Spring Has Finally Sprung!

It was a long, cold winter! We can't remember one being so cold and miserable, but the last few weeks have turned our thoughts back to refocusing our energies on getting the boat ready to do the loop next year. The posts to the blog have slowed primarily because the winter weather slowed us down to where we really didn't have too much to report. In the Baton Rouge area we received measurable snow no less than three times since December which set an all-time record. Jane was ecstatic when snow fell, but Larry, having lived up north for the better part of his life, knew better. Making any progress on some of our projects was tough. We would have 2 to 3 days of nice weather and start working like crazy, then all of a sudden the weather would turn nasty and we wouldn't fell like doing anything until the next nice spell. It was so cold we would just vegetate until the next thaw!


One of the things we tried to finish up was the decking around our new boat slip. As you'll recall, we had the boat slip enlarged and covered last summer and the dock finished up on each side of the slip on the lot we own next to the house. We're not really sure why it escaped our attention, but we knew we wanted a boarded walkway around the slip, but failed to include this in the original work order. We we're just so happy to have a really decent slip for our boat that we just didn't think to include the walkway. Larry has done a lot of decking around both lots, so he just announced that we'd install walkway later. Well, what he failed to realize was that most of his decking projects were done around 10 years ago when he was a tender age and could physically function! The decking involved digging a lot of post holes and trenches for support runners, mixing and pouring concrete footers, and cutting, leveling, and nailing over 100 2 x 6's. This was to be accomplished with his puny, already-surgically-repaired shoulders. Well that lasted about one week, then Jane, being the concerned, dutiful wife that she is decided that she would step in and do a lot of the grunt work (probably with the anticipation that it would be easier than rubbing Larry's sore parts every night and listening to him moan and complain!). Well, Jane worked harder than a dozen illegal immigrants or two dozen soul brothers. She did most of the digging which saved Larry a lot of rehabilitation. Larry ran electric power from the house for shore power to the boat and power for the boat slip lights and outlets. We finished our project at the end of March. The walkway is 4' wide on each side and 5' across the back. With power to the boat we are able to run all electric systems for the first time since we bought it without the generator. This is nice. All said, the finished project is first rate. We are now trying to get a contractor to do some dirt work for use to finish everything off.

With the freeze across the southeast wiping out a good portion of the tomato crop, Jane started clamoring for a garden to grow some vegetables. We had some extra planks from the boat slip project, so Larry put a 8' x 6' garden box together which we filled with 1600 lbs. of topsoil.

And yes, we did get the van stuck in the yard trying to get the dirt over to the box to save the back breaking chore of carting it over from the house. Larry had to winch the van out of the soft mud (remember we live on a reclaimed swamp!) with a come-along and a beer-drinking neighbor driving while Larry winched. Just another one of those Livingston Parish everyday occurrences! And while we're writing about this, Jane buried Larry's knife under the garden box. Yes, that would be the pocket knife he's carried with him for over 30 years and is his most prized possession. If he had to choose between the knife or his wife......

At the beginning of March we went on a buying spree for the boat. We wanted to upgrade the electronics, so we purchased a new VHF-DSC radio and a remote microphone for the flybridge station. The radio is a commercial grade model with an AIS receiver which will allow us to see the coarse, bearing, speed and closest-point-of-approach for most commercial vessels. Their name will appear on our screen, so instead of radioing "hey big red tanker bearing down on us" we will be able to call them by their name and ID and when we call our DSC radio will send our lat/lon to their screens so they know who and where we are. This isn't really needed on Lake Ponchartrain, but will be useful in the Chesapeake Bay, New York Harbor, Great Lakes and the major rivers. The radio also supports a hailer/foghorn speaker which we bought to mount on the foredeck. We also equipped the boat with Sirius satellite radio (thank you, Joey!) so we have a wide variety of listening options when we don't have TV. We also bought two new computers, a netbook and a laptop that we will use on the boat to navigate with. So, Larry has been fishing cables through the bowels of the boat to get all of this stuff set up. In doing these projects on thing becomes obvious, the boat may have some age on her, but the quality of her constructions is awesome. She's a real beauty!

Jane decide that she wanted a new mattress on the stateroom bed. She felt that a 4" memory foam would be just the ticket. So off to Wal-Mart she went to make her purchase. Got the foam pad on the boat and opened it up only to find that it was a full instead of a queen. So we've got to return this thing. Trouble is, once you undo these pads they puff up to ungodly dimensions and getting them back into the box to return them takes an army of arms, legs, and butts to contain the things (god, they make you feel so silly!). Anyway, by the time Jane got back to the boat with the tape, Larry had the animal corraled and we were able to return it.

We had been searching for a boatyard to have the boat hauled out for some bottom painting, new zincs, and overall inspection of everything below the waterline before we take off. We figured we might have to take the boat to New Orleans or further to find a good yard. Some locals suggested the Lizard Creek Boatyard  which is located on a cut through the swamp off of Blood River. We were a little leery until we rode over and talked with the owner and some customers. Seems to have a pretty good reputation, reasonable prices, and a wide range of services. So, we will probably haul the boat out June after we get back from the Indy 500.

Well, that brings the blog up to date since our winter postings. We are getting ready to do some traveling and get into the final planning stages for our trip. Should be a hoot....