Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
and off we go.
after practically sitting in place at regatta point for about two months, we were starting to get antsy about cruising again. we sat because it was HOT and it was nice to be plugged in with the A/C running. we sat because there were things to do. tom drove up to new england to see his kids before driving down to orlando to drop off my car with my brother so that we would have a car when we got to florida. we also emptied out our 10 x 12 storage unit - that certainly was liberating! we ruthlessly got rid of stuff. my keepers went to my brother's house. tom's keepers are currently up on the flying bridge on their way to his brother's in oxford. and, in the meantime, there was regular work for me and projects for tom. we were busy. aurora grew tall with long legs and while tom was away, i worked with her - relentlessly - she is better now, i.e. terrorized into submission. basic dog training, as far as i am concerned, is that the worst thing that could possibly happen in a puppy's life is for mommy to be mad. that is the end-all and the be-all: "at all cost, do not make mommy mad!" we are getting there. honestly, i do not understand why this is so hard, but then she is daddy's girl and after ten years, tom still has lapses, not to mention that i did not get him as a puppy!
we had planned a trip out to tangier island to see milton but that got canceled when CJ's dad ended up in the hospital and we had to babysit her. the girls did get a lot of play time in for five days before we finally sent CJ to her mom who was camping out in richmond. i'd say that poor little puppy had about reached her limit of being without her people.
we hauled out last friday and because we had sat for so long, we had barnacles in the running gear so those got scraped off and bottom paint touched up and put in some hull waxing time as well - just a short haul - and then back afloat. tom watched the weather very carefully - we had sustained high winds for over a week. we left today because it was one of those deals where you get beat up now and then you might be okay or wait and find out you left too late and then get beat up even worse. the original plan had been solomons for a night and then oxford to drop off tom's stuff at henry's but that got changed to a straight shot to oxford instead - a very L-O-N-G cruising day - 12 hours! from there, it's off to mill creek in annapolis, doing our usual overstay at john and heidi's - they are such good and patient friends! more weather is coming in later in the week and we want to be settled in annapolis for the boat show and the ten million other things that need to be done before that happens. at least this time we don't have a wedding to attend on top of everything else. we are fortunate in that we do not have to battle it out with other cruisers for an anchorage spot at spa creek - thank you again, john and heidi!
tom went to bed early last night because we were supposed to leave at first light. not me - i watched the supermoon lunar eclipse along with the other luna-tics. the mega-hemorrhage blood moon was fabulous! and then it was up at o'dark early to get going.
it was initially rough when we started out - a lot of banging and crashing and poor aurora puked (and pooped) sigh... apparently, she does not have consuelo's cast-iron stomach (yet). i'm glad that i did not feed her this morning or the cleanup would have been worse. things settled a bit once we crossed the MD/VA border and then turned downright pleasant after we crossed the mouth of the potomac river. with the humidity dropping off nicely. later, the wind picked up but it never got nasty again. still, it was a long day - 11 hours underway. an hour got bumped off from the predicted 12 hours with the help of the current. aurora slept most of the way until we got deep into the choptank river, at which point she was full of beans so i had to quit working and play with her.
tom's brother, henry, was waiting for us with a slip at the hinckley yard in oxford and helped us tie up after which we all went for a walk to stretch our legs. it is nice to be secured and plugged in with the A/C on and doing laundry as that puke had been sitting in the washer for a while! TADHANA got a nice little rinse because she was very salty. tomorrow morning, we will unload all of the stuff that is up on the bridge and bring them over to henry's for safekeeping. thank you, henry!
so... what are the plans? well, tom has to work the sailboat show and we have to see our friends. after that, we head down to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous and then co-lead the 2015 SAIL rally down the ICW with mark and diana doyle. yes, we are doing it again good grief...
we had planned a trip out to tangier island to see milton but that got canceled when CJ's dad ended up in the hospital and we had to babysit her. the girls did get a lot of play time in for five days before we finally sent CJ to her mom who was camping out in richmond. i'd say that poor little puppy had about reached her limit of being without her people.
