Friday Funny 12-25/2020 (Merry Christmas!)

 

Santa delivering in Alaska

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

This year's Christmas card.

I usually start making my Christmas cards sometime in June/July, this year I had loads of time to get it just right. We spent so much time anchored in secluded bays, and inlets dodging storms, that it gave me ample time for creativity. 

Someone in Wrangell dressed up their shrubs, very innovative, and festive!

Gus has been pretty good about the shiny decor, and we find an occasional ornament on the floor in the morning. Fortunately most are either wood, metal, or fabric, no harm, no foul. This morning, he apparently decided he'd had enough of the Christmas tree, and knocked it to the floor. It's made of fabric, no nothing broken. Looking at him, I think that is his "what me?" look, or maybe he is impatient to get to the unwrapping of gifts. 

He got a new harness, new reflective collars, new name tags for all his apparel, and an official photo in all his naval regalia.

Admiral Gusters O'Rusters of the Hellship Denali Rose

 

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

Friday Funny 12-18/2020 (The Laundry, Loads of Fun)

 

I'm not meaning to be sexist here, but this cracked me up, maybe the caption should read, "How Bill Sorts Laundry". Whenever I'm getting ready to do the washing, there's always something hanging on a hook in the "laundry room", and I have to ask whether or not it needs to go in the washer. Bill usually replies that it does, but if he needs to wear it, it's not in the laundry bag. 😀

The laundry room, is actually what we call the machine room, we use it to store tools, and spare parts, as well as an access point to the engine compartment.  Originally our Nauticat 43 was designed with three staterooms, forward is the v-berth, aft is our master cabin, and in the rear hallway is the middle cabin, which has a bunk bed in it, otherwise known as the machine room. The previous owners purchased a Spendide washer/dryer, and installed it on the lower bunk.  

 The new washing machine, sawed in half.

Recently, Susie posted on her Facebook page, a memory from outfitting Denali Rose. 

Back in 1998 Jack told me to research installing a washer/dryer in the boat, because I had heard horror stories of lack of laundry facilities in various Caribbean islands. We bought a Splendide vented model, cut it in half, carried all the parts up onto the boat (up the ladder since it was out of the water) and re-assembled it in the boat's second cabin. Every time the dang thing starts, I'm still amazed and do a little "happy dance." Jack said,"This was a leap of faith." We knew cutting it in half would ruin the washer-dryer's warranty. Luckily, a Splendide USA rep. sent Jack their company's repair manual for their technicians' use...after he heard we had already cut it in half."

Yes, you read it right, they cut their brand new machine in half, because that was the only way to get it down the companionway steps, and installed into the middle cabin. So, this machine was new in 1998, and now it's 2020, and we're having some issues with it, I'd say 22 years of uninterrupted service is a great run. Bill has some ideas about what's wrong, and needs to empty out the machine room, so he has space to lift the Splendide, and get to it's pieces/parts. He's waiting till after Christmas, so we don't have to deal with piles of tools, and stuff out in the salon.

In the meantime, it's off to the laundromat for me.

I try to go early, and on a mid-week day, so far, I usually have the place to myself. I'm grateful that the owners always have it spic, and span clean. It's a little inconvenient to have to schlep to the laundromat, but it does get everything done at once.

Maybe going to the laundromat would be more fun if I brought a bottle of wine with me. Hmm, what would the pairing be, perhaps a good chardonnay, being a white wine, it wouldn't stain anything if it got spilled. 

Happiness is hanging up the empty laundry bag, which as the sign says, lasts about 17 seconds. 

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

Friday Funny 12-11/2020 (Sun, What is That?)

 

This is what happens when we see that strange glow in the sky, we cower in fear, especially this year. I have this image in a postcard, I should put it up as artwork. 

PS, that's rain drops on the outside, not condensation on the inside.

The other morning as I was sitting in the pilothouse, I felt something strange on my back, and turned to see this! OH MY GOSH, what is that?! The actual sun, in blue sky? Don't worry it didn't last long, even though my barometer on my bedside clock looks like this, everyday.

See that up arrow, that means the barometer is rising, and supposedly sunshine is on the way. I think my clock is drunk, or is suffering from some kind of 2020 virus. 😐

We finally left Petersburg, and transited back to our home slip in Wrangell.

Our Petersburg friends took photos of Denali Rose as we passed by their house on the Wrangell Narrows, that orange blob on the back deck is me, flaking, (coiling), up the dock lines for stowage.

We had a nice day, as in it didn't rain buckets on us, but still had some wind/current/tide chop, and poor Gus was seasick again. I really need to get his medicine in him sooner, so that he doesn't suffer as often.

Sunset behind us, as we approach Wrangell.

Approaching Wrangell

Our slip finger

Our first chore was to hose off our dock finger, it looked like the birds had been holding daily parties, and no one was on the cleanup crew.

Pouring rain again, big surprise....

The next day, we went to the post office to get current mail, and gathered up all of the mail our generous friend had been collecting for us, and storing in our car.  It was like a pre-Christmas opening all of those packages, and the best part, not a single bill in any of it. 

