Although I triumphed in the pool over my ears, I completely failed to get my certification. I wrote a big long post about it, but decided not to post it because it was so maudlin. Scuba kicked my ass, but I will keep trying. Mike did great: the young kids could not keep up with him.
We are currently on the road to Oregon, to take Tempest to her new home. Sophie has already been placed with a family and it seems to be going well, according to our mutual friends. Now it is Tempest's turn. We are taking our time driving up there. We left yesterday and drove north, avoiding LA and going through Sequoia National Monument and the national forest. We stopped and spent the night in Visalia. Today we drove through Yosemite - over the Tioga pass through the Tuolomne Meadows to Bridgeport, where we are spending the night. Our hotel room is right on the Walker River, and there is a sliding glass door leading out to it.
We passed a lot of different bodies of water today. I always like that. Living as long as I have in southern California which is basically an irrigated desert, there are few things so delightful as a natural body of moving water. Anytime I see a sign for a creek, a river, a lake, or anything else, I am really excited when there is actual water in it. Even a stockpond is interesting to me. Today there were a lot of creeks just bubbling away over rocks and boulders, waterfalls, and some lakes that were made by glaciers and are on their way out. I felt bad about that part, but it is a natural process according to Mike, so I am not going to argue.
When we were kids and first moved out here, we lived in Orange County and often drive up to Fresno to see our relatives. When we got to the point in the trip when the California Aquaduct first came into view as it came out of the mountains, my mother would point to it and say "See that water, girls? That's stolen water. Los Angeles stole that water from those Owens Valley farmers at gunpoint." And later I found out she was right. The story of water and Los Angeles is really fascinating and scary at the same time.
Tomorrow we plan to skirt Lake Tahoe and continue to work our way north. It is really fun not to have a schedule to keep to. Mike does not want to go into Nevada (probably because of Sharon Angle). So I have no idea what kind of time we will make. This will likely be our last road trip for awhile. The next trip will be via water!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Victory in the Swimming Pool
Well, all the practice paid off because yesterday night I got my ears to work properly! So now there is no doubt I will be scuba certifed by the end of Sunday. After all, that was the only thing stopping me.
Otherwise, there really isn't any news to report. The scuba is all emcompassing this week. The only bad thing is I have to wear a fat lady bathing suit. And that is mitigated because I am BY FAR the oldest one in the class - with Mike being the second oldest - and the next oldest being MAYBE 30 . . . I guess I can live with it (I will have to) until I lose the weight yet again!
Otherwise, there really isn't any news to report. The scuba is all emcompassing this week. The only bad thing is I have to wear a fat lady bathing suit. And that is mitigated because I am BY FAR the oldest one in the class - with Mike being the second oldest - and the next oldest being MAYBE 30 . . . I guess I can live with it (I will have to) until I lose the weight yet again!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
I Can't Clear My Ears
One of the interesting things about living at the dock is the birds. They are different than the ones I used to watch in the yard. The first birds in the morning are the seagulls - at least those are the ones that wake me up. Once I get up and head out the docks with the dogs, there are blue herons up and around. They are so used to people that I can get to within three feet before they squawk and fly away. The birds also go through a visible shift change, just as it gets dark. The snowy egrets who hang around the fishing boats are relieved by the night herons, but there is a slight overlap. And trust me, if it comes to a throw down between a night heron and a snowy egret, the heron will win every time.
The other evening we were eating at a restaurant that has an outside deck that overlooks the docks where the sportfishing boats dock. The fishing boat workers were emptying the bait tank, so all these birds - pelicans, egrets, gulls, herons, cormorants - were swooping over and around the boat, grabbing up the discarded baitfish. At one point, we saw the boat guy reach down with a net and scoop up a gull. I realized there was something wrong with the gull, and saw the guy take something out of its mouth. He struggled with it for a couple of seconds, then released the gull, which flew off. All of us who were watching burst into applause. The guy called out "I dont give a shit about the bird - check this out, a $30 dollar lure!" Turns out he rescued the bird only because he saw that a really nice fishing lure was stuck in the gull's beak. I liked it anyway.