we hauled out last friday and because we had sat for so long, we had barnacles in the running gear so those got scraped off and bottom paint touched up and put in some hull waxing time as well - just a short haul - and then back afloat. tom watched the weather very carefully - we had sustained high winds for over a week. we left today because it was one of those deals where you get beat up now and then you might be okay or wait and find out you left too late and then get beat up even worse. the original plan had been solomons for a night and then oxford to drop off tom's stuff at henry's but that got changed to a straight shot to oxford instead - a very L-O-N-G cruising day - 12 hours! from there, it's off to mill creek in annapolis, doing our usual overstay at john and heidi's - they are such good and patient friends! more weather is coming in later in the week and we want to be settled in annapolis for the boat show and the ten million other things that need to be done before that happens. at least this time we don't have a wedding to attend on top of everything else. we are fortunate in that we do not have to battle it out with other cruisers for an anchorage spot at spa creek - thank you again, john and heidi!
tom went to bed early last night because we were supposed to leave at first light. not me - i watched the supermoon lunar eclipse along with the other luna-tics. the mega-hemorrhage blood moon was fabulous! and then it was up at o'dark early to get going.
it was initially rough when we started out - a lot of banging and crashing and poor aurora puked (and pooped) sigh... apparently, she does not have consuelo's cast-iron stomach (yet). i'm glad that i did not feed her this morning or the cleanup would have been worse. things settled a bit once we crossed the MD/VA border and then turned downright pleasant after we crossed the mouth of the potomac river. with the humidity dropping off nicely. later, the wind picked up but it never got nasty again. still, it was a long day - 11 hours underway. an hour got bumped off from the predicted 12 hours with the help of the current. aurora slept most of the way until we got deep into the choptank river, at which point she was full of beans so i had to quit working and play with her.
tom's brother, henry, was waiting for us with a slip at the hinckley yard in oxford and helped us tie up after which we all went for a walk to stretch our legs. it is nice to be secured and plugged in with the A/C on and doing laundry as that puke had been sitting in the washer for a while! TADHANA got a nice little rinse because she was very salty. tomorrow morning, we will unload all of the stuff that is up on the bridge and bring them over to henry's for safekeeping. thank you, henry!
so... what are the plans? well, tom has to work the sailboat show and we have to see our friends. after that, we head down to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous and then co-lead the 2015 SAIL rally down the ICW with mark and diana doyle. yes, we are doing it again good grief...
 |
| and off we go once more into the sunrise |
Thursday, September 24, 2015
proptalk magazine, october 2015
proptalk magazine, october 2015, p. 44
icw cruising and the slow pass
others: tom's magazine articles
icw cruising and the slow pass
others: tom's magazine articles
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
chesapeake bay magazine, september 2015.
tom has two articles in this issue:
phoning it in
the swedish connection
for others by tom, please go to this link:
tom's magazine articles
phoning it in
the swedish connection
for others by tom, please go to this link:
tom's magazine articles
Friday, August 14, 2015
more from tom, proptalk magazine, september 2015
the long cruise: last minute preparation for casting off
see the bay: solomons
here is the link to a list of tom's scribblings:
tadhana blog: tom's magazine articles
Sunday, July 26, 2015
blogging, or lack thereof.
yes, i have been remiss - no real excuse other than the usual - too busy, too lazy, no inspiration, other than trying to keep up with posting tom's writings. well, let me try getting caught up then....
it seems that i pretty much missed the whole month of june and most of july. notable for june was a lot of social butterflying. friends from norfolk, norman and betsy mason and long-legged hound, peggy sue, arrived for the monk rendezvous at regatta point and uncle norman got to see a "bigger" aurora. we went to cape charles to see the tall ships and even got to see ALL of them under sail on our way back to deltaville - it was quite a sight!
