SHIP'S LOG:
One of the things that happens now that I have "swallowed the anchor," I have the opportunity to consolidate all of my remaining stuff. When I first got set to head south down the ICW, I made it a point of unloading as much of my personal stuff as I could. I got rid of a lot of clothes, all of my books and other odds and ends. I simplified my life by getting rid of lots of possessions. . . .or at least I thought I had. Turns out that I still had an awful lot! And it had become necessary to do a further unloading.
The places that I had stored my things have become unusable for storage and the simple truth was that I rally had little in the way of storage in my new digs. Indeed, I would be hard pressed to much more than a few items in the apartment. It became necessary to rent a storage unit. That was easy, but the tougher part was to get my stuff stashed!
Part of my stuff was on the 3rd floor of a rectory and it required that I not just pack it up, but that I get it down the stairs and into my car. It took two days. The first day was spent going through all the stuff and deciding what to take and what to trash. I found out during the first time I did this, that one has to be ruthless in throwing stuff away. I filled bags and bags with papers, files and nicknacks that I had collected over the years. It is a tough thing to do as I first saved all the stuff for it was "important" to me at the time I set it aside but as a friend once said, if you haven't worn it, used it or were aware you had it for over two years, then it was like you didn't have it. That made it easier but still not easy, which is why the "sorting" process took a whole day. Truth be told, I know that even the stuff I sorted to be saved and eventually packed up and stored in my rented "cube," I am going to have to go through again and trash lots of it. It is sort of refining process and there is more "refining " to do.
After I finished the sorting, I packed it the next day and hauled it down the triple set of stairs and got it into my car. The storage in in Gales Ferry and it was actually easier to get it into storage than to get it to the place of storage. And that was just the stuff from one place. All of the boat stuff that goes on the boat in the spring and off the boat in the fall has to go there as well. That will be done this week once the weather begins to cooperate again. I'll have to do the same save /trash process though it should be a lot more simple as the boat stuff is already "refined" and is all immediately usable, even necessary. But there will still be packing and hauling, up stairs this time, that needs doing, but I have a place for it all to go.
Once those two places are taken care of, I will still have an item or two that I will need to gather up for storage. It is really a pain in the but but it will be good at last to gather it all together. Ah, the fun of boat ownership!!!!!
Monday, January 12, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
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!
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!
Monday, December 8, 2014
I Have Become, In The Parlance of Sailors, a "Dirt Dweller!"
SHIP'S BLOG:
Well, not really. But it is true that I have a place to call my "own" and will no longer be homeless during the winter months. I now have a studio apartment in the Crocker House in downtown New London about two blocks up State Street from the train station. It has a little more space than ABISHAG but actually probably not all that much, just arranged differently. One thing it does have is heat and for an old fart like m that is a welcome winter pleasure. And unless something changes radically, like Publishers Clearing House finally finds me, this will be my home. It is basically "just down the road" from TYC and so far, it seems "ideal."
One thing I have noticed is that there is a "lot' more noise living in an apartment than living on a boat. It is an old building, having been erected in 1873 and though it was renovated in the recent past, they didn't really get into "sound insulation." It has very nice hardwood floors which though beautiful, make wonderful sounding boards for the transmission of noise down to 10 decibels which is about the level of sound made by someone folding a paper towel. But I will adjust and get use to it.
I have to head off to the TVCCA, an organization that helps "us" poor and elderly with rent and heat and food and the like. A few extra bucks here and there will do very nicely.
I have to "decorate" the place. I got a bed, a big step as sleeping on the floor would have been a drag. I also purchased a set of folding tray tables and a rack to hold them when not in use, a folding wooden chair, a TV, and a host of domestic products like toilet paper, pare towels, knives, forks and spoons, coffee mugs, plates, tea pot and fry pan,sheet, a trash can, etc, etc, etc. It is amazing what you have to get when you don't have anything(shower curtain and soap!). But when I think back, it took a good two years to outfit ABISHAG and I am in no rush. My sisters will be by buy in a day or so to see what they can help out with from their storage units. But no too much as I don't need a lot and don't have a lot of room anyhow. But the truth is, I have "swallowed the anchor!"
