What the Fog?!
If fireworks happen in the fog & you can't see them, are they really fireworks?
We didn't venture out & anchor last year on the 4th of July so we got pretty gung-ho about doing that this year! Views of fireworks all over the Santa Cruz Bay & maybe even over the whole of the Monterey Bay! Sounds pretty awesome, huh?
It started out as a pretty nice day......I kept commenting that it was one of the clearest days ever on the Monterey Bay! We could see the very tippy, tip of the Monterey Peninsula! That is very rare. There's usually some cloud cover even if it's a pretty sunny day! Plus, the water was super flat. -Which is also extremely rare in Santa Cruz! Another thing was that the Boardwalk wasn't as crowded as it usually it. I'm now sensing a theme here.
Love this lil' guy!
See the fireworks below?! Neither did we! Definitely could hear them though. Our friend, Matthew, came over to watch them. I'm sure he was glad to kayak out to us & get wet to HEAR all sorts of magnificent fireworks. I'm not saying that I'm smarter than all of those people shooting off fireworks last night but I might wait to shoot lights up into the sky when I & others could actually see them. Maybe these fireworks were all expiring?! Zephyr was especially happy! -Barking constantly. Which in turn, made me super ecstatic that I got to blast music in the v-berth with him until 1 am when they seemed to stop. Matt had to bear the same fate, right? -you're asking. Mmmmm.... no. He passed out pretty quickly. I'm scared he might be going deaf! Actually, he was working hard on the boat all day so he was pretty wiped out by 11 pm.
Oh well, maybe next year? Or maybe not. Since getting Zephyr, we haven't really been able to fully enjoy the 4th. But look at him! He's worth it. I hate seeing him so stressed out. I think he thinks he needs to protect us.
Aside from that, there are projects we're trying to get working on & finished before our Channel Islands trip in a few months.
Standing Rigging: We're waiting for our standing rigging to get replaced. Not totally sure if we need it just yet but better to be safe than sorry. Our guy is a little backed up but hopefully he can do the job by the end of the month. Otherwise we might wait on this project. A little afraid of starting it & then having to wait for parts. Since Covid, everything, even in the sailing world is on hold or backorder.
2. Zephyr Boat Potty Trained: Well, he will go potty on the boat. He just doesn't get that he needs to go on the fake grass we have on board for him. He holds it 'til he can't anymore. Last time we anchored out, he waited until we were about 5 minutes from our slip in the harbor to relieve himself. Really? You couldn't wait just a tiny bit longer so I could take you on land & you could go on a proper walk? Okay then.
He's peed on the cockpit cushions & lately on the side deck. He's pooped on Matt's wetsuit, the cockpit cushions & last night on the floor by the nav. table. -At least it's all been easy to clean up. Actually, he did pee on the grass at 2 separate times in the morning. My theory is that he learned from his previous owner that he would get punished if he peed or pooped on grass. It's just not something he ever will do. We are glad that he will relent & do his business eventually. -We don't want him to get an infection. So that is the important thing.
3. Slugs Sewn on Mainsail: I am actually almost done with this. Thank the lord! Our living room is even messier than it usually is right now. It entails all hand sewing. Hand sewing is hard on a Dacron sail. I've only stabbed myself with the huge needle a couple of times though. Definitely going to do a few look overs so that I don't have to do this again.
The mainsail that is taking up the main area in our living room.
4. Figure Out Solar Overload Issue: Matt installed 2 new solar panels which are a bit heartier, smaller & give us 200 watts each. -Giving us a total of 600 watts for the boat. However, right after he set it up, the batteries started to overload. Ugh! There went that happy dance. Something might not be compatible with the solar system & the boat's batteries. So he will have to do some research. -Winging something like this could fry all of our electrical system. I'm not a sailing purist. Going back to days of guessing how deep the water is, no lights on the mast at night, not being able to refrigerate food just doesn't appeal to me. I've read enough literature to know that sailing a few hundred years ago; let alone 100 years ago, wasn't exactly fun. The thought of how boats smelled back then makes me gag a little bit.
5. Table in Cockpit: For the last year I've been obsessed with wanting a table in the cockpit so we can have meals outside on the boat. When I was just about to order one about 4 months ago, all affordable cockpit tables have seemed to cease existing. This is just happening now because I want one. It has nothing to do with COVID or anything else going on in the world right now. So if any of you are thinking, "Oh, that's why I can't get a cockpit table lately.", I'm sorry.
Matt is thinking of making one. He is more than capable of doing this but he has so many other things on his plate right now. I hate adding another thing. However, I don't think the shortage of cockpit tables will stop until he does make one. -Therefore making me know that it is all my fault that this is happening. So when he does this, I'll let you know & you can thank me then.
Cockpit table will be in this general area.
We'll see what gets finished before autumn. Personally, I think we could actually make it to the Channel Islands at this point. Ever time we leave our slip I think, "We have all we need. Let's just keep going!". Oh but there's that pesky thing called work that we have to figure out the logistics of before we leave. Yeah, that's how we roll, leave the real world issues until the last minute! So things fall apart while we're gone for a month? -Except there's that issue of money. Better start getting on that, then, I guess.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the blog, hit the follow & like buttons below. Next week I'm going to go through some sailing terminology for those of you who aren't sailors & so things can make more sense.
