Dog Days of Summer or Global Cooking

August 16, 2005

Sunday, July 24, 2005 - Buddy Fred's Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

Things are just about tied up. We had another minor set back yesterday when the port side throttle cable broke, but I have it under control now. Amy just finished loading her clothes and books back onboard and consequently we are now sitting 2 inches lower on the water line.

Our current plan is to leave tommorow and head over to Ocracoke on the outer banks. I think Amy has a family relative over there for the summer, so we may try and hook up with them. The real point of heading out is to test all of the improvements and repairs we have made on Dream Catcher since we arrived in May.

We plan on hanging out over there for 5 or 6 days and then coming back to the Buddy Fred's to meet Amy's brother who is coming down for a weeks vacation early in August. After that, it's time to start heading south. Not too quick because of the hurricanes, but we have probably gone as far north as we will for this year.

In other news, dedicated readers will doubtlessly remember countless references to Steve and Sally while we have been here in Oriental, so we finally decided to snap some pictures to post here. Steve is the bald, bozo looking bastard wearing man-e-hose. Sally is the pretty one.

By the way, and you didn't hear it from me, but the neighborhood grapevine says that the man-e-hose are to help boost his low blood circulation which apparently keeps him from being able to perform sexually. This may partially explain the weekly arrival of the large Viagra box van in the neighborhood

Monday, July 25, 2005 - Oriental Harbor, Oriental, NC
By Tom

We finally left the Buddy Fred's dock today. We motored away from Broad Creek in absolute zero wind conditions and so we adjusted our destination to the much closer Oriental Harbour. After an uneventful 2 hour motor, we tied up to the free pier at the Oriental town dock.

If you've never been to Oriental, there is room for two large cruising boats to tie up for free for 48 hours. Quite a value.

The downside to tying up here is that you become one of the main attractions for the town denizens. We must have had 30 different people stop by and ask questions or offer us rides to the grocery store which is only 3 blocks away.

We made several new friends and ended the evening with cocktails on the aft deck while having the night time running of the ferrets. Tomorrow we hope to leave here and sail across to the outer banks

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - Buddy Fred's Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

It's miserably hot here today. There is barely any breeze and temperatures are over 95 degrees. It was so hot in fact that we had to erect a ferret swimming pool to keep the little fuzz balls from bursting into flames. We may have surpassed global warming and gone into global cooking.

The weather report is calling for more of the same for the next several days, so we decided to sail back to the Buddy Fred's where we can hide inside with the air conditioning. Actually, Amy's brother is coming down to visit in two days, so we had to return anyway. The heat just made for a convenient excuse.

We cast off from the town dock around 2 and we hoisted our sails once we cleared the break water. We actually got to shut off the engines and sail home. Of course we were only averaging 2.5 knots, but it beat listening to the motors.

Dream Catcher is now tied up to the Buddy Fred's dock once again. Tomorrow I am heading back to Maryland to drop my truck off at my dad's house while Amy stays and watches the ferrets. I'll catch a ride with the Buddy Fred on Friday back down to rejoin Amy and the ferrets.

By the way, we were both glad to see that the boat didn't have any troubles over the last two days. It seems like all systems are go for our departure south. Now if we can just get those damn hurricanes to go away.....

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - Buddy Fred's Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

Hello again. Sorry for the absence. We have been keeping Amy's family company while they are down here on vacation. I've been doing some minor boat chores, but mostly I have been hiding in the air conditioning, playing with the computer and waiting out hurricane Irene to see which way she will go.

One of the few boat jobs I have undertaken was the construction of a set of kayak holders for Amy's new red machine. I bought 6 feet of 1.25 inch stainless steel that I then cut into two sections. Using a piping bender at my brother in laws machine shop I made 90 degree bends and then welded mounting plates on the short side.

As you can see in the pictures I have mounted the holders on the port side about two thirds of the way back. These holders are designed to keep her kayak securely attached to the boat, while keeping the side walkways clear for foot traffic. I also made a custom fit sunbrella cover for the kayak to try and protect it from the harmful rays of the sun. I'll let you know how they both work out.

Vacation time is winding down. We are currently waiting on my laptop to come back for the second time. The LCD keeps developing the shakes. The manufacturer (E Machines) is replacing it again under warranty, but I'm getting tired of the hassle of stripping it down and sending it to them only to have to reverse the process three days later.

They (E Machines) are getting dangerously close to going on my list of shitty manufactures and or companies that should burn in hell.

On the ferret front, Milo has gotten over being a full blown fat ass and has resumed eating. Mila says she likes the air conditioning and doesn't want to be a boat ferret if it's going to be so hot.

In other news, I have begun to get feedback from the first users of our software Flotsom. To all of those testers, thanks for the feedback. I have made lots of bug fixes and functionality enhancements and I have a patch posted the patch under the software section of our website.

Ok, thats about it for now.