Well, not really. But it is true that I have a place to call my "own" and will no longer be homeless during the winter months. I now have a studio apartment in the Crocker House in downtown New London about two blocks up State Street from the train station. It has a little more space than ABISHAG but actually probably not all that much, just arranged differently. One thing it does have is heat and for an old fart like m that is a welcome winter pleasure. And unless something changes radically, like Publishers Clearing House finally finds me, this will be my home. It is basically "just down the road" from TYC and so far, it seems "ideal."
One thing I have noticed is that there is a "lot' more noise living in an apartment than living on a boat. It is an old building, having been erected in 1873 and though it was renovated in the recent past, they didn't really get into "sound insulation." It has very nice hardwood floors which though beautiful, make wonderful sounding boards for the transmission of noise down to 10 decibels which is about the level of sound made by someone folding a paper towel. But I will adjust and get use to it.
I have to head off to the TVCCA, an organization that helps "us" poor and elderly with rent and heat and food and the like. A few extra bucks here and there will do very nicely.
I have to "decorate" the place. I got a bed, a big step as sleeping on the floor would have been a drag. I also purchased a set of folding tray tables and a rack to hold them when not in use, a folding wooden chair, a TV, and a host of domestic products like toilet paper, pare towels, knives, forks and spoons, coffee mugs, plates, tea pot and fry pan,sheet, a trash can, etc, etc, etc. It is amazing what you have to get when you don't have anything(shower curtain and soap!). But when I think back, it took a good two years to outfit ABISHAG and I am in no rush. My sisters will be by buy in a day or so to see what they can help out with from their storage units. But no too much as I don't need a lot and don't have a lot of room anyhow. But the truth is, I have "swallowed the anchor!"
Friday, November 21, 2014
Housing
SHIP'S LOG:
Well, I heard from the Norwich Housing Authority and they have decided that I am poor enough and old enough to qualify for elderly housing. They handled it with greater rapidity that the Coast Guard did with the license procedure. My application was accepted and now I simply ave to wait for a spot. On the Federal list I am #106 and on the City list I am #108. That's an awful lot of blue-hairs who have to peg out before I get a spot. Sadly, I don't think that it will be all that great a wait. This winter is forecast to be nasty, very cold and we "old folk" don't handle the winter weather all that well. as for right now I have a nice spot with some very nice people and I'll just see hat the winter brings.
Well, I heard from the Norwich Housing Authority and they have decided that I am poor enough and old enough to qualify for elderly housing. They handled it with greater rapidity that the Coast Guard did with the license procedure. My application was accepted and now I simply ave to wait for a spot. On the Federal list I am #106 and on the City list I am #108. That's an awful lot of blue-hairs who have to peg out before I get a spot. Sadly, I don't think that it will be all that great a wait. This winter is forecast to be nasty, very cold and we "old folk" don't handle the winter weather all that well. as for right now I have a nice spot with some very nice people and I'll just see hat the winter brings.
Monday, November 10, 2014
NotMuch To Say. I'm Too Depressed!
SHIP'S LOG:
SIGH! There is only one boat left floating in the mooring field and it is leaving tomorrow. Then the field will be empty and the sailing season is really and truly over. I am depressed. The only thing left to do now is winterize ABISHAG and hope that the Norwich Housing Authority quickly reaches the decision that I am poor enough and old enough to qualify for elderly housing. they do everything by snail-mail. They hate phone calls and emails. Every day is a trek to the mailbox in Groton to check and see if they have sent me a letter of acceptance.
In the mean time the weather continues to become more like the fall, perhaps even early onset winter. And I hate winter. My current locus will have to be vacated on the 17th but the next residence is already set up and that will be the last until Norwich comes through. Or doesn't. SIGH!
SIGH! There is only one boat left floating in the mooring field and it is leaving tomorrow. Then the field will be empty and the sailing season is really and truly over. I am depressed. The only thing left to do now is winterize ABISHAG and hope that the Norwich Housing Authority quickly reaches the decision that I am poor enough and old enough to qualify for elderly housing. they do everything by snail-mail. They hate phone calls and emails. Every day is a trek to the mailbox in Groton to check and see if they have sent me a letter of acceptance.
In the mean time the weather continues to become more like the fall, perhaps even early onset winter. And I hate winter. My current locus will have to be vacated on the 17th but the next residence is already set up and that will be the last until Norwich comes through. Or doesn't. SIGH!
