Friday Funny 12-29 (Follow up, or part tres)

Temporary setback.

I had my first follow-up doctor appointment since the surgery on my leg. Mostly all good news, whew!

My leg splint that I wore for 2 weeks after surgery.

Cutting off the leg splint.

New hardware.

I won't post the repulsive photos of my bare leg. Imagine, (if you want), three incisions, secured with staples, and a purple, green, yellow swollen leg that hasn't been shaved in over two weeks. Okay, I bet you're done with that.

They pulled the staples out, one by one, (about 30 of them), ... ouch, ouch, ouch. My brother held my hand, because I warned him that I might be light headed over such things. I didn't look, but he assured me that they used a very cool tool, and the staples came out easily.

The doctor's instructions were: 

No air travel for 1 month

NO weight-bearing on the leg for 1 month

No physical therapy needed. I can move my knee, and hip easily now, and when the swelling goes down in my ankle, I can start to move that as well. 

I received a removable boot, so I can shower easier, and wear a sock, and regular pants. Yippee! No more ugly sweatpants with one leg cut off. I pretty much live in yoga pants regularly anyway.

While I was web-surfing, I saw this: 

Bedazzled!

Since I didn't get a cast to decorate, this may be just the thing. My brain is whirling with, "What can I do to make this plain black boot more attractive and fun?"

Perhaps this posted on it:

Maybe I should quit...

I'll stay with my family in Anchorage for another month, and hopefully over time, I will be able to do more things for myself. My boating friends who keep their yacht in Wrangell, and live in Anchorage, are helping me out with all the "broken leg" equipment I could ever ask for. They have loaned me, a shower chair, and have offered a deluxe version of my walker, wheelchair, or crutches. I'm going to try them out this weekend, and see if they help with my mobility.

Just me, and the stairs......

When the month is over, I will go back to Orthopedic Physicians, for an x-ray. After looking at it, Dr. Powell will decide what will be next in the process, and tell me how and when to start putting weight back on the leg.  I'm kind of curious to see the x-rays, and the new hardware, as well as the bones knitting together. I have my original x-rays, and can compare the old to the new.

I'm hoping by then, that we will have a land place to live for a few months, and the doctor will release me to fly home to Wrangell. I'm kind of missing Bill, my kitties, and all the wonderful Wrangellites, and Petersburgers. (I'm not sure either one is a word. 😀) I miss Denali Rose also, but that's off limits for now.

Do you have any suggestions to dress up my plain black boot? Do you like sequins? Do you get squeamish at seeing injuries, especially your own? 

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!  🎉🎉🎉

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

[Here is the next post about this incident...]

Friday Funny 12-22 (Spooky Christmas)

If I didn't laugh at my situation, I would definitely cry, so I'm choosing to poke fun at myself while I'm living with my brother and his family, and we all have a good sense of humor. (See accident report)  I'm very grateful for my family, and for the way they have rallied around me when I was dropped into their laps.

I'm stumping around the house with my walker, hop, drag, hop drag. It's especially disconcerting at night, when I make a trip to the bathroom, and everyone else in the house hears me. Add to that, my niece Rachel who has had the flu, has been very ill, and moans.

Are you getting the picture?  In the middle of the dark night, stump, drag, uhhhhhhhh ooooo, stump, drag, uhhhhhhh, oooooo, we have all the makings of a great haunted house. Except that it's Christmastime, and the spooky decorations are all put away for the year.

My sister-in-law, loves to decorate, and does a beautiful job.

There's even some presents under the tree for me, Bill sent me a couple from Petersburg, unfortunately, Bill's presents are still in Wrangell. All of the friends we have made in Petersburg are contributing to his holiday spirit, so I know he's in good hands. They are a bunch of especially wonderful people.

So now I'm wishing you and yours:

 "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
(hop, drag, moan)

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

[Here is the next post about this incident...]

Friday Funny 12-15 (Friday wasn't Funny)

Sounds good to me.

If you've been following along, you know that we decided to spent the holidays on the boat in Petersburg, Alaska, while  enjoying new friends, and the Norwegian festivities. Previously I had shipped all of my Christmas presents to our Wrangell address, so we decided I should fly to Wrangell, pick up mail, packages, bring back a few boat parts, and fly back to Petersburg with the loot. The trip would only be a couple of days.  Best laid plans......

In Wrangell, where I was staying, I had gone through several months of mail, loaded it into a rubbermaid tub, and was going down a flight of stairs to carry it out to my car. I misjudged the number of stairs, and took a tumble. I won't make you recoil from the gory details, but it was a bad fall. I called 911, had an ambulance ride to the hospital, where it was determined that their limited staff couldn't handle the multiple bone breaks, and a Medivac flight on a Lear Jet was arranged to take me to Anchorage. If you're a boater, cruiser, or world traveler, DAN Boater (Divers Alert Network, Travel and Emergency Medical Services) is worth it! They will get you to medical care world-wide.

