Happy Solstice!

According to my Germanic heritage, any dreams on this night foretold events in the coming year. I hope I dream of a working refrigeration system, and a dry rudder.

Hopefully, many of you will see the lunar eclipse. We are covered in clouds :(

Cold Beer

Looks like Sea Frost is going to be the provider of cold beer and food this summer. We went with them based on the SSCA survey results, which showed many cruisers were happy with this system. So now we will not have to run the engine before we head to bed, or when we wake up. Nice. I still have to figure out where the compressors are going to go. For a 44 ft boat, there really is not a lot of storage space.

Our rudder has started to de-laminate again. Looks like a bunch of holes for drying over the winter, then a nice squeeze into shape in the spring. Did not notice any rust colored water, so hopefully the frame is OK. I'm really going to seal it up good this time. In fact, 10 mil of Interprotect should keep it dry, as long as I get a good seal around the shaft. Never owned a boat with a dry rudder.

Hibernation

I'm already in the hibernating mood, as winter has settled in. What do you do in a small apartment all winter? Not sure, but if I don't get it figured out, I'll emerge in the spring looking something like this:

When we had the house I was swamped with projects, and had a realistic deadline, so the pressure to complete was real, and the time flew past. My endless source of projects, das boat, is in frozen storage right now, so I'm trying to come up with a list of things for the winter to keep me busy. I want my friends to recognize me in the spring. What do you think of these ideas?

• Endlessly surf the web, showing my wife all the funny and interesting things I've found.
• Watch every sporting event that's on TV, including soccer on the Spanish channel, and Worlds Strongest Man. Poker is not a sport, and what's with the sunglasses? Seriously, Dog shows?
• Watch the History channels and live in the past. Why don't they call it the WWII channel? Also, re-name the travel channel the Traveling glutton channel. Man vs Coronary artery disease is the only show it seems. Watch Americans eat other countries.
• Curl up in a chair, and read every night, then go for stents in the spring.
• Practice guitar chords all evening, and study Spanish phrases. Maybe even Spanish guitar! cómo es mi forma de tocar la guitarra? 

maybe not.

I'm on vacation until Jan 3rd, so I'll have time to try some new winter activities. Got any ideas for me? Send them along. I'll be here, all the time, every day, until April...my precious.

Snow

Well, this sucks. We received a few inches of white death already. Buffalo is still getting pounded, as it's up to their waists now.This guy could slow down a tad.



Amazing that this crap has started already. We always feared getting stuck in Buffalo, on one of our trips home. No offense Mom and Dad, but we all know 24 hours together is the absolute limit :)

I have a Sabres game to go to, and probably a Christmas run down the thruway. Hope I make out better than these people did. 

Home Alone

Got the week off from work, and have been puttering around in the Apt for 3 days now. BORING!! When the days were warmer I would check on the boat, and play around in there, but now that it's about 35 degrees, no thanks. The wind has been blowing stink here for the last week, and our cover is a bit...warn. Hopefully it will last the winter.

Going to finalize the fridge sale today. Business must be good for SeaFrost, as they seem pretty carefree about getting my business. Hopefully that doesn't mean they're about to tank. I pretty much made a commitment to purchase, supplied a drawing of our compartments, and no response. They only seem to respond to a direct phone call, and if the sale is not made during that call, they drift away. We'll see today, if I get bad vibes from this place or not.

Got a shopping list from the Admiral today, so I have to brave the grocery store on the day before the holiday, which I was trying to avoid. I noticed I get called "Sir" a lot more often now. What's up with that? :)