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Wind, Wind Wind WWWWINNDDD
SHIP'S LOG
For the third weekend in a row, we have got wind! With the exception of last Saturday, when we had a wedding at the club, the last three weekends have been small craft warning and gale force winds. When Jim Avery bails out of the last two Sunday Chowder Series Races because there is too much wind and it wouldn't be safe to race, that is too much wind.
Right now I am watching a gull trying to make headway against the wind and it is basically flying in place. Eventually it will simply tire, land and walk to wherever it wants to go.
There are still 10 boats out in the mooring field and they are getting battered. One of 17ft skiffs has filled with water and is heeling to starboard. The only thing keeping it afloat are the fenders on the starboard side, The rail is under as the gas tank has floated out of the boat, attached only by the 6 foot fuel line. Like I said, it probably won't sink but it may turn turtle - flip over - and then we'll find out how tight the engine bolts were tightened, securing the engine to the transom of the boat.
The wind is averaging 35 and the gusts are in the mid- 40's, and that's MPH not knots! I'm at the club basically to keep anyone from trying to get out to their boat. It simply ain't worth it.
For the third weekend in a row, we have got wind! With the exception of last Saturday, when we had a wedding at the club, the last three weekends have been small craft warning and gale force winds. When Jim Avery bails out of the last two Sunday Chowder Series Races because there is too much wind and it wouldn't be safe to race, that is too much wind.
Right now I am watching a gull trying to make headway against the wind and it is basically flying in place. Eventually it will simply tire, land and walk to wherever it wants to go.
There are still 10 boats out in the mooring field and they are getting battered. One of 17ft skiffs has filled with water and is heeling to starboard. The only thing keeping it afloat are the fenders on the starboard side, The rail is under as the gas tank has floated out of the boat, attached only by the 6 foot fuel line. Like I said, it probably won't sink but it may turn turtle - flip over - and then we'll find out how tight the engine bolts were tightened, securing the engine to the transom of the boat.
The wind is averaging 35 and the gusts are in the mid- 40's, and that's MPH not knots! I'm at the club basically to keep anyone from trying to get out to their boat. It simply ain't worth it.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
First Frost!
SHIP'S LOG:
When I went out to my car yesterday, what I took for dew was frost. I knew that it was going to be cold but all the weather reports said that we down here on the coast would be spare the frost. Well, NOAA strikes again. If I had been able to unload the condo say back in May, I'd be somewhere in North Carolina by now battling the mosquitoes and the green face flies. But such was not the case. Well, there is always next year.
I had to go to Yankee Boatyard Saturday to get some items of ABISHAG, She is still in the river and the yard crew is really busy. A large number of boats showed since Columbus Day weekend and more are certainly coming. The I am hoping that ABISHAG will get hauled soon so that I can begin the process of winterizing her. I won't do the complete strip out as I did last year but there is still enough stuff that must go that makes the process truly work. And as I get older, the work is becoming more like WORK!
I haven't heard anything yet from the Housing Authority though it is probably too soon. That multi-paged application I filled out is filled with all sorts of items that have to be crosschecked and verified so that they can be sure that I am old enough and poor enough. I am foolishly hopeful that I will have spot by the end of the month. Bouncing around from place to place is a fine thing when you are doing it on a boat, but such a nomadic life is a lot less fun on dry land. But this too will pass.
When I went out to my car yesterday, what I took for dew was frost. I knew that it was going to be cold but all the weather reports said that we down here on the coast would be spare the frost. Well, NOAA strikes again. If I had been able to unload the condo say back in May, I'd be somewhere in North Carolina by now battling the mosquitoes and the green face flies. But such was not the case. Well, there is always next year.
I had to go to Yankee Boatyard Saturday to get some items of ABISHAG, She is still in the river and the yard crew is really busy. A large number of boats showed since Columbus Day weekend and more are certainly coming. The I am hoping that ABISHAG will get hauled soon so that I can begin the process of winterizing her. I won't do the complete strip out as I did last year but there is still enough stuff that must go that makes the process truly work. And as I get older, the work is becoming more like WORK!
I haven't heard anything yet from the Housing Authority though it is probably too soon. That multi-paged application I filled out is filled with all sorts of items that have to be crosschecked and verified so that they can be sure that I am old enough and poor enough. I am foolishly hopeful that I will have spot by the end of the month. Bouncing around from place to place is a fine thing when you are doing it on a boat, but such a nomadic life is a lot less fun on dry land. But this too will pass.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