Southeast Alaska has had some heavy winds, and torrential rains this December, breaking records, causing floods, and mud slides. Most of our islands have towns built on the sides of mountains, ringing the shoreline. You may, or may not have heard of the terrible landslide that happened in Haines Alaska, with two people still missing, tragic. Their newspaper's link Here

This is the Alaska Marine Hwy (ferry) map, Haines is at the top of SE Alaska.

Wrangell has had it's share of rain, and high winds have brought down power lines more than once. The electric company linemen have been very busy with repairs. They are also the ones who collect the community Christmas tree from the Tongass Natl Forest, bring it to town, and set it up. They were too busy to get done, and someone in town had some fun with a replacement. KSTK story, and followup. This photo showed up on the Wrangell Community Facebook page. 

I like that the Grinch wears Xtra-Tuff boots. 

Bill put up the usual red/green lights on Denali Rose, people see the spire as they drive by on Zimovia Highway. 

This is the view from inside Denali Rose.

This is my contribution to new Christmas decor, a towel in the head, (bathroom). If you've seen Christmas Vacation, one of my favorite movies, a must see every year, you'll understand.

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

Happy Thanksgiving! [Rerun...]

Dear family and friends, this is a republish of our post from last year[s] this time... [at least for those of you with good recollection skills...]

And we are re-wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving! Again!

Why a reprint? Aren't you worthy of a new post?  Of course you are, but aren't these holidays pretty much the same each year?  [Even 2020; isolated is our norm...] The greetings, the menus, the company, the football games [or figure skating...], the photos, the stories, the personality disorders... [I'm not referring to you, of course...]

Need I go on...?

Therefore, being such traditionalists ourselves [not ever...] we see no choice but to repeat what we already said...

Again...

In the past I even went so far as to always wear the same sweater to family gatherings each year to honor the holiday spirit! [And incite confusion in the future; Which year is this photo from? Look at that; Bill never changes...]

Its these kinds of considerations that help make holidays timeless [or make time stand still?...] don't you think?...

And for those of you with poor or selective memories, well, ignore this intro. [Heck, some of you may already be wondering how or why you slogged through to this point anyway...] Instead, just read on to our [new to you] holiday greetings, below...

So lets get to it, shall we?

Happy Thanksgiving! [Again!]

Many of you often [repeatedly...] share the sentiment [usually with a detectable hint of sadness...] of what it must be like to live a 'camping' lifestyle afloat- especially during traditionally family-holidays...

Well, as our fellow boaters know, it is really no different than on land. [And for the rest of you, it's not really much different than living in a small, cramped older travel trailer- sometimes in a trailer court or even a coveted Wallmart parking lot...]

We shop [and/or hunt, trap, and fish] days [or weeks, or months...] ahead selecting only the finest quality trappings for the meals- which are meticulously prepared- just like in a home...

And, as holiday tradition warrants, we are always prepared for the unexpected [oft repeating] guest(s.)

In essence, we eat our hearts out, and so should you...

Our [reprinted] photo epitomizes one of my favorite lines: [from Chevy Chase's movie Vacation]
 I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper; it tastes just fine all by itself...
Wish you were here...

PS:

Friday Funny 11-20/2020 (Petersburg Harbor)

 If my hands are positioned wrong on the keys, I get, Frodau Fimmu. Fascinating huh? Yes, well, these days I can be easily entertained. 

During our stay in Petersburg, we have been catching up with good friends Robin, and Jim. We consider them to be a part of our small, trusted social circle, and allow each other inside our 6ft radius. I've even gotten a hug, JOY! I made a new dinghy cover for them, and it was a fairly easy project. 

Petersburg is located at the beginning of the Wrangell Narrows. 

The Petersburg North Harbor doesn't have a breakwater, so the boat traffic in the Narrows affects the boats tied in the harbor, and we are in a slip that is next to the outside. 

Also, depending on the state of the tide, we've seen the current running from zero to six knots, and some incredible whirlpools, it makes for sporty docking procedures if you don't arrive at the correct time.

All kinds of boats traverse the Narrows, commercial fishing, private sail, cabin cruisers, trawlers, and skiffs, tugs, and barges, and the Alaska ferry.

Commercial fishing vessel

The Rainforest Islander, a Wrangell owned small ferry for cars, cargo, and people among the SE islands.

Tug and barge

In case you needed to see the size, compare the barge to the dump truck parked on top of the load.

Cabin cruiser speedster, he's in a hurry to get to his fishing hole.😁

Everyone creates a decent wake, but those tugs, and barges are really fun. (not) The tugs have a bow, and stern wake, and the barge has a bow, and stern wake, that's four altogether, and wheee, watch us all pitch, and roll. The key is fenders, lots of fenders between us, and the dock.

In addition to the multiple boat wakes we get a day, we have been visited by some unwelcome items.

A clump of bull kelp, weeds, wood, and whatever else.

Bill, and Jim pulled a kelp pile back out into the Narrows.

