Queen Sheba

Every good Captain should have a mascot and "The Promise" Has Queen Sheba. Sheba is going on thirteen years old and since she was a four week old kitten she has lived on the sail boat "promise".

When sailing she loves to roam the decks looking for a sunny spot to take in the sun.

                  




                        She loves the birds eye view when sailing....

                              or maybe it's the cat's eye view








It's nap time...again!!

She is the queen.... she used to tolerate  me...but now she will come and sit on my lap. But she will ask permission first. Look me right in the eye and give a big ol MEOW..I say yes come on....and she get's herself situated for another nap.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                        





                                                                                                           

10 days later...

Today is the tenth day aboard sail boat "Promise" and I am thoroughly enjoying the beauty and splendor of these islands. We have been "hanging on the hook" in Dungeness Bay for the past 24 hours. My favorite and most beautiful spot so far. It's a  National Wildlife Refuge with the world's longest natural sand spit that softens the rough sea waves and forms a quite bay and harbor. I got up this morning at 5:00 AM to hopefully get a few good sunrise pictures.

But along with the good a few.... minor mishaps...have occurred. But to be fair to the Captain I guess I really should admit that leaving a propane burner on...without flame...is a tad bit more than minor. He then proceeded to give me a lesson regarding boats...propane...and fire. I still say I didn't do it...but since there's only the two of us on board, he choose me. But in all fairness to me I do have a very good excuse for all the minor mishaps that have been occurring these past 10 days. I have told him several times that this boat is haunted. Ghosts that push buttons that shouldn't be pushed... move my things about so they are constantly in the Captains way...remove batteries from his air mattress/bed. Yes it's true. When he went to put more air in his bed the pump wouldn't work and inspection revealed there were only three batteries. When he had aired it up 3 weeks previously he had installed the four needed batteries. Ghosts I say!!

New weight loss plan

Saturday June 17, 2011 ...Two Miles off the island of San Juan just hanging on the hook...that's sailboat talk for anchored. Yesterday we moored for the afternoon in Friday Harbor, the largest city in the islands. It's an enchanting little town with a mix of old and new establishments.

Kneeling required to get in refrigerator

The Captain told me that boat life  is hard...not like my previous traveling adventures in a 36 foot, self contained motor home. In fact he guaranteed me I would loose ten pounds over the next two months. I was a bit skeptic...but after almost a week aboard I now realize why he sounded so confident when he said it

stairs up to door..door height approx 3 ft

After being aboard the Promise almost a week I really wonder if I can make it two months. I'm really not a wimp or anything but after 5 full days aboard I'm absolutely sure I will be loosing a pound a day and I'm wondering this morning how can a 90 pound weakling be of any assistance what-so-ever.

This is the shower...The opening to the shower hits me mid-thigh.
I'm not short but I  have very short legs for my height..can be a little ticklish....just sayin!!

My herbs that I started from seeds at home are doing amazing!!

Through the porthole!!

Tuesday June 14, 2011  Port Angles, Washington

Boarded sailboat "promise" about 10:00 PM Sunday evening.
             "Looking through the porthole"







After hearing about the "adventure" (if that's what it's called) the guys had on their 36 hour ocean voyage I am extremely glad Warren talked me out of going on that part of the trip...and I realized what I learn in the next two months will determine if I will be a help or a hindrance on the return voyage.


Took Ed and Carol sailing yesterday. Ed was the Captain's helper on the ocean trip and I drove up with his girlfriend Carol on Sunday. It was shirt sleeve weather for the first couple of hours and then a storm blew in.

Lesson #1 steering the boat

            Note the blue sky






A girlfriend of mine is arriving tomorrow to spend a week with me on the boat. After she gets here we are sailing for the island of San Juan...about a 7 hour sail depending on the wind.

Revised plan #5

Oh my...here we are almost mid-June...well a really good start anyway. No one calls me lately...why? because they think I'm sailing...but I forgive them because after all I have been leaving on a sail boat for almost 6 weeks now. We have had a lot of revised plans...we are now on revised plan number #5...and NO there will not be a plan #6. So in the next week or so be looking for blog updates from me aboard the "Promise".

My garden is going to miss me...but not as much as I will miss my garden. With all the rain we've had lately at least I can say my garden loves it.  A sign I have in my garden says it all:

If your lucky enough to have a garden

you are lucky enough.

The roses Reub sent me!

beautiful color!!

My secret garden...

Still wondering....

There's a lot of things I wonder about...I wonder if I will always have this feeling of sadness at this time of the year....I wonder about the beauty of the world....such beauty and such powerful destruction...I wonder did God also create tornado's....I wonder why....I wonder if loved ones in heaven are aware of how much we miss them....I wonder how anyone gets through life without faith....I wonder why... but I still believe...I wonder if I will actually ever sail on a boat called Promise...I wonder if obstacles are just obstacles to jump over...or are they messages from above...I wonder whatever made me think May 28 would be easier this year...I wonder why sometimes life is so hard...I wonder why my Grand kids are getting so old...so fast...and I'm not...I wonder if they will forget his face...yes I wonder about lots of things!! But most of all I wonder how a person can feel such sadness....and at the same time such happiness and anticipation about the promise of a sail on The Promise!!

                                                                                         

I wonder...

San Juan Islands here I come...well soon anyway...I think...maybe soon!!  The sail boat Promise has not been to sea in a few years and the Captain takes his job very seriously...as well he should. In preparing the boat for it's ocean voyage he found water in the fuel tank....vandals...an accident?...I wonder!!.  BUT...that was a good thing, because in cleaning the water from the fuel tanks he discovered he had a bad fuel pump. So glad the fuel pump was discovered now and not 25 miles out to sea. A coincidence...I wonder!!
Psalm 121:8  The Lord will watch over your comings and goings both now...and forever.

It seems to me it would be so much easier to work on a boat engine if it was an outboard. Don't they put outboard engines on sailboats? I asked the Captain that very question and his response "silence". Maybe that was a stupid question!!

My job in this whole fuel pump repair:

Put on my mechanical clothes (yes I have special mechanical clothes)...lay on the floor...and hold mirror and flashlight so he can see what he's doing. So far so good...I can do this. The mirror is attached to the end of the tool on the left of the picture. He says, "now hold the mirror really still...and don't move it".
Here lies the problem. Excuse me...but you don't tell someone with Parkinson's to hold really still and don't move. What is he thinking??

So now the fuel pump is out of the boat and at the repair shop. So in 7-10 days we will sail...hopefully...I wonder!!