Friday Funny 12-/23-2022 (Shipping, and Not the Vessel Kind)

 

It's that time of year, and though I've done some shopping local, the bulk of it was online. I also took the opportunity to buy some things for myself, what with all the sales, and free shipping offers. Merry Christmas to me!  🎄🤶 However shipping comes with it's own issues, especially at holiday time, and to Alaska.

This cut piece of cardboard, and the mailing label were all that I received in my PO box. The cardboard looks like it was intentionally cut into this shape, and whatever was in the box is gone. Fortunately, it was an Amazon purchase, and I applied for a replacement. 

How about this one? Don't you feel better to knowing they made this box with less material? That way it can fall apart faster, than it's predecessor, thus scattering your purchases farther afield. 

I believe there's a special hell for those people who ship items with this obnoxious filler. I tried to empty these styrofoam pellets into a bag, and of course they are statically charged, went everywhere, and were impossible to get them off my fingers, and clothes. So, of course, I recycled them, and shipped them off to a family member as filler in their box. I might be a candidate for that special place in hell, but I figure the recycling part might save me. 

I bought new shoes for myself during an REI sale. My Keens were at least 8 years old, I believe I bought them right before we moved onboard Denali Rose in 2014. The bottoms were well worn, and now were quite slippery on deck, and, (as most of you know), for me a bad falling hazard, also the insides were starting to break down. I figure I got my moneys worth.

Check out the difference between the new, and the old, I'm sure I don't have to tell you which is which. I tried out the new ones on deck, very sticky, and I'm grateful.

The old ones are kind of beat up, I did some painting in them, and have a few spatters, but overall, they could still be worn, except of course for the non-tread. Now they have been relegated to the "shit kicker" category, as Bill calls it, just for messy chores. Keen gets my endorsement for a long-wearing, sticky sole, comfortable shoe. 

I also have a pair of Keen sandals, again the bottom is completely worn, but the straps, and topside still look great. I have another new pair in storage somewhere, I need to look for them. I bought 2 pair back when, because they were discontinuing my favorite color. 

Then there's the Eddie Bauer debacle. I had ordered a flannel tunic, what I got was a men's black hoodie with fake shearling on the inside. Now, I really like this brand, they fit well, (at least for me), free shipping, and wear for a long time. 

What I ordered.

What I received.

They're the same aren't they? Geez. I used the chat feature on the Eddie Bauer website, and after a somewhat difficult exchange, where they said the tunic was no longer available, except that it was still on their website, we got it resolved. I had them refund the original purchase, and I reordered the tunic, at $7.00 less expensive, yay, and they said to keep the hoodie. I'm not sure what I'll do with a men's medium cotton hoodie, but it's mine now. 

Update on Gus, he's still on house arrest, instead of wearing an ankle bracelet, he gets to wear his harness, and leash, or tether. At least he has quieted down, hardly any yowling anymore, and we're beginning to see the sweet Gus again. Hallelujah! We don't trust him to not run off though, so no more freedom at the dock. He found a way to wriggle out of the vest harness, so now he wears one that straps around his neck, and straps around his middle. We call it the torture device, and it doesn't stay in place very well. He has several different replacements coming for Christmas, a bit like getting underwear for presents. :-) I made up for it by getting some catnip loaded cloth fish for him to bat around. Shhh, don't tell him, I want it to be a surprise. 

Gus is enjoying the intermittent sunshine that comes in the pilothouse windows, and shines on the steps of the companionway. That's his leash on the top step, ready for him to be clipped in before we open the cafe doors.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

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

Friday Funny 09-05/2022 (Another Auke Bay-Juneau Saga)

 

This is exactly what Statter Harbor in Juneau feels like!

We ran out of anything green, except for green beans in a can, toilet paper was getting scarcer, the wine locker has just a couple of boxes left, and the fuel gauges are significantly lower. It's time for a "town" stop for supplies. 

After we left Glacier Bay, we had a short stop in Hoonah. We anchored for a couple of days, then motored over to the outside marina transient dock, so that we could walk to the store. It was apparent that the barge hadn't been in to restock the shelves so we got a few things, and decided that in the near future we'd have to head for Juneau. 

On the way to Juneau, we made our usual stop in Swanson Harbor, we tied up to a state float, and met some other cruisers there. At one point there were loads of kids, dogs, and fireworks, they moved on after spending one night, whew! Gus was very annoyed. 

This Tollycraft, with the inboard diesel engine removed, and refitted with two large outboards, had a group from Australia onboard. No, they didn't bring this boat from there, it's kept in west coast Canada, and Captain Buck returns to it every year. This was the first trip to Alaska for the other three. We enjoyed their company, and learning about their home. 

Another excellent sunset. 

They headed out for Glacier Bay in the early morning. We had our morning hot beverages, and also left, heading for Juneau. 

