Unpacked again

Auana Ke Kai is not the only Island Packet on the block tonight, we have new IP neighbors across the dock from us. We are not sure if they are permanent, or transients that have stopped because of weather. We arrived home this afternoon, in the rain. Not unusual for this time of the year, but it would have been nicer if we had not had two loads of stuff to bring back to the boat. The funny thing is, we only left with one load. And we left things at Rebecca’s in storage. Strange? Well, we did stop at the grocery store, but it still amazed me we had so much.

Silly was pleased to get out of her carrier, but not ecstatic enough about being home, because she jumped off the boat onto the next boat over while we were busy bringing bags below. Obviously something about the accommodations or the service didn’t suit her. She was well behaved this trip, no howling. I guess it was feline resignation to her fate.

After 8 days in Baltimore we stopped in Richmond and stayed two nights. Zachary and Maddie were in fine form. Maddie has gotten even more affectionate and hugs, kisses and laughs at everyone and everything. Zach is trying hard to keep his space from her intrusions, but they actually do very well for a 3 yr old and one 17 months. The yard was in bloom everywhere we looked. Rebecca has potted plants everywhere on the deck, and of course the dogwoods, azaleas, and wisteria and lilac bushes were all in bloom. A riot of color and pollen! Fred and Shadow begged to play Frisbee. Becky and I walked the first afternoon, and the following day DH and I took Zack to see our lot and then on to the park.

Meadow Farm park is near to both Rebecca’s house and our house-to-be; besides the playground, it also had ball and soccer fields, and a museum and farm. We took Zack to see the train cars that I has spotted on our last trip. They have a mail car, baggage car and a passenger car from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac RR. At dinner Zack told his dad all about the car’s he’d seen. I was amazed he remembered what they were. He is at the age he hears, see and repeats everything! There are a few new pictures at Flickr, so enjoy!

A week in Baltimore

The past week DH and I have been in MD, visiting family. We’ve used the time to try on “living in a house”, i.e. enjoying the modern convenience of water that is hot when you turn on the tap, having a bath tub, using a washer and dryer, and DH’s favorite, ice. Yep, our needs are pretty simple, but we are both in total agreement that living ashore is going to be a good thing. Aside from TV cable and Internet access, we’ve also enjoyed not being tied to daytime cell phone limits. Of course traffic, and crowds will be an adjustment, but one we’ll also adjust to. The boat will be missed, but living ashore will really be nice. Maybe we are getting soft, but even if that is so, I don’t think we’ll have too hard a time adjusting. The cat seems estatic with all the room to run around in, and furniture to hid behind. She seems to think going outside is her right though, so keeping her inside may be a challenge

Tonight we celebrated two Root birthdays by going to Outback for dinner with MIL and all her children. The food was excellent, one of the things I really like about Outback, their food and service is consistantly good. Since it was a birthday celebration we even had dessert, so it was a splurge all around!


My SIL is excited because her middle son will be graduating from Marine Boot Camp in NC in two weeks. He has done very well, and they will be traveling down to see the ceremony, and see if they can find their son in the throng of new Marines who will be showing their skills to the their visiting families. I know they are proud of him, and we are all proud of his choice to serve his country.

I worked on Blog buttons this morning, so if you see them, let me know what you think of the button I added to my knitting and house blog. Not really difficult, but then I have never really spent the time with Photoshop Elements that this new skill required. I’ll keep practicing!

We’ll leave in the morning and stop in Richmond to look at the lot again and check for progress. Who knows, maybe we’ll spend the night and look for furniture or attend to some of the other loose ends we still have to finish.

I’ll leave you with a marina picture taken two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how much things have changed in the week we have been gone, maybe Spring will have decided to stay awhile. The weather across the country has certainly been strange this past week!

Crossridge progress

This picture was taken earlier in the week when we stopped in Richmond on our way to Baltimore.
Notice that the trees are turning green, which is a good sign! This truck is working about 1/2 a block away from our lot. In fact, the lot right next door to us is ready for it's foundation. All the spec houses (10) will be started and in progress before ours begins, as the permits for those houses were in place before the lots were released.


We have been busy helping Mary out this week, trying to get things orgainzed. So far, things are going well and we should be able to leave in a few days.

Spring For A Day

AprilWind
Originally uploaded by Joanna Root.

Doesn't this look nice? If you notice, the wind is blowing briskly, see the sea grass bending over? The water is really moving too, though I doubt you could tell this from the picture. What you can see is how high the water is, that's because the North wind blows the water in the inlet that is just visible in the top left of the picture - you can just see the rock jettys there. I took this picture yesterday, and today the wind is almost flat calm. Of course compared to the last 3 days, even 10 mph would seem calm. Unfortuantely, we are forecast to have rain again by the end of the week, and it will get cooler. So Spring seems to be very fickle this year.

