End Of The Year

SHIP'S LOG:

     It has been a very busy month, not anything great but just a lot of busy stuff. Trying to get used to "dirt living" takes more work than you might think, though it is probably equivalent to getting used to living aboard a boat.

     My possessions are slowly accumulating, though many are duplicates of items I already have. Those other items are on the boat (actually in winter storage) and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to cart them here and then cart them back to the boat, knowing that eventually and probably quite regularly, I will have things in one place that I need in the other. I have two vacuums now, one for the apartment and one for ABISHAG. However, the one aboard ABISHAG is a wet-dry shop vac and the apartment one is an apartment one. I now have a microwave in the apartment( thanks Mike & Sue). I used to have one on the boat but it didn't long survive the marine environment and ceased to work and got trashed during the spring. Whereas all of the furniture aboard in basically built in place, the apartment came with nothing but a stove, a sink, a refrigerator, a toilet and a shower and 350 square of empty space. Obviously, I wasn't going to haul any of those items to the apartment as 1.) I didn't need them, 2.) getting them out of the boat would have been a major undertaking, 3.) hauling them in my car would have been bloody impossible, and 4.) who the hell wants to lug them up three flights of stairs?

     Now I have a real bed as opposed to a berth. I have a bookcase module, which began empty but is slowly filling up with stuff. I have a chaze lounge which sort of fills the roll of a recliner in which I can sit watching TV. And yes, I have a TV now. People used to wonder how I survived without one all these years. Actually, it is easy as there is an amazing amount of crap on TV, no matter what service you get, that doesn't bare watching. As long as I can get the news and Red Sox Baseball, all is right with the world.

     Perhaps the best part of "swallowing the anchor" is that I have a base. I still do some living on ABISHAG during the summer, the days of rocking & rolling during a Nor'easter are a thing of the past. Fixating on the "Marine Weather Forecasts" will be a thing of the past. I doesn't mean I won't check daily, it just means I won't check several times a day. but  In addition, I no longer have to worry about where I will be living once ABISHAG gets hauled in October. I've got my spot, a small spot true , but I've got it.

     It is only New Year's Eve and I am already thinking and planning for the spring and getting ABISHAG ready for another season. I hope that someone decides to buy her over the winter but if not, I'll just keep sailing her. She is a great boat but she is more than I need now as long distance cruising is no longer something I intend to do. Day cruises and weekends, all of it local is what I will be into. Florida and Bermuda are no longer on the radar. . . unless it is on someone else's boat.

Have a great and Happy New Year's and a wonder 2015!