The Martians have landed! The Story of Scupper's Beginning.

And his name is Scupper.

We found him at a shelter. When i first saw him he was very quiet and watchful, seemed smart and ready. He was a  little scruffy of a dog, unique amber eyes. I asked to see him out of the cage, but they refused, stating the dog would be featured as " pet of the week"  in the Houston chronicle 9 days from that moment. she went on to inform me he was not up for adoption at the present moment. Naturally, I had to have him. I argued all the rational points to why it was best to adopt out this dog now, rather than wait for some stupid doggy spotlight in the papers. I got a sympathetic but firm sorry, no go.  When that didn't help I demanded, in my most imperial tone, to speak to whomever was in charge. I asked the rather tired looking face if she felt it was right to keep a dog from a loving home? To be the instrument of pain for this poor little sad dog? 9 days in this shelter compared to being home, cuddled up in mom and dads loving arm? Guilt didnt work, outrageous indignation didnt work, tears didn't work, I would have to wait for my little ball of fur. 

Adoption day, the first day scupper was allowed to be adopted out, happened to fall on St Patties day.  Concerned someone would get to him first and break my heart, my husband formed a plan of action that required the work of several intrepid souls :-). Get there early and come in force, just I case we had to brawl it out with someone who also wanted him. My sisters family, Noel, her husband, Erika Lily, their daughter, and Warren their son, all came early with us and stood at the doors to make sure we were the first to get in. Scupper had been moved so it was a little tricky finding him. But in the end we beat out this older couple who came that day to see him, whew! I'd feel bad about it but scupper is my dog, my husband is somewhat luke warm to the idea of a little dog, but he is game.

Below, not quite the home he was expecting.....

The boys bonding...

Sewing group

Started a sewing group over on Cruisers Forum, come check it out :)

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/groups/111-sewing+group.+boat+canvas+projects.html

Spinnaker Flying

An asymmetric spinnaker came with the boat when we bought it. It looks like it was rarely if ever, used by the previous owner. Perfect fit for out boat and came fully rigged with ATN sock. We can set it flying and douse without ever leaving the cockpit once it is raised. Sure make sailing a lot more fun when the wind is blowing 5. For now we fly it off the Genoa halyard. Next time we drop the mast we will install a proper spinnaker halyard.

KAELA OUR LOVABLE POOCH

Kaela, our wonderful dog, passed away last Saturday night. She passed away at 17 years old, in her sleep, after having a stroke. She died at home with Brian and I hugging her. She never seemed in pain or scared, she seemed ready and peaceful.
We love you baby girl.

Link to a little vid I made to remember her by

I fell down the rabbit hole :-)

Well, can't believe how long it's been and how much has happened since our last post. I'll try to catch you up without boring you to death :-).

Summer 2012 Brian and I went land roaming. My doctors said I needed time to heal( I had brain surgery for those just tuning in :-)). So we headed north, camped in the great Wind River mountains of Wyoming, explored the miles and miles of deserted beaches of Lake Superior. We then headed towards the east coast to John Hopkins for some more medical tests. My health was not improving, in fact, I was deteriorating. John Hopkins was able to DX a CSF leak. Cerebral Spinal leaks will cause all sorts off issues. This leak was caused or occurred because of the brain surgery. There are few specialists who have success repairing leaks of this nature. Cedar Sanai in Los Angeles, California specializes in CSF leaks. So off to LA we went. Thankfully, we have a friend who lives 9 miles from Cedars :-). The surgery was major, but it has completely cured me. My poor brain and body have been through the ringer, so lots of Physical therapy to get my strength back.
Through out all this crazy ride, my hubby Brian has been wonderful. It funny how many great times we have had while battling my health issues.
Brian and I are planning to get back to Rain Dog to complete her refit. We will head to the Bahamas for our next sabbatical, hopefully in December-January this year :-)

My POEM

Since getting an ipad, I am unable to respond in the comment section on my own blog!! So I'm posting this so I can talk to my peeps :-)


I have been asked where I found the poem below. I thought the grammar and typos gave it away

but to be clear, I wrote the poem " I Miss The Ocean" :-) thanks so much for the kind words.


It is funny. Well, no not funny, more like surreal. When I am unable to get the words out properly, whether speaking or writing letters on a page, it had always seemed so easy, but now. Sigh.
I am grateful for the kind comments, it tells me more, more than my poem does really. It tells me that my synapses were firing just right and jumped the many hurdles it must jump and navigated around my mess of a brain and somehow it came to rest in the welcoming arms of a coherent thought. And of course we know what's best for conductivity of the brain..
..salt water :-)


Erika and all her aliases
Ocean Girl
Mrs. Rain Dog



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Where U At?

