HURRICANE EARL

A note to my blog readers:

I'll be busy the next few days getting the blog up to date, but didn't want to keep you in suspense about this hurricane. We are tied up at the docks in Manteo, ready to weather it.

What we've done:
--Doubled up all our dock lines
--Removed the jib
--Secured the staysail and main
--Removed the bimini
--Secured the dinghy on the davits
--Dropped two 5-gallon buckets on each side to arrest rocking motion (a new theory we've never tried before. Stay tuned.)

What we'll do tonight during the storm:
--Stay onboard and adjust to changing wind and water levels
--Monitor Channel 9 with all our dockmates in case anyone needs assistance
--Keep an hourly log that will eventually show up here.
--Play cribbage.
--Not sleep much!

What we didn't do:
--Remove the staysail
--Remove the main
--Haul out
These decisions will be evaluated here after the storm.

All told, it's nice to weather our first hurricane in familiar waters with friends all around.

God speed, Earl.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Manteo, NC -- We're feeling a bit wistful on returning to an empty beach. Our kids, Casey and Dylan (and Brett!), left for college while we were in New Mexico. We had hoped to be here to send them off. Instead, once we get things situated here, we'll be heading west again, this time to Asheville and Boone.

In the meantime, we're hard at the last-minute preparations for our watery departure, the one that has now been delayed by at least three weeks.

The big items on our short TO DO list:

--Order the Tufted Topper for our bed
--Get solar panels and install them
--Buy and install electronic navigation equipment
--Fix the water filter
--Sort out my folding bike

For that first item, we had to cut a pattern in the shape of our mattress. That sounds easy, right? Few things associated with boats are easy. Since there's no space big enough to lay the mattress out on the boat, we had to get it off the boat and onto the dock. Fortunately we were able to manage this without dunking either the mattress or ourselves, although not without making ourselves look silly. The pattern is now wending its way to get us a poofy pad to soften our sleep. So long aching shoulder!

Our work was done in time to avoid this:

ONE LESS TO DO? BOO HOO.

We fix, we polish, we stow, we order parts, we tilt away at a very long TO DO list that looks like this:

--Fix the water filter

--Get the dinghy motor working

--Fix the hand pump

--Organize the cockpit lockers

--Get the stereo working with the iPod

--Order the grill

--Service the air conditioner
--Clean out the bilge
--Get a P.O. box

--Research electronics

--Sell cars...

You get the idea. We're always anxious to scratch something off the list.

We ordered a fantabulous, all stainless Galleymate grill with visions of T-bones in Manteo, mahi-mahi in Hopetown dancing in our heads -- and marking "order the grill" off our list.

The grill arrived last week while we were at the boatyard. Our anticipation was so great, we had already bought the first meal to cook on it. Alas, it looked like this:

Boo.

Boo hoo.

Remove "order the grill" from the list. Add:
--Box up grill and take to UPS
--Wait for new grill to arrive

[Insert your own trite phrase about forward progress here.]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BLOG!

One year ago today, I launched this blog, all wide-eyed and excited about our impending adventure. That first post had a very short to-do list that went like this:

1. Sell the wine shop
2. Sell the house
3. Sell the current boat
4. Buy our cruising boat.

If close doesn't count, we've only accomplished item number 2 -- and that one still has a few days until completion. Of course, on July 19th, we couldn't know there was a looming economic "downturn" that was more like a free fall. And so we sat, many, many months waiting for items 1, 2 and 3 to sell.

On the other hand, we weren't really sitting around. No. No sitting.


CLOTHING: We've pared down our clothing and shoes to a bare minimum (or would that be un-bare?). I made it through the winter with only two pairs of closed-toe shoes; both pairs were brown. All my winter clothes were black. Ah, well. Brown and black are fine together. Just ask a Doberman. This week, we've been at it again. That picture on the left is my measuring cup. I have to keep ditching things until it all fits in there -- including shoes.

HOUSE: All along, we've hoped the house would sell first. It's the only thing that has been costing us money. After the house closes next week, our living expenses will be cut by more than half, which will help us boost the cruising kitty. We can hardly wait to walk away from mortgage insurance, property tax, all the bureaucracy associated with home ownership. This house has served us well, but we're so ready to move on.

