It's all rainbows and f*#?ing unicorns here people

Carl:

We're out of the water, up on blocks still, but we're making slow, steady headway toward being ready to take off soon after we're back in.  In the past few days our tentative departure day has evolved from the 17th, to this Tuesday, to 4 days after getting put back in the water which we initially hoped would be Monday, etc etc etc----in other words there's been a lot of "going with the flow".  But that's all you can do in this situation.  If you didn't go with it you'd end up with migraines and an ulcer before the trip even started.  As it is I'd say we're all plugging along quite nicely.

The past couple days were interspersed with wind, chilly temps and rain.  Even with all that, we've managed to want to go at each other's throats only a couple times (Don and me more than most).  Thanks in no small part to Lee's culinary efforts keeping us all going---including our first warm dinner on the boat on a seriously cold & wet night---simple hearty soup of kale, white beans, garlic, shitake mushrooms, vegetable broth, white wine vinegar.  F'ing tasty.  

So what are we doing today?

• Andy's working on the mast when it's off - main halyard shiv, anemometer wiring, etc
• Don's working on the wind generator wiring & charge controller
• Leslie's henkeling the hatches & port holes for leaks
• Lisa is dialing in the galley, food organization & meal planning
• I'm getting up the bimini (cockpit's sun shade) & installing a new knotmeter
• Raleigh is still adjusting to living on blocks out of the water, but has looking good nailed

What this all adds up to is that in the past couple weeks we've truly dug into the guts of this boat----we're understanding it's structure, drilling holes, messing with the electrical systems, messing up the electrical systems, stopping window leaks, emptying out all the useless crap from the previous owner (side note: technically nothing on this boat is useless crap---it's all relative---but we only have so much room and we're bringing on a lot more useless crap so we gotta make room).  And through all of this, we're making Aldebaran ours.  That's a good thing people.  You gotsta recognize.

And we all still have to do our taxes.


P.S. And because we're all actually working, we're not finding time to take photos of each other doing said things.  So here are some photos of other things we're doing.

input: Andy diggin' into the mast step

output: one totally corroded aluminum mast step---can you say replacement?

me.  don't judge, people---these are long days.  and couches can be comfy.

blue eyes under the rain tarp