click on the small pictures to enlarge
Nov. 20th, 2005. Just saw something that looked a little strange - a reminder not to park your boat at high tide in a shallow area.
Boat update. Friday we stopped at the riggers shop and the boom was being assembled. All the stainless brightwork had been polished and a material added to it so it would be isolated from the aluminum boom. All new reefing lines and outhaul line were being installed. The boom received 6 coats of paint. The mast was to be painted one more time for a total of 7 coats. We also stopped by the fiberglass shop and saw that the 3rd layer of glass had been added to the hull and sanding had been started. A weekend crew had been added so the barrier coat could be applied. I don't know the process other than I was told that it would take two days and once the process started it had to continue until done. So that is why the weekend crew. We are scheduled to be put back in the water a week from this coming Tuesday (finally).
We drove to Annapolis today and bought the ICOM 802 SSB transceiver and the Fortress FX-55 anchor (a surprise Christmas present for Jim). The ICOM 802 will replace a SSB that we already had and it will allow communications around the world on Marine and Ham frequencies. The additional anchor is one that will be stowed away and used as a storm anchor if needed. It is 2 sizes over for our boat and will allow for the additional holding that a severe storm might require. We plan to call the new anchor, "Henry".
Nancy's folks are coming for a visit in about 10 days, so we have a tour schedule set up for them that includes the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, an elevator ride to the top of the Washington Monument, a trip to the Smithsonian for the first lady exhibit and to see the Hope diamond, dinner at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town (George Washington reviewed his troops from here, it is still in its original building), Naval Academy, Solomon's Island, Holocaust museum and many other things too numerous to mention. This will be fun. And I get to drive through all this traffic to get to those places. Oh, what we do. Some of the places that we mentioned are next to impossible to get into (long lines, not enough time in the day), but Nancy was able to get tickets for scheduled times and all we have to do is walk to the front of the line and present our tickets :-) We did get an invitation to the Kennedy Center Honors, but we won't be going. We could only get 2 tickets with the invitation and Nancy's folks make 4. We told them that they could go and we would meet them later, but they declined. Ticket price?? From $25,000.00 (4 person box) to $300.00 (third level, way back). Normal tickets cost about $3000.00 each. It is interesting that you have to receive an invitation before you can buy the tickets (need to know the right people and/or not take "no" for an answer).
Nov. 13th, 2005. Yesterday we went into the city (locals call Washington D.C. that) and dropped some things off at Nancy's office and then went to Mt. Vernon which is located south of the city along the Potomac River in Virginia. Wonderful autumn drive. George Washington thought of himself as a farmer, so the decor of the mansion is ornate with motifs of forks, scythes and other farm equipment. The information plaques were quite open about the fact that the farm had "free" and "slaved" workers. In the "learned something new" department, the mansion was built of wood, not stone. The wood was cut and beveled to the size of a stone, then varnished and painted with several layers of mixed sand and paint to resemble stone. So George and Martha lived in a faux stone house.
The tomb of our first President and his family was interesting. Located on the side of a knoll that was selected by the President. It was built several years after his death and completed as he had requested in his will.
Nov. 11th, 2005, Its a beautiful fall day. Last weekend we took our official Chesapeake fall foliage driving tour. It was wonderful. Colors all over the place.
Today we went to Annapolis and did a mini tour of downtown. We found the home of the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. The home later became a "Room and Board". Alexander Hamilton and James Madison also stayed there. It is now the Annapolis Visitors Center.
Nancy pulled off a great coupe. There are a maximum of 2800 tickets given out to the public for the White House Christmas tree lighting. Well, out of the millions of people living in the metro area who want to attend, Nancy got 4 tickets. So, on December 1st, we will be at the White House with the President and Mrs. Bush, watching the lighting of the National Christmas tree. If you are watching it on T.V. look for us in the crowd.
Another great coupe. On Dec. 5th, We will be at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis having dinner and watching Aaron Neville. Only 110 tickets are available for this semi private concert and we got 4 tickets.
Stopped by the Marina today and the boat is inside getting its bottom finished. We will end up with a total of 4 new fiberglass layers put on. The guys in the shop are laughing and calling Solitaire an ice breaker. I like a good solid hull. We also stopped by the rigging shop and caught Steve (the rigger) just stepping into the paint booth to start painting our mast. He took his spray mask off and gave Nancy a tour of our mast, what has been done and what will be done next. What surprised me is that he is putting on 4 coats of zinc chromate before the regular paint.
That's all the excitement for now.
Nov. 4th, 2005 I went to the Marina and visited "Solitaire" today. The final sanding is done; now it will go inside to have the new bottom put on. The bottom will consist of 2 layers of woven diagonal glass mat, a poly barrier coat and bottom paint.
Also today, the owner of the wood shop and I did a survey of what is to be accomplished. We are going to put in a pantry where we now have 4 drawers. This will increase storage space about 80 %. Also 4 cabinets will be added to the forepeak. Two across the forward bulkhead (the anchor locker) and one on each side of the forward portion of the forepeak next to the forward bulkhead. We will fix the trim where the old, old T.V. was placed and we'll cut a big hole at the navigation station to hold the Raymarine E80 (radar, chart plotter, video combo screen).
Next, the rigger and I discussed the mast and boom. The mast will be acid washed, zinc chromated and then painted with Oyster (light beige) All-grip paint. The mast stripping has been done outside and now the mast is inside to protect it until it has been painted.
Weather here has been great. The fall colors are coming in all their glory - pretty to look at. There are a lot of trees here and I am glad I don't have to rake the lawn.