Where o' Where is Vita

Well. unfortunately she is sitting neglected in her slip at the Yacht Club. She is dirty, the rig isn't tensioned, the sails aren't on her, and if she has feelings, I am positive that she thinks we have left her. Its sad really, but it is hard to build a house and take care of a boat at the same time. Especially when you do all the building yourself.

The good news is that we are going cruising again. We came home to design and build a small house, to give ourselves somewhere to hang our hats when we are at home, and ended giving it to Serena's parents to live in until they no longer wish to. That way owning the house costs us a little less, we have somewhere to call home, and someone looks after our house while we are gone. Because we are going sailing! Reading the blogs of our other friends in Grenada has refueled our desire to make that trip, and we can hardly wait to get back out there. But we also realize that it is important to have a home base, at least for us. We weren't home 6 weeks and Serena had already had surgery to remove her gallbladder. So we realize how important it is to have someplace to recover. BTW, she recovered in a 13' travel trailer, with no running water, no TV, and no electricity. I think she is going to insist on something a little more comfortable next time, but she's a tough ol' broad, I give her that.

But first we have to get this house built, and maybe two, but that's a longer story that will have to wait for another time. Its hard work, and most of the time it is just us two broke back rednecks to get the job done. Right now we are down to one, because Serena threw her back out a couple of days ago. Luckily we have great friends and neighbors that lend us a hand when we need it. Ironically, the couple that bought our last house have been the most helpful. Pierre, at 69, is still full of life and energy, he can be hard to keep up with, and Ginette, his wife is a wonderful lady. She actually made us a couple of delicious meals while we were working late, and is just so friendly, you would almost think we were paying her to be that way. My son comes up and helps on some weekends with the heavy work. And my buddy Ron, my Dad, and anyone else who feels inclined is always willing to give advice, pick up a piece of debris, or try and figure out what the hell we are doing.

I am working on the crawlspace/foundation today. It goes together like big styrofoam lego blocks, and then we fill them with concrete. It is a more expensive system then some, but it is do-it-yourself, provides and incredible insulation value, and goes together really fast. Then next week is floors, waterproofing, backfill, etc...... It stops eventually, but I can't see the end. Below are a couple of photos we've taken while we are here, it has its ups and downs, just like cruising, but its still a lot of fun. Now I got to get back to work.

My new barber. He's not quite as good as his Grandma, but what he gives up in skill, he gives back in enthusiasm. Duke turned 4 yesterday.

This is Megan. She is the cutest little red fox that hung out with us for a few weeks. She would curl up in the driveway and watch us work. She eventually disappeared, as it was time for her to abandon her young to the world. Now we have two of her babies dropping by in the evenings. They aren't as friendly, but being a little scared will probably keep them alive longer. She is just so damn cute.

This is what a hole in the ground, in the woods looks like before you plop a house on it.

Buying the tractor was a god-send. It has saved our backs so much, an keeps the site looking clean. Ok, cleaner....

Here is home. It doesn't look like much, but we have a shower that would rival any cockpit shower, a head, a little trailer, internet (via our extender, and a gracious neighbor), a screened deck to avoid the mosquitoes, barbecue. Well, like I said, kind of like a boat, with more dirt.

One of the things I wanted to do when I bought the tractor, was to take the empty beer cases back to the beer store in redneck style. After saving up 18 cases of empties, which took several days, I took the trip. My friends thought it was hilarious, the girl at the Beerstore never even twitched, she's seen this more times than she cared to admit. But I was just funnin'.

And really, when is comes down to it, does this look any less relaxing than the view from a cockpit in the Bahamas.

Vita back to one six.