sweating the small stuff right now.

The sitting-here-in-limbo phase of the transitioning process is sort of getting on my nerves right now... What to keep and what to store and what to get rid of. Where to put things once we actually move forward... a little chaos is a good thing but I'd settle for a tad bit of control right now.

I walked into Juliet's room and was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff a ten year old can cram into a small amount of space- and it will get smaller. I became overwhelmed rather quickly and just walked back into the hallway... couldn't process it right then.

...and Dogs. Gotta figure out about the dogs.

I think I shall just have a beer and work on it later. Whew.

Boats and Folks

Zodiac Crew

Finding the Zodiac last year was a major sep in our transition to becoming a water-based family unit. Our family spent over 2 1/2 months in the San Juans and Gulf Islands as volunteer crew aboard the 160' schooner. Juliet learned to navigate and handle lines at ten years old. Her favorite sailing station is handling the parrel beads when raising sails. Justine, a junior in high school was able to crew aboard the Canadian Gulf Islands & Victoria BC cruise. As a sea scout she picked up the routine quickly. Even Dane, our 20 year old urban-ite was bitten by the tall ship sailing bug. We are now involved with the winter refit while she is docked in Lake Union. We anticipate another great season on the water aboard the Zodiac and our sailboat Sugaree.

Sugaree's sun on forward cabin

main mast construction

Jeff runs the fir planks through the ship's saw. Next step- the thickness planer to smooth out both faces and make into a uniform thickness. Sugaree's mast will be 43' off of the water.

Sugaree readies for spring sailing

After a prolonged face-lift (hull painting and sanding/ varnishing) Sugaree awaits her masts. We have her cosmetics almost finished. Jeff is dividing his time on weekends between the Zodiac and our sailboat. Sundays are "mast days". Tomorrow he marks, lays out and cuts the scarf joints for the main mast. The mizzen mast is in mid-varnishing. Our goal: to have her rigged and sail ready by April in order to relocate to Whidbey Island.