News from the Country Estate 8-24-2010

Is it really almost the end of August? What happened to the time? December--soon it will be December and everything will be covered with snow and the plow will be hanging ready on the nose of the Dodge....But until then, there's still time to enjoy what has been a perfect summer (for weather).

Saturday and Sunday, KT was out of town, seeing her sister off to college (Univ of Minnesota), so I decided it was time to take my first solo daysail out in Casco Bay. I had plenty of wind, and got to practice a lot of things. There seems to be chaos on board when you're single-handing--you only have two hands and one free knee to manage, sheets and halyards, and of course the tiller. So it went ok, not the prettiest bunch of tacks and jibes, but I found my way back to the mooring field after 3 and a half hours. After practicing sailing up to lobster buoys several times, I sailed successfully up to the mooring, stalling the boat into the wind right on top of it. Then with a debonair and casual manner, I strolled up to the foredeck, with all the rigging flapping in the wind, and seized the pin-buoy and the mooring pennant. I felt pretty smug after that....

After church on Sunday, I had the time to go up to Cushing to the Historical Society which was holding a small art exhibition in their barn. My friend, David Cadbury, was showing some of his recent work. He uses Microsoft Paint as his medium and creates pixilated images of coastline and other subjects. I had to stand back 20 feet to get the real effect. Neat stuff.

Over the last few weeks, I had the time to build a custom bed frame for some seasonal resident clients of mine.
The corners are of a reused 8x8 Douglas Fir timber. The rails are simply spruce 2x6's mortised into the corners and pegged with red oak. The slats are white pine. The whole thing is sanded and finished in beeswax and citrus oil.



The client will be using a latex foam mattress on the bed, and so they requested that the surface be made up of slats so the mattress can breathe. We'll see how they find it to sleep upon. I am offering to build similar pieces for $800-1000 depending on the materials and dimensions.



Progress on the shed continues, with the back gable all studded out and one of the four gable overhangs framed. Today I'm going to frame the loft door in the front gable and then build the rest of the overhangs. Rake and eave trim will go up next, then the metal roofing on thursday. Hopefully I'll have the doors and windows going by early next week. Then a paint job.

KT is back safe from her travels, and I am glad to have her home.

Thats the news from the Country Estate for this week.

w

Launch!!

Launch day is always an adventure, even with a little boat like this Bristol 19/Corinthian Sloop. Even on a relatively simple boat like this one you've got to make sure she's seaworthy and you have all the gear to make sailing safe and enjoyable.

Applying a copper-based bottom paint. You definitely don't want to breathe these fumes much!

All hooked up, strapped down and ready to go.

Making ready in the Make Ready area of the Mere Point boat ramp.

Stepping the mast. Not a big deal on a little boat like this. There's a bit more 'heave-ho!' involved on our Rhodes as the mast is more than twice as heavy.

Making fast the forestay.

Launching, just before letting the trailer down the ramp on a long rope.

Out in the midst of Casco Bay by early afternoon. Had a nice little sail out from Mere Point, around Goose Island and back.

Paul, scrubbin the deck, only later to have to pull up the mooring ball and all its barnacle mess up on the foredeck. What a mess it was! Sometimes the mooring pendant or painter gets all wrapped around the chain when a boat isn't hooked on for a while.

So now the boat is in and we can all go sailing whenever. So come on out to visit and lets go for a float.

Up with the Sun, 41 degrees fahrenheit.

Everyone needs a little holstein steer mooing at them when they come in the drive way.

And chickens to lay fresh eggs (that black rooster attacked me not two minutes after this photo. I was ready for him though, as I had a stick. Gotta show him whose boss.)


Recent porch restoration job. New Framing, post feet, decking and a couple steps.


The time comes every year to pull the boat out of the water. The back end of my truck is almost in the water, while there is a trailer underneath that boat strung out on 3o some feet of chain.


If you look close on the left, you'll see my friend Paul in a little dinghy leaning under the boat adjusting the jack-stands that stabilize the boat on the trailer.

After a couple hours we had her on the hard and the mast dropped (no easy task, but this time pretty painless) and all the rigging tied up and ready to roll. I dragged her to my house first because I had to go to work.



Today a new job starts on Westport Island.

After two days.

After two days and sixty miles of sailing, I am getting seasick sitting here on land. Everytime I close my eyes, the room starts swaying back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth......

A friend and I cruised on up to Butter Island for lunch then down to Carver Cove on Vinalhaven to meet some friends at their cabin. A beautiful clear night spent rocking back and forth in the cove. Tasty breakfast and then a jaunt out to Isle au Haut and back to Carver Cove to drop off a passenger. A tight squeeze motoring through the Fox Island Thorofare and a gale coming out into Penobscot Bay. 3 to 5' seas. A calm ride back into Rockland Harbor. Home.

A day back home and off to Milwaukee.

W