Work

I’ve taken on some side jobs while here at Deaton’s, repairing equipment and doing a few building repairs.
Today though, was just downright nasty. I spent hours up in the fiberglass filed attic, crawling on my knees trying not to slip between the rafters to replacing the old exhaust blower above the shower. I don’t think that I’ve sweat so much in such a short time. The good thing is that I was so soaked in sweat that the fiberglass couldn’t stick to me… or not much anyway.

Rain

I don’t know about you but this is the 4th day in a row that we have had rain. For 2 days it never stopped raining and we were searching the web for the location of the ark that must have been built. As it is, today I gave up and decided to make some cookies. The sugar and butter went together well and the oatmeal, raisins and walnuts went in OK. After 7 minutes of baking though, we ran out of gas! All 3 of our tanks are empty and with the rain and thunderstorm going on right now I can’t go up to the store and get them refilled to finish the cookies. Anyone out there have a working oven that I can borrow?

Appalachian Trail

On our way down to the boat we stopped off at the Appalachian Train mid-point in Harpers Ferry WV. Anna left me there and I started a 3 day, 45 mile shakedown hike of the trail.
I headed south towards the infamous “rollercoaster” section of the trail. It’s a 13 mile long series of ups and downs over very rocky terrain.
Occasionally there were breaks in the forest where you could see out over the valley but for the most part it was just a rocky trail that went up and down.


On the 2nd day it began to rain. I just walked in it.
I stayed in trail shelters along the way and also tried out my new tent (which worked out excellently).


The food wasn’t the best but after walking 18 miles it tasted great.

By the time the 3 days were over, the trail had about killed my knees and feet. I hope to get back to the trail again before winter hits to give the gear another good shakedown before my step off date next March.

Scrabble

Since Anna hasn’t put anything on the website I thought I might relate this to you all.

We were at friends for a dinner and an evening of talk when they invited us to play scrabble, only with a twist. We played “story scrabble”. That’s where you can use proper nouns and names (any word really) and you don’t count the points but you have to use any word that you come up with in a sentence that helps to complete a story that is being told using just the words that each person creates. Here are the results that we came up with. Give it a try it’s harder than you might think.


If you click on a picture you should beable to zoom in on it and read the silly story that resulted from our words.

Tent

Right off the bat I’d like to say that building your own tent is not for the faint of heart. It took me 3 days and several sewing revisions to get it right. I think that the low point came when I had to rip out the entire front screen that I had so carefully installed over the course of 2 hours the night before. I believe that I could have worked a job for the 3 days and made enough money so that I could have bought a new tent from a store. Anyway, the basic structure turned out just as I envisioned it and it should work for the upcoming hike. Oh, and the weight comes in at 1 lb, 8.8oz! Not too bad (even if it looks homemade).

The finished product.
The cone on top is a vent to prevent condensation when the tent is closed up. Come next March this will be home sweet home for the duration of the hike.

Life in Michigan

It seems that whenever I come home I have far more things to do than when we are on the boat. This time the steering wheels need to be repaired, the underlying metal ring beneath the fancy rope work is rusting. Once the rings are sandblasted and power coated I'll re-rope them.

I also made new parts made for the cockpit area and brought a sail home with me to re-sew along with several wood projects that need to be made. Add in an outside contracting job and helping friends with projects at their houses it’s been a busy few weeks home. One of the larger projects is sewing a tent to take on the Appalachian Trail. I’m shooting for a tent that is only 24 oz! I’ll keep showing the progress as the project moves along. Laying out the size of the tent on the back deck.
Marking the lines, ready to cut.
The outter shell is done.
Ah... home sweet home.

Snow Goose

The Goose made it through Irene. We received an email from the marina that the Snow Goose had no damage and that they have put her back into the water. We should be back in Oriental NC in another 2 weeks.
(sorry no picture this time)