The first session of scuba training did NOT go well - I cannot clear my ears at all. But I am not going to give up and will keep trying unless and until they throw me out of the class. At least maybe I can pass the classroom part of it and then try the actual diving part later. It is frustrating as hell, because otherwise I do just fine. There are a lot of things to think about at once, which is not one of my strong suits. Tonight we actually use the scuba gear. Last night we did everything with snorkels. Maybe I can get my ears to clear better when we are using the gear because then I can go slower. With the snorkel, I had to hold my breath while diving down, which meant I had to go fast so I didn't run out of breath. With a scuba tank, I think maybe if I descend slower the ears will clear. I can easily clear them IF and only IF I can open my mouth, which you cannot do well while snorkeling or scuba diving. The instructors showed me about holding your nose and trying to clear them that way, but all that did was make me feel like my eyes would explode out of my head. Wish me luck for tonight! At least Mike did not get mad at me, and he is going to continue even if I flunk out, thank goodness. I would feel really really bad if he quite because of me.
Otherwise - things are going pretty well. I had a wonderful lunch with two good friends yesterday and remembered how important it is to have friends and not neglect them. If I want to maintain relationships, it is up to me to do the necessary work.
I will sign off today and continue to practice ear clearing without opening my mouth. Does anyone think this is related to my lifelong problem of not being able to keep my mouth shut?
The other evening we were eating at a restaurant that has an outside deck that overlooks the docks where the sportfishing boats dock. The fishing boat workers were emptying the bait tank, so all these birds - pelicans, egrets, gulls, herons, cormorants - were swooping over and around the boat, grabbing up the discarded baitfish. At one point, we saw the boat guy reach down with a net and scoop up a gull. I realized there was something wrong with the gull, and saw the guy take something out of its mouth. He struggled with it for a couple of seconds, then released the gull, which flew off. All of us who were watching burst into applause. The guy called out "I dont give a shit about the bird - check this out, a $30 dollar lure!" Turns out he rescued the bird only because he saw that a really nice fishing lure was stuck in the gull's beak. I liked it anyway.
The first session of scuba training did NOT go well - I cannot clear my ears at all. But I am not going to give up and will keep trying unless and until they throw me out of the class. At least maybe I can pass the classroom part of it and then try the actual diving part later. It is frustrating as hell, because otherwise I do just fine. There are a lot of things to think about at once, which is not one of my strong suits. Tonight we actually use the scuba gear. Last night we did everything with snorkels. Maybe I can get my ears to clear better when we are using the gear because then I can go slower. With the snorkel, I had to hold my breath while diving down, which meant I had to go fast so I didn't run out of breath. With a scuba tank, I think maybe if I descend slower the ears will clear. I can easily clear them IF and only IF I can open my mouth, which you cannot do well while snorkeling or scuba diving. The instructors showed me about holding your nose and trying to clear them that way, but all that did was make me feel like my eyes would explode out of my head. Wish me luck for tonight! At least Mike did not get mad at me, and he is going to continue even if I flunk out, thank goodness. I would feel really really bad if he quite because of me.
Otherwise - things are going pretty well. I had a wonderful lunch with two good friends yesterday and remembered how important it is to have friends and not neglect them. If I want to maintain relationships, it is up to me to do the necessary work.
I will sign off today and continue to practice ear clearing without opening my mouth. Does anyone think this is related to my lifelong problem of not being able to keep my mouth shut?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
I can see the bottom!
And by that I mean the bottom of the ocean under the boat. Mike finished installing the electronic navigation stuff, part of which is a sonar sounder that tells us what is underneath us. It us different from the depth sounder, which lets us know how deep it is beneath the keel. This actually makes a picture (a blobby one) of the bottom. The same sort of thing is on fishing boats to find out whether there are any fish below. So - fish beware, we have rods and licenses! And we can find you!
