The pain and joy

Mike and Rebecca of Zero to Cruising
(picture swiped from their blog, because it is so perfect)

Living here nearly on the 48th parallel, in January, there is a certain amount of mixed feelings associated with reading about fellow mariners in warm climates. You definitely share in the pleasure of the warm, white sand beaches, with palm trees gently swaying in the trade winds, the waves gently lapping...  ACK!

And here in Seattle right now, our heat pump is not quite adequate to the task of keeping Eolian at 70° inside - a little help from the diesel Dickenson is needed.

Waters so gorgeously blue that they are a cliché, and so clear that you can see your anchor in 30 feet...  as warm as bath water...  ACK!

The water here is 47° - I just went out into the cockpit and checked.  And let cold air into the cabin as a result.  No, you wouldn't want to swim here.  (You wouldn't want to swim here even in the summer - without a wetsuit, that is).  There were snow flurries here this morning.

But you guys - don't stop!  Keep up those postings - you are feeding us the warmth and sunshine that will keep us alive until spring.  We envy you, we rejoice with you, and we don't begrudge you your idyllic surroundings one bit.

 What?  No, no I didn't say anything.

The pain and joy

Bed-making yoga

Sleeping bags for bedding

Last nite, when we got back to Eolian after a long Christmas absence, neither Jane nor I felt up to tackling making the bed (OK, let's be frank - it's my job and I didn't feel up to it).  So my understanding wife and I sacked out in sleeping bags on the bare mattress. 

But there is no avoiding my tasks.  Today I must make the bed.  And because I enjoy it so much I am going to invite you along to help.

Get on those yoga clothes - you're going to need them.

The berth in the master cabin on Eolian accepts queen-sized bedding.  But with a twist.  All normal beds are rectangular, of course.  But not ours.  The bottom corners are chopped off because the hull turns in.  Oh yeah, and the bottom three feet or so are under the ledge formed by the aft deck lazarettes, above.  This last little detail just adds spice to the task, don't you think?  And it is the reason for the yoga togs we're wearing.

Clear the field

The first order of business?  Clear the field.  Get the sleeping bags back into their stuff sacks and stored where they normally go - into the storage compartments under the mattress.

Next on the agenda:  The bottom sheet.  You will note that we will be making the bed... while sitting on the bed!  No walking around the outside, grasshopper.  This just adds to the fun!

Loose

We use fitted sheets on Eolian, but that doesn't take you very far.  First, the mattress is thinner than a "normal" mattress, and then there are those cut-off corners...  How to make the sheet fit tightly (nobody likes loose sheets)?  Here, I've done the first bit of yoga and gotten the sheet into place.  And no, it isn't tight.  At all.  And you might also notice that I am working around the ex-electric blanket.  It is still attached to its umbilical, which runs under the mattress.  So I have to shove it over to one side, arrange the sheet, and then shove it over to the other side and arrange the sheet again.  All for an electric blanket that doesn't work.

Garters - the answer to a man's dream

So how do we make the sheet tight?  When we first moved aboard, Jane was discussing this very problem with a sales clerk at Fred Meyer (Jane is bold that way).  Amazingly, the clerk told Jane that other customers had found these garters to be the very thing to solve the problem.  Isn't it great living in a maritime community?

Streeeeetch

Tight.

What we do is pull up the corners of the mattress, stretch the garters across the corners of the sheet, under the mattress.  Then you just tuck the extra material in under the garter.  I'm sorry that this and the next couple of pictures came out blurry because I rushed the camera.  But I'm not going to take apart the bed to get better ones. 

By doing this, the sheet is so tight that when you let the mattress go back down after applying the last garter, it does so kind of reluctantly.  And the sheet is tight as a drum.  All thanks to a knowledgeable sales clerk in Fred Meyer

OK, take a sip of beer.  You were drinking a beer weren't you?  The hardest part is done.

Now apply the top sheet.  Tuck those bottom corners in all the way - otherwise a covers-stealing spouse might be able to sneak away your sheet.

Repeat with the ex-electric blanket.  I have blamed the inverter for the demise of several electric blankets on Eolian, but really, I think it is the folding and jamming that occurs at those bottom corners that causes them to fail.


And now, finally, the comforter.  (Tuck those corners in!)  Place the pillows carefully, but cheerfully on the bed to give a picture of planned casualness.

And, now you may finish that beer.  Boat yoga and beer are natural partners.

Bed-making yoga

New year's resolutions

'Tis the season.  Every blogger worth his or her salt is doing a post about New Year's resolutions.   Universally, they will deal with such important things as losing weight, working on relationships, etc.  But not on this blog, no siree, not here.

Here we deal with life aboard.  And our new year's resolutions correspond.

This is indeed the season for it.  At least this once a year, you must take off those salt-encrusted rose colored glasses and make a frank assessment of which of your major projects will be for this year. 

You can't escape it - new boat or old, of course there will be projects - something you have been putting off, something that needs to be fixed or repaired, some new piece of boat jewelry to be procured, (and then installed!).  Something you have been avoiding, perhaps.  Something you have been avoiding, more than likely.

So here and now, make that resolution.  Resolve to take on that difficult project. 

Come on - you know you have one.   And what better time than now?

So, what's your project? 

New year's resolutions

New Year's at Nason Creek

A little more than half way down the east side of Cascades, our three days at a snow-bound cabin at Nason Creek had it all:

• The advertised snow. There was 3-4 feet on the ground, with more in places. We had to dig down to the lid on the propane tank, and had to shovel out the swings on this playhouse.
• Snow angels.
• Sledding. 
• Snow ice cream
• Dogs going nuts in the snow.
• Skiing at Stevens Pass (20 minutes away).
• There were ample adult beverages.
• There were Christmas presents.
• There was the infamous incident of the shot-ski.
• There was hot tubbing in the snow.

And there was family time. Lots of family time - it was the sea we swam in for a time.

But I will cherish forever a magical time-stopped moment when Grampa and Hazel, separated by 64 years, had a quiet conversation while sitting side by side in two swings out in the snow. The subject, you ask? I promised not to tell.

New Year's at Nason Creek