Ownership & Stewardship

Tuesday 10-4-16
Poop drama continues! I slept until almost 0900 this morning and Tim was up quite a bit earlier. He was chomping at the bit to get over to the pump out so we could find out anything else that may have transpired in this arena. Did I mention that the holding tank is under our bed? We had a crappy night’s sleep. The holding tank plumbing snakes from the toilet up into the cabinet where the head vent is and then another line snakes through the cabinet under the sink, through the wall, through another cabinet and another wall into the holding tank under our berth. From the holding tank to the outlet that we pump out is a pipe and vent pipe that goes from the tank under our berth through a wall into our dry hanging locker with all our nice clothes in it, finally arriving at the top of the deck.

All of this had to be checked for leaking, loose hose clamps of which there are about 12 or so on the whole system! (This is similar to trying to find out what is stinking up the refrigerator. It’s never pretty when you find it, but you're glad you did.) Enough of all that, after I downed my coffee, it was hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to pump we go! While I was drinking coffee, Tim completed the engine checks and started the engine. Once my coffee cup was empty, we headed out for the pump out, all before breakfast! We were at the pump out a long, long time! We arrived back in our slip an hour and a half later. Finally, breakfast. 

Now it was time to check all the other places that might have busted a seam in the poop system. That meant looking in the clothing locker…it was all good there, Tim had already found and tightened a hose clamp from the system when we did our very first pump out in Ballena Bay. If that was not done, we would have lost some of our nice clothes. 

I decided I had had enough of this sh*t and set about some other chores. First, putting all the groceries away from last night’s shopping expedition. Washing the dishes, drying them and putting them away, followed by the washing of the stovetop and counters. We started defrosting the freezer yesterday so we speed up the process by using a blow dryer to melt the ice so we could take it off in big chunks. We finished that and then we had to move all the food stuffs and such so it was set to go again. We are thankful to have a refrigeration system onboard, most boats this size do not. 

Next, it was time to tear apart the bed and check out the holding tank situation. To do this means all the bedding comes out into the main cabin, then the memory foam comes out into the cabin, finally the upholstered pieces that constitute the original mattress. Now I could open the storage space to look into it. Yes, there is storage next to the sewage tank. I removed a vacuum sealed clothing bag to reveal the tank! All was well, no leaks and no disconnections.

Tim made lunch: hot dogs. I put the foam pieces back, the memory foam back and then the layer we sleep on. Grabbed my pillow and decided I was having a nap! It was now 1500 and I had not done any more work on the dodger cover. Today, all day I have felt off. I’ve felt annoyed, trapped, and crabby. I would like to just get in my own car and drive myself to a ton of stores to get things I have decided are needed to make things work better yet. I can now relate to those who are shut-ins, I value my freedom to come and go, but it is extremely limited now. I know i have use of a car, but that makes me nervous, what if I crash it?

I felt much better after my hour long nap. I brewed some more coffee and then made dinner. After dinner, Tim went to Steve and Janny’s boat and I went to work on the checks and balances of payday, bills and money matters. Once all was sorted there I set to work on checking my email, perusing Facebook and then writing for this blog.

Having not sewn one stitch on the dodger cover project, it will greet me in the morning, I’m off to bed.