Just a reminder we are blogging at Woop Woop Blog,Woop Woop our landlubber site, until the end of hurricane season.
Cheers,
Erika


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I Miss The Ocean

I miss the ocean
I feel the distance, the earth between
I'm told the mountains will speak to me.
Maybe they will.
Maybe I will hear that beautiful whisper
That beautiful snap crackle
But I miss the ocean

I can't get those fish out of my mind,
I close my eyes and there they are.
The water is a clear green blue
There are three sandbars running parallel out to sea
One just a little deeper then the next
The fish swim between the sandbars like its a highway.
They zoom on by, all going the same direction, together
Beautiful green blue water
Sagrasso seaweed drifting and dancing about
School and schools of these beautiful fish
Silver with black tips on their tails and fins
And big wide eyes
As I move closer, they continue gliding between the sandbar,
marching together
I know it may sound silly, they are just fish, little silver fish
But I am drawn to them
I stop at the edge of their ocean highway
they slow their busy journey and look at me,
each peer at me as they slowly swim by,
It's as If they see ME, know ME.
Silly.
but they look right at me,
all these silvery fish meandering by.
Looking.
I say hello.
My voice quiet and hushed.
I feel silly, standing here on this sandbar
with the sun shining down on me,
the blue green water lapping around my waist.

And I should feel silly
saying hello to a school of fish,
but it seems rude not to
One fish, way far out in the deep jumps out of the water,
Is running from something?
always a bigger fish
I look around but see nothing.
Just the endless march of silver fish
They keep swimming by,
thousands with the same inquisitive eyes
looking
I am drawn to go with them.
I step in closer and they surround me,
I feel like I'm being swept out to sea.




It feels so natural to lose myself.
to lose the land and gain the sea,
so natural.
I look back at my husband
He is sitting on the beach watching me,
he is further that I expected.
My wonderful husband,
Dreamy brown eyes
he should be out here with me
to see the wonderful odd behavior
of me or of the fish, I'm not sure which.
he should be here too.
To be swept out to sea with me,
but he has the dog, she cannot swim in this surf.
I wave at him.
His eyes, even from this distance I can tell they have never left me.
I say goodbye to my friends and slowly make my way to shore, to land,
to my husband and our little dog.

Since then, I just cannot get the fish out of my mind,
I can still see them, they spoke to me,
It was a whisper that reached deep into my soul.
Silly little fish.
Silly little me.
They wanted to remind me where I belong.

It's hard to believe it will be months
till I see my salty friends again, till I see the ocean

I don't belong here, this hard ground,
dusty, no water, no sound.
but maybe that is the point,
something I must learn.. dagnabbit.




God has always sent little creatures to give me messages. Dolphins, a dragonfly, and now these silvery fish. I like his style



And I miss the ocean.

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Ocean Girl ( the boat) is sold

~~OCEAN GIRL~~ Is Sold



I will miss that boat, I think she went to a good home. If the new owner reads this and has any questions, I would be glad to help in any way. oceangirlcd30@yahoo.com

Some leftover issues that may help:
Holding tank, head, and hoses is new, I got the tank from Ronco it is templated from the original version. I have had an odor problem ever since a little six year old boy came aboard and used the head ( don't ask me what he did) if you have odor trouble, check the vent and the pick up tube. I keep the thru hull closed b/c I rigged the vented loop to be able to draw sea water ( I don't trust vented loops!!). On a port tack, if the joker valve dies it may leak into the head. Fair warning :-)

The autopilot works beautifully but was hard wired really weird so I removed it. Once you remount, it's best NOT to store it in the locked(on) position or it may freeze the helm( the belt sticks in position) use the normal edson helm brake. When I bought the boat the autohelm had been sitting for a long time in the locked position it took a good yank to get the belt to get unstuck. I actually removed it the unit always after seeing the wiring set up.

I have the original +1 survey( not including the one I already gave you) you are welcome to them. It may take a while to get them to you, I will not be back in Texas till October.

To fill the water tanks on the port side you fill straight onto tanks, the deck fill hose is original and leaked so I capped it. The starboard tank I cleaned but didn't use or get a chance to work on.

The fill for the fuel tank is seized so I fill straight into tank. I had a friend come over and try to un seize it. As you can see from the crazing he put way to much torque on the fitting, I should of just removed the whole fitting and soaked it in PBblaster or something.

The bowsprit is new. The teak I pick out myself with the help of an expert friend. It came from a 9 foot plank 2 3/4 thick. I replaced all ss with silicon bronze carriage bolts. I kept the extra length on the bowsprit incase you wanted to move the forestay forward to increase J measurement and to relieve some weather helm ( through research you will find some cape dory folks did this and were quite happy with the results). Or you can chop the extra 11 inches off the bowsprit and add a nice anchor roller ( Spartan makes a beautiful one). The plank was already well seasoned and did not need a marine finish, you should only see some minor checking but that us all. A nice washing with murphy's oil soap and salt water is the best for bare teak. No bristles should be used, it digs out the soft grain which is bad, 3M pad or sponge only ( I was a varnish lady for ten years) This bowsprit is strong, you can pick the whole boat up with it!!

