I scrambled up to the Fly Deck to haul out the tarpaulin we had recently purchased for such events, to place over the top of all the padded seating, upstairs. The upholstery is coming to bits slowly, and we don't want that to change any time soon...sorry...we don't want it exacerbated, I should have said.
Warren was on the Highway with John Dorso, travelling home from Burnt Store Marina, when the weather hit. They had watched it roll in, and by the time Waz got home the rain was coming down in heavy wind driven sheets.
Apparently this is the same storm front that has made it's way across country from the Pacific NthWst, where it dumped snow on Oregon, where my sister lives. She posted many photos of the snow covered ground and the fact that the schools were closed for a couple of days, after an early release day on Friday. They are now getting rain to wash it all away!
This morning it is cooler...just 70F in the Saloon, but cooler outside, of course. I had shut all the windows on the boat to stop any water being blown sideways in through the portholes, esp. in the bathrooms, but it still managed to get cool enough for me to look for a blanket in the early hours.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was warm, but not too humid, and it got a bit overcast later in the day. People in the shops were talking about there being some small tornados with the cold northerly air hitting the warm tropical air, but I didn't see any evidence of those coming home, about 4.pm.
Boy, did we rock and roll in the night. I kept being woken by the boat jerking with the water hitting the duck board out back with a loud whomp. It sends shudders throughout the whole vessel. Talk about wear and tear on the structure!
On a totally unrelated note...
Yesterday was significant to me for one reason.
I hate buying clothes in stores. I have usually, and for years, bought online because, as a small business owner who worked mostly 7 days per week, I didn't have time to go out and try things on. I also had no desire to do so.
Yesterday, I went shopping!! Clothes shopping!
Waz had gone down to Burnt Store Marina with John Dorso to do a job for Len, at his new office down there. They were gone most of the day, which gave me an opportunity I rarely have or take.
I don't like to drag Waz around clothing stores, unless it is for him. He has no objection, and is very patient while I look, but I never feel that I want to take the time to do so 'properly' with him there.
Anyway....I bought 6 pieces of clothing (mix and match) for just $110!!!. Sales help, don't they?:)
I had bought some jeans (bright blue..my fav. color) and Capri pants (navy) and a pair of shorts too, the other day at Bealls Outlet in Charlotte Mall. They were all on sale too. BUT...I didn't try them on at the store, and it took me 3 days before I tried them on. Why so long? Because I had a feeling they wouldn't fit.
I am in the process of losing weight...for so many good reasons...and havnt wanted to spend much on clothing that would eventually be too big for me.
Well, I bought them the next size DOWN from what I was wearing, in the hope that I would fit them in the coming week or weeks. When I did finally try them on yesterday, with my other new clothes, they all fit me perfectly...NOW!!! YAYAYAY!:) I'm rapt, of course. I also now habve to go through my closet and weed out the clothes that are obviously too big. I have dropped TWO dress sizes so far, and have at least another two to go to be my optimal weight/height ratio. I don't want to go into all the BMI stuff...you can drive yourself crazy doing all that, and I don't have a scale. It isn't about what I weigh...It is about feeling and being healthy, nurturing my poor arthritic joints (a bit after the horse has escaped the field, I realize, but...) and hopefully arresting any damage done to my poor old body before it is too late!
Because of my larger figure (previously) I have had little to no interest in buying clothes. I have had a closet full of lovely things (does this sound familiar to some of you?) that I was determined to keep in case...IN CASE!!! I ever lost the weight. I never did...because I have been a chocoholic and addicted to sugar as a comfort food. There, I said it!!! White bread, buns, cakes...I make great cakes!!!....muffins, all those white flour things with sugar in them that turn to more sugar once inside the body and then stores it. Oh we eat other very healthy food...lots of home grown veg, lovely meat...all the goodness you can buy, in NZ, and fresh with it! BUT...Sugar!!!!
It hasn't been hard to not eat sugar, sugary things, chocolate or white flour goods...BUT, there is very little out there on the shelves that does not include sugar in some form.
What makes food shopping a challenge, is that you have to read ALL the ingredients on the list to find out where those 2-3-6 grams of sugar come from. Good that we have the time to do that.
So we are living mostly on fresh fruit and veg (yes, the natural sugar from fruit I eat!) and meat and fish, and I don't use white flour, but occasionally I make Whole wheat banana blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The banana provides the sugars and I eat them with whipped cream....and I don't suffer the sugar highs and lows after eating them.
We aren't being 'silly' about it, or rabid about not eating sugar, but we all have a choice, and mostly...MOSTLY...we don't eat that stuff. I am not imposing my own sugarless lifestyle on Waz...he still eats cake occasionally and indulges in other sweetened things, but that is his choice.
We have always been relatively (note!) healthy individuals, in that we don't get colds or other bugs that tend to be seasonal etc, and we have always eaten lots of fresh everything. Nothing much has changed, except the quality of the food. I am never quite sure how old that Lettuce I buy, is. I also don't buy carrots (long) because mostly they are bendy by the time I find them, which means they are not fresh. Carrots should snap when you bend them, if fresh!
So, what is Waz doing down at Burnt Store? Len is opening this boat brokerage office down there in the next week or so, and he wanted to a bulletin board installed on the side of the next door restaurant, displaying boats for sale. John and Warren have been fabricating that board. The job isn't done yet, but he has promised to take photos when finished:)
What else has transpired in the past week, since I posted last?
Well...I will quote Waz here:
The raw water pump on the Port Engine was leaking rusty water, so the seal was obviously not working, and when it was stripped, (which he did) the front bearing was found to be ready to collapse. The entire pump has now been rebuilt with new seals, and bearings, and painted:)
Sundry other parts have been replaced also. Now I have to mention here, that the man did all this himself...and made his own 'hydraulic' press to press on the bearings and the shaft into the body of the pump. What a superman! We went looking for a machine shop initially, to see if they would let him use their press, but the business we looked for was long gone.
Waz's workshop:) Sitting on the dock using whatever tools he could find, beg or rent!
Instead, using various parts from various shops, he made one that did the job perfectly for just $50, approx.:)
He rented a gear puller from one of the nearby auto stores who rent such things out.
ALSO...Len offered us about 40ft of anchor chain attached to 200ft of Rode (3/4" rope), which had to go somewhere. This necessitated opening the anchor locker up on the bow, and cleaning it out.
The NEW rope and chain.Taking the existing extra chain and anchors out, cleaning out the bottom of the locker, as best as he could..it is a looooong way down there, and he couldn't reach it even if I held onto his ankles!!!....so he had to stand in the bottom and try to bend over far enough into the tiny cavity at the bottom, to clean it up. Thankfully it wasn't 100F outside, or he would have expired.
Lockers contents out. Anchor Locker hatch open. The rope was wet, so we left it out to dry in the sun.
The locker where it all has to return
Everything is now ship shape in the locker dept. so we are good to go, and well prepared for any eventuality!
Waz is waiting for a call from John to pick him up and take him back to finish the sign board job, this morning.
I might get the sewing machine out..if it isn't too wet upstairs (and cold) and take some of my existing shorts in. There is nothing wrong with them other than being too big...two sizes too big:)
So, off we go to start the new day...oh dear...9.30am, already! aieeeeeee!
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