One of the things that I thought I would miss the most,
after moving out of our little home in the woods, to the even littler home on
the water, was the wildlife. In Marmora, we had a constant parade of squirrels,
and birds, and all manor of 4 legged creatures, but life aboard has yielded
little to that old scene. The only difference is that the animals are
different. Ground hogs, bunny rabbits, swallows, swans, geese, fish and ducks.
Everywhere we look, everywhere we walk, in the evening, or during the high sun
of the day, they are all over, often right at our feet.
Our yacht club is on a small island with a causeway
attaching it to the mainland. And in this little protected environment, the
wildlife flourishes. They have become accustomed to the silly humans, and only
get out of our way when we get within petting range. The other day I had to
give a baby ground hog a little nudge with my shoe so he would get out of the
middle of the road and scurry back up the hill. Other than the occasional lame
threat from a domestic canine, they are left to there own devices.
The great thing about it though, is that we get to watch
them, enjoy their simple life, and marvel at the individual personalities that
seem evident in every living thing.
On the boat note: Its getting slow. The big yard sale is
today. Our truck is packed solid with stuff that has to go. We need to empty
our storage unit before Saturday so that we don’t have to pay for another
month, and for our own personal sanity. Progress can be measured in many
different ways, sometimes the rearranging of stuff, and the reduction of
required space can give the illusion of getting ahead.
We spent about 5 hours going through every nook and cranny
of the boat re-evaluating every little thing’s importance, reducing where we
had too much, and repacking where it was too loose. We put the sewing machine
in its place, and it fit great. I have enough room in my chart storage area for
probably the entire Atlantic ocean , all in big
zip lock bags to keep the moisture from killing them. The boat still lists to
the port side, but that is where the batteries are, the canned goods, the pots,
pans, and utensils. I am pretty sure that when the big cockpit locker on the
starboard side gets filled up, we’ll level out. Its still empty. I would like
to get some more wiring done, and maybe get the solar panels installed before
the end of the weekend, but we’ll have to see. Something always seems to get in
the way, and the weather gods haven’t been playing all that nice lately.
What can I say, retired and living on a boat is rough work.
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