I hope this didn't come off preachy. This is your boat now. There are projects I'm very proud of and there are some projects aboard that I'm not so proud of, you can probably spot these by the tell tale duct tape :-) Sorry!



There is more just write me if you'd like, if not that is OK.



Cheers and Godspeed to many adventures aboard your fine yacht.

OCEAN GIRL (the girl)


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Moving Rain Dog and Woop Woop

We have decided to move Rain Dog down to Port Aransas. It is prettier there, cheaper rent, still a good jumping off point for Mexico, Florida, etc.

This winter, after we get back from our landlubbering around the US, we will focus on a boat refit. Brian wants to pull the mast and rebuild the Tangs and chainplates. I want to pull all the thru hulls and rebuild or replace where needed.



Rain Dog passing through Rockport on her way to Port Aransas.





Above, our friend Joe who helped Brian bring Rain Dog to Rockport.




We brought Woop Woop onto the island ( Port Aransas). Her first ferry ride :).




Woop Woop is staying at an RV park just a minute bike ride from the marina :-) and right on the beach.

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Our Blog Link

OUT IN WOOP WOOP

Some pictures I found on my iPad.

I keep loosing sailing pictures, so decided to post as many as I can, as I find em.

Offshore, on a rowdy Gulf of Mexico. This is yacht tigger, my parents old boat.




Below, me in the kayak, out on Clear Lake, Texas.



Sunset in the Atlantic, aboard a Little Harbor Yacht.





Leaving Stewart Florida, aboard Yacht Tigger. We were headed for Texas.




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Nother Blog?

Here is a link to our summer trip blog, so we don't crowd Rain Dogs blog with a bunch of landlubber stuff, which can be quite eye glazing to some sailors ( no offense to the dirt dwellers ) :-)
http://koala26sswoopwoop.blogspot.com/
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Rain Dog

Brian and I decided that we just can't sell Rain Dog, every boat we looked at
fell short to RDs qualities. Plus the thought of starting over on another boat sends me reeling! So Brian and I pinkie swore not to let our eyes wander to other boats. This winter I will restore her interior wood, new cushions, and paint her bilges, and Brian will do a refit of the mast with new tangs and rigging :-) sweet. Now that we have the RV we can start the boats refit without trying to live aboard, this has been one of our biggest obstacles up to date. Wonder why we hadn't thought of an RV before!

I am getting better, slowing, but surely. I'm pretty good in my home setting and familiar places. But new situations do get me stressed, which is crazy to me. I'm a nurse, I used to thrive on new situations, LOVED to learn and see new things. Brian thinks it is just a matter of time and I hope he is right. Recovery is not as painful now, but it seems just as hard. But don't cry for me Argentina! I live a pretty spoiled life with a very loving husband, family all around. Yep, spoiled rotten.

I wish I could post our itinerary for this summer, as soon as I figure out how to transfer the map I will. Probably no trips in Rain Dog except down to Port Aransas. I'm still not seaworthy :-) but hopefully next year I will be, then it's Caribbean for us!








Kaela is doing well, she prefers land life. I think she will be even happier in the bigger RV. Though I think we might have to make a ramp to allow her to get in and out without our assistance.


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Kony 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc&feature=youtube_gdata_player



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Land life

We are in Georgetown, right next to Brian's parents RV and my parents RV is right next to them. It's great to have them all nearby, one big RVing family :-).


Brian and I have decided to go play in the RV for a few months, go see some mountains and streams, and some deserts too( my favorite!). Having said that, full timing in Buttercup is just too small for us so we are buying a big beast of an RV(29 footer) and we will be selling Buttercup ( actually already sold to friends) and selling both, yes both, boats!


I'm a little nervous about being boatless, I don't do well without the ocean nearby. So as soon as we get back from our land cruise we will start shopping for a trimaran. We really love the dragonfly but they are a little out of our price range, but maybe we will luck out and find a used one at a good price. We will stay in the Caribbean for a few years, then if we decide to go big blue water ( southern ocean, pacific) we may go back to a deep draft monohull.





F-31 trimaran, good sailor, may be a bit too race oriented for us.





I also really really like the Searunners trimarans, though they are fixed wings. I hope to find a vented wing around 34 feet, they are beautiful cruising tris.



So will update ya with our latest coordinates and adventure. My health is getting better and better, the sunlight sensitivity and migraines are still an issues but that too is getting better :-). I can't wait to be a sunshine girl again! Brian is wonderful, he keeps me laughing, and hopefully I keep him laughing too.

Cheers,
Erika




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