Michael’s been gone for 10 days now and we are doing just fine. Not that we don’t miss him terribly – he’s certainly a force whose absence is felt – but we have managed to keep our home in ship shape. I’ve continued with my ‘Pink’ jobs, like cooking, cleaning and homeschooling. But in addition, I’ve managed some soft ‘Blue’ jobs as well: Flushing the water maker (requires lying on the floor deep down into the engine room to flick the two levers that flush the watermaker filters so that bacteria doesn’t start growing when not in use), cleaning the anchor locker (which entails not just the cleaning, but also the movement of very HEAVY chain so that I could get the year-long accumulation of mud, sand and silt from under it), and changing the gas tanks on the BBQ and the main hook-up. I’ve been tightening the dock lines regularly, and getting up at night to check that all is okay when the wind is blowing strongly or I hear a strange noise. I’ve filled bike tires with air.
The kids have been a great help – true crew members. Harrison has helped me with things like putting together our folding bike and helping me with WD40 (the answer to almost all problems marine) to get a friend’s bike lock unstuck. Danielle helps me with everything else and keeps me laughing (and exercising).
It’s still a bit embarrassing when I don’t know the answers to questions like what kind of props we have or what kind of bottom paint we need or how much our hauling out will cost. But I’ll get over that once Michael’s back.
-Barb in La Paz
It seems that I am not needed as much on the boat these days though I do miss it and my family. Now that Barb has taken on more "blue" jobs, I look forward to putting my feet up more often and drinking margaritas throughout the day once I return. By the way, they are Gori folding props.
ReplyDeleteMichael -- in Boston
Careful that you don't take on all those blue chores(unless you trade off some of the pink chores that you dislike, like waxing your walls or cleaning toilets), otherwise you'll forget whether you're pink or blue. Better still, why not just be the manager and dictate the chores to the rest of the crew! I'm sure Michael would love that...
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