I've written previously about Statter Harbor at Auke Bay, and the craziness in there. 

You have to time your arrival just right, when the commercial whale watcher boats, the personal cruise boats, and the commercial fishermen are out doing their thing, and then you MIGHT find an open spot that is long enough for your vessel, possibly power too. We left Swanson Harbor so that our arrival would be about 1:00pm, everyone else, (theoretically), were still out. We scored! It was a bit hairy to get into, so Bill stepped off of Denali Rose at the bow, and tied it off. Normally, that wouldn't happen, it's always midship line first, but we needed to back against it, so that the stern would swing into place. A few back, and fill jolts, in we went, AND we found an open power spot on the pole, so we're satisfied. 

Approaching Auke Bay, mega yachts tied up on the outside breakwater, they don't fit inside.

Our welcoming committee, a breaching whale, couldn't quite get the camera on him fast enough.

Once you're tied in, you watch a continual parade of locals, commercial boats, and visiting cruisers, jockey around looking for a place to dock, it's really insane. If we hadn't had to get fuel, and food, we would have avoided the place. 

We went in on a sunny day, wasted our time in the sun, but heavy weather was coming, and we wanted to be secure beforehand. Everyone else also had that idea, and we watched boat after boat, circling around, hoping to find that elusive dock spot. It's sad really, I felt bad for those who had to finally give up.

I'm going to call out a company here, I watched this sightseeing whale watching boat cut off a sailboat who was on their final approach to this spot, and tie himself off without a care. He didn't even look up to see the sailboat with fenders and lines out ready to sidle up to the dock. Very rude! 

Later another jetboat from the same company came up and rafted to him.

On the positive side, we found out Costco will deliver your order to the Harbormaster office for you to put into dock carts and wheel down to your boat. We certainly took advantage of that! We had two full carts.

So you have an idea of the size of the cart.

Lots of goodies piled on the back deck of Denali Rose. 

We are planning on being out and about for another 3 months or thereabouts. so though the bill was steep, it's our provisioning for months to come. Now it's on to Fred Meyer's, their website says they deliver, after filling an online shopping cart, two phone calls, and three clerks later, we found out they don't deliver after all.  Then we arranged for all the items that we had in the cart for pickup, but something in their software just wouldn't connect, and after Bill spent hours filling the cart, and trying to make it work, and two phone calls, we gave up. We rode the bus there, and did all of the shopping ourselves, three carts worth, and we had a taxi pick us up, to take us back to the Harbor. We're still money ahead of renting a car for the day, even if it wasn't quite as convenient.

All in all, this was a productive trip to Juneau, with a small amount of effort to get tied to the dock, and have a shore power connection. Having the major shopping items delivered from Costco was a terrific asset, we'll have to do that again, and tell all our cruising friends in SE. 

We did goof on double checking the Costco cart, and we ordered twice as many paper towels as we wanted, needed, or could stow. Oh, well, we're ready for the paper Armageddon. It'll have to live on the lower settee for now. 

I tried to get this post out on Friday, but having to rewrite the shopping saga three times, has delayed it until Monday. 😌

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

Friday Funny 06- 10 /2022 (Repairing in Exotic Places)

 

Yikes!

Well, I haven't done that yet, thank goodness, though lest you think that life on a boat is all fun, and games, let me dissuade you of that notion. 

Recently, I had a friend, who posted on facebook, an idyllic photo of a boat in a calm bay, she said that's where she wanted to be. I had to hit her with the stark truth, the learning curve is straight up, and shit's always breaking. The joke is: if it works, don't use it.

We're still hanging out within a couple of hours cruise from Sitka, as we complete our medical appointments, and we've been working on stuff, well, Bill has been working on stuff. I stay out of the way, and try not to take the swearing personally. 

Gauges to check fridge coolant, and add it.

The in-counter, top loading refrigerator has been losing it's cool. 😎  It's been an on-going problem, and Bill has been working with the compressor daily. It's a good thing we also have a small front loading fridge, its original to the boat, a 1983 Norcold, and so far, (knock on wood), its doing the job. (I stand corrected.. it's REFRIGERANT, not COOLANT)

In case you need to see what I'm talking about:

The Norcold

Counter top fridge, its a deep dive in.

Then there's the generator, which does it's job well, but started to over-heat some. We use it to fill the batteries with power, so we can continue to live off of the grid. Summer, so far, had given us sunny days, with a few windy ones, and the solar panels, and wind generator have also augmented filling the batteries. 

That's the engine "room", we use that term loosely. On one side is Big Red the 90hp diesel Ford Lehman, and on the other side is the Fischer Panda 10KW generator. The generator has a white clam shell that covers it, and the photo shows one side off. The previous owners labeled EVERYTHING, for which we are grateful.

Bill is preparing to do battle.