we went to st. mary's to meet up with tom's son and daughter-in-law and we got to see tommy and marie armstrong at their home on the little wicomico river. aurora played and played with the armstrong's 2-year-old brittany spaniel, suzie, and please don't ask me about the baby rabbit - i will forever be traumatized by the squeak and am just thankful that it was not aurora who caused it! friends from the 2014 SAIL rally, steve and patti beringer, and little darla, their bichon frise, came to visit on their way driving south to their new home on the west coast of FL. aurora had many play dates with her buddy, CJ, that did NOT involve baby rabbits. she also got her last set of puppy shots and is now on annual checkups instead of every three weeks. despite the fact that she barely eats, sometimes only every other day, she is, apparently, a healthy shiny puppy, albeit a little gangly, like her legs are growing too fast for the rest of her.
we spent the Fourth at smith island, meeting up again with norman and betsy, and had a crabfeast together with another couple from HHN who were staying at the smith island marina with us. we hauled out for the fourth time to change the propeller yet again and then left to cruise the middle and northern chesapeake to visit with friends, mike and carmen nemeth, at queenstown, as well as john and heidi menocal on mill creek in annapolis. we went up as far as chesapeake city on the C&D canal before heading back south, stopping by fairlee creek before hitting annapolis again. we also visited tom's brother in oxford. we are currently at little bay, just chilling out before going to kilmarnock for an MTOA rendezvous and then, finally, back to regatta point to sit for a while. phew... quite frankly, i don't have any violent objections to sitting for a while.... some days it has been extremely hot and between job work, housework and aurora, and all of this going on in a different place every time with the plans changing constantly, i simply have run out of steam.
i think it would help considerably if i didn't have to work for a living although i suppose i really can't complain. my job allows me to cruise and i am only limited by internet connection. it would probably help, too, if i weren't so anal about keeping things clean, but well, i am what i am - and i have standards. as it is, i just can't seem to keep up with it like i used to and it depresses me when i sometimes just have to let it go. and aurora...
well, aurora... she is NOT consuelo, that's for sure. things are taking a little longer than i had hoped and expected. all puppies are cute but beagle puppies, i think, are the cutest. and then reality sets in. it's hard not to compare even though there SHOULD BE NO comparison. it might even be easier to blame tom for what i think are aurora's shortcomings because i have never had to "share" a dog before. as a puppy, consuelo was not easy because she was extremely bright and very sensitive. i guided her with an iron hand and she shaped up to be exceptional, considering that beagles are difficult to control to begin with. and 14 years ago, i was also younger, not as busy, not as tired, and probably a lot more patient - you get the picture. the bottom line is that i haven't really found a way to communicate with aurora the way i did with consuelo and it rankles. the frustration makes me miss consuelo even more. i miss the silent communication and understanding that we had. yes, objectively, i know that aurora is still a puppy and that these things take time - something that i seem to not have anymore. everything is different. i live on a boat. we are not in the same place every time. things are always changing and the little puppy is bound to be confused, i suppose. my lack of patience doesn't help - i was never the most patient person to begin with and it gets worse as i grow older. oftentimes, i just lose interest and that, i know, is a terrible thing to say! but sometimes, late at night, when everyone is asleep and all is quiet and i am not: 1) working or 2) cleaning something, i just sit in the dark and try to assess. the things that used to be simple no longer are. or is that i am making simple things too complicated? i don't know. having to say that - i don't know - where my dogs are concerned - that is a new one for me and it is hard to swallow. i always used to say that i am crippled without a dog and i guess that maybe that is what it is - i don't have the dog that makes me "whole" - not yet anyway. am i expecting too much? probably - because making me "whole" is not
aurora's job.
and i will probably regret publishing this blog entry.
it seems that i pretty much missed the whole month of june and most of july. notable for june was a lot of social butterflying. friends from norfolk, norman and betsy mason and long-legged hound, peggy sue, arrived for the monk rendezvous at regatta point and uncle norman got to see a "bigger" aurora. we went to cape charles to see the tall ships and even got to see ALL of them under sail on our way back to deltaville - it was quite a sight!
