...it looks like I'll be back next week. I've decided that laptop salespeople, and those responsible for sorting out my home connection, rank almost level with telemarketers on my personal annoyance scale. But that's another story. (And it's not really worth hearing anyway, unless you're researching creative new swear words.)

I've made good use of the time off between jobs, though. For the last week I've had my boat on a work berth in our local marina and I've done more work on it than in the last two years. It looks gooooood. Today I took out the carpet, which I'll replace, and spent seven hours painting, in the forward cabin. I've been putting off doing the forward cabin ever since I bought the boat -- I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping I'd win some sort of "get professionals to fix your boat FREE!" competition and not have to take on this enormous job myself.

If you've seen the photos of my boat on my web site, you'll notice the interior shot has the door to this area closed and there are no photos of it. That *wasn't* a coincidence. I'll just say this: lime green, blue and purple tartan upholstery fabric. Glued to the walls and ceiling with non-removable 30-year-old glue. Lined with rotten, mildewed foam padding, also coated with non-removable 30-year-old glue. Never, never, never, never, never buy a boat previously owned by hippies. :-)

It took me two days to get rid of enough cloth, foam and glue that I could paint the walls and ceiling gloss white. It doesn't exactly look like a factory job, since there is still quite a bit of painted-over foam which gives the general impression that my boat is made of fungus, but it's an improvement.

While the boat was at the marina I also had the engine overhauled by a *gasp* qualified guy who knew what he was doing. Believe it or not, the temperamental little beast now starts *when you turn the key* ... that'll teach all my brand-new-powerboat-owning friends to compare my beloved darling to the Millennium Falcon. The starting procedure (on the occasions it DID start) used to be: Remove cover from engine, one hand turning the key, other arm stuck behind the engine holding down the decompression lever, friend working throttle back and forth in cockpit until engine makes a happy sound, let go of decompression lever and whip arm out of engine before massive injury results. This new system (turn key, point boat in direction of travel, and leave) is much better.

I also found out, once again, that this engine is at the sad age where he's far too old to be any good, but still not old enough to be considered a "classic" and viewed with awed admiration. I'm getting used to mechanics saying incredulously "You've got a WHAT?" shortly before collapsing on the floor laughing. Grr. If God had wanted us to have engines with more than one cylinder, he wouldn't have invented the Coastguard to tow you home every time you break down. Or sails, for that matter. :-)

So, anyway, I've had a pretty good week. It's only rained a couple of days and the rest of the time it was still like midsummer. There was a blue heron on the end of the marina pontoon yesterday, and an enormous porae (that's a kind of fish) swimming around under the boat today. There's something so wonderful about taking something old and cruddy and making it look good again, maybe even better than it was originally. (Howard will know all about that, with his motorscooter restorations.) Best of all, I got to do all this during the week when most people are stuck in offices. :-) :-) :-)

Brunnen-"always anthropomorphisize your machinery, it makes it work better"G