**Beautiful evening at the Boardwalk. -3rd of July.**

In this past week, we took care of issues that needed to be dealt with on land. -Issues such as dealing with getting 6 months of medication. My insurance is of absolutely no help in this. So, it’s taking some creative problem-solving to make it work.

Speaking of medication, I need to make sure our medical kit is in order & up to date. I just printed out a list of pills -such as antibiotics to ask my doctor to prescribe for those “just in case” situations.

We are still waiting to receive our Federal Documentation paperwork. It’s going to take a bit more work to figure out the most efficient way to contact the USCG & ask them the status of it. I know they cashed our check so I hope they are working on it right at this moment or that it’s in the mail.

I’ve slowly been making progress on the cockpit panels. Hopefully, they will be completely done by the end of next week.

One thing that has been nice is that we are so busy from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep that there’s no time to parade around inside our heads overthinking everything. Could this be marketed as a new alternative to meditating?!

We haven’t been sailing, in like, a month! Which is now feeling like a long time ago! Going to try to go out this week though. It would really suck if we forgot how to sail.

**We just imagine the other numbers on the water level gauge.**

This might interest a bunch of you. One thing I learned this week is that Zephyr’s fur actually keeps him cooler in summer. So glad I’ve never tried it but was thinking it might be a good idea if it gets super hot in Mexico. I just read an article in National Geographic & checked other sources to see if they say the same thing. And yes, even the ASPCA says that cutting fur is a bad idea. I would have never guessed this & apparently the information is widespread! Here are a few excerpts from a few articles:

SPCA:

Hold those clippers!

While you or I would hate to sport multiple layers in 100-degree weather, your pets’ fur coats are actually providing them with heat relief. Acting like insulation, a dog’s coat keeps him from getting too cold in the winter, but also keeps him from overheating in the summer.

Our pets’ coats have several layers that are essential to their comfort in the heat. Robbing your dog or cat of this natural cooling system can lead to discomfort, overheating and other serious dangers like sunburn or skin cancer.

https://www.aspca.org/news/heat-wave-approaching-should-you-shave-your-pet#:~:text=Hold%20those%20clippers!&text=Our%20pets'%20coats%20have%20several,like%20sunburn%20or%20skin%20cancer.

And from National Geographic:

Dogs and cats sweat only through their paws and noses; rabbits and birds don’t sweat at all. Dogs rely on panting as their primary way of cooling down—it allows water to evaporate across their lungs, tongues, and moist surfaces of the mouth. Cats typically groom their fur to keep cool; the saliva evaporates off their fur.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/how-extreme-heat-can-affect-our-pets-and-how-to-help-them?rid=5D3849D4AA6BF181AC0F6DC13AF34AA1&cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Daily_NL_Saturday_Science_20230708

Zephyr on bird, kayak, paddle-board & just things on the water in general, patrol!

Shots from last week: Matt commutes to work, while we are anchored out, each day on his paddle-board.

Another magical thing Matt did was make a whisker pole. Well, okay, he didn’t make it but he might as well have. It was stuck & the line in it didn’t work so he had to spend hours taking it apart, installing a new line & putting it back together. Oh, what is a whisker pole? It depends who you ask.

If you go to thefreedictionary.com, you will find that a whisker pole is:

1.

a. The hair on a man's cheeks and chin.

b. A single hair of a beard or mustache.

2. One of the long stiff tactile bristles or hairs that grow near the mouth and elsewhere on the head of most mammals; a vibrissa.

If you go to merriam-webster.com, you’ll find that a whisker pole is: a light boom with jaws at one end that fit around the mast and a point at the other end that goes through the clew of the jib to wing it out when running before the wind.

I will let you guess which definition fits the type we are dealing with.

Whisker Pole Project in detail.

Our home is getting closer to being ready to open up for rental showings. I repainted over the wall patching in the living room. -I forgot how involved color-washing walls could be.

I also cleaned up bathroom to take some photographs. -Which basically meant getting all the toiletries out of the way.

Both of us are still packing things away. Matt made a gigantic leap in progress! I don’t know if he even has anything personal in the house anymore. Man, I feel slow next to him!

Sparkling bathroom with the new tile countertops.

While it wasn’t a week where we spent much time on MerSea, we have been getting a ton done. -Both for the boat & for our 6 month voyage in a few months. It’s been so great to finally start feeling that our productivity is getting us somewhere!

Thanks for reading! And we’d also like to thank those of you who have purchased some of our merchandise! We make a couple bucks from each sale. And every penny we make goes towards one boat part or another. -Even the screws add up! 😄 See you next week!