we went to st. mary's to meet up with tom's son and daughter-in-law and we got to see tommy and marie armstrong at their home on the little wicomico river. aurora played and played with the armstrong's 2-year-old brittany spaniel, suzie, and please don't ask me about the baby rabbit - i will forever be traumatized by the squeak and am just thankful that it was not aurora who caused it! friends from the 2014 SAIL rally, steve and patti beringer, and little darla, their bichon frise, came to visit on their way driving south to their new home on the west coast of FL. aurora had many play dates with her buddy, CJ, that did NOT involve baby rabbits. she also got her last set of puppy shots and is now on annual checkups instead of every three weeks. despite the fact that she barely eats, sometimes only every other day, she is, apparently, a healthy shiny puppy, albeit a little gangly, like her legs are growing too fast for the rest of her.
we spent the Fourth at smith island, meeting up again with norman and betsy, and had a crabfeast together with another couple from HHN who were staying at the smith island marina with us. we hauled out for the fourth time to change the propeller yet again and then left to cruise the middle and northern chesapeake to visit with friends, mike and carmen nemeth, at queenstown, as well as john and heidi menocal on mill creek in annapolis. we went up as far as chesapeake city on the C&D canal before heading back south, stopping by fairlee creek before hitting annapolis again. we also visited tom's brother in oxford. we are currently at little bay, just chilling out before going to kilmarnock for an MTOA rendezvous and then, finally, back to regatta point to sit for a while. phew... quite frankly, i don't have any violent objections to sitting for a while.... some days it has been extremely hot and between job work, housework and aurora, and all of this going on in a different place every time with the plans changing constantly, i simply have run out of steam.
i think it would help considerably if i didn't have to work for a living although i suppose i really can't complain. my job allows me to cruise and i am only limited by internet connection. it would probably help, too, if i weren't so anal about keeping things clean, but well, i am what i am - and i have standards. as it is, i just can't seem to keep up with it like i used to and it depresses me when i sometimes just have to let it go. and aurora...
well, aurora... she is NOT consuelo, that's for sure. things are taking a little longer than i had hoped and expected. all puppies are cute but beagle puppies, i think, are the cutest. and then reality sets in. it's hard not to compare even though there SHOULD BE NO comparison. it might even be easier to blame tom for what i think are aurora's shortcomings because i have never had to "share" a dog before. as a puppy, consuelo was not easy because she was extremely bright and very sensitive. i guided her with an iron hand and she shaped up to be exceptional, considering that beagles are difficult to control to begin with. and 14 years ago, i was also younger, not as busy, not as tired, and probably a lot more patient - you get the picture. the bottom line is that i haven't really found a way to communicate with aurora the way i did with consuelo and it rankles. the frustration makes me miss consuelo even more. i miss the silent communication and understanding that we had. yes, objectively, i know that aurora is still a puppy and that these things take time - something that i seem to not have anymore. everything is different. i live on a boat. we are not in the same place every time. things are always changing and the little puppy is bound to be confused, i suppose. my lack of patience doesn't help - i was never the most patient person to begin with and it gets worse as i grow older. oftentimes, i just lose interest and that, i know, is a terrible thing to say! but sometimes, late at night, when everyone is asleep and all is quiet and i am not: 1) working or 2) cleaning something, i just sit in the dark and try to assess. the things that used to be simple no longer are. or is that i am making simple things too complicated? i don't know. having to say that - i don't know - where my dogs are concerned - that is a new one for me and it is hard to swallow. i always used to say that i am crippled without a dog and i guess that maybe that is what it is - i don't have the dog that makes me "whole" - not yet anyway. am i expecting too much? probably - because making me "whole" is not
aurora's job.
and i will probably regret publishing this blog entry.
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