Boats and 100 degee weather

Yesterday started out kind of slow. I have been wanting to get out to the Venture and  fool around but life happens. I finally decided damned the temps full speed ahead! Mostly it  has been moving things around.We have  been using the boat to store some stuff in light of all the drama that was happening. Since I'm stuck here, with a house I can't sell, for a while any way, the decision has been made, as painful as it is, to move the stuff back inside and stick it in a corner some where and get back to what's important to me! If I can't sell this place for a while I'm darned sure going to get this boat ready and take it ANY PLACE that will sustain sailing even if it is Lake Texhoma or one of the area lakes  for the duration!

Having said that! Well it was  still a good day. I got outside and in the boat. I started out right after sunset. When I finally looked at the clock, it was about 82 degrees F according to weatherbug at 3:16 AM. . The good thing about the houses immediately around me being empty is the misc noises I make fooling around late at night are not a problem as if my neighbors were really close. Now I can't exactly start up a drill or a power saw but  little noises like dropping a hammer or climbing in and out of the boat are not going to give any one a sleepless night.  Not having to worry about my trouble light shining into any ones bedroom window makes it nice. It's how I plan to beat the heat for the not so noisy parts any way.

Tried to  pull the chain plates off. It's not happening with only one person. Have to have someone man a screw driver on  the out side while I pull off nuts on the inside. Did get the measurements for backing plates. I figure to get some  3: x 3/16 inch .  I'm figuring 6 feet should be enough to get that part done. Throw another 2 ft of 1/4 inch for new chain plates and I should be good. Am going to get new  bolts, nuts etc so all the metals match . That and some bytal tape (spelling) and I'm good to go.  I have been toying with how to do this. The voc tech school here has a class that operates a hug computer operated  metal cutting machine . You see where that is going, right? Have to wait til it opens but what the heck I'm here any way may as well make the best of it. If that don't work I'll get the Dremel out and do it my self. I looked up sources for the metal . WOW can you say EXPENSIVE! If any one has a source for 316 Stainless  3/ 16"  x 2" or 3/ 16 x 4",at a decent price PLEASE post it or send me an email!

Have been playing around with the idea of going ahead and saving up for the solar panel to get the wiring started, Have to get a wiring plan figured out.  Its only a 22 ft boat so I'm figuring rough eye balling it , the longest run I should have is maybe 16 ft, not counting mast of course. I've got enough block to raise this gal up and drop the keel, so that is on the agenda s a definite.

Where is all this going?
The baby boy has LEFT THE BUILDING! Now that the set back is almost over, once again I am free at last! Momma's days of being Momma on a full time in house basis are OVER! We had a minor setback this last three weeks but things are getting back on track! I honestly cannot decide who this pushing your fledgling out of the nest is harder on. Yeah, at 28, since the medical issues are resolved, its time for him to be on his own. NO DOUBT about that.

What I do not get is why, once they are  "on their own",  when your child steps into the "goo" and ask for your help, do they seem to think that this willingness to help them sort it out, as in think it through to THEM finding a conclusion and or solution THEY CAN DO,  means in THEIR OPINION, you and your assets are on call 24/ 7 all of a sudden, as if they were three again? OK, I get that it takes time for them to adjust to a new life of living on their own.. That's just a case of they have to get experience and there is only one way to get that. What I do not understand is why it suddenly becomes (in their opinion) your crisis?  Can you say OY!
Parents teach your children  how to plan! Make sure they have coping skills for really bad days! Teach them that THEIR LACK OF PLANNING IS NOT YOUR CRISIS! My son understands what caused the problem. He was taught the skills to cope with adversity. Some things only come with getting knocked down and pulling your self back up. This was one of those. Time will tell how long it takes for all that stuff  we tell our children that they  did not want to hear takes root and gets solid. The good news is at 28 he only has about a year and a half before that second coming of age that seems to kick in at 30 starts to take effect.

 The good news is he has a really good distraction so now mother won't be the single most important women in his life. He found Ms. Right! I got to spend sometime getting to know her.  She is a trooper! She will definitely do to ride the river with . She in not a wimp by any means.  We have been talking about what I'm planing on doing with my life . At first all kinds of bad experiences were really making her anti boats. Now you KNOW that aint going to work very long around me, right? We had some talks .She seems to be slowly coming around,. Last night she informed me that being afraid of boats, sailing etc over what happened in her childhood was not sometime she was going to allow to continue,. The girl has MOXY There are very few things that make me want to climb up into someones face but, oh by howdy! I'll not go into the details as it is not my story to tell, but I would so love to keel haul or at least,put a extraordinarily large knot on someones head after hearing  about the DUMB STUNT that some  so called adults played on some children!.
The GREAT news is  this gal is the one that has him inspired to do all that stuff men are supposed to do. Who would have thunk it! LOL
 I must have done sometime right. My other son informs me he also has started a relationship with his Ms. Right. She also sounds like a trooper and a basically well grounded gal.  RELIEF!  Who knows maybe grand children are on the horizon? Time will tell.

well I guess that's it for now. Think I'm going to go get my tools out and ready for later when the sun goes down. I have  some hardware to pull off a boat.

