Friday Funny (or thereabouts) 05-06/23 (Preparations for the A-Team)

 

Bill has been carrying the blog along this winter with articles, while I've been slacking. It's tough to find interesting things to write about when I've been hibernating  resting on my butt all winter. 

While I was sitting, I did get some things accomplished however. Most of my immediate family, and some of my friends get a handmade greeting card from me for their birthday, and so far I have made about 50. I like to get them done far in advance of needing them, get them in envelopes, and this year, I'm doing something different. I'm going to the post office and mail everything I've made so far, all birthday cards through August. It can be a challenge to mail on time, since we cruise in areas where actual post offices are few and far between, or if we go to a community that has one, it isn't in walking distance.

Here is the advice/warning for all of you expecting a card: "You may get it early, the choice is yours, open it now, or save it for the actual day. 

I'm reusing mailers, and boxes that have come my way, and it's a Rohwer tradition to receive a gift in  totally unrelated packaging. You're welcome, carry on.

We've turned the boat upside down, no not literally, (whew), we're expecting guests, and we're cleaning out lockers, and storage areas to make room. My daughter, and her partner are joining us for 2 weeks, and that should be really fun. Distances are so great here, that one week is really not long enough to get anywhere, other than "just off the dock". We're picking them up in Ketchikan which is 71 nautical miles away. 

We've seen Clarence Strait be glass calm, or short choppy waves with 30kts of wind. I prefer the former, and we'll be leaving in plenty of time in case we have to wait for good weather enroute. That bottom red arrow points to the Gulf of Alaska, which can influence the strait either way. 

Before

This is what the v-berth looks like after spending the winter at the dock. Double duty, it's our equivalent of the spare bedroom, where you chuck everything to get it out of sight, and the pantry. Most of it has to find a home somewhere else on the boat, or get removed to our storage facility. It's a challenge. 

Then we need to get the cushions and bedding out of storage. That's one of the reasons impromptu guests aren't a good idea. Also, we need to make sure we have enough coffee, wine, etc onboard, who would want to run out? I'll post an after photo, when we have it ready, it probably won't be before this post is published. 

Progress is being made, that's the red ditch bag, and the yellow emergency bag up there. They stay where they are, within easy reach in case of emergency. 

- Days later...

Challenge completed!

I did it! The v-berth is ready for occupancy. Under those boards I managed to store quite a bit of stuff, it's good that we didn't have much in there. However there's more to be done. 

That is the lower dinette table, hopefully most of this stuff will go into the pantry, there's a dedicated locker, (closet), behind the wall where the nets hang where we store canned goods, spices, and meal fixings.

And then: I went to town to do errands, and when I returned the table was bare! I immediately moved in with my sewing stuff before it got "repurposed" for anything else. Possession is 9/10  of the law right? 

I need to do some repairs, and make a couple of screens with no-see-um netting, but we're pretty well stowed now, 

This is especially appropriate since our guests first names both begin with A, and we've been calling them the "A Team", though I doubt either one of them has ever seen the show. 

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