Top Ten Comforts, by Janet Lee

Tammy Kennon, of the Plodding in Paradise blog, wrote a blog titled Tammy's Ten Things that make her life on board better.  She asked the Women Who Sail Facebook participants to make their own list of items, and since I am a participant I recorded my own top ten.  At Tammy's suggestion I offer my top ten list to our blog followers, not necessarily in any order or significance.  Save one.  I would also like to point out, at this juncture of the post, that Adventure Us 2 has not yet cut the dock lines.  It should therefore be understood that my top ten list of things that make my life better on board will most certainly change as we make our way out into the wild blue.

The first item up and probably definitely my number one boy toy item would be: My Michael.  I'm not saying that he is an item but, he posses a certain item that makes me a happy girl.  Least you think I suffer from some kind of item envy, there happens to be two other reasons for this choice.   My Michael can do almost everything.  He can cook, sew, and make me laugh. He can fix just about anything and if he doesn't know about something he gathers information until he can figure it out.  He can shop, he can paint a pretty an awesome picture, he can decorate the house, and he has great ideas.  The other reason I want to keep him on board is because he has my heart and he won't give it back. 
 

What a hunk of burnin love.

 

Second item that makes my life better is Vodka.

                                                     

The third item that makes my life better is wine.

Fourth is food.  Food is a necessity, (although vodka and wine are made from food and might make good substitutes) we all need food.   Sometimes, when I get home from work the first thing out of my mouth is: "Man, I'm starved."  My Michael's response is always, "Are you whining"?  "No, I am not whining, but if we are out of vodka or wine you will hear me scream like a possessed banshee". 

Yum
 

Water is the source of life and is my fifth item that makes my life better on board.   Rain is sent from the heavens by God to wash His earth in a shower of love.   Rain makes the flowers grow and the rivers flow.  Someone recently said:  "Rain makes corn, corn makes whisky, whisky makes my baby a little frisky".  Seriously?  If you ask me, rain makes grapes, grapes make wine, wine makes my baby really, really, really, fine, and oh so sexy.    Besides, how is a girl to rinse her hair?  In salt water?  I don't think so.  Seriously!   

Splish Splash!
 

One thing I cannot live without, and my sixth item is: music.   Music makes me happy, especially when I have to go to my special padded room place.  Music takes me back,  makes assist me in remembering certain events from my past, and fills me with joy, inspiration, and happiness.    Music makes me peaceful, and if we run out of vodka or wine, music drowns out my whining.

Cause your kisses lift me higher
Like the sweet song of a choir
You light my morning sky
With burning love
Ah, ah, burning love
I'm just a hunka hunka of burning love

Remember the Oprah Show when she went out and about talking to women in grocery stores, gyms, and on the street asking them just one question?  "Are you as cute as you can be?"  If you have to go out into the world, you should at least make an attempt to be as 'cute as you can be', so as not to frighten anyone.  Especially little children, or the hunk of burnin love sitting across the salon.  This is why I will never be without my seventh item that makes my life on board better; mascara and lip gloss.  

                                 

                                                     

 

The Internet.   Nuff said.  What would we do without it?  It's like water, the source of life, and with it I can hunt down the best prices on vodka and wine. 

The interweb

All of us have addictions, vices, and weaknesses.  Mine is not something that one needs a Hefty garbage bag of fifties to purchase.  Mine is not one that will hurt anyone.  Mine is  not one that will make me look younger.  Mine is....drum roll....

You know those juicy, red, flimsy sticks of chewy, luscious candy that taste so scrumptious when they are fresh.  I have to force myself not to walk down the candy aisles because if I see them, I need them.  It wouldn't be so bad if I could eat just one here, or one there, but Nooooo !  I want them all, right now.  I want them to gush between my teeth.  I want to drink milk through them. I want to lay them in the sun and get all soft and juicy.  I want, I want, I want.

Okay, how many is that?  Ten, eleven?  Well that's my list for now of ten items that makes my life sweet on Adventure Us 2.  But, the main thing we all need on our boats, to make our lives better, is the basis of all peace and happiness:

 

Love

Let me offer this disclaimer just in case you think I have a drinking problem.   In all honesty we have had the same bottle of vodka for at least, oh I don't know, the last 2 days, and our wine collection has dust all over it cause My Michael took away my key to the wine cellar.