Things are looking up, as well - my friend Rachel is going to take Tempest and I believe she will be not only fine, but probably better off than she ever was with us. I don't think this would have worked out for her very well at all. I am so happy and grateful about all of this. I may not deserve this much good fortune, but Tempest certainly does. So now in a couple weeks we will be heading to Oregon. By car.
It does not look like we will be ready to leave with the rally to Cabo, but that is not the end of the world. We will just go ourselves a little later. I am not that unhappy, because I was always a little torn about whether or not I wanted to go with the group. We have never been fond of doing things in groups. Truth be told, we don't even like making reservations. We once went to Humboldt county over the 4th of July without any reservations. Everyone told us we were crazy. I was not too worried because we had a tent, and I figured there is always going to be somewhere to pitch a tent, even if you really aren't supposed to be there. And at our age, we just keep smiling and act a little fuddled, and thereby avoid getting in trouble for things like trespassing. (Sorry, I digress.) Anyway, when we got there, we found this beautiful county park in the redwoods on the Van Duesen river. It was supposed to be only for group camping, but because it seemed to be empty, we went to the ranger station. We discovered that a group had canceled, and we got to camp there. We had the entire park to ourselves, and slept on the riverbank. Another time, I think it was in Germany or Belgium, we were told at one hotel we found in the Rick Steves guide book that not only was her hotel totally full, so was everything in town. I did not believe her (I didn't like her anyway) so we just drove until we found one we liked the looks of, which was not only available, it turned out to be an old abbey that had been converted. Again, a wonderful no reservations experience.
The rally would likely be fun. Everyone leaves from San Diego, proceeds to Bahia Tortuga, then Bahia Santa Maria,and ends in Cabo. There are parties at all the stops, and a big one when the rally reaches Cabo. I like a party as much as the next person, but (I know you were waiting for that "but") as I look down the cruising guide to Mexico, I see all kinds of places I would like to investigate that the rally would bypass. But after having said all of this, we are still signed up to go, and who knows? If everything is ready, we will likely go.
Tomorrow I begin a week of Scuba lessons. Mike can hardly wait. I am not so excited. We actually started lessons last December, but dropped out because it was not going well for me. First, it was COLD!!!! Record cold (for San Diego) and the pool, although heated, was outside. Then I kept thinking about how cold it was going to be in the ocean when we had to do our ocean dives. Another thing, and actually the real big problem, was I could not clear my ears. I have since been practicing and hopefully I can do it now. And the third reason, and I am ashamed to admit it (hopefully Mike won't read this post), is that I just got freaked out and had a hard time calming down. I don't know why. I am an excellent swimmer and I love the water. I cannot remember ever not being perfectly comfortable in the water. I was not afraid of drowning, and for heavens sake, we were in a swimming pool! I have even been scuba diving before and liked it - I did it once in Hawaii. So I do not get where my fear is coming from. But I am determined that it will work this time. Before, I was working, and had to rush home from work early to get to the class by 5 pm. Now I am not working, and have all day to do the book part, and it is nice weather. So - no excuses.
I am actually embarrassed about the weather part. I pride myself on not being a weather wimp, so I wonder if that was an excuse for something deeper that I don't want to face. (That sounds lame even to me. As my father would have said "Stop me before I kill more!)
This will wind things up for today. Wish me luck - I am going to need all the good wishes I can get.
Things are looking up, as well - my friend Rachel is going to take Tempest and I believe she will be not only fine, but probably better off than she ever was with us. I don't think this would have worked out for her very well at all. I am so happy and grateful about all of this. I may not deserve this much good fortune, but Tempest certainly does. So now in a couple weeks we will be heading to Oregon. By car.
