It's Official. We're staying.

Yesterday was a mixed bag. 

The first order of business was family matters.  Pam's daughter, Megan, was stuck in a dead end life in our hometown of Gloversville in upstate New York.   This is an economically depressed area, an old mill town with abandoned factories and a decaying society.  With little opportunity there, if she was going to make a positive change in the course of her life, she needed a change of scenery.  Megan is flying to Savannah and moving in with us.  Us being me, Pam, Ruby, Chevy, and our newly diagnosed asthmatic cat Gertie. 

We've decided to stay put.  Yes... the Navi-Nut (patent pending) is going in storage for a time.  I even contracted with a trucking company to move my Thunderbird here to Savannah.  It's true what they say about cruising... don't do it on a schedule.   It's also true what they say about life... shit happens.

Asthmatic cat?  Yes.  Gertie has been wheezing for quite awhile.  At first, we thought she was merely trying to talk, but Pam (the vet tech) thought that maybe she couldn't breathe.  Pam took Gertie to the vet yesterday and the diagnosis is asthma.  The treatment is a shot every six to twelve weeks.  Sigh.  Ka-ching!

Back to boat projects, I started the process of putting up the paneling that Pam and I bought at Lowes.  This is not too difficult a job on a house, but on a boat it is a real challenge.  Nothing is square.  Many years ago I was a toolmaker, and so I'm pretty good at measuring things.  This, however, was a real challenge, so I decided to make a template to help things.

You can see what I was up against.  I took the template up to the flybridge where the paneling lay.  Keep in mind that I was cutting from the backside of the paneling, and so everything was reversed.

Measure twice, cut once is the old saying.  That's for dirt dwellers.  On a boat, it's measure umpteen times (that's a lot), cut once.  So up and down the ladder I went, measuring and laying out this convoluted cut.  Finally, I decided, it was time.  The sabre saw came out and cuts were made. 

While I was up on the flybridge, I had a great view of the GMN (Great Migration North).  Boats are passing the marina in droves.

Pam came home from shopping and helped me get the panel down into our stateroom.   This was a major task.  Boats aren't like houses.  Even on a boat the size of Drift Away, it's a tight fit to do move anything large from one place to another.  This was no different.

"You should have cut this into smaller sections." Pamela astutely observed.

I'm a guy.  We don't do small.  We like big.  In it went, with some difficulty, and some damage to the panel.  We can hide that ding with a photo or something.

While working on our project, one of the marina's employees came by with the newest addition to his family.  

Can we have a collective Awwwwwww....

The dogs were thrilled about the baby too, with wagging tails and grunts of excitement.  Pit bulls love children.  100 years ago Pit Bulls were called Nanny Dogs because they're so protective and gentle with kids.  It's instinctive to them.



Their tails were wagging with excitement, pounding on the side of the boat, especially Ruby, our female (the dark brown dog on the left).

Even Chevy was thrilled to see the little human. 

I love pit bulls.  They're the complete opposite of what people think they are.  They love people, particularly little ones.

Back to the boat.  Pam and I got the panel in place with some minor damage while getting it down the stairs and around the corners.  It also didn't quite fit, so I had to bring the sabre saw inside to trim a bit.  Finally, I got the panel in place.  I applied some adhesive to the panel and glued it in. 

It's looking pretty good, don't you think?

I'll need to get some molding to finish this off, but overall it's looking OK.  Wallpaper or paint would have been a lot easier though.  My saw blade was dull and shredding the paneling, so I decided to stop at this point until I get a new blade.

It was party-o'clock and C Dock was stirring.  An impromptu pot luck dinner materialized.  Pam made shish kabobs, Dan and Pat brought split pea soup, and Bill and Pattie got sauerkraut and bread. 

Appropriately, Pam wore her "Captain Shitface Party Boat" shirt. 

We always make too much, so we invited a few transients to join in.  If you are ever passing Isle of Hope Marina, be sure to stop.  You'll have a good time, I guarantee.

It was a productive day yesterday.  We worked on a boat project, greeted one of the newest members to the human race who will contribute to my social security, and partied with friends.  Can it get any better than this?  Yeah.  Probably.  I'll work on that.