IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I hate Winter!!!!! It has snowed again and the decks are once again covered with snow and ice! I should be in the Keys or Abacos or any place where it is hazy, hot and humid, with a Mount Gay and Tonic in hand . . . . but I am not. (Sigh!)

I have hunted up a fireplace for ABISHAG and hope to install it this weekend. Once it is in place and "fired-up," I can go back to living onboard. Of course, this means another hole in the boat, this time in the overhead. Talking to another owner of a CN 39 from Massachusetts, I got some good info on where to locate the fireplace and how to install it so as to make it easily removable. That way, once the need for heat is past, I can take it down and store it until such a time as I need heat again (hopefully never).

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I really want to get back to living on ABISHAG. I am really not comfortable onboard yet. It is still much too much like "camping out" and not like living in "my home." Making the boat my home and becoming comfortable requires, obviously, time spent living aboard. Just getting used to things and creating routines, like wearing a safety harness whenever I am on deck and learning how to maneuver on deck trailing the tether and not getting all hung up and twisted, requires time doing it. I am actually a very routine-oriented person. I am never comfortable, really comfortable and at easy until I am in a routine. It is just not something you can do a day here and a day there at a time.

In addition, I have not become comfortable with where stuff is and how it is stored, and I haven't even got all of it aboard as yet. It sounds a simple thing, but being able to put you hands on what you need when you need it is very important. I spent a whole day trying to find a bungee cord I knew I stored but could find the bloody thing. It is really a silly thing to become angry and aggitated over, but it happens. Unfortunately, I can not afford for such things to happen, especially when I am underway. Clear and unemotional thinking (think Spock) is a major factor in safety. Without clear and unemotional thinking and ecision making, I increase my chances of ending up off the boat . . . and I don't mean standing on the dock either.