WHERE HAVE I BEEN THE LAST TWO WEEKS?

Well, first of all I was helping my cousin with an upholstery job. 

Then all the mundane things like shopping, cooking and cleaning. 


As soon as I get back to the condo in the fall, I so quickly settle into a dull routine. 




Then I got out my Christmas decorations.  I don't do much in the way of Christmas decor, as I hate to have to put it all away before I head south, and if you have a lot,  it's even worse to come back to in April.  So this is my little Christmas decor effort. 

                                                        

So now that I'm feeling a little more Christmassy, it's time to get my Christmas cards done, and start my Christmas shopping.  Not that I have that much to do.  I only have two grandchildren under 18 now.  Once they are adults they no longer get a Christmas present from Nana & Grampa. 



Then I started to think about heading for Texas.  Making my lists and starting to pack stuff into two big plastic storage crates that we take.   Then ordering enough of our pills for 3 months.  We also took the dog to the vet for all her check ups. 

So, that's what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks.  Dan is out this morning at his annual volunteer Sally Ann Children's Charity, so I decided this was a good time for me to get caught up on my Blog. 

The countdown to Texas is starting.  24 days and counting. 

WINTER HAS ARRIVED.

Well, Winter has arrived for real now.   It started out like this on Friday, which didn't seem so bad.

But by Sunday,  we had a full dump.  That's enough to put me "down in the dumps".  Winter is not exactly my favorite season.  I guess it's age related.  When your young, you go out there and enjoy some winter activities that are available out there.

Our Central Park, pictured here will soon be transformed.  The soccer field will become a skating rink, and the water slide at the far end will become a toboggan slide.  But we are getting too old for that kind of fun.  Who needs a broken hip?

When it finally stopped snowing on Sunday we went to Twyla and Andy's place for a little boater's get together.  As Andy called it "A Picnic Table Get Together" , which we are all suffering a little withdrawal from.  It was a very nice afternoon, visiting with boating friends.

So, now that my winter blahs have set in, I have to really push myself to get moving and do anything.  Even blogging.  I have a couple of sewing chores to complete here, so that will hold my attention for awhile, but it's still far to soon to turn my attention to our journey south to Texas.

I just wish the lull between "Boating Season" and "Texas Vacation" wasn't quite so long.  

NO MORE BOATING UNTIL SPRING

We made a quick trip out to the hangar on Saturday.  We have had to face the fact that the weather is not going to improve enough for us to do our fiber glassing until spring.  So it was time to go out to the boat and pick up a number of items that we use both on the boat and in the trailer.

I have a Sewing Kit, a Craft Kit, a Spice Rack, a First Aid Kit and a Manicure Kit, that all serve double duty, both on the boat and in our Trailer in Texas

While out at the lake we stopped in to visit Gord and Ellie Gowie, who were busy putting up their Christmas lights.

We had a nice visit with them and they said they would see if they could make it down to Texas for a visit this winter.

So that's the  last we will see of the lake area until next spring.  Now we start planning towards our trip to our little trailer home in McAllen Texas.

NO BOAT WORK, THIS WEEKEND

As I look across the street at Central Park all white with snow, there is not that much of it, but it looks very cold.  It makes me kinda glad we decided not to go to the hangar to work on the boat this weekend.

We were hoping for one more work weekend before the weather turned, but we may not get one now.  This cold snap is a little early.  It's rare, but memorable if we get snow that stays, before November 15th.  At least this isn't one of those Colorado lows that can hit us like a ton of bricks.   (or make that snow)

You can tell by Sea-Enna's down in the dumps expression that she would prefer to be at the hangar romping around.  At least at the hangar even when it's cold out she still has a place to romp around, and chase a ball when no one is there.

We were hoping to do some fiber glassing, but it can't be this cold when you mix up fiber glass as it will never set up.

I think Dan is just as happy to stay home and veg out with the TV this weekend as well.  We have been very disappointed, not having the TV, in the boaters lounge, working at the end of the day, on those work weekends.  So,now he'll get a chance to sit around and watch TV.  As for me I have a lot of computer stuff to catch up on, if I can keep myself from getting too frustrated with this new computer of mine.


We definitely have to make one more trip out to the boat, as there are a lot of items, that I have to take off of the boat, to take to Texas with me.  I had better start making a list, so that I wont forget things.  It's mostly shorts and tops and summer cloths that I want to retrieve and of course my spice rack that I use on both the boat and in the trailer.  Oh well, if I forget something I can always buy new down there.

BOAT REPAIRS ARE PROGRESSING

The boat repairs are progressing as planned.  

Old rotten spots have been removed.  

The area has been sealed and and new plywood has been fitted in place.  

It is cold a miserable out, so we might as well spend the weekends getting this stuff done.  I'd ;like to see all the repairs completed to the point that it's ready for paint this fall.     Then we can go on with other things when we get back from Texas in the spring.  

So next weekend we should be able to get on with re-fibre-glassing.  

So, that was our work weekend at the hangar.  

A FALL WORK WEEKEND

We went out to the hangar to work on the boat on Friday.

Here's Dan unloading all the tools he is going to need for this weekend's projects

As I'm sure everyone is aware, it was very cold on Friday.  We have an indoor/outdoor thermometer on board and of course the outside temperature was really the inside of the hangar.  So, it took a long time to get the chill off of the boat.   We finally got it up to kinda room temperature by bed time on Friday, but the bedding was still very cold.

Kevin Scott's boat is right in front of ours and I was surprised to see that he has changed the name on his  boat.  He probably did it some time this summer, but I guess we haven't followed him in or out of the harbour during the summer so I wasn't aware of the change.  Nice choice Kevin.  Much nicer than the old name.

We have a few situations where moisture has gotten under the fiberglass, and into the plywood underneath, so we have to cut out the bad spots and replace and repair them.

It's a matter of cutting it back until you find solid wood and rebuild from there.









Once that is done then it's, seal up where the water was penetrating, then replace the plywood, re fiber glass then repaint.  Oh, well, that's part of owning an old boat.

BACK TO BOATING ON THE HARD

We had a busy week in town getting settled back into our Condo for the fall.  The place was a mess.  Coming into town once a week over the summer sometimes for an overnight, makes for a messy place by the end of the summer.  But, I was awfully glad we were in town when that snow hit.  Boating is no fun in the snow.

So, this weekend we are heading back out to the hangar to start working on this years maintenance projects.  We have some rot to deal with on Starboard Bow walk around and some on the Port Bow walk around.  We will not know how extensive this problem is until we start gouging the damage out.

I was planning to do some more sewing this fall, but Dean made me remove my sewing machine from the hangar, so that will have to wait until spring.