Getting back on track

It's funny, I can bug out on a moments notice. There's about a month left before my lovely wife and head south for the winter, yet I feel a time crunch. That's the difference between needs and wants. Hope I'm not over planning this.

One thing I learned. If there's any crawling around to do under the vehicle or the trailer, do it in New Hampshire, not Florida. New Hampshire doesn't have fire ants. Need I say more?

There's a cousin of mine who also sails small boats. He clued me in to the fact that one of the local lumber yards carries marine grade adhesives and caulks. That's a big deal. There's almost nothing marine grade around here. That will speed a few little jobs along.

We did a lot of sailing on our little lake, but only started the outboard three times all summer. We used about a quart of gas. The old gas will get dumped in my wife's car. We'll fill up with new in Florida. The boat came with a 3 gallon tank, but I've got another 6 gallon tank to back that up. For us, that's a huge amount of gas. We have learned that sometimes the safest thing is to motor in before conditions get worse.

There are sport fishing boats out there with well over 1,000 horses of power on the transom. The thought of burning that much gas in so short of time boggles my mind. There are times when I wonder if 6 hp is too big for my boat.

It actually feels good to get back to doing real physical things. Too much of my time has been taken up with paperwork, e-mails and phone calls. Funny how life gets complicated when you aren't paying attention. Planning for a 6 month trip I'm reminded of the the virtues in simplicity.

The dog knows something is up. She won't let us out of her sight. Brownie the Sailor Dog will not be left behind.

My lovely wife just wrapped up the last of her doctor and dentist appointments. Nothing like medical or dental issue to ruin a good time.

Still a bit of paperwork to finish up before out trip. At least I can see the end of it.

I'm keeping busy so I don't dwell too much on other things. I know what anniversary this is. As a retired firefighter who lost so many brothers on this day, how could I not? One way of honoring them is to embrace life. That's what I'd want people to do if it had been me.

-Sixbears