Love Odyssey

All the computer models are showing this storm as being a strong category III hurricane.  It is not something that can be ignored.  I came to the coast yesterday afternoon to ready our boat.  On the drive down from Cary I saw a lot of travel trailers and trucks towing boats inland away from the storm.  North Carolina has not had a hurricane for the past several years, but Bryce and I remember the damage that Fran did in 1996 and Bertha in the early 90′s.  Hurricanes are not to be taken lightly.

I am feeling pretty anxious this morning.  Bryce is leaving for California today so I will be facing this hurricane alone.  Bryce gave me a long list of things to do to ready the boat.  This morning I took off all the blue canvas that is covering the brightwork on the outside of the boat.  I needed help to unsnap some of the fasteners, but otherwise I did this by myself.  Most of the other tasks that Bryce left I will need male help to complete–they require strength and agility that I do not have.  Our friend Jim in the boat nextdoor is driving down from Charlotte this morning and he will help with all those other tasks.  In return, I am going to feed him well–I have baby back ribs in the Crockpot simmering and I plan to put together some nice sides for tonight’s dinner along with some delicious sangria to wash it all down.

The question is going to be whether we stay here (on the boat or in town) or leave for safety in-land.  We may need to decide that tomorrow as the storm gets closer.  The problem is that if there is a storm surge and water levels rise drastically, lines on the boats need to be adjusted accordingly.  That is pretty hard to do if you are miles away.  The marina here is a nice hurricane hole and through previous hurricanes boats have fared well.  I just hope that holds for Irene.

to be continued…..

Helen   08/25/11

Although hurricane season officially begins June first we usually don’t have anything to worry about until late August/early September.  Last night a system down in the tropics morphed into hurricane Irene and it seems like she may be heading our direction.  The projected path is through central Florida on Thursday and then up the coast to NC about Saturday or Sunday.  If that is not scary enough, Bryce will be in California from Thursday to Sunday for a conference that he needs to attend to keep his EMDR certification.  So who is going to watch our boat??  You guessed it–moi!  In preparation for Irene Bryce put extra lines on our stern and a line around the base of our mast tied to a piling.  I plan to come back here on Thursday afternoon so I will probably have to take off all our blue canvas covering our teak trim, dodger and hatch covers.  Then it is a case of waiting it out to see if Irene changes her course.  This is nerve-wracking at any time, but doubly so with Bryce gone.  So let’s all think positive thoughts and wish Irene a speedy departure out to sea!

Helen   08/21/11

Living on a sailboat–sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Yes, it is, but… there’s a high price to pay for this privelege. Things break or stop working–much more so than in a house.  I know because we have both a house in Cary and this boat in Oriental. We live on the boat three days a week and in our house the other four days. Granted, things do go wrong in a house, but never at the rate that they do on a boat. Take this weekend.

Yesterday morning we woke up to hear the pressure water pump going when no one was using any water–not a good sign. It meant that we had a leak somewhere in the water system. We carry over two hundred gallons of water between two separate tanks. Somewhere something was leaking enough that the pressure water pump was activated. Now Bryce is not Mr. Tool Time! He would rather have a root canal than try to trace down a leak and fix it. Yes, we have lots of tools on board–but they are like a talisman–there more to keep away the breakdowns than to fix them. Bryce spent over five hours yesterday checking water lines and hose fittings. He was able to get our water system to run properly on one tank, but the second tank eluded him. Of course the boat was built in Europe so all the fittings are European and many do no have American equivalents that can be easily swapped in. Everything is off just by a hair, but enough to cause problems, especially in a water system where the slightest little leak can result in big problems. So now we have to order some European fittings…and the drama will continue next weekend.

As if our water problems were not enough this weekend, our sink drain in the aft head (bathroom) got stopped up and the water would not go down. We figured that it was barnacles growing in the outlet on the hull of the boat. But when Bryce took the dinghy around and snaked a wire up the through-hull opening, he met with no resistance. Alas, the problem must be in the pipe under the sink. Bryce never fixes such problems in our house–he always tells me to call a plumber. So fixing a stopped up sink was not something Bryce had ever tackled.  He tried to get some fittings off with a wrench, but they were rusted.  However, after much grief a stiff wire down the drain pushed the clog through and the sink drained.  Score one for the weekend!  Yes, Bryce payed the piper this weekend…and hopefully he will get our water line straightened out next weekend!