FURNITURE: A couple of garage sales last fall divested us of all the furniture that we were not still sitting or sleeping on. This week we're using craigslist to disappear all but the love seat, the purple chair and our bed. Just last night, a woman picked up our coffee tables, bedside tables, two lamps, some small shelves and a folding chair. She left us a nice slim $100 bill that's already been packed.

JUNK: This might have been the hardest category, getting rid of old files, keepsakes, silly things like a blowup wine bottle, a basketball goal and green Doc Martens. Almost everything has been redistributed around the planet via eBay, garage sales or charity. A set of my jewelry went to Austria! The last treasures are still being claimed one-by-one on Facebook. After a year of pondering, I've decided to send my grandmother's nest to my little sister in New Mexico.


OLD BOAT: We are firm believers in boat karma, and boy have we been investing. When this blog started, Isabella was in rough shape. She needed eletrical work, engine work, exterior teak refinishing, interior bulkhead refinishing, screen frames finished, ...... Now, a year later, we're on the final project: painting the decks. She looks fabulous and is ready to sail away with a new owner. We've had two people look at her in the last week. We'll be moving her to her new temporary home around the corner soon.

NEW BOAT: After months of reading, shopping and pondering, we've narrowed down our choice to one of three Island Packets: 35', 37' or 380. Once we sell the business, we'll sell one car and take off on a road trip to find our new boat.

One year ago, we thought we were close to cruising. Now we know we are!

UPDATE:
--Prepped and painted the front half of the cabin deck. The back half is prepped and taped.
--We continue to move stuff out the door.

GRADING OUR WORK

I read the beginning of my blog yesterday. It has a very short TO DO LIST:

1. Sell the wine shop
2. Sell the house
3. Sell the current boat
4. Buy our cruising boat

That list written on July 19, 2008, looks remarkably similar to today's TO DO LIST! I have procrastination tendencies, but at face value, a four-item list and eight months to accomplish it?

Of course, those four items are just the titles of very long to-do lists containing hundreds of items. On those lists, we're not doing so badly. Last July seems like five years ago if measured in what we've accomplished, and for my own enjoyment, I think I'll hit the highlights.

We went through all the steps necessary to put our business on the market, and when the listing expired this month, we went the extra step of understanding the details and numbers well enough to speak intelligently about them. Our guerilla marketing plans go into effect next month.

The house looks awesome. We now have three empty bedrooms. The living room, kitchen and master bedroom are staged to look like a model home. We sorted, preened, pruned, tossed, resorted, sold and gave away enough stuff to fill several houses. The CDs were all uploaded to the iPod and sold in a garage sale. The books were sold on amazon.com or donated to the library. We sold everything from a desk chair to a pocketwatch on Ebay. We're now lean and ready to move on out as soon as someone else wants to move in.

Isabella, the boat we're selling, looks beautiful. I refinished the toe rails in the blistering heat of August (what was I thinking?), and we've got almost all the exterior wood looking great. The canvas needs two more zipper pulls, which arrived in the mail today. The bulkhead is refinished, the engine starts effortlessly, the hand pumps work, the electrical wiring issues are solved. She even has her own web site and is advertised on Craigslist.

We've shopped extensively, electronically and in person, for our cruising boat. Once we've sold two of the three things mentioned above, we're ready to buy an Island Packet. The good news is that in the intervening months, the prices have dropped almost 40%. That might make up for the fact that our house has also dropped in value -- just not 50%!

When I look at lists like this one, I'm ecstatic that all but two or three of them are DONE.

Since we can't measure how close we are to our goal, we can at least measure what we've done to prepare. Could we have done more? Maybe. Would it have made any difference? We don't know. All I can do is say, "Well done," and start on tomorrow's list.

TWO STEPS BACK

I spent two hours in my office yesterday, clearing, tossing, reading. the desk -- with 9 drawers -- is now empty. The 13-year-old file box is empty.

But the room is a total wreck.

That's been happening a lot lately. I focus on one small area at a time. For instance, one day was for clearing the coat closet. Several things went to charity, one went to the kids, but two leather jackets are now hanging on the stair rail awaiting a photo shoot, so I can sell them on Ebay. Progress? I guess so. Take CLEAR COAT CLOSET off the list; add TAKE PHOTOS OF COATS and SELL COATS ON EBAY. Sigh

One thing off the list, two back on. Sigh.