A pile of wood the guys retrieved out of the water next to our bow. It would bang into the boat during a wake. 

The biggest ewwwww so far, someone threw a recent deer hide in the water to be washed out. It didn't.

We watched this guy carefully.

Bill encouraged it to move on out.

Which it did.

The best part about being on the outside of the dock, is that we get an almost full view of the scenery, and wildlife.

A constant stream of gulls, water fowl, and eagles.

This has become Gus's new spot;

1. Because he enjoys watching the swirling water, and the birds.

2. Probably should be 1. he is sitting directly over the heat vent, hmmmm warm.

Bonus points for guessing this mystery item.

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

Friday Funny 11-13/2020 (November Catch-Up)

Maybe that was true, but since we're all staying home all the time, it might not apply anymore. 

Once we completed the dodger/bimini/dinghy chaps/weather cloths/cockpit cushion project, we left our slip in Wrangell, and went meandering Southeast. We cruised as far north as Sitka, with picturesque anchorages, and adventures along the way. Because we had very infrequent cell service, this blog got left behind, though some of you have followed along with our sporadic Facebook posts. Also, even with no internet, our boat, (house), is not very clean either.  

Completed dodger/bimini

A few highlights:

Sunset, just outside Rocky Pass.

Meeting up with sistership Raven's Dance, and Donn. Photo courtesy of Donn, and his drone.

The glacier is viewable on the way into Takatz Bay, east coast side of Baranof Island.

Gus is enjoying the ride.

Baby Bear Bay, alas, no bears were spotted.

Gus has taken over the Skipper's seat.

We had a little over a week in Sitka with beautiful weather for some of it.

We left Sitka with the threat of hurricane force winds out in the Gulf of Alaska, and we headed for a protected bay to wait it out. It was quite the experience, as Bill set the Spade anchor well, put on a double bridle, chafe guards, and we saw 45knots of wind as the highest wind speed to rock the boat. Sitka's highest wind speed for that storm was 68knots. 

One anchor deployed, with double bridle, and chafe guard, second anchor at the ready.

We eventually went back to Takatz Bay, it's sheltered, and has just a scrap of a cell signal, while we were there, we had an interesting visitor.

Large landing craft with a tanker truck onboard.

Okay, we can share the bay with you, 😀but then the show got more interesting.

Yellow helicopter, vs yellow submarine....

The copter landed and let two guys off, and the landing craft went over to the far shore.

About every five minutes, the helicopter would come over, pickup a full bladder of fuel, and carry it off to the destination, and then bring back an empty to be refilled. We didn't count them all, but we figured about 25-30 trips that day. Since the turn around time was so short, we thought they were refueling the nearby cell tower that is on the next mountain over. 

About 4;30pm, as the tide was coming back in, the landing craft left, and the helicopter landed on the scrap of beach, picked up the men, and flew off.

Show's over. 

Over the next couple of days, the temperatures started to get colder, and because the sun only made it over the mountains for a brief time, the bay, which is also fed from a fresh water creek, started to ice over. You could hear the ice cracking as it hit the hull of Denali Rose on it's way by in the current.

Time to find another bay.

Baranof Warm Springs is just a couple of hours away, and the hot springs sounded pretty good.

A beautiful day in Chatham Strait.

Coming into Warm Springs, we're hoping there's room at the dock. (There was.)

One of the attractions of Warm Springs is the bathhouse. There are 3 rooms with constant running hot water from the springs. They have constructed the rooms so that they look out over the bay, have curtains if you need them, and have a cold water spigot. When you finish your soak, you pull the pipe out of the over flow drain, let out all the water, clean your tub, put the pipe back in, and it is ready for the next occupant. Lest you worry, the water is constantly moving as the tub fills past the overflow pipe, and pours out underneath the bathhouse, this way the water in the tub is always replenishing with fresh. 

It's a great place to relax. We arrived on a sunny day, but the rain found us again, and the waterfall became astounding.

The falls the day we arrived.

The falls in the next day or so, after a couple of torrential downpours.

We met a lovely young couple out cruising on Steel Eagle, Will, and Cheyanne. We would love to meet up again, and see what they are up to.

We let the hot springs soak into our bones for a week, and then had a weather window to head towards Petersburg. 

We don't like to do nighttime transits, too much stuff in the water, kelp beds, floating logs, with late fall, the daylight hours being shorter, and, besides, our motto, "we have no schedule, and we're sticking to it", is always in effect. We took a couple of days, and two more bays to get us to Petersburg. 

Some of our animal sightings this past summer/fall.

Brown Bear

Pretty rare to see a moose.

Land [AKA River] Otters on the dock.

We saw whales, or whale spouts, but none close enough to photograph, and the usual cast of sea lions, seals, and jelly fish.

It hasn't been all fun, and games, however, even with waiting on good weather windows, Gus and I had several bouts of mal de mer, (seasickness). Bummer, and Bonine to the rescue, he gets 1/4 tab, and I take the other 3/4. (Vet approved)

Gus is in one of his favorite napping spots, it's hard to type holding a cat, but I don't think Gus cares.

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