Skip to main content

Happiness of a windjammer family


Good Morning. Our summer days have vanished, and in exchange wind and rain. It had to happen sometime. Mary and I are taking today as “office days” resting our backs from a day spent with the ole Makita’s. It’s official, the dust storm of 2007-2008 has begun. The hum of the Makita sanders and vacuums filled the day. Mary and I were actually excited to sand the cabin houses. We’ve spent all summer looking at the scratches and patches of paint waiting for this moment of destruction. It felt good to be rid of all those marks. At one point both Mary and I stopped for fresh air and remarked, “this is fun!” It takes a rare breed to enjoy endless hours of backbreaking sanding and Mary and I must be from that breed. We’ll be back at it for the rest of the week with hopes of ending Friday with all cabin houses sanded and primed. It’s a huge goal, one we’re willing to put our backs into.

Speaking of rare breeds, Sawyer and Nadie spent the afternoon at the barn. What a pleasant moment for a parent, seeing your children being bounced around on a huge horse learning to trot and having huge smiles on their faces. Sawyer jumped down at the end of his lesson only to exclaim, “that was gallons of fun!”

Barry is busy trying to keep the daysail schedule among windy weather. They are due to load on 2,000 gallons of fuel today in preparation for tomorrow’s departure offshore to Port Aransas. He's excited to get some offshore time in.

And through all this Gussie is happy to be holding down the carpet at home, watching us all run in and out the door without her.

Have a good day. Do well. Be good.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hail Mary

My heart is heavy with sadness as I write this particular blog. Since the beginning of August our dear friend and cook for the last 12 years, Mary Barney, had been struggling with cancer. I have intentionally respected Mary’s privacy and I apologize to you for not sharing any news about Mary’s health sooner. On Monday afternoon Mary passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by friends and “family”. Her departure was as graceful as the rest of her life. Many people, including Jen, have been doing heroic work to support Mary these last few weeks. Oddly enough Mary was never very excited about transitions though this was about the fastest transition she ever made. And as I struggle to let go of Mary I realize I am terrible with transitions as well. We used to joke about how we liked things just the way they are, thank you very much, so why change what is working already even if it might be less labor intensive. Hard works is its own reward. I used to joke about getting Mary a Cui...

Swimming Anyone?

Good morning everyone. Winter is still here in New England though it seems to be taking a rest these days. We have enjoyed a little bit of a thaw. We still have snow covering our field but it is thinning out in the sunny patches. Mary Day rests comfortably in the harbor, bilges dry, cover intact, waiting for the crew to return. Another busy week has passed so I will get you up to speed on everything that is happening here at the global headquarters. Jen is putting the finishing touches on year end taxes. Blockfest 2008 is finally finished. The blocks have received quite the massaging. And while we have the off-white paint out we are starting in on the lifeline stanchions, the davits, and a few other miscellaneous parts. Alex asked me last night how we were doing with our pace. We are doing great but in the back of my mind I know that there is never enough time to do it all. Having perfectionist tendencies is a curse. I want to do it all and know we will never have enough time. There se...

Fall Maintenance

Good morning everyone. The sun has been kind to us these past few days and the crew has been spending much time aloft prepping and painting the mast heads and tarring the rig as part of our annual fall maintenance schedule. They were a little silly on tar fumes by the end of the day hence the rat board dance moves. Am I the only one who is reminded of Willy Wonka's little friends at the sight of the crew in their tyvek suits? Schoona-loompas? The smell of tar, after all, is what we sailors live for. Extracted from the stumps and roots of pine trees through dry distillation pine tar will cure what ails you especially some skin conditions and any emotional maladies from being too long away from the sea. All we know for sure is that Mary Day’s rigging is kept hail and hearty by coats of tar mixed with boiled linseed oil. Notice that I specified boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil. Tar mix with raw linseed oil will not “kick”. Don’t ask me how I know this… just take my wo...