two or three false starts we have finally gotten the underwater profile pressure washed off. Hurrah! On Friday we will be buying the anti fouling and then next week during the evening after work hours we will be cleaning and waxing the topsides and then the happy application of the anti-fouling. Hopefully by then the anchor windlass motor will have been repaired and we can re-install that while we are on the hard and then it will be a simple matter of booking an appointment for a splash at high tide. Not this weekend but the next the docks will be put back in the water and then we will have the lady back home and ready to start to get ready for our cruising schedule this year.

There is still quite a temperature range here with the thermometer dropping to near freezing at night and then climbing into the high teens during the day. At least we should have warmish temperatures for the antifouling application. We will probably be the second or third boat launched as only one or two other people are even started on their spring chores.

On dry land it is the season of the tick. Yesterday after our puppy perambulation we picked two of the little beggars of Peri and followed up with dislodging five of them from Barb and myself. I am still trying to figure out what use they are. I mean, after all, everything fills some sort of niche in the biosphere so what crevasse do ticks fill? Is there something out there that absolutely must have these little suckers to survive? Another bug, perhaps, or a small snake, or a particular bird? Whatever it is it ain’t doing its job! Whoever you are out there in the woodlands get the finger out and get on with it! We’re counting on you!

Today is Peri’s surgery day. He is off to be out under to have a growth removed from the base of his tail (not a tick), and while off in the land of nod they will be scraping his teeth and cutting his nails. Everyone please think fond thoughts about Peri and wish him well. He only has a small tail to begin with and can’t afford to lose any more of it, otherwise he will be reduced to only wagging his bum.