Friday Funny 5/25-18 (Little Norway Festival)

I could be "Out Standing In A Field", as long as I have my crutches.

Petersburg was named after Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant and a pioneer in the cannery business, who arrived in the late 1890s. He built the Icy Strait Packing Company cannery, a sawmill, and a dock by 1900. His family's homesteads grew into this community, populated largely by people of Scandinavian origin. 

Explore North The History of Petersburg

Bill says that I gave myself a broken leg for Christmas, and I guess that's true. Since I missed out on the Norwegian Christmas fun in Petersburg, I was determined to enjoy their holiday in May, which is conveniently called Mayfest, The Little Norway Festival. It's the day Norwegians celebrate the signing of their constitution, and the end of Danish rule. It's a week of events, food, activities, and the Norwegian Ambassador to the U. S. even visited. 

This year's logo, and button.

I'm still on crutches, but I attended most everything I wanted to.  The main street downtown was closed off to traffic, for the parade, the Viking jail, the Viking kids games, the annual herring toss, (vs an egg toss), Guns and Hoses competition, (law enforcement against the fire fighters, to see who can pull a fire engine across the finish line first. FYI, the Guns won.), sled pull, a weight competition, vendor booths, and food. 

Get outta the way, here they come!

We missed the parade on Friday, we were still in Wrangell on Thursday all ready to slip our lines at the dock, when Gus, (the scallywag) decided to go hide on another boat, and we couldn't get him to come home. We waited all day, and finally nabbed him that evening. On Friday, we didn't let him out, left Wrangell, and arrived Petersburg too late to catch any of the parade. NOT cool GUS! We did have a delicious salmon dinner with some of our friends though, and Saturday was a full day of Norwegian fun.

A friendly Viking in the Sons of Norway Hall.

The Vikings, and Valkyries were everywhere.

Cute!

The Viking Grog Bus

Bill, in front of the chainsaw sculpture booth.

We attended an event to sample authentic Norwegian foods, sandwiches, pastries, and cookies. All of it was quite yummy, and we saw the Ambassador, as well as a former Alaskan Governor. (not Palin, before you ask) For dinner, we went to a benefit for the Petersburg High School basketball teams, an All You Can Eat Shrimp Feed. The shrimp was delicious, but also the salads, and beans. They kindly let us white-hairs in wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and crutches in early, to get our shrimp, and seat. 

We were going to attend a play that evening, but I was pretty done in. My fitbit said that I had done 5800 steps that day. We had a much better time enjoying a glass of wine with friends on their cruising trawler, Adventures.

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

Friday Funny 5-18/18 (Esparbacher)

Floyd is wearing his pants too high to be a furnace repairman.

Our Espar diesel heater finally gave out. It was making some strange noises, whining, whirring, and what I called screaming, and one day it just stopped. It was vintage 1999, so it's had a good, and productive life. One issue though, it quit while we were away from shore power, and it was in April, when it was still chilly at night. So instead, Bill ran the diesel generator all night, and the electric heater, and we stayed toasty warm.

We got a new Espar from a fellow boater on the east coast, who had purchased new, and never installed it into his own boat. He gave us a discount, which was great, it was a bargain, even with the cost of shipping to Alaska from the Maryland area. 

Two sources of noise, the Espar, and Elsie-snoring.

Here's what the new heater looks like, please pay no attention to the power cables that go to the laptop on the table. Do pay attention to the fact that Elsie is fast asleep next to the heater, and is in the thick of the construction zone, which doesn't faze her at all.

"Engine Room", lift up the sole, (floor in landlubber talk), and there it is!

White shell is the generator.

Bill is comfortably (boat yoga anyone?) arranged in the engine room.

Bill (so far), has done all of our own work on the boat, and it's parts/pieces.

Who me?

New duct work, because the new isn't the same diameter as the old, new control, in a new spot, new temp sensor, and the new Espar is bracketed in place.

Bill is attaching the new duct work.

Old controller was located in the aft sleeping cabin.

