Tuesday 26 July 2011

Mad dogs and englishmen...

Quite an extraordinary thing, it's raining here, and during the day no less!

So we have walked down to the library where there is internet access, for free, air conditioning and secondhand books for sale.

The place is buzzing, all the computer stations(10) are taken. A group of kids are being entertained in one corner with songs. People are browsing the latest editions of the newspapers and periodicals. Amazing for a small provincial library.

...Oh and we are the only people to have walked here! They don't seen to do walking in Georgia! Not that I can blame them it is god awful hot and you daren't rest for long or swarms of bitey anty things get chomping on your ankles. Still we're mad dogs of Brits and always head out in the midday sun.

The exhaust pipe is inhabiting the aft cabin like an overgrown anaconda, tomorrow is the day to attack that little project and I am canning green beans and grape tomatoes. Not at the smae time you understand!

Monday 18 July 2011

Time, Opera and cooking.

Goodness we have been busy this week. Time is passing very rapidly and we really have to get a move on if we are going to get north before the winter sets in...

TBH has finally kicked all the leaks into touch, yeah!! Now we are servicing the windvane steering gear and still have to fix a new exhaust pipe to the engine. The old one has developed a rather nasty leak.

Whilst he is busy with the mechanical and technical side of life I have been preparing for a few weeks with no stores, no Publix, boo hoo. I have been canning meals so that we are not reliant on the refrigerator which is a bit hit and miss these days. Whole chicken breasts, spaghetti bolognaise sauce, chicken curry, pork tenderloin. I have made mango chutney and peach jam. Feeling pretty virtuous I can tell you.

Mary, my new best friend, has been a gem. Driving me to the Farmers Market, letting me take over here washing machine. It even washes with HOT water! We haven't had that experienece for years, everything is looking so clean it's spooky!

During the week Mary and husband Bill took us off to the local cinema where they were showing a HD recording of The New York Metropolitan Opera production of 'La Fille du Regiment'.It was superb...made us a little sad at all the 'cultural' events we have missed since leaving England. Only for a minute or two though!

My job this week is to find some charts of the areas that we are heading towards, challenging stuff here!

Monday 11 July 2011

Counting my blessings.

I must admit to feeling somewhat overwhelmed this week.

It's been a difficult month, my health problems, lots of sailing, an ever growing list of jobs on the boat that need doing. It had got to the point where I woke in a sweat in the early hours worried about every small potential problem that my unconcious mind could imagine...

Then on the YBW forum somebody asked what a morning at anchor was like...

This morning was wonderful, dolphins and calm and muffins and a good cup of Twinings tea. The boat is afloat, we are doing what we dreamt of for years. Aren't we lucky I thought to myself.

Sometimes I just need a good shake to remind me that we are the most fortunate people that I know. By 10am ALL the kids had rung to chat and we were on our way out to catch up with a myriad of tasks.

remind me not to moan again, well at least for a little while!

Tuesday 5 July 2011

The week of the ants.

Well really it's been the week of repairing the damage the ants have caused.

Our aft cabin has been leaking like a sieve. We knew that we had a serious ant problem from the Rio in Guatemala but thought that we had got to the root of the problem. No way. During our trip up to the USA the drips in the aft cabin became steadily worse until it was more like a gush. After many long weeks of attacking the little blighters with every chemical I could legitimately purchase we have finally got down to repairing the damage..

The little sods have chewed holes right through the fibreglass decking, creating a sieve!!! TBH has stripped off the roof lining, dug out all the crap and fibreglassed and epoxied all the damage. Today was the ultimate test. Him lying below decks with a headtorch whilst I poured water over the offending deck area. Yes!...well er no actually. Just one small drip but we will deal with that as soon as the water dries out again.

Amazing that I haven't read about others having this problem and am wondering if it's because we have so much wood on board that they were attracted to us in the first place.

So if you see an ant on your boat beware, the little blighters can cause a lot of damage..