This ain't no marina

You might be wondering how we ended up at a branding out in Montana when we're suppose to be getting ready to sail off...

We've been spending a few days out here storing our belongings in a house that Matt and his brother inherited from their father's side of the family. That makes them the fourth generation to own the place.

The house is located in a small, quiet cattle town just on the east side of the Rockies, and they still do some real cowboying out here. It fascinates us, partly because it's not something we grew up with. So when our neighbor Helen asked if we wanted to go watch the branding we jumped at the chance. There was a whole lot of mooing and bawling going on.

All work and no pay

This week is the the beginning of me being unemployed, but it doesn't feel that way. Instead of working at a library surrounded by books and wonderful co-workers, I am now working long hours (today was a 7am to 10 pm shift) with no pay, and the boss (myself) is rather demanding. Maybe I need to unionize...

Today I ran several errands to gather various materials and supplies.
Then I went to the boat and helped Matt mark the anchor rode so we'll know how much length we've put out when we drop anchor. (We used cable ties - simple but effective.)
I also did a fitting of the partially sewn sail cover for the main sail. Then it was back home to finish sewing the cover, which took me until the evening.
Then I cut out the fabric pieces for the propane tank cover I need to sew.

The photo shows the sail cover in progress. I prefer to sew on the floor to allow all that fabric to slide more easily through the machine. It's always a bit of a wrestling match. I hope I got all the measurements right, I'll find out tomorrow!

Fish out of water

Seeing boats in the yard, especially my boat, always makes me feel a bit protective. They look vulnerable and precarious, and it's obvious they'd rather be afloat.
We're having the yard guys do a bit of fiberglass work on the hull - closing up some old holes (from a non-functioning knot meter and an old transducer) and making a new hole for a new transducer - actually a triducer. This will hook up to a display and show us depth, speed through water, and water temperature. That will be quite exciting. Our old depth sounder wasn't very reliable and our knot meter never worked at all.
It's rainy and cold though, so the spots on the hull are from heat lamps to help speed the curing process of the fiberglass work. We hope to get her back in the water in the next day or two.