Lonnnnnggggggg night

So I'm on watch right now, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, a Sunday that I hope to spend with my kids since I'm on travel this week.  I'm so crazy tired right now that I really hope I can even manage the drive home at 0700. 

Today, or I guess yesterday now, was pretty fun.  After a pancake breakfast, Simon, a friend's 6-month old, came over to spend some time with us so his parents could make a brunch date.  He was so cute and it was fun to have a baby around!

I didn't sleep hardly at all before this watch, and my triple latte is wearing off.  I just want to make it to breakfast at Kate's and then through the morning so I can collapse at nap time!!!!

A little cleaning

So when we got back today we decided to give the anchor locker a good cleaning.  Trent was napping, but Katreina wanted to help so I turned the windlass controls over to her and I manned the hose.  She did a great job letting out all 100 feet of chain plus about 60 of rode, then she brought it all up while I sprayed the mud off.  I love having a helper!

  

After we finished I was just going to spray the boat down real quick to get the salt water off, but the lady insisted that we use the "scrubber."  Who am I to argue?  She did a great job!

Weekend in Manzanita Bay

After spending way too long tied to the pier, we escaped for a short weekend! We're still getting used to the new slip and had to jockey lines around a bit just to get the dinghy docked before we set off. We set off under a beautiful clear sky and a great 45F. I drove a little more than usual as we made our way out of Possession Sound, then we were able to sail for a few hours. It was really an awesome day.

Katreina checking out the scene on deck.

We checked out Treasure Island, but it seems all the anchorages have given way to mooring balls, so we moved on through Agate Pass with me at the helm! Manzanita Bay at Bainbridge Island was a little more open and we found a nice anchorage. It's a little bay with lots of gorgeous houses, private docks, a nice view of Agate Pass, and still quite a few mooring balls. It was a beautiful afternoon so we cracked open some beers and fired up the grill for steaks. It was a nice night for reading books and going to bed early!

We're heading home now under another cloudless sky. Winds are pretty light and variable, so I'm not sure that we'll get to sail, but it's still nice. WOW! We just experienced our first log encounter! Heard a massive thump along the port side and it was only about 4 inches in diameter and 4 feet long. Crazy!

Cable!

I'm out to sea on the "other boat" now but I hear from Frank that our cable is working and we have "a ton" of channels. I can't imagine! It's been so long since we've had it. Does that make us more land-lubberly now? I look at it as a tiny comfort for the rest of the family when I'm on deployment. Cartoons for the kiddos, football for the hubby... I only hope that it doesn't ruin our usual summer night bliss of walks, dinghy rides, and paddling around the marina. I guess that's up to us though so I doubt it will!

Just a few more days and I'll get to try it out myself! :)

Update from Frank

Taking Jody's hint to update the blog, I'll share some news from my end.

First, we did move!! We are now over at the 12th Street Yacht Basin, which is pretty nice. I think we're gonna like it over here. I must confess, it is nice to be around a bunch of boats again.

On to maintenance, I'm taking advantage of the winter months to do the periodic maintenance that our boat needs:

The first system to get attention was out inboard diesel. I changed the engine oil/filter, marine gear oil, fuel filter, fuel element in the fuel/water separator, flushed and replaced the coolant, changed out the seawater impeller, and of course did a good visual inspection, tightened hose clamps, and did some clean-up of dust/grime on the engine and in the engine room.

Next was the battery system, nothing exciting there other than topping off the electrolyte w/ distilled water, giving a good equalization charge, and checking the S.G. of each cell (all still 1.265 or higher, even with our draining the bank last month!) I might as well try to make these last for as long as possible while upgrading the charging systems onboard!

The next project is maintenance of the dinghy's outboard. The biggest challenge? Where to do it! Some things are more complicated when you live aboard, and not having a backyard or garage means I'll have to find somewhere else to change the oil, in-line fuel filter, spark plug, grease fittings, etc. I'm hoping the Everett yard will let me do it there for no charge, we'll see!!

Other than that, right now I'm home with a sick little boy, but he's getting better by the day and will probably go back to day care tomorrow. Jody is out for a few days, then back for the weekend, then back out...even more reason to make sure the boat is ready to go for a weekend cruise when we is actually home for a while!!

One last tidbit, we bought another TV since the dvd player on ours no longer works. Maybe the player will get less hours of use now that we'll have cable in port!

Frank