Sail safe but sail!
 

Food: Homemade yogurt from powder milk

Off and  I keep having this recognition that trying some of the things I see that make living on board easier is a definite thing I want to get so done before I'm on board.  So far I have  powdered eggs  and made dried powdered fruit. The dehydrator is going with me! Sooner or later I am going to HAVE to pull into marina and I may as well use that time to hit the frozen section and throw some fruit, eggs etc  in the dryer.  This week  I added another "done" to my to do list in this area. Saw a recipe on boat galley a while back about making yogurt in a thermos from powder milk. Decided to try it. As things go the local walmart actually started carrying the brand mentioned on boat galley so I decided to try a small can.  Had to make some adjustments since my thermos hold a little over 4 cups but will see what happens to it.

I think I messed it up right off since I over filled the thermos and large chunks of the yogurt  fell out as I poured some of the mixture out. I put in a couple more of spoons of yogurt  and shook  it up really well, so we will see what  happens.  Capped the thermos about 3: 30 AM  so it should be ready to test by morning. The dogs LOVED the extra mixture so at least it did not go to waste. Plan on making a quart of this new powder milk up for drinking. Maybe since it is whole milk  it won't taste as bad as the low fat stuff does.

As things go the local store has actually started carrying REAL yogurt that does not have any thing but cultured milk in it made by Dannon. What a nice surprise. I about flipped when I saw that.  I tried Carol's idea of putting some dried fruit that I had ground to a powder and put some agave sweetener in it. Not bad, Its different then the regular store bought stuff but that is OK. I have to figure out how to get a regular supply of calcium on board. All those years of the doctors saying avoid dairy and all it was was commerce cows milk  and commercial cow cheese, I really have a problem with. Is it any wonder I don't like doctors?
Speaking of the alleged "medical profession", where there are no doctors. IS FREE in PDF form if any one is interested. Thanks Andrew! The whole series is available.

Have been trying different NOT artificial sweeteners,. A while back I bought a book on how the RIGHT kind of sugars, mostly found in food we used to eat every day as a general part of  the not so modern American diet,  have a positive effect on your health. noticed when I use  xylitol instead of the standard commercial store bought stuff I don't crave coco-cola as much. Got some agave this week. Its actually pretty good. We all tried just a bit and we all like it.  It taste GREAT mixed with real yogurt with dried berries and hot or iced tea.


House is very close to being ready. Got son's bedroom painted as well as a LOT of his bath room finished as far as texturing and the first coat of paint done. The boards for trim are supposed to be delivered tomorrow after noon.  This weekend is about trim board being cut, sanded stained and poly'ed. Hopefully we get most of it done .

Monday they have a big whoopdedoo in a neighboring town so the guys  are wanting to go see the fire works.  Planning on taking the makings for a picnic. Mainly that is survival. The concessions make a killing at these events and I'm not planning on breaking the bank just to eat pre cooked food. If my home made yogurt turns out OK I might just put the fixings in a thermos and take it with me for a snack.

Got a BUNCH Of the stuff that was on the porch put in the trash! Thought about having a yard sale. Decided my priorities are GET RID OF IT more them fool with having a sale. The good news is posting a curb alert on craigslist go rid of a LOT really fast. As I get stuff sorted and put out I'm posting the curb alert and what is left when I'm ready to go can hit the good will.

Carols site Boat galley has a thing where you can pull pages off in PDF format. That makes it nice.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking to get the rudder assembled sometime this week.

Almost forgot we finally found out what the real problem with the car is. Turns out the  prom chip is messing up. It finally showed up when my son read the codes this last time, It's funny that it never showed up before, . Finally found one a lot cheaper the what the dealer quoted ( 100.00 plus tax) so that is on its way. It will be SOO NICE to be able to stop worrying about  the darned car. One down one to go.

Van lights are still giving us fits. Tried an experiment and it is improved but still the four ways and turn signals don't work. The good news is we THINK we have isolated the second part of  the problem.   It looks like we have a short in the front  head light assembly.  This is fixable..  Who knows maybe we will actually get to take the boat out to the lake this next  month.

Well that's about it for now. I'll let you know how the yogurt comes out.
Smooth seas and fair winds.
Sail safe.