New curtains!!

^Here is a picture of me making curtains :-) or rather my mum making curtains.


^Brian drilled a pilot hole at each end of the dowels for the brass tack that holds the bungee in place.





^the curtains can cover an open or closed port.


or rolled up out of the way for sunlight.


I made curtains this weekend for Rain Dog! Well actually, Mom made the curtains and I assembled the dowels and bungee to complete the project. Mom has attempted on several occasions to teach me the fine art of sewing but I just don't have the fortitude. As soon as she talks of hems and stitches my eyes glaze over, I get grumpy, and develope a rather negative disposition. So in the spirit of peace and good will towards man my mother made the curtains for Rain Dog. Beautiful! The design is simple. A dowel cut to length for the curtain rod. Upholstery tack at each end of the dowel to secure the bungee cord. Once assembled you simply wrap the bungee around the port so the bungee is around the hinges when port is open, or under the hinges when port is closed (see pics, it is hard to explain). No need to mount anything on the boat.



^OPEN PORT



^CLOSED PORT



^FINISHED

LAKE TRAVIS SAILING

Joe (above) took us sailing out on Lake Travis in Austin. I don't have any shots of the actual sailing because I slept most of the time we were under sail (couple of hours!!). It is funny how relaxing sailing is for me, or really, it feels like the first real sleep since the last time I was under sail.Anyways it was a great time, Joe got to try out his new mainsail, Brian got to sail on his old stomping ground aboard his old boat, and I got to sleep like the dead. :-)

Some Pics

Brian did a beautiful job mounting the oil lamp.




A rare picture of the elusive short haired Ocean Girl, few can capture her image on film and live to tell the tale! Yes I am still getting used to the new do.




Beautiful bird. We saw a Black swan (very rare!) but couldn't get it on film.




Groucho fishing at night. Funny thing happened a few weeks ago. Groucho was fishing and right before he pounced on a fat juicy fish a cormorant swam up under water and snatched it right out from under his nose! Hence Groucho's name, he has never recovered from the affront and now has permanent grumpy disposition.





Hey do I hear wedding bells?
To be continued...

Mermaid Picture

Brian hung my mermaid picture. The picture is hinged so we still have access to the shelves. Though we keep it down permanently, the table still folds up neatly for storage.
My mom cross stitched this mermaid during the completion of my parents circumnavigation aboard a Tartan 37 named "Tigger".

Brian bought me flowers again (sigh) he is so sweet.



OK enough of the boring hair stuff back to the boat work. Brian and I have ramped up our departure dates to 18 months!!!

Some project are:
rebuilding all stuffing boxes
canvas dodger with rainfly
new VHF antenna
new head
new foam mattress
cushion covers
rebuild windlass

We are also adding spice racks in the galley, shelves in the storage compartments to add capacity. Pretty much the rest of the to do list can be done along the way. We also need to build up our spares for the engine and rigging. We want to be a bit minimalist, at least start out that way, then see how it goes.

Today Brian and I organized and cleaned Rain Dog, tomorrow we will work on Ocean Girl to get her ready to sell.
Cheers,
Erika

Locks Of Love

What he cut off weighed over a half a pound!! BUT my hair did a funny thing, and it surprised my hairstylist, it started to stand straight up. So we had to rethink the hair cut strategy, out with a bob and in with a pixie (short pixie too). We will tweak it over the next few months because it is rather boyish, but I love it.
Since I cut off all my blond I now have mousy brown hair, so tomorrow is my hair color appointment to blond it up until the summer sun can do it el natural.

Will post a final results picture for all to see :-)

This short hair is perfect for cruising, it dries so fast, reqires very little shampoo, and is easy to style.

Erika

Off with her Head

Actually, it is her hair that is coming off (gulp). Will let you know how it goes (with photos). Alecia, I know you think I am crazy but ever since I discovered Brian loves short hair I have plotted the demise of my long locks.

The big plus is my hair is long enough that I can donate it to Locks of Love!!! This will be the comfort as I am crying myself to sleep tonight...a little girl with cancer can have a pretty blond ocean girl wig.

If anyone wants to cut their hair (and it is longer than 10 inches) LOL can use it!! Here is their link. Locks Of Love

Brian and I took Rain Dog over to my marina (Waterford) to use the free pump out and to haul Ocean Girl's (the girl) stuff to storage. We looked like the Clampetts.


My whirlwind romance with Brian did not allow an official move off of Ocean Girl and on to Rain Dog, I just became a part of Rain Dog and her crew. This Saturday Brian and I cleaned out Ocean Girl of all personal items, it was a bit sad and a bit stressful, but it is finally done. Please don't think that I want to keep her or wish anything else than what I have now, my happiness is complete. After a good cleaning she will go to the broker dock at the marina. What a great boat she was for me, she really kept me sane and grounded, and was a great friend.




A northern blew in last night, Brian had to coax Kaela to go for her morning walk. Yes I bought her a sweater, much to Brian's chagrin.

West Texas Road Trip

We wanted to take the boat for a nice 4day trip but a northern hit (drat!). Not feeling like freezing our butts off we deemed a road trip was in order.









Leaky Texas..Beautiful!





Brian and I smooching (as usual) around a camp fire.



Brian and I hiking out in west Texas...fun.





..and we took a break for a little smooching :)


Dang Texas is perty!

Christmas Boat Parade party

Clear Lake was packed with party goers. The VHF was abuzz with securite and calls for tows. We were very glad we stayed land side for the parade. We also overheard a call to the CG about a fast moving 70 foot powerboat slamming into boats as it used its bow thrusters to "slalom" around the other vessels....crazy!


Some friends from my hospital came by the enjoy the parade. It was cold and windy!! Actually it was kinda funny, the weather was pretty quiet and benign until right at the start of the parade, then the wind shifted from the south to the north and ramped up to 30 knot gusts, seems to happen every year. The Lake is already very shallow at an average of 6 ft, when the north wind starts blowing all the water out.. well let's just say it makes for a lot of aground vessels.

Brian, reading Beth Leonard's book The Voyagers Handbook.

Harvest Moon Video

Harvest Moon Video
Here is a video at the start of the Harvest Moon race aboard Rain Dog. Winds were very light at first but it got rough and rowdy that night. The crew for the harvest moon was Jack, Joe, Brian and I (Erika).The start was really cool with about 200 boats at our stern, hellicopters flying overhead, and the Coast Guard out in force.

Wood project

She is a 1989 Pacific Seacraft Crealock 34, very well built and beautiful. Brian (sigh.. he is such a dream boat) anyways, Brian bought her about 2 years ago. She was a dream to sail offshore during the Harvest Moon race. She (rain dog)loved the ugly weather and I never had a moment of fear for my safety. Brian really sailed the heck outta her, that man is quite a sailor!


I want to restore all the wood on RD inside and out (it is in need of queen varnisha!)The interior is good but all bare teak, I'd like to tung oil it and put a couple coats of varnish on. The exterior is is very bad shape, the previous owner used some kind of metal brush on it cause the soft grain is all but gone. I thought I'd start small at first so I'm restoring the chopping block trash can cover. We decided that we will turn the once trash can and cavernous space underneath into a storage for dry goods, the snacks will be in the "trash" rubber bin for easy access.



Our trash can is in the galley, we both hate this arrangement. There is a Rubbermaid trash can that fits in the cut out and hangs in place.










After cleaning and sanding the wood the laminent was a bit weak. So I used GFlex west systems to fill the gaps and clamped it all down, it is now nice and tight :-).I have it curing next to a dehumidifier.

RAIN DOG..A LOVE STORY

:-)