Helen  08/14/11

I often refer to our boat, Dragon Lady” as our “condo in the water”. The majority of weekends we stay at the dock rather than take our boat out for a spin. The boat has pretty much everything that one would find in a traditional condominium. We run air conditioning or heat using a reverse cycle heat pump. We have two bathrooms (called “heads”), one of which has a shower. There are two bedrooms (called “staterooms”), a sitting room/navigation station (called the “pilothouse”), and a kitchen (called “galley”)/salon where we cook and eat most of our meals. In the galley we have a three-burner propane stove with small oven, a microwave, a refrigerator and a separate small chest-type freezer. We also have a television/DVD player andSirius/XM satellite radio. Of course most of this is made possible by the “shore power” which we plug into at the dock. Unlike most other boats, however, we have a large built-in generator which runs off of diesel so that when we do leave our dock we can still enjoy all those amenities that need power.  Yes, I do enjoy living on our “condo in the water”.

Helen       08/07/11

Mom and Dad sailed our boat to Ocracoke yesterday. They kept talking about taking me swimming. I really didn’t know what that meant but I figured I would give it a try. This morning we walked to the Ocracoke Coffee Company so they could get their morning treat–they never let me have any. Then we walked to Springer’s Point, which is a natural area that has trails through the woods to a beach on the sound side of the island. Mom wouldn’t let me walk even though it smelled wonderful–something about mosquitos biting her–so she carried me and ran. When we got to the beach she put me in the sand and let me smell the shells, gull feathers, etc. That was great. I like to dig in the sand. But then she picked me up and soon she and dad were knee-deep in the water. She put me down and told me to swim to dad. I couldn’t touch the bottom with my feet but I did paddle to dad–it was pretty easy. We did this back and forth a few times and then I was pretty tired. Mom took me back to the sand. Now it stuck all over me–Yuck! It was no fun playing in the sand when it gets all over you and doesn’t come off. Mom saw how uncomfortable I was and rinsed me off in the water and carried me back to the main road where dad put me back in my stroller. Mom said I did a great job in the water. So now I know what the word “swim” means!

Suzy-Q 07/30/11

Oriental is a pretty unique town.  Considering there are only 900 full-time residents, this town has lots of festivals and activities.  This weekend was the 2nd annual Dragon Boat races.  Twenty teams compete against each other for the fastest time to race a course on the river.

Now the dragon is the symbol of this town.  The town owns two dragons and they run in various venues throughout the year, especially on New Years Eve.  So it makes sense that any Dragon Boat races should be held here.  The day began with one of the town dragons dancing along the waterfront (see picture below).  This was followed by a parade consisting of the competing teams in their colorful tee-shirts chanting cheers to the delight of the assembled crowd watching.

The dragon boats are long narrow canoes with the head and tail of a dragon.  There is a drummer in the bow who keeps time to help the paddlers stay in unison.  At the stern a team captain steers the vessel with a long rudder.  The races commenced this morning and will continue through late afternoon when the two teams with the best times will face off against each other.  See below for a photo of a dragon boat.

Helen–07/23/11

Woof—Let me introduce myself.  I’m Suzy-Q, but my mom and dad  usually just call me Suzy.  The vet says I weigh 2 pounds 9 ounces but that doesn’t mean  much to me.  I’m a Yorkie and I have been living with my human parents since I was eight weeks old.  My mom says I’m now ten months old.  Again, none of this makes much  sense to me but mom said you might want to know.

Suzy the Nauti-Girl

I live with mom and dad on our sailboat three days a week—longer if we are on a Love Odyssey cruise.  I like my boat home because we go to new places where I have more things to see and sniff.  All the folks on the cruises like to hold and pet me.

