There's hardly anything I can think of that's more exciting than watching someone's dream come true. Especially one that has been in the dream stage for a very long time.
We were able to witness such an event a couple of weeks ago on a beautiful sunny Saturday when our neighbor Bob had a windmill raising in his backyard. Not sure that's the proper term for what took place, but he had the whole family in on the action - from Father in law to Son of a Son along with a host of neighbors and well wishers. The beer was cold and the BBQ smokin.
Understand, this is on a rather small, crowded city lot! I'm still not sure how they got the crane in there. Laying on the ground, the windmill took the whole space between his house and our fence.
Anyway, it was an absolute blast! Lucky for Bob and his
grandson the neighbor is a sailor who happened to have a
bosun's chair on hand - you should have seen what they
were going to raise him up with.
This is the new view from our back yard.grandson the neighbor is a sailor who happened to have a
bosun's chair on hand - you should have seen what they
were going to raise him up with.
Got to love it!
Back in Alameda, Claudia and I and Chuck and Mitch are making progress on our own dream. This shot is for those who have been yelling for pictures. As this is what IRIE looks like when we're aboard lately, maybe you can understand why there have been so few pictures.
If you recall, C and I had only a few hours aboard before decomissioning for transport. As a result, the recomissioning is NOT a simple matter of putting things back together.
We need to learn what goes where? How does it work? Why doesn't it work?!?! How to fix it in some cases, and how to upgrade it to function better or safer in other cases.
In this shot, Claudia isn't so sure that she likes my plan for improving access to the water tanks. It actually worked out quite well, but took up almost five hours that most people will never see results for.
A week earlier, our friend Mitch and I spent nearly a day and a half getting the pressure water system to work at all! It turned out that a simple filter housing had a hairline crack that was letting air into the system. An easy fix, but a hard find. It's this sort of thing over and over and over.
A week earlier, our friend Mitch and I spent nearly a day and a half getting the pressure water system to work at all! It turned out that a simple filter housing had a hairline crack that was letting air into the system. An easy fix, but a hard find. It's this sort of thing over and over and over.
You may not understand this easily, but I have not been complaining. This is boat work, and for me, it's like going fishing for most guys. Not fun necessarily, but the sort of thing I'd rather be doing. It's all a learning process, and an important one at that. Before C and I can take this boat offshore, we HAVE to know that all systems are working. And we need to know how they work which, in many cases, enables us to know how to repair them.
So now it's time to show you some of the progress. This shot is looking aft on the starboard side from the Nav station. Electrical panel and engine room doors to the right, locker and workbench to the left, this passageway leads to the aft play er, stateroom.
This is the aft cabin which gives you an idea of what things can look like after I turn them over to Claudia for her treatment.
This is the aft cabin which gives you an idea of what things can look like after I turn them over to Claudia for her treatment.
Forgot to mention it before, but if you click on any pictures in this blog, you get a zoom view. Then just click "back" to return.
Getting dressed now with her sails on and the dodger and new dinghy.
Our dream is coming together.
E