It does not look like we will be ready to leave with the rally to Cabo, but that is not the end of the world. We will just go ourselves a little later. I am not that unhappy, because I was always a little torn about whether or not I wanted to go with the group. We have never been fond of doing things in groups. Truth be told, we don't even like making reservations. We once went to Humboldt county over the 4th of July without any reservations. Everyone told us we were crazy. I was not too worried because we had a tent, and I figured there is always going to be somewhere to pitch a tent, even if you really aren't supposed to be there. And at our age, we just keep smiling and act a little fuddled, and thereby avoid getting in trouble for things like trespassing. (Sorry, I digress.) Anyway, when we got there, we found this beautiful county park in the redwoods on the Van Duesen river. It was supposed to be only for group camping, but because it seemed to be empty, we went to the ranger station. We discovered that a group had canceled, and we got to camp there. We had the entire park to ourselves, and slept on the riverbank. Another time, I think it was in Germany or Belgium, we were told at one hotel we found in the Rick Steves guide book that not only was her hotel totally full, so was everything in town. I did not believe her (I didn't like her anyway) so we just drove until we found one we liked the looks of, which was not only available, it turned out to be an old abbey that had been converted. Again, a wonderful no reservations experience.
The rally would likely be fun. Everyone leaves from San Diego, proceeds to Bahia Tortuga, then Bahia Santa Maria,and ends in Cabo. There are parties at all the stops, and a big one when the rally reaches Cabo. I like a party as much as the next person, but (I know you were waiting for that "but") as I look down the cruising guide to Mexico, I see all kinds of places I would like to investigate that the rally would bypass. But after having said all of this, we are still signed up to go, and who knows? If everything is ready, we will likely go.
Tomorrow I begin a week of Scuba lessons. Mike can hardly wait. I am not so excited. We actually started lessons last December, but dropped out because it was not going well for me. First, it was COLD!!!! Record cold (for San Diego) and the pool, although heated, was outside. Then I kept thinking about how cold it was going to be in the ocean when we had to do our ocean dives. Another thing, and actually the real big problem, was I could not clear my ears. I have since been practicing and hopefully I can do it now. And the third reason, and I am ashamed to admit it (hopefully Mike won't read this post), is that I just got freaked out and had a hard time calming down. I don't know why. I am an excellent swimmer and I love the water. I cannot remember ever not being perfectly comfortable in the water. I was not afraid of drowning, and for heavens sake, we were in a swimming pool! I have even been scuba diving before and liked it - I did it once in Hawaii. So I do not get where my fear is coming from. But I am determined that it will work this time. Before, I was working, and had to rush home from work early to get to the class by 5 pm. Now I am not working, and have all day to do the book part, and it is nice weather. So - no excuses.
I am actually embarrassed about the weather part. I pride myself on not being a weather wimp, so I wonder if that was an excuse for something deeper that I don't want to face. (That sounds lame even to me. As my father would have said "Stop me before I kill more!)
This will wind things up for today. Wish me luck - I am going to need all the good wishes I can get.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Playing with the radio
Mike finished hooking up one of the radios last night, so we got to listen to it. It is the VHF radio - it has a short range and is used to call for help in emergencies or just to contact people. There is a hailing and emergency channel, and if people want to talk, they switch to a different channel. It is a lot like using a CB, except only the worst sort of rube would say "breaker breaker." I am really glad I was told that before I did it, which I likely would have. My dad had a Cb radio in his car in the 70s, and my sister and I would drive around in it talking to truck drivers. Her "handle" was Godzilla and mine was Belladonna.
We are not going to give up so easily on Tempest. We are exploring ways to make her dog ramp better. I can't bear the thought that she would not be put to bed at night under a blanket.
Tomorrow the fuel tank guys come to clean and polish the fuel and to clean the tank - and also to let us know if there are any problems with the fuel tank. I fervently hope there are none - that would be an expensive fix. I never had a high tolerance for spending lots of money - and this is testing my limits like nothing before.
There isn't much to report these days - just that I want all these repairs and upgrades to be DONE so we can just sail. And get the hell out of Dodge. I do not miss TV and am burnt out on politics and people's general stupidity and meanness and selfishness - there, it is out of my system. Why do people have to be so mean? It is not a virtue of any sort. Did that start with Reagen or Cotton Mather?
