We will be celebrating soon with an open "house", and will post the time in the next few days. Please watch for it so you can come see what it finally (well, almost finally) looks like. Meanwhile, here's what we'ver been up to:
After 15 long months 'on the hard',we are finally in the water and living on board. It happened on a cold November day right before Thanksgiving. First, they bring their long trailer up to the boat
They back it in slowly,
being careful to leave the front jackstand in place. New coats of paint cover the bottom except the two spots under the wood blocks she's been resting on.
They slither the trailer in on either side of the keel and take out all but three of the jack stands.
Finally, Blaine gives the thumbs up to lift her off of the jackstands.
When everything is in place, they raise up the arms to replace the jackstands as support.
and she is completely supported by the trailer. They go off to another project and I lay down under the trailer and paint the last two spots on the bottom of the keel. She is finally ready for the water.
Very, very slowly,
They tip her a little sideways to get around another boat.
Blaine watches carefully,
and she clears the other boat by a little over two inches.
They drive her over to the cradle
Soon, she is airborne. . .
and she touches salt water for the first time in 15 months
She's finally back at home.
This community has been a huge help in many ways:
We'd like to thank Peter and Lorraine who kept feeding us, though Lorraine keeps urging us to go out as far as Orcas Island, then return home and call the trip done. The treasure trove of dried foods will carry us through the long passages.
Terry and Sandy fed us repeatedly and rebuilt one of the finest spear guns for future meals.
Appreciation goes to Susan for a gynormous bag of Chantrelles she gathered and dried and a perfect fishing pole to troll the oceans, double yum!
Tyler, Brooke, Keenan and LaSaya for taking our dog Sira and loving her. It was great to watch LaSaya having an animated conversation with her and Sira looking like she was listening to her best friend. Parting with our animals sounded like it would be difficult, but actually was way more heart wrenching than we could have imagined.
Rio and Brian who adopted Squeaks and now have more fun and fewer mice.
Nancy and Alicia who both stepped up to adopt Cali who is proving to be more vocal and demanding than anyone expected of her.
"A" for the flask which has some rather nicely aged Patron in it. I wonder how long that will last . . better bring something along for the refills.
Profound thanks to our Transition Goshen group which has showered us with food from their gardens, moving boxes and help moving all the furniture, etc. thank you all. Side bar: if you don't have a Transition group in your neighborhood, consider starting one. It's a deep joy to have such a close community we can count on for anything, anytime. I put out one email asking for help, and 19 folks responded to help move us and make lunch for the whole crew in the process!
Paul made us two beautiful new cabinets for the boat. They look like they came with the boat.
Samson Rope donated several new lines. From right here in Whatcom County, comes one of the world's best rope makers!
Dave who took every CD we owned and moved them onto an iPod, opening up an entire locker of space for the important stuff like chocolate! Special thanks to Dave for our future sweet tooth and great traveling music.
Jim found two folding bicycles and refurbished them. They are not the fussy, parts only available from so and so, but rather the more sensible, useful, if it's broke, go to a local hardware store, anywhere in the world. Also, one is green - my favorite color. Island adventures, here we come!
Kathryn wrote a great article about us for the Whatcom Watch.
Hilary connected us with the Bellingham Herald for another good article.
Alyson gave us a comfort pillow that will remind us of her and home, sigh. . .
Lisa wrote us some workouts tailored to the boat. Something to help us stay awake on a long night watch and keep the core strong.
The Meridian and Highline School Districts will be following our exploits and checking in on some of the most endangered places of the world with us as we go along.
Chris and Aurora are taking care of the fruit trees and keeping the bass and blue gill in balance in our pond. Chris has been planting the blue gill with his corn and getting some great results in his garden!
Bill and Toby are taking on the Jack of All Trades jobs to care for our home while we
are gone. Toby will be doing Beaver patrol and dam maintainence, an endless task with those pesky busy beavers.
Bob and Martha and family will be living in our home. If you're in the neighborhood, check in with them and say, "Hello!" It feels good to leave our home in their hands.
Alicia will be the go-to person for all questions while we're gone. We are resting easy knowing she is in charge.
Finally, to our daughters - who walk a fine line between thinking we're nuts and being proud of us for standing up for the environment and taking on this endeavor. A special thanks to our first grand child, Vivienne, born September 30th. In general, we have tolerated folks talking about how perfect their grandchildren are and would you like to see their picture? but now that we're grandparents, we admit, we must have drank the Kool Aid. We are smitten. Would you like to see her picture?
