Sunday, November 9, 2014 Vero Beach, FL It is so very quiet aboard the boat this morning. I had awakened at 0400 after having gone to bed around 2100 last night, so the early hour made sense as I clearly had slept as much as I was going to. Now, when I say it was quiet on the boat I’m not saying it was silent. There are faint crackling sounds from beneath the vessel’s hull which I suspect are shrimp or some other crustacean. Every so often the compressor for the fridge kicks on for a few minutes adding its sibilant sound to the crustacean’s micro castanets and the muted ticking of the brass ship’s clock adds it’s metronomic to the song. Occasionally, the splatter plop of falling condensate hitting the deck interposes a random pulse. Like I said, it’s quiet aboard the boat this morning. This past Friday I had caught bus to the mall thinking it would be nice to have breakfast at Bob Evens restaurant and then take in a movie. I ordered a stack of whole grain blueberry pancakes topped with bananas and pecans, washed down with a glass of chilled orange juice. Once breakfast was over and the bill paid I walked across the parking lot to Best Buy to check out their laptop computers. My old laptop is literally falling apart, and while this notebook is marginally adequate to handle most stuff I do, it is difficult for me to see things on the screen as it is so small. Oh the challenges of growing old. At any rate, there wasn’t anything in the computer department that I could afford at this time so I wandered over to the TV section. Some of the new screens are so clear that I was amazed. Of course, having a TV aboard Kittiwake would be nice, I’m not sure it would be all that practical as I think of the power requirements something like that would need. I think I’ll stick with books for now. As it was getting close to show time at the theater I ambled across the parking lot towards Macys. Entering the store I looked at a few shirts but failed to see anything that really grabbed my attention so I kept walking. The movie I was looking forward to seeing was Interstellar. I purchased a ticket for the 1100 show and found a seat to my liking about seven rows back. I like to sit up close so that screen size almost extends to my peripheral vision limit. For me that enhances the experience as my brain gets tricked into experiencing a sense of physical motion when I eliminate as much of the non-movie visual distractions such as the edges of the movie screen and curtains. Interstellar is well worth the price of admission. Visually the film is an award winner for sure. The story explores selfless personal sacrifice as opposed to survival instincts in a viscerally troubling manner. The acting was superb and the story well crafted. At two and a half hours I’d suggest you make a head call before you go in, or at least sit on the aisle so you don’t have to stumble over folks as you dash to the bathroom because you really have to go. Saturday I made a run to the market to pick up a few items to carry me through the rest of the weekend. Some milk, bread, fruit, and a roasted chicken didn’t take long so I was back to the marina in just under an hour. The sky was beginning to indicate its desire to rain on my parade so I got busy adding a bit of sealant to the hatch in the solon. It had begun to leak again so I got out an old tube of sealant and smeared some over the areas which I determined were culpable. When I get to Texas I’ll remove this hatch again and re-bed the whole thing. When the rain came the hatch didn’t leak, which I thought was a good sign, however I detected another leak from a port light. If I get a break in the weather on Sunday, I’ll address that problem with some Captain Tully’s Creeping Crack Cure. Don’t you just love that name? In the mean time I put a plastic tumbler beneath the leak to catch the drips. Not an elegant solution, but it will do in the interim. Later that evening I went topside to sit and enjoy a break in the weather. My cat, Gandalf, joined me as I sat enjoying a cigar and watching the harbor in the fading light. I kept an eye on the cat as he prowled about the cockpit not wanting him to escape to the dock where I would have to chase him down. Kitty did well for a while sniffing about the cockpit and chattering at the occasional seabird flying by. However when he began to act as if he about to leave the confines of the cockpit, I ordered him below. “Gandalf, go below,” I ordered. With an irritated meow the cat obediently headed down the companion way ladder. I soon followed. The weatherman is predicting rain throughout the day and in as much as it is raining right now I’m thinking he has the right of it. My tea mug needs refilling and a book needs reading so that is it for now. Thanks for joining me this morning. This is Captain John aboard the sailing vessel Kittiwake, wishing you fair winds.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:26:58 +0000
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