We are not going to give up so easily on Tempest. We are exploring ways to make her dog ramp better. I can't bear the thought that she would not be put to bed at night under a blanket.
Tomorrow the fuel tank guys come to clean and polish the fuel and to clean the tank - and also to let us know if there are any problems with the fuel tank. I fervently hope there are none - that would be an expensive fix. I never had a high tolerance for spending lots of money - and this is testing my limits like nothing before.
There isn't much to report these days - just that I want all these repairs and upgrades to be DONE so we can just sail. And get the hell out of Dodge. I do not miss TV and am burnt out on politics and people's general stupidity and meanness and selfishness - there, it is out of my system. Why do people have to be so mean? It is not a virtue of any sort. Did that start with Reagen or Cotton Mather?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
And so it goes . . .
(Credit here to Kurt Vonnegut)
It has been a few days since my last post. Because the weather has finally gotten nice, I have been able to finally realize some of the dreams I had about why I am doing this. A really good example is sitting in the cockpit with a beer listening to The Grateful Dead and Little Feat (with Lowell George) while the sun is going down. And taking the dogs out every morning when the marine layer is still misty, and there are hardly any other people around.
We took Magda Jean out for a sail earlier this week. I discovered the wonders of the staysail. Not to bore everyone, but on a cutter rigged boat like ours, there are three sails: the main sail, the jib (on the outermost end of the bow [front]) and the stay sail (which hangs from a wire stay directly behind the jib.) The staysail is smaller than our jib, and therefore much easier to handle. I discovered it makes tacking real easy. The upshot of all this is from now on, when we have tedious sailing to do, I can drop the jib and use only the main and the staysail. Of course Mike will want all three up all the time, so we can go faster. I will stand firm, however, because sail handling is my job. That is in great part because I am a horrible helmsman. Anyway, we had a great sail and I have no doubt that if Mike can decide the boat is ready, WE will definitly be ready for the Baja Ha Ha (yes, that is what the rally is called) in late October.
Living in the marina is interesting. We have two resident bums that keep us entertained when they are not getting arrested. Of course, I have already made friends with them. They are both in their 40s (although with bums it is hard to tell - they could be in their streetworn 30s) and one wears a blue fishing hat and the other one wears a brown baseball cap. They are almost always either drunk or sobering up and looking to get drunk again. One day they had a big palm frond - about four feet long - and one of them was whipping it back and forth over the seawall like it was a fly fishing rod. The other one kept whining "Let ME try it!" over and over again. Last night we saw them with a grocery cart. One of them was pushing the other one in it, and even the one pushing was so drunk he could barely stand up. They were going back and forth along these big picture windows at the Pizza Nova staring at the people eating. We heard sirens later, so I suppose that didn't last too long. I wondered what was going to happen when the one in the cart decided to get out. It would not be pretty. I told them awhile ago when they were fairly lucid that they would not get arrested so much if they kept a lower profile and didn't get loud, and they both agreed, but one told me the other one just couldn't help it.
It seems like Mike may finally be getting to the end of the upgrades and repairs, although I have been told over and over again the repair part will never be done. Nonetheless, I am optimistic. And Mike says the new radar and navigation equipment is better than what he worked with in the Navy. He is currently wiring everything together and discussing the need to rewire the entire boat. Funny - I thought that was what he was doing!
Amazon debited my account and my new Kindle is on its way!!!!! I can hardly wait as I have totally run out of new reading material. Now I can have as many books as I want to, even though there is no space. Giving up my books was the hardest thing I had to do to prepare for this new life.
Now on a sad topic - we can't keep our big dog, Tempest. It is not working out at all. She simply cannot get from the cockpit to the cabin, even with the ramp I designed. We are really afraid she will hurt herself and even break a limb. And since she is 11 years old and allergic to wheat, she is not high on the adoptability list. We went and visited the Helen Woodward Animal Shelter - it is a "no kill" shelter and they will take her and try to find her a new home. It seems very nice, but it is still a shelter and not a home. We are really torn, because we have to think about her and not about us. This life is really hard on her. I have asked everyone I can think of and no one has any good ideas. I can't hand her over to a random stranger who might not take proper care of her, and none of my friends and family are in a position to take her on. We'll have to see what happens here, but it is breaking my heart to have to do this to her. I really thought I could make it work.
