Bits and pieces

Busy week. 

Our lease at Van Isle didn’t run out until the end of March but we moved a couple of days early.  We waited until our new heater showed up and then moved up to Cow Bay to do the installation.  At one level I thought I should stay on the dock at Van Isle during the installation because that would have put me within walking distance of the dealer (Philbrooks) who sold me the heater plus my buddy Willie who actually seems to know something about heaters.  Ultimately I decided that I was on my own no matter where we were and the truck was already in Cow Bay so that was the deciding factor.  I needed it in order to run for parts and there was plenty of running for parts involved.  The truck got moved to Cow Bay when Jim and Judy arrived home a day later than they had planned.  They needed a ride home from the airport so rather than drive them home we just gave them the truck.  I expect its been a long time since Jim has driven such a piece of shit vehicle as the famous Exploder Ford but it got them home and they were kind enough not to mention its numerous shortcomings.

We fished our way over from Van Isle to Cow Bay but only one member of the crew actually caught anything.

Marilyn was fishing from the aft deck.  She had already lost one anchovy off her rigging so she took two out with her.  I’m not sure where the furball had to steal it from but by the time I looked out the window he had the frozen minnow on the deck and was licking it vigorously.  When Marilyn turned around and saw what he was doing he promptly picked the fish up and headed around the corner to a more private spot.  Licking just wasn’t doing it for him so he finally figured out that he needed to put a paw on it and chew.  Ten minutes later all that remained was a few scales stuck to the deck.

This thing passed us on the way to Cow Bay and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it.  Its about as butt ugly an example of the boat designer’s art as I can think of.  Take the pimple off the top of it and the reverse sheer might work but all that crap above the cabin just looks stupid.

This one on the other hand has some really nice lines but you have to look past the sprung planks and rotting cabin to see them.  It is slowly disintegrating at the end of the government dock in front of Cow Bay.  While it is still above water it makes a great landmark to aim for as you approach from the east.

There’s big excitement on the government wharf to the east of us.  I’m not sure whether they are just replacing some pilings or whether they are actually adding some new piers.  There seems to be a steady parade of dockside supervisors so maybe I will have to go over there today and do some reconnoitering myself.  On the other hand its absolutely pissing rain so that plan may not come together.

The big project for today is to install the AM/FM radio.  The rain will limit how far I can go on that because I need to open up the flybridge to do the antenna installation but I should be able to get the inside work done.  With no TV onboard having really good radio is very important.  So far we haven’t succumbed to satellite radio but I expect that is in our near future.  We had a little transistor radio that had travelled with us since we lived on the acreage west of the river.  Its case was beyond battered and it was tricky to tune but we were using it up until one of our rough passages.  It survived a few falls but finally leaping off the shelf and diving down the spiral stairs finished it off completely.