It's a balancing act between getting rid of everything while trying to keep the house looking good to put on the market. Coats on the stair rail? Not so good. An office that's in total disarray? Bad. Maybe we can put a big sign on the front door that says WORK IN PROGRESS. Um, no. Or maybe one that says, "See something you like? PLEASE take it."

The TO DO list is something like this:

--sort through remaining junk in office
--look through jewelry and decide what has to go -- and where
--go through box of old, old photos and dispatch (halfway done)
--get four trays of slides from my childhood put on CD
--take load of books to library DONE!!
--sell wine racks (after drinking the wine!)
--clean and sort the downstairs workroom
--find a home for several boxes of old VHS movies
--figure out what to do with Chip's vinyl
--sort through the den closet
--deal with photos and photo albums from the last 10 years
--find homes/sell music instruments (cello, acoustic guitar, kunga, keyboard, etc.)
--get rid of CDs after putting them on iPod (partially done)
--is there anything in the attic? god, I hope not.
--paint the kids' bathroom
--touch up bedroom paint
--fix hole in sheetrock in downstairs bedroom (that's a good story for another day)
--clear out linen closet/decide what to keep
--go through bureau in living room. deal with the junk we find there
--mail books to the owners we borrowed them from
--don't end items with a preposition
--return yoga videos to friend in California
--mail shadow box of my dad's military memorabilia to my sister in New Mexico
--give gardening books to a friend who gardens DONE!!!
--decide what cookbooks we want on the boat and give away the rest
--evaluate what we need to add/subtract/spruce up to sell the house
--power wash the front porch DONE!!!!
--take pictures of stereo and sell on Ebay
--stop blogging and get something off the list

TODAY'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
--gave gardening books to one of our customers
--scrubbed down the front porch
--bid on stanchion caps on Ebay (it's a boat thing)
--found boxes (sort of) to ship chair I sold on Ebay
--dropped off books we're donating to library
--gave journalism books to high school
--got boat insurance quotes

IT'S QUANTITY, BABY

There's not any one thing about shoving off that's difficult. It's just the volume of the not-so-difficult things that gets overwhelming.

Of course, selling the business, selling the house, selling the boat and buying a boat are extra large and each has its own associated, very long TO DO list, but then there's the life onboard list:

--figure out how to get web connection on the boat
--find the best cell phone option
--learn single side band lingo and get license
--decide where to keep state residency for tax purposes
--figure out that whole mail thing -- where to forward it, what is necessary
--kitchen supplies: what do we have to have
--clothing: how much and what
--electronics: what's critical; what's luxury; what's outdated
--music: start loading up the ipod; get rid of cds; get a dock with speakers that can withstand marine environment
--computers: how many? waterproof cases. backing up.
--camera: how many? still and video? cost.
--ditch bag
--buy a dinghy/life raft
--build a first aid kit
--hone down/build up the onboard library
--tools: what do we need; get them
--backup equipment: need extras of just about everything onboard
--provisioning: what do we want on hand when we shove off
--get eating utensils made: have wooden bowls and plates made
--take navigation class (yeah)
--research, try on and then purchase foul weather gear
--go to various doctors for physicals, eye checks, getting-old exams, skin protection, etc.
--keep a list of things to do.

And that's just off the top of my head.

GOING OFF THE GRID

Today we planted dwarf Yaupon hollies in the backyard. What the heck does that have to do with cruising on a sailboat?

At the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout argue about when their story started. It's a valid argument. Does any story have a beginning?

Maybe mine started in the '60s when I first played Swiss Family Robinson in the willow tree behind our house in landlocked New Mexico. Maybe it started when I met Chip who already owned a sailboat and shared the dream of cruising. Maybe it doesn't start until we throw the lines and hit the open water.

Either way, my official log begins today. Those hollies are meant to make the house more attractive to a potential buyer. To realize our dream, we must tick off some very large items at the beginning of our TO DO list:

1. Sell the wine shop
2. Sell the house
3. Sell the current boat
4. Buy our cruising boat.

The true adventure might not start until we reach open water, but the real work of getting onboard starts months, years before. It might not make the most interesting reading, so I log it for my own use. If you're visiting from the future, you might want to skip ahead to the really great stuff later on. If you think of it, drop me a note, so I know what to look forward to.

In the meantime, I'll be getting ready to make that future adventure happen: giving away my clothes; selling my car; buying wooden dishes; finding the right home for my precious belongings; liquidating a life.