GroupWBench

We are settling into the new place. It isn’t quite as nice as we had thought it would be when we decided to live there, but it is certainly adequate for now. On the plus side, work is ten minutes away. I’m not spending close to three hours per day stuck in my car. My butt was starting to assume the shape of my car’s seat. Now I have time to work out a bit and drive off the incipient obesity that was threatening.

Another perk is that there is a very nice hiking/biking trail that runs right by our new place. Ivy has been walking four or five miles per day on it. I’ve even managed to start running on my wobbly ankle on it. The trail follows a dry creek bed for miles. I’ve ridden my bike at least six miles out in one direction without coming to the end and I know it goes at least four or five miles out in the other direction. The trail is isolated enough that for the most part you wouldn’t know you were inside of the San Antonio city limits.

Ivy noticed this at one of the places where the trail goes under a highway.

Texas – where everything bites, scratches, or stings. I suspect that the cactus really wants to reach up to the roadway and flatten a few tires.

We’ve resumed normal operations with the boat now that the move is over. Normal operations meaning we are working on another snowball project. We pulled all the headliner down. The leaks are fixed. Now we are going to have to refinish the wood guides for the companionway hatch before we can start putting things back together. The only way to pull the guides off is with the headliner off. At least that way we can make sure that all the through deck screws used there are properly bedded.

We have some regular preventive maintenance chores to do in addition to the projects. Ivy changed the oil on the engine last weekend. I gotta say that the little vacuum extractor pump for draining the oil out through the dipstick hole does a good job. The potential for mess is greatly reduced using it. We need to do a few other things and do some inspections to be sure nothing is in need of work, but the boat is in pretty good shape and ready for some lazy days sailing. I know we are ready for those lazy days. Fortunately, the Texas weather does a great job of giving us lots of warm days for hanging out on the lake.

We spent yesterday out at the lake helping a friend replace a jib halyard block at the top of the mast. Rock climbers are handy to know in the sailing community. Lots of people aren't comfortable hanging from a string forty feet above hard surfaces.

I did have a bad moment when some clown came ripping into the marina at full speed and set up a wake that had me bouncing off the mast as if I were the piñata. Boats with "Rent Me" printed on the side are to be avoided on the lake and watched carefully in the marina. Sheesh.