Haircuts

I finally decided that hair was truly a luxury on a boat, so I dug out the clippers after lunch and cut it all off. I look like I'm in about the second week of boot camp right now. My hair's really fine, so it took a while to get it cut. I had to go over and over it several times before I could get it even. Now I don't have to worry about wearing a hat to keep it out of my eyes when I'm working and can wash when I wash my face. Plus it's a lot cooler.

I'm planning on shaving Zoe tomorrow too . It's not too hot yet, but she has gotten overheated a few times this year already, mainly walking around in Manhattan. I need to bathe her tomorrow anyway so she'll be clean when I take her to the vet on Monday. She needs her rabies vaccination, plus heart worm and flea. If we go to Bermuda, she needs a certificate of health issued within 10 days prior to arrival, plus a rabies vaccination within the last year and not within the last 30 days. I think the rabies also has to have been at least the second, i.e., it can't have been the only one she's ever gotten. I don't think we'll be ready to leave within 30 days, much less make it to Bermuda in the next 30 days, so I think Monday will be fine.

I'm still hoping to get everything done by the end of the month, but it looks like it might slip a little. The first or second week of June is looking more realistic at this point. I got both of the teak coamings off, stripped and cleaned up yesterday, and removed the port turning block and one of the aft port stanchions -- other than the stern pulpit, these are the only ones that haven't been rebedded yet. I was going to do the other side as well, but ran out of steam and cut my hair instead. I'll do the other side, along with the stern pulpit and traveler tomorrow. Once that's all done, I'll be able to fix all the holes, two big ones in the deck, and half a dozen little ones in the cockpit, and get it all ready for painting.

I decided to go ahead and finish the cockpit first since everything had already been removed and it was easy to get to everything. Once it's done, I'll move everything from the coach roof, sails, etc., into the cockpit lockers and do all the decks forward of the companionway. I think I'm only a couple of weeks from having that part of the project completed. Unfortunately, I still have plumbing and radio work to do, which might take a little time. I'll do the plumbing first, since I need that done before I can go in the water. The radios can be done after I splash. I'd prefer to have it all done on the hard, but don't want to wear out my welcome here.

For all of you who may have trouble figuring out what I mean by port and starboard. Port and starboard refer to the left and right sides of a boat, respectively, when standing in the stern and facing the bow. In addition to that, boats also have red and green running lights that are displayed on the left and right sides of the boat. So a quick and easy way to remember this is that the all the short words refer to the left side (left, port, and red) and all the long words refer to the right side (right, starboard, and green). Hope that helps -- that's pretty much how I remember it...