Medivac Lear Jet, as they were wheeling me on the stretcher through the hanger.

Inside the jet, the view from the stretcher.

The view out the window, very pretty. I wasn't in pain, good drugs.

The short ending is: I had surgery to repair the 4 breaks in my tibia, and fibula. They inserted a rod, and pins, and I am not allowed to put my weight on it for at least 6-8 weeks, or more. (TBD) I'm using a walker, and a wheelchair to get around. I also can't get on and off of Denali Rose. I've been released from the hospital, and I'm staying at my brother and family's home in Anchorage while Bill is still in Petersburg with the boat, and the cats. We're missing each other, but it's the circumstances we have.

We're researching our options for renting ground floor housing in a place that also has Physical Therapy for the next 2-4 months. Who knows where... stay tuned.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

[Here is the next post about this incident...]

Friday Funny 12/08 (Differences in Weather)

Bill lived in Minnesota for a time.

My cousin who lives in Texas, just posted on Facebook that it has snowed at her home.

Now that's something you don't see every day in Texas.

Friends, and family in Fairbanks, and Anchorage, AK just posted that it was raining. Their roads are slick, and they're being advised to either stay home, or drive with extremely caution.

photo, AK DOT&PF

Thompson Pass, AK was closed due to avalanche.

photo, AK DOT&PF

Plow truck clearing the highway. photo, AK DOT&PF

Thompson Pass ended up getting 76 inches in 5 days time. That's alot of snow!

photo, AK DOT&PF

The weather on my iphone this morning.

Odd temperatures.

These temps brought out my smile. My son lives in El Paso, (that's why I look at that one), our weather is in the 50's, and his is in the 30's. 😁😁😁😁

We took advantage of a warm, and sunny day yesterday, when Jim, and Robin, (new boating friends on MV Adventures), took us for a drive on Mitkof Island, and we had a picnic. 

Just a bit of snow on the ground.

Fishing in the alpenglow.

We're still having fun enjoying Petersburg, and the wonderful people we have met here.

How's your weather been this winter? Has it been typical, or out of the ordinary? Are you traveling this holiday season to enjoy different weather?

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 12-01 (Holiday Decor)

Surprise for Gus, and Elsie

I'm having a hard time decorating for the season this year, but perhaps I have the wrong perspective.  I think I'm putting up decorations to enhance my holiday spirit, but maybe I need to look at it from a cat's point of view. Gus, and Elsie think I am providing them with fun toys in the middle of the night, because they don't really care that it's Christmastime.

"Elsie look! Whee, there's a new one!!" 

"Gus! Stop hitting me, and aim for the target!"

I put up the lights around the pilothouse, and tried to hang colorful ornaments randomly around on the cord.  Morning discoveries.

Fish in laundry room.

This fish was found behind a closed door to the laundry/shop room. Bill puts his socks under the door, and Gus likes to paw under the door, and pull them out at night. Fun game. So he must have decided to get the fish down from it's hook, and put it under the door as a new challenge to go along with the socks.

Octopus on floor

This octopus was found on the floor, apparently he was fun to bat around.

Crab unscathed.

This crab is metal, and wasn't as interesting as the soft ornaments. He is still hanging in place.

Here are the innocent parties this morning. Gus is in his shark, sleeping, after all of his partying last night, and Elsie is waiting on the steps for her morning outing.

Innocent

Maybe I have the wrong idea, and I should put the decorations OUTSIDE the boat, like this pretty decorated boat that is our neighbor.

Pretty dusk to dawn lights.

How should I thwart the antics of the predators in the night? How do you decorate for Christmas? Do you have other traditions that are a "must do" for the holidays?

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 11/24 (Petersburg....still?)

No thanks, really.

We are still in Petersburg, Ak. We meant to stay a week or so, but we've had so much fun, that we have stayed quite a bit longer. That's where Bill's favorite line comes in, "We have no schedule, and we're sticking to it."

You might be wondering what a Norwegians Only sign has to do with with our visit here. Petersburg is known as Alaska's Little Norway. It was founded over 100 years ago by Norwegian fishermen, and is named after Peter Buschmann, an immigrant who homesteaded here. He built a cannery, a sawmill, and a dock, and this homestead grew into the town of Petersburg. We are reminded of the Norwegian heritage everywhere we go.

Fish processing plant next to the harbor.

This sign is in a hardware store.

