Why is it always crappy when you are off work?!
22 June 2009
• RNSYS, Halifax, NS
by Mike
The wind is howling and the rain is just pouring down. What a couple of days! Oh well. At least the jobs that I had planned were all indoor ones so the rain doesn't affect our productivity, it's just that Barb, and I for that matter, would have like to be doing the sanding, planning and making the saw cuts outdoors rather than in the cabin. You takes what you gets, I suppose.
Sunday started off with Barb getting up to make the breakfast. I'm not sure how I felt about that as this is one of my "pink" jobs that I quite enjoy doing, especially as I saw that she was making one of my trademark breakfasts - a quiche! But as the morning unfolded and the smell of coffee, baking pie crust and sautéed peppers and bacon wafted over to my nostrils I started to realize that I could get used to it very nicely thank you very muchly. Of course, she can't match my own personal abilities in the galley, especially with quiche, but she did a very creditable job and I got to put my feet up and relax. It was particularly pleasant to sit in our snug little cabin and listen to the 25-30 knot winds howling by above deck. I went out a couple of times and checked a few boats that I saw moving about a lot at their wharf more that you would reasonably expect them to. I am a little hesitant to touch anyone else's dock lines in the Squadron, but I did report to the yard staff which boats at which pier I thought that they should look at. Poor old Peri had to wait for his morning ablutions. Whenever I try to take him out in the rain, he decides that he can "hold it" a little longer. Fortunately doggies don't seem to suffer from enlarged prostates like human males do.
We got everything ready for a full day of carpentry on Monday and then spruced ourselves up for a trip into town and dinner with Kayt and her friend Kat for Father's Day, but before that I called my own father up in Ottawa to wish him the best for the day. In spite of a couple of past small strokes he seems to be doing very well according to my mother, and as a Father's Day present I let him know that it is our intent to fly up for a visit in August, after the rush at the store. It was very flattering that that news went over well.
The dinner was excellent and Kat was the consummate guy's hostess. I can't understand why she is single. She had just returned from running the Johnny Miles marathon in New Glasgow and had a wonderful roast beef dinner waiting for us when we arrived. We ate the meal and watched sports on TV and talked about families, travel, books, movies and world travel. Frankly, I couldn't imagine a more pleasant way of spending the evening unless I was to be doing it with Barb under totally different circumstances.
I was a little over optimistic in thinking that I'd get the companionway stairs done by the end of Monday. The delay stems from all the gluing of wood together to form wide enough boards that I need to do and each gluing requires a 12 hour wait to let the glue set. On Sunday I had thought that I had done enough to finish the project but on closer inspection on Monday morning I came to the realization that there are still a few more pieces to do. I am trying to use up remnants rather than run out and waste money by buying more wood. I won't have to throw anything out and I will have made more efficient use of the tree. Ah well. If it's worth doing it's worth doing right, I guess.
For those of you who are visually inclined and who have been following the photo gallery in the blog, the place is getting pretty crowded so I have made sure that everything is subdivided into folders that should be self-explanatory. However, for this summer there is a folder called "Summer 2009 in Halifax" and inside that there will be photos of stuff that we are doing in general, but also there will be a separate subfolder for each of the projects. At the time of writing this there are folders for the Tool Crib (started late so there is no before shot) and the companion way stairs. There will soon be placeholders for the fridge replacement shots and the freezer cupboard project.
Our 10,000th poster happened to be someone that we know from Halifax, Abhi Bhade, and we intend to take him and his sweetie out for a sail and dinner aboard as soon as we get some of the initial work done aboard Nelleke, but for now we are drawing close to the 20,000 mark and would like to mark the occasion again with some sort of recognition and thanks for the support. Keep an eye on the counter and if you are the magic number 20,000 please let us know.
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