Inside, hard at work, let the swearing commence. Notice the foam pieces around the bottom of the Sig Marine diesel heater, he hit his head on that once, very painful, and lots of words. *&^$%

I won't even begin to explain what he did, or what was wrong, that's for Bill to do in a technical post. 😴 😁

I did the laundry, not bad for 2 weeks worth, mostly underwear.

Hanging clothes in the cockpit to dry.

I had 3 t shirts, 1 pair pants, 2 hoodies, 1 pair socks, and underwear, Bill had 3 t shirts, 2 work shirts, 2 pair pants, 1 pair socks, and underwear. I beat him in the pants department, but he beat me in the underwear. 

We're missing Celebration in Juneau, we really wanted to attend. They streamed the opening ceremonies, where the Wrangell dancers were hosting, so at least we got to watch something. If you want to see more, go on Facebook to Haida & Tlingit, and Sealaska Heritage Institute. 

KTOO

An interesting fact, though some of the regalia is handmade by the participants, and family, some of it is centuries old, and is stored in museums around the state. Since it is owned by the First Peoples, they take it out of the museums, and wear it for ceremonies. I think this is so awesome, and makes the activities even more wonderful.

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

Friday Funny 06-03/2022 (Another Stunt)

 

Yes, you guessed it.... I had another trip, (see what I did there), to the doctor. 

See that piece of the support for the dock column, normally they are flush with the deck, but this one isn't. I wasn't paying attention, and tripped right over it, landing on my side hip, elbow, and knee. Ouch. Bill helped me back up, and I took advil for the swelling. The next morning, my wrist was out of shape, so a friend drove me to the ER at the Sitka hospital.

As a friend reminded me, I do my own stunts!

I got x-rays of my wrist, elbow, and knee, nothing broken, just some bone contusions, and a wrist brace. I got off light this time. 

We've been hanging out in bays around Sitka, getting some medical appointments accomplished. I had my 30 day post op on my eyes with a local optometrist, and Bill has a doctor appointment later in the month. All is well with my eyes, he even gave me some samples of a "near" contact lens for my left eye. When I wear it, it eliminates the need for cheater glasses. That works well with me, since I wore contacts like this for many years, one contact in the right eye for far, and one in the left for near. I feel like I have the best of all worlds now, far sight in both eyes, and when I want, I can put in the one near contact for reading, sewing, etc. 

Redoubt Bay has been a great place to hang out. Behind those falls is one of the largest lakes in Alaska, and the falls shrink and expand as the tide comes and goes. 

A mooring buoy is available for smaller boats with a shallow draft.

Steep steps, and no handrail.

There are steps leading up to the trail to the lake, and a couple of rowboats to explore the lake from. We had some kayakers show up in the bay, and they hauled their kayaks up the steps to check out the lake for the day.

The internet is spotty here, so that's all the upload frustration I can handle for today. 

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

Friday Funny 04-29/2020 (Peeping Through New Eyes)

 

🎶

Peeps are like candy corn, they elicit strong reactions, either you love them or you hate them. I'm in the love them camp, Bill is in the hate them. 

I have one small locker onboard Denali Rose that I stash a selection of treats, M&Ms, trail mix, seaweed, (yuck, but someone eats them), chocolate, Trader Joe's, (please people, stop sending chili garlic nuts), and my peeps. I think Bill was either bored, or keeping me amused from afar, as peeps started to show up on Facebook in various poses. 

Peeps in Washington have fun too. 😁

Peeps peeping through the "cheater" glasses.

Peeps reading about their cousin's vacation cruise.

Funny article about how peeps are the worst Easter candy ever.

The saying goes, "everything on a boat must have at least two uses".

I'd say that having peeps onboard qualifies, look at all of the useful things you can do with them.

Peeps are enjoying the salad, but not as part of it.

Peeps, and wine?

The morning oatmeal, and tea are kept company by the peeps.

These peeps have had a serious mishap at the factory.

Update on the cataract surgery.

I have had both eyes operated on, and have had a one day post op on both. The surgery on the right eye was first, and was a bit anxiety inducing, but I felt better about the second one the next day, since I had experienced the procedure. I didn't even have any medication to reduce nervousness, yay me. I personally feel that not having medication helped in the recovery, since I wasn't fuzzy headed. The post op exams revealed that I am seeing at 20/15 distance, and my near vision is clearing up some, but I may always need cheaters to see or read fine print. That's due to the the toric far-lens I choose to be implanted in place of the cataract. I'm staying here for my one week checkup next week, and then I will fly back to Denali Rose. 

I highly recommend Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute for this procedure. They couldn't have been more kind, caring, efficient, knowledgable, and skilled. They have clinics from Anchorage to the west coast of WA, OR, and CA, to Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico. I went to the one in Bellevue, and no, I didn't get a discount for this post. 

The stylish sunglasses you get from the clinic. 😜 I'm always up for swag.

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