Tuesday we leave for Baltimore for a short visit with family, Not sure if I will be able to blog while I am there, so if you don't see anything new, you will know why.

Wind definitely over Speed Limit

Speed-Limit
Originally uploaded by Joanna Root.

The weather men were right in their forecast, our wind is strong, and it is gusty. Our feline barometer says it is unacceptable. The weather combined with her shot at the vet day before yesterday has convinced her that the best thing to do is sleep it all off. She has been out to eat, to inspect dinner and little else. At least the sun is nice, but the wind if fierce, so our wind chill was 34 this morning. Not condusive to any kind of outdoor activity. How hard was the wind blowing you might ask? I think this picture says it all!



I can't say that we have accomplished anything in the last few days. Other than the trip to the base to take Silly to the vet on Thursday we have not been off the boat unless it was necessary. I feel like a hermit. I am ready to come out of hibernation and start walking and enjoying decent temperatures. The next week will be in the 70's, so maybe we will have mild temperatures for a few weeks and Spring won't be compressed to about 3 days and then leap to scorching summer.

Brrrrr

If spring is out there, it isn't anywhere near Virginia. The only clue that it is mid April here today was the mother duck walking down the side deck on our boat looking for a place to lay her eggs. She and daddy duck went next door and checked the next boat and the one two away from us before another mallard came and drove them away. Hopefully they will nest nearby, but not on our boat! Silly came awake from a sound sleep the minute momma duck set her little webbed foot on the deck though, nice to have such a good duck warning alert system.
I finished my fun project for the week. You can see it here It's complete all except for a tie closure and toggle, which I don't have. If I had all my stuff, I'd have one, but alas, the needed items are in Richmond. I'm not sure it really needs to be tied shut, I'll give it a trial run at Yoga tomorrow night and we'll see. It should be easier to get on and off the boat now with the matt slung over my shoulder.

Short Day, Long Night

We had another beautiful day today, but as I write it is raining and we expect more rain and cooler temperatures for the next week. That is, we will be more like normal, as the last two days were above normal. At least the pollen that is plentiful here will be washed away by all the rain.

I took a short trip to town today, went to Joanne’s to see if I could find something to use my coupons on. I think I spent a total of $2.09. I did much better at Wal-Mart and the grocery! Anyhow, pretty routine shopping followed by a quick run into the library to pick up a book I had on hold. I did get to share my knowledge of a long-tail cast on with two of the librarians that are trying to learn to knit. I have tried in the past to drum up some interest there for a group to meet in their room. Maybe we can get something going for the summer. Even with not being here too much longer it would be enjoyable.

We finalized some more questions we had concerning some of our house options, so tomorrow we should be able to get the addendum to the contract finished. We will also have to send them a check for half of what we picked. Our selection deadline is April 15, so we will be well under the wire for finishing. We also got a note today telling us what our address will be! SO if you want to know what it is, you will have to go HERE.

In case you look at the post time and see it is 2:35 am and wonder if it is really that late as I sit here typing, the answer is yes. I decided, as I was planning to work on the blog tonight that I might just as well stay up as I want to watch the funeral for Pope John Paul. So, that's what I am doing, waiting for 3:45 am. I have all day tomorrow to sleep if I need to. We had a very nice memorial mass last night at church (Wednesday night). I had planned to go, then remembered Yoga, and then in the end Yoga was cancelled.

Spring Comes to the Marina

Southall Marina is in it’s last long ugly days of winter. It never looks worse than it does this time of the year and especially at low tide like in this picture. With all of the salt marsh grass dead and even flattened by wind, the scene is bleak. However, there is a good side to this! If one looks carefully at the base of the grass it is turning green! Spring is coming. The pear trees in the parking lot are all in bloom and daffodils and forsythia are everywhere.

Even the ducks and herons are convinced spring is here. The white herons finally came back a few weeks ago. However, even 3 weeks ago the male ducks were courting. In fact, we almost were chosen as a nesting place by one of the females. Eric went outside one morning as momma duck was sitting on the dingy with her head poked down one of the holes in the cover, checking out our accommodations. Luckily she decided we were substandard. You can’t imagine the mess a nest of duck eggs make, not so much then, but once they hatch. We’ve seen firsthand nests on decks, in cockpits and even inside sail covers.
And the final sign of spring – cat stretched out full length in the cockpit, catching rays. No more accurate barometer of the changing season than a happy cat.

We went to Richmond on Monday to pick out house details. I had worried that it might be difficult, but we actually enjoyed the experience. We also went to see Maddie and Zachary and celebrated his 3rd birthday. Tomorrow we’ll do pictures of Play-Dough. A big hit. Maddie was more interested in the plastic vegetables.