18 Feb. 12
Woke up this morning to find cumulus cloud cover everywhere with scud and rain. Now it is bucketing down and we managed to fill the bucket we are using to wash the dishes within about three minutes so we don’t have to get off the boat to get water from the tap. We have discovered that we have a power problem since we installed the fridge and haven’t been able to keep the batteries fully charged. Even with the addition of the wind charger the battery voltage is still to low. My knowledge of this stuff is also a little more than rusty so I have been trying to think a solution rather than do anything but the answer hasn’t revealed itself to me just yet.
Yesterday we painted undercoat on the cross beam and sail drives using this new MCU paint that we have been convinced is the best paint invention since paint was invented. Something like the invention of sliced bread in the baking industry for the paint industry I suppose. Only time will tell if it was just salesman talk or has some basis of fact.
We also started servicing the motors and after I drained the practically new oil from the sail drives I considered not servicing the motors since the sail drives had been serviced quite recently. I decided rather safe than sorry and was very glad about my decision when I drained the motor oil and found that this had not been done for a very long time. The oil was black and not very viscous with some thick gumph at the very bottom. Thus once again we discover that the guy we bought this boat from is a pathological liar since he told me he had just serviced the motors and replaced the oil. On the subject of this ass he must have the thickest skin on the face of this planet. He still arrives here at the boat with stupid little pieces of plastic parts that we don’t need even though I explained to him that I think he is a fraud and had full knowledge of the boats problems.
19 Feb. 12
This morning Lola and I were sitting in the cockpit and an insect kept buzzing around Lola’s head slowly driving her towards insanity. So I thought about the insects and goggas in this place. Flies, mosquitoes, miggies, cockroaches and wasps. Not listed in any particular order but each has acquired a special place in my psyche. Let me start with my personal favourite the cockroach. Now we had roaches in Joey’s but not anything like the mother of all roaches that I have met down here. Sometimes they are so big that I expect them to start growling and barking when they see me. They also are not afraid and timid like the ones I was used to that used to scurrile and scatter as soon as you spotted them. No these animals still scurrile and scatter but not away from you instead they head straight for you making your instinct take over and the fight or flight adrenalin has to kick in if you wish to escape their fearsome approach, heading straight for your feet. I have heard more than one man whimper and shriek like a little girl when attacked by one of these monsters. I myself being a real man that has been known on occasion to wrestle down a nun or two have had to consider attacking or fleeing at the mere site of these alpha males of the species. The only thing that has saved mankind from complete denomination by these creatures is the fact that they haven’t learnt to hunt in packs as of yet.
Next we will discuss the mosquitoes with their power of invisibility and their insatiable lust for human blood. There is no escape from them and they hunt at night whilst you are sleeping finding there way stealthily past any net or poison trap that mankind has invented. They have adapted so well that they even breed in the mosquito doom liquid traps that we have placed all over the boat for defence from their invasion. Soon you will be woken by their annoying buzzing little wings and switch on the light just to discover that they have mastered the art of ventriloquism by being in a different place to the sound. As you eventually discover this and find their sneaky little hiding place, nowhere near the buzzing sound, they quickly and quietly slip on a cloak of invisibility and go into stealth mode. Now you have absolutely no escape and just have to accept defeat as they spray some sort of toxin in the air making you become too drowsy to defend yourself anymore. As you close your eyes and slip back into an unconscious state you realise too late that all your defences have been breached and you are about to be eaten alive.
Then believing that you are saved with the arrival of the morning sun it suddenly dawns upon you that this will only allow a small respite before the next wave of attack will arrive. This attack comes in the form of a little black creature with clear transparent wings and huge multi focal eyes. Common name, the fly. To us in the know rather referred to as bringer of germs, disease and great anger. The flies in Joey’s had it seems many years of great training and they would instantly fly off into the distance when you moved towards them or picked up a fly swat. Down here however the flies are on anabolic steroids and just move far enough away to avoid collision with any weapon you may be wielding at them. They zoom around waiting and studying your face waiting for the moment you happen to loose focus for a millisecond and accidentally open your mouth. Then they attack going straight for the kill passing through your open lips and only stopping once they reach their target in the very back of your throat, nearly choking you to death and causing you to gag spit splutter and cough uncontrollably all the time closing in on death’s doorway.
Next I will discuss the wasp community. At this point I would like to mention that I have no personal vendetta against wasps as a community. I am stating this fact because these large creatures carry weapons of mass destruction and are very capable of full scale invasion at any time they may chose to do so. Wasps are generally lone hunters and usually won’t send out an unprovoked attack, but occasionally and for no apparent reason at all sometimes they will strike. I believe they do it to remind us puny humans that they are actually in charge and only tolerate our existence and could at any time bring an end to us all.
I mentioned earlier that we have only a small respite at sunrise somewhere between the mosquitoes and the flies. This is the time the miggies choose to launch their attack. Fortunately these almost microscopic creatures haven’t had to much training as of yet and only manage to upset a humans mood for the day by slowly flying around your head over and over again causing you to swipe at what seems to be nothing in the air thus making other humans from visiting places frown on your apparent insanity.
Well I think I will now return back to reality and leave that place that seems to be taking over my once normal mind.
20 Feb. 12
Yrumoar is almost ready to go back to the water where she belongs and I can’t wait to hear her happy voice again. The gentle lapping of water as it flows smoothly over her hulls and the soft billow as the wind grabs her sails as she starts to run, holding hands with the wind. Here on land her voice has been one of groaning and complaining with every step taken upon her. Sometimes I could hear her screaming as I stuck the grinder into her belly and cut open her stomach to remove the cancer that had been growing and festering deep inside her skin. But now after all the pain she has endured she has finally recovered and sits majestically and patiently waiting for me to heal the last of her wounds. I can almost feel her joy as she stares longingly at the water not twenty metres away waiting to welcome her back to her home and ready to take her on a long journey of discovery.
Yes I know I am no longer in touch with reality, okay. It must be all this boat work that has eventually made me loose my mind completely. We replaced the sail drive boots yesterday and I finished servicing the port motor. I still need to replace the impeller but first have to go and buy one. Today we will paint two coats of topcoat onto the crossbeam and then tomorrow two coats on the other side. I will service the starboard motor today after we have found impellers for both, sometime between the top coats. I still have to fix the sea cocks that I paid someone to do. After that? Well we are pretty much ready to go back into the water.
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