We are slowly but surely making progress. Mark has now finished all but the last 2 chain plate bulkheads. He's gotten yet another portlight pulled, the rotten core removed, dried, replaced, reglassed in and portlight remounted. Its slow going, but the direction of movement is definitely twoards our goal of a water tight boat.
Meanwhile, the girls and I are getting the house ready to go on the market. A bit of painting but mostly just tidying up the garden after the hard freeze we've had. Kitty likes to help in the garden, if by help you mean eat the pebbles, plants and bugs.
We are preparing for the "Mother Of All Garage Sales" in a few weeks. Its all starting to gain momentum...
We love getting reader email, even if we don't necessarily agree with the writer. (ceol_ mor at yahoo dot com) Someone has taken the time to not only read our little blog but the time to send an email as well. For that, thanks!
We received the following email from a reader: "I understand that you are involved with rebulding your boat but until you are actually out cruising, your blog is pointless. I'm not trying to be harsh, but if you try to start a blog about cruising before you are actually doing it, you will lose readers. I look forward to reading about your cruising once you are out cruising. TY!
I'm not certain if the writer meant TY as short hand for thank you or if his name is Ty. I prefer to think of him as being named Ty, possessing an enthusiastic nature and if his last name is Fighter, his parents get nerdy cool points from me. Anyway...
Dear TY!
Thanks for taking the time to write. While I understand that reading about a family getting a boat ready to cruise while trying to live life is not exciting, it is reality. There are people who manage to buy a boat, throw their gear onboard and take off. There are also people like us, who buy a boat to go cruising, get surprise problems which must be resolved, add a new crew member unexpectedly and have work commitments that extend a year and a half beyond what was planned. That's not only cruising, that's life!
We could look at things from a negative perspective. The forecasted refit has extended beyond what we had planned for in terms of time and money. Systems we thought were okay have to be rectified and that takes time and a not insignificant amount of money. The space issues we are dealing with the addition of Kitty to the crew are taking some thought and time to work out. Mark's job commitments were supposed to have been wrapped up last year and yet, it looks as if things won't wind down on that front until December or January.
We prefer to look at things optimistically. The fact that every system needs attention means that Mark and I will have a very thorough understanding of Ceol Mor and will be better equipped to deal with the inevitable break downs. As Mark says " Once you take a part an engine and put it back together, it is no longer so intimidating." The space issues caused by the addition of Kitty is not a big deal. Maura now has a little buddy and we have an additional source of amusement and fun. Mark's work continuing longer than expected means that we have funds coming in to pay for the extra boat refit expenses. It all hinges on how you chose to look at life.
In closing TY! , I'll leave you with some profound words from one of my favorite philosophers- The Rockman. Firstly, "You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear". Oh, and as to the blog being "pointless"? "There ain't nothing pointless about this gig. Ain't necessary to posess a point, to have yourself a point. Dig"