Rosemåling, or rosemaling is the name of a traditional form of decorative folk art that originated in the rural valleys of Norway. Rosemåling is a style of Norwegian decorative painting on wood that uses stylized flower ornamentation, scrollwork, lining and geometric elements, often in flowing patterns. (Wikipedia)

Rosemaling can be found everywhere in Petersburg.

Sidewalk at the harbor

It is embedded into sidewalks everywhere.

Sidewalk downtown.

Businesses have rosemaling painted on the front, some examples:

Office building

Florist

Downtown bar

Bank

A nice piece of artwork in the library.

Beautiful

The Sons of Norway have the oldest chapter in Alaska. Their building was constructed in 1912, and is now on the National Registry of Historic Places. They have a Viking ship, the Vahalla, and a Memorial to people lost at sea, on the adjoining deck. 

Low tide

This sign....

Guess what Fartsdemper means....  Speed Bump of course. 😁

BTW (by the way), our Thanksgiving table was quite resplendent. (Versus the photo in the previous blog post.) This was courtesy of being hosted by our new friends on SV Tonga, and these two lovely ladies, as well as their parents, one of whom was a highly acclaimed French Chef, (in a previous life). This was their first ever American Thanksgiving, and everyone enjoyed the large amounts of food, and great company.

Eva, and Louisa use their artistic talents.

It doesn't get any better than this!

Have you been to Norway? Do you like rosemaling, how about lutefisk? What was the best part of your Thanksgiving?

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 11/17 (Shocking News)

Perfect

Except at 4:30am, I just wanted to go back to sleep.

We woke up early Monday morning when the electric heater in our aft cabin started to stutter. We were hearing the fan, and the thermostat rapidly turning off, and on. We were also hearing the induction plate in the galley beeping every time it powered off, and back on. Uh oh.... something's not right here.

Bill got up and shut off the heater, and the breaker switch to the outlets in the galley. All became quiet as we fell back into a restless sleep. We got out of bed about 7:00am, and Bill turned the galley outlets back on. He tried to use the induction plate to heat water for coffee, but the plate still didn't keep constant power.  It was time for an inspection of the breakers, power cord, and shore power pedestal. (After of course, using the propane stove to make coffee - coffee good, inspecting electricity in the morning without it - bad.)

You may/or not, recall we had a power issue several years ago, and Bill fixed it by putting the Smartplug on the boat, and boat end of the power cord. 

Much safer technology than the 1938 plugs that are still the standard, and currently in use today.

Things looked okay on the boat side, but this is what he found when he unplugged our cord from the dock pedestal.

Yipe -a -roonies!

This is what the dock connection looked like.

Pedestal

Notice the prong from the cord burned into the slot. I don't think this is what it's supposed to look like....  😟

Okay, shore power is off to the boat, it's a good thing the batteries are fully charged, and the diesel heater is working fine.

Our refrigeration is on battery power, so no problem.

Next on the agenda, is a trip to the Harbor Master's office, to let them know that the pedestal would need electrical repair, and a stop at the hardware store. Glorianne, the Harbor Master in Petersburg, says, "these things happen, I'll get an electrician on the way."  

We had two 30amp cords connected to reach from the boat to the power pedestal, and the connection point between the two cords was also fried, so Bill bought one new cord, because that's all they had on the shelf, and a new plug end for the cable that connects to the boat with the Smartplug.  

Here is what he found when he cut off the burned plug on the cord connected to the boat.

No good.

He probably cut off about five feet of cable, one foot at a time, to try and find good wire to connect to the new plug. We were wondering if we would have enough length to reach the pedestal. (These cables came with the boat when we bought her 3 years ago. We don't really know how old they are, so replacing them both is probably a good idea.)

Last week's "Power Play" photo. Look at how much extra cord we had.

There's not much extra cord on the dock, and the plug is tied to the bull rail, to keep it from slipping into the water. Saltwater, and electricity don't like each other very much. They don't have a good relationship, and argue all the time. 😆

The new cord has an indicator light on it.

The red dot is on.

The electrician completed his end about 4:00pm, and Bill had Denali Rose back on shore power by 5:30pm.  With batteries recharging, and the hot water heater on high, don't forget the Eddie Albert rule of 7, we're at the limit for the 30amp cord. Once the batteries were fully charged, the electric heat was turned back on. I'll add that when the short occurred, we weren't anywhere near our total of 7 for electrical devices running. (Aft electric heat - 3)

Power management is back to normal. This incident reminds me of a quote I heard recently, "Everything on a boat is broken, you just don't know it yet." 

Does your power go out, what do you do when it happens? Are you prepared with flashlights, candles, water, or an alternate heating source?

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.