Treasure in the Bilge, by H. Michael

Last week while I was finishing up a project on Adventure Us 2, I happened to notice that there was water standing in the bilge under the forward head.  Usually any water that accumulates in that area drains into the lower, main bilge and gets pumped out.  I was alarmed by the volume of water that was standing and promptly employed my wet dry vac to extract what tuned out to be about 15 gallons of water.  The whole time I was working to remove the water, I had visions of various problems I could have created back in May (JL wrote about it here) when I removed the old plumbing, and holding tank. Yikes.  What if I inadvertently created a slow leak in the hull by removing the wrong plumbing, I thought to myself.  I was even contemplating contacting the marina for an emergency haul out to spot any unknown issues with the hull.  Once I got most of the water removed however, I traced the problem to a condensate line from the air conditioning unit supplying the main salon, and residing in a cabinet in the forward birth.  It's hot and humid in Texas this time of year and I have been running the air almost full time which explains the volume of water, but did not explain why the condensate was not draining properly into the main bilge.   I used my fish tape as a rooter from the main bilge forward under the head to dislodge any trash that may have accumulated in the drain, and low and behold the last of the water came streaming out just like it is suppose to.  I decided to let the area dry out for twenty-four hours, without running the air conditioning, and then try to vacuum out any "crud" that might have found a home in the dark, dank recesses of the bilge.  The area I was interested in cleaning is not highly accessible, and at best can only be reached with advanced boat yoga technique.  It's a good thing I am a yoga master skilled in the ways of discipline that promotes spiritual unity with old crap.

 

Access to the bilge under the head

 





Bilge Treasures

(back in May I removed a rusty screw driver and 3 stainless #8 screws from a different area of the same bilge)

 

The smaller of the two holes at the bottom of this picture leads to the forward bilge.

 

I wonder what kind of dip wad thinks it is acceptable to drop an item into a hard to get to place on a boat, (car,  plane, or                 , insert your personal favorite ) and walk away thinking it's okay.  I personally would toss and turn in my sleep all night long worrying about any item I dropped and did not retrieve, no matter how hard it was to get to.  Especially when it has the potential of causing problems down the road. 

 

Just last week while I was replacing the battery on JL's Corvette, I accidently dropped my open end wrench while tightening the last nut on the battery cable.  Corvettes have a sealed underbody so the wrench did not fall to the ground.   It took me 10 minutes to replace the battery and 25 minutes to remove enough of the under carriage to access the f*#@/n wrench.  Even then I had to get JL to reach in and get it because my hand was too big to get into the tiny, tight spot where it landed.  It's a good thing she rewards me regularly with her fantastic  awesome awesomely fantastic smile.

 

 

 

The end.









Amazing Women by Janet Lee

One of the group members from the Facebook page, 'Women Who Sail' read our blog, AdventureUStwo.blogspot.com, and invited me to join their page.  

After being exposed to the Facebook page for a few weeks, I am amazed at the talent, dedication, and versatility these women radiate.  They are all so welcoming, friendly, and ready to share their wealth of knowledge with other women who have a love for sailing and adventure.   I find their points of view inspirational and welcome their estrogen into my life.  Although, it has been brought to my attention, by one of the members, that not all of them still have estrogen!  Be that as it may, they all seem to have passion, enthusiasm, charisma, and a sense of humor that I find refreshing.  Being the newbie that I am to the cruiser lifestyle, I am looking forward to absorbing their knowledge, wisdom and womanly perspective as we prepare ourselves and Adventure Us 2 for departure.  Sometimes Michael just doesn't connect with my requirements.  I can't believe he said I can not have a whirlpool tub in the admirals head.

Soon we will be moving onto our boat and I am sure that I will have lots of questions and will need support as I go through a major change in lifestyle.  

Ladies, thank you for being there!  

I am looking forward to many 'online chick-fests' with every one of y'all.... however, it might be a little difficult to top the 'bra rant' thread!

You can read all about these Amazing Women here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenWhoSail/

Our New Salon is Well Worth the Wait, by Janet Lee

Remember when you were little and your family went on vacation in the car?  About every ten minutes you or your sibling would ask, "When will we get there daddy?"  My father always used to say, "See that big cloud in front of us?  When we get past it; we will be there."  As a young girl I never could figure out how my father knew that  stuff.  How could he possibly judge distance when he didn't know how big the cloud was, how far it was up in the heavens, or how far away it was from us? I just knew that I had the world's smartest daddy!

While we were engaged in the mini remodel of Adventure Us 2, time seemed to stand still.  Every week I would ask Michael, "When is the sole going to be completed?"  and he would say: "see the little fish in the water, when they turn into big fish; the sole will be finished". Time went slowly, but that big cloud way out there in front of us is finally behind us, and the shad swimming around the dock are a lot bigger. 

We have done nothing but work, work, work, all summer and as a result Michael's knees have taken a beating.  Although I relish bringing a man to his knees, I am excited that my view of  him is no longer me looking down the companionway at his back while he is below working on his knees. It may have taken all summer but we have a new salon!  New cushions, new sole, new pillows, empty checking accounts.
       

Before

 

After

 

Before

 

 After

 

Before

 After

 

 

Next up on the never-ending quest to pour money into upgrade Adventure Us 2 is: cushions for the cockpit.  We hooked back up with Jackie from Island Furniture  and she is on the payroll for toast inspired cushions.  In anticipation of completion, I already have a few water colored decorative pillows in the shopping cart of Overstock.com!