Well, that is enough for now. No plans for today except more wiring for Mike and swabbing the decks for me. Which is actually a pretty fun chore.
It has been a few days since my last post. Because the weather has finally gotten nice, I have been able to finally realize some of the dreams I had about why I am doing this. A really good example is sitting in the cockpit with a beer listening to The Grateful Dead and Little Feat (with Lowell George) while the sun is going down. And taking the dogs out every morning when the marine layer is still misty, and there are hardly any other people around.
We took Magda Jean out for a sail earlier this week. I discovered the wonders of the staysail. Not to bore everyone, but on a cutter rigged boat like ours, there are three sails: the main sail, the jib (on the outermost end of the bow [front]) and the stay sail (which hangs from a wire stay directly behind the jib.) The staysail is smaller than our jib, and therefore much easier to handle. I discovered it makes tacking real easy. The upshot of all this is from now on, when we have tedious sailing to do, I can drop the jib and use only the main and the staysail. Of course Mike will want all three up all the time, so we can go faster. I will stand firm, however, because sail handling is my job. That is in great part because I am a horrible helmsman. Anyway, we had a great sail and I have no doubt that if Mike can decide the boat is ready, WE will definitly be ready for the Baja Ha Ha (yes, that is what the rally is called) in late October.
Living in the marina is interesting. We have two resident bums that keep us entertained when they are not getting arrested. Of course, I have already made friends with them. They are both in their 40s (although with bums it is hard to tell - they could be in their streetworn 30s) and one wears a blue fishing hat and the other one wears a brown baseball cap. They are almost always either drunk or sobering up and looking to get drunk again. One day they had a big palm frond - about four feet long - and one of them was whipping it back and forth over the seawall like it was a fly fishing rod. The other one kept whining "Let ME try it!" over and over again. Last night we saw them with a grocery cart. One of them was pushing the other one in it, and even the one pushing was so drunk he could barely stand up. They were going back and forth along these big picture windows at the Pizza Nova staring at the people eating. We heard sirens later, so I suppose that didn't last too long. I wondered what was going to happen when the one in the cart decided to get out. It would not be pretty. I told them awhile ago when they were fairly lucid that they would not get arrested so much if they kept a lower profile and didn't get loud, and they both agreed, but one told me the other one just couldn't help it.
It seems like Mike may finally be getting to the end of the upgrades and repairs, although I have been told over and over again the repair part will never be done. Nonetheless, I am optimistic. And Mike says the new radar and navigation equipment is better than what he worked with in the Navy. He is currently wiring everything together and discussing the need to rewire the entire boat. Funny - I thought that was what he was doing!
Amazon debited my account and my new Kindle is on its way!!!!! I can hardly wait as I have totally run out of new reading material. Now I can have as many books as I want to, even though there is no space. Giving up my books was the hardest thing I had to do to prepare for this new life.
Now on a sad topic - we can't keep our big dog, Tempest. It is not working out at all. She simply cannot get from the cockpit to the cabin, even with the ramp I designed. We are really afraid she will hurt herself and even break a limb. And since she is 11 years old and allergic to wheat, she is not high on the adoptability list. We went and visited the Helen Woodward Animal Shelter - it is a "no kill" shelter and they will take her and try to find her a new home. It seems very nice, but it is still a shelter and not a home. We are really torn, because we have to think about her and not about us. This life is really hard on her. I have asked everyone I can think of and no one has any good ideas. I can't hand her over to a random stranger who might not take proper care of her, and none of my friends and family are in a position to take her on. We'll have to see what happens here, but it is breaking my heart to have to do this to her. I really thought I could make it work.
Well, that is enough for now. No plans for today except more wiring for Mike and swabbing the decks for me. Which is actually a pretty fun chore.
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