Evanston: mistaken identity; things not owned;
finished
Evanston: mistaken identity; things not owned;
finished
Last week I walked through nearby Calvary Cemetery for the first time in a long time.
At one point I saw a number of figures collected around a grave in the distance and, not wanting to intrude on a private moment, was about to retrace my steps when I realized they were not people but Canadian geese. The geese are big birds, but not that big. Perhaps my post-surgical vision is even worse than I think.
The above photo was taken at much closer range.
As I noted here many years ago, the cemetery is a stop-over on the geese’s southern migration, but that usually isn’t until October.
There were more than a hundred in four separate flocks in different parts of the cemetery last week.
----------
In an article about buying GANNET that is scheduled to appear in CRUISING WORLD next April, I wrote:
With GANNET come many things I have not had for decades or ever: insurance--required by the marina. Full coverage, hull and liability: $181 a year. I haven’t had hull coverage on a boat since 1973. A marina slip: pricey at about $2000 May to October. I haven’t had a marina slip since leaving Boston in 2001. A trailer. Never. Outboard motors. Not since trading in my first boat in 1969. And when I bent on sails, jibs with hanks, which I last had on EGREGIOUS in 1976.
There is another item to be added to that list, which I had forgotten because I had taken it off the boat and stored it in the dock box: a Porta Potti.
In anticipation of possibly doing some overnight sailing in September, I removed it from the dock box and brought it home, downloaded the owner’s manual, took the thing apart, figured out how to use and empty it, put it back together, bought some deodorizing chemicals, and returned it to the dock box.
On both EGREGIOUS and CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE, the head was a bucket. Actually two buckets, one inside the other for added strength, and so it will be on GANNET if she goes to sea. Here on the lake I’ll Porta Potti.
----------
Saturday might have been the best day for sailing all summer, sunny, pleasantly warm but not hot, and with 15 knots of wind from the north. However I installed the bow roller and, with Carol’s help, marked the anchor rode instead.
While I might do some more work on GANNET, including repainting the deck, I might not. Preparing her for anchoring was the last major task for this year.
In September I hope to take a mini-cruise: down to Chicago, across the lake, probably northeast to Holland, Michigan, and back to Winthrop Harbor. In all about a 200 mile triangle.
Monday, August 29, 2011