During the other four days a week I live in a house in Cary.  Mom takes me with her to work every day.  It’s fun to see all the kids and their parents.  Mom lets some of the kids play ball with me—chasing a mini tennis ball is my favorite activity.  Of course I also love to play kill the (cat, raccoon, fox) with dad every evening at bedtime.

Mom said that I can write a blog  just like her (and dad).  So I will periodically let you know from my perspective what is going on in our family.  Right now dad is taking a nap so mom and I can get on the laptop.  Dad spends a lot of time on this computer.  I think he likes writing about what happens to people. 

Today is awfully hot outside and mom did not think that I should be running around or walking on the dock.  Dad put tarps up over the boat so the air conditioning would not have to work so hard to keep it cool.  I heard mom and dad talking about going to the pool—unfortunately they won’t let me go.  I really don’t know yet whether I can swim—mom keeps saying we have to go to Cape Lookout soon so I can try out the water.  Maybe we will go next weekend. 

If there are any other dogs out there please feel free to write to me.  Mom and I will be happy to answer.

SUZY—07/22/11

Yesterday we got up at five a.m. so we could get an early start to Ocracoke.  We knew lots of other boaters would want to make Ocracoke their destination and we wanted to be sure to secure a Park Service dock.  In past years we learned that these fill up quickly.  Although we could anchor out in Silver Lake, it is more convenient to tie up to the dock rather than have to jump into the dinghy each time we need to go to shore.  We left at 6:00 and motor sailed with jib and staysail up to give us the best speed.  We are not racers, but Bryce did race and pass several other sail boats on his quest for the “prize”.  At 11:30 we entered the harbor and had several docks from which to choose.  Hurray! We won the race!

I am still in a “boot” after my foot surgery 3 weeks ago, so I am not very helpful at getting the boat docked-or even moving around much on deck with all the lines and hardware—but there were some nice folks standing around the docks and they helped secure lines.  We made it!  The remainder of the day we just enjoyed being here.

- Helen 05/29/2011

Thursday I regained more freedom. Bryce took me back to the orthopedic surgeon for my post-surgery visit. They cut off my plaster cast, took out 42 stitches–ouch!, x-rayed my foot, and put me into a “boot”. Good-bye crutches and walker and hello freedom. The boot makes me shift my weight to my heel so the front part of my foot does not move and the bones can continue to heal. Wow! We celebrated my new-found freedom by going to the grocery store and then out to lunch. It was wonderful!

This weekend we found out that I can still negotiate the ladder on the transom of the boat so I can board our dinghy as usual. That means that for the long Memorial Day weekend we can take the boat out and anchor somewhere. No, I still can’t get my foot wet, but I really don’t miss swimming in the cold water this time of year. It looks like I may get the boot off around Independence Day–it will certainly be a good way to re-assert my independence!

Helen 05/22/11

I’m not a good patient–I hate having someone wait on me and I have no patience with my body when it cannot do what I want. So the first three days after my surgery when I was on total bedrest was very, very hard for me. Monday night my patience was wearing thin and I admit I was pretty bitchy with Bryce. Poor man, he was doing his best fixing supper and waiting on me. But I had my fill of this “bed rest” and wanted to get up and do for myself. So he got the brunt of my discontent.

By Tuesday morning I decided it was time to gradually reclaim my former life as much as possible. I started by hobbling out to the kitchen to fix my own breakfast. Then I loaded the dishwasher –my way–and proceded to wash a couple of loads of laundry. By noon I was tired and my foot was sore and swelling a bit, but I had a smile on my face and Bryce had a hot lunch fixed by me. That evening I decided to tackle the stairs–on my rump–so I could sleep in my own bed and not the guest room downstairs.   And so the week went as I gradually reclaimed my old life. Wednesday night Bryce hinted that I might be well enough to try the boat this weekend. We had originally planned to stay home another week until I got the cast off and a “boot” on. By Thursday morning I was itching to get down here to the coast even though ambulating around this boat and its many steps presented a big challenge. Well, we got here at 3:00 today and the steps were not that difficult to descend–on my rump. So here I am sitting in the pilothouse with this big grin on my face–I did it!

Helen 05/13/11