It's a Sailor's Life For Me!

This morning has gotten off with a great start.....as only can happen in cruising sailing!

I awoke to the sound of an intermittently buzzing....quite like an alarm of some kind. It was....upon trying to figure out what it was as it was not a formal alarm of any kind installed on the boat...I discovered the shore power control panel to be showing two great big Red Lights instead of the three very pretty Green Lights it normally does. I turned off the shore power to the boat and chased down the problem. It appears the Y-adaptor cord at the Electrical Pedestal had shorted out and burned up the female end of the adaptor (West Marine Price....$289). I have opted to buy two female replacement connectors (West Marine Price....$35 each) and put them on myself. That means a trip to West Marine this morning....at least I can also buy my hose for the head repair at the same time (West Marine Price....about $8 per foot).

As that was not a good enough way of starting the day....went over to Gregory Poole's Parts room to pick up the Defender's Shipment that had my replacement holding tank bladder and fittings. Upon opening the box.....no bladder but the fittings and the Portable VHF radio had arrived. The Dri Dek decking panels had also arrived.

I hauled the boxes to the boat....returned the wagon to the parking lot...and called Defender to find out where the bladder and radio battery was in the shipping process. After being put on "Hold"...the dark and gloomy looking sky turned into a downpour of rain. That caught me in the parking lot...phone in hand...on hold...and a bunch of hatches on the boat open, the cardboard boxes I had unloaded sitting out on the deck....several electrical cords laying about to get rain soaked and ripe for shorting out due to the wet.

I spent the next few minutes...cell phone in one hand...sorting out the mess with the other.

Somehow it seemed like the thing to do was brew up a coffee....crank up the computer and make a post to the blog.

Defender says the bladder is in Wilmington...the battery will arrive by US Postal Service.

Upon opening the radio box....I found one of the prohibited to be shipped by UPS batteries inside the box that arrived by UPS. I haven't the courage right now to call Defender back and see if it is a second battery that is arriving by Mail.

As I was pouring my coffee....Frady came bounding into the boat looking like a slick tailed Rat. Soaking wet he was! I towelled him off...listened to him purr like a Harley and then fed him his delayed breakfast. We did the morning post dining routine of Kitty Treats and wiping his eyes with a medicated wipe...he has some sort of chronic eye weeping per the Vet....I know it as simply having "Eye Boogers".

So....coffee in hand....clothes drying out...Cat fed and attended to....it is off to my favorite Marine shopping store (not!) to buy the hose and cable adaptors.

I will do the electrical cable repair...get the heat/Air Con working to de-humidify the cabin....do the fiberglass work on the head holding tank compartment to turn it into a "tub"...replace the hose...paint the locker....and when the paint dries....and if the bladder arrives by UPS today as promised....install the bladder tomorrow...lay the Dri Dek tiles under the forward bunks...put the mattresses back into place...make the bunks and that job is done.

Then it is inspect the aft holding tank bladder and hoses....install the Dri Dek under the aft mattress...install the Dri Dek in the cockpit and hopefully....finally....with luck....take the boat out again. The weather forecast shows some good windows for doing an outside passage north to Morehead City....then on up into the old stomping grounds for a couple of weeks. Knowing my luck....Global Warming will strike me as it does Al Gore and I will be sailing in blizzards and sub-zero temperatures.

Till then....as the Irish have said...."Life is short and we spend way too much time looking up at the lid!" At least with the boat....I never have to think up something to do!