New controller is located in the main salon, next to the generator controls.

And there it is, all comfortable in it's new home.

Esparbacher

Bill touched the startup switch, aaaannnnnddd, nothing...... it's late, we hadn't had dinner, we call it a night.

The next morning, Bill did some re-wiring, and woosh, Houston, it's a GO! We let it run, burn off that new plastic smell, and conveniently heated up the aft head, so I had a warm room for my shower. 

It's now ready for the upcoming week of sunny 70+  weather. 😎

84 in here, with the diesel heater on..... it works.

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

Friday Funny 05-11/18 (Summer has Arrived)

Once in awhile.

We finally left the electric heat off at night this week, we had some sunny days, or as Bill calls them, "severe clears". The pilothouse faces south and if we don't close the blinds, the temps inside soar past the 80's. We could always turn on the air conditioners, and we've been known to do so, but we're trying to save a bit on the electric bill, as well as we love the silence of NO FANS. It's so peaceful when we have vanquished the constant drone of fans.

The dehumidifier puts out just a smidge of heat, and is very quiet, so we left that on. The removal of moisture is important on a boat to prevent mold, and mildew growth, and we almost never have any.

Leg update: I had quite a bit of pain for the last week or so, and I went to the local clinic for possible answers. The doctor ordered another round of x-rays to look for stress fractures in my ankle, and tests for potential blood clots. I'm happy to report all negative, however, something was causing it, and the best we can tell, is that I overdid my exercise program. The doctor said it must be ligaments, taped up my ankle like an athlete would (hahaha, yeah, right), and said to stay off of it. I've been off of it for almost 2 weeks, and I do feel much better. I'm ready to get back to the business of walking, but I'll be more careful of how I push it. 

I might need this as a necklace, perhaps a keychain. It'll go with the "I do my own stunts" hoodie.

Here's the followup leg xray that was taken on the 1st of May.

Three of the breaks look to be healing well, but that last on one the lower fibula is being stubborn. The doctors aren't too concerned since that big rod is my support anyway. FYI, I load up on calcium, magnesium, and D3 on a daily basis.

So life goes on, and summer is here. It's time to get off of the dock, and go have an adventure.

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

Friday Funny 05-04/18 (Star Wars Day!)

You didn't seriously think that I would let this day go by without a blog post did you?

Gimme more kibble you shall!

Thanks, but at the present time, we have all we need.

I've found quite a bit of party supplies for this particular holiday. Yes, it's really considered an official Star Wars holiday, at least by Star Wars fans. You can find recipes, party favors, game ideas, and free printables to dress up your decor. 

From Over the Moon

I didn't get to see the latest Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, because I had just had the surgery on my broken leg, and I was pretty much bed-bound. The surgeon made a joke on his last hospital visit, about how I should get in the wheelchair and go see the movie, because I would get great seating. That was probably true, but getting in and out of the house, and car was more of an ordeal that outweighed the benefits.

I may have to borrow, or rent the movie on Amazon as my Friday celebration. I could definitely make Padawan Popcorn, or as we call it, caramel corn. I don't use a recipe or measures. I've made my Grandma's recipe so many times, that it's just toss the ingredients in the pan, cook, coat the popcorn, eat. 

Gus is trying out for the "Laser Cat" role.

I will hopefully, have another reason to celebrate on Friday. I've had a bit of a setback this past week, my ankle, and foot were so painful, I couldn't put any weight on them, and I had to pull the crutches back out. It's depressing. My physical therapist said that I have an inflammation in the soft tissues, to ice it regularly, and stay off of it. On Friday, I have a doctor appointment and another PT appointment, and hopefully they will do their thing, and tell me to start walking again. (I'm writing this on Wednesday, so by the time you read it, I will be at my appointments. Updates will be forthcoming.)

Just not too much celebrating, as the next day is Cinco de Mayo, or maybe it should be called Drink Tequila Day, which could bring on the Revenge of the Sixth.

Nooooooo

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