Engine rebuild

The classic Volva Penta diesel engine was often a common choice for powering the Westsail 32. Even with a long and proven track record they, like all high hour diesel engines, need to be rebuilt at some point. This winter has found us elbows deep in oil and parts, but luckily the ailing patient is not our own!

Just steps away from Harris Harbor where we currently reside with our healthy diesel engine is the University of Alaska V- Tech center. We are enrolled in a course which is providing us the opportunity to learn about the magic inner workings of the iron genny. Much to our chagrin there are no hamsters or genies inside. It has yet to be seen if we can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Spring is here! (sort of...)

A kind soul at work was giving out daffodils, so I ended up bringing a few home. Our boat lacks strong natural light inside due to the small port lights and the flowers were rather reluctant to open. When they did decide to bloom they found two very ardent admirers waiting to worship them. Matt and I finally feel we have made it through the dark wet tunnel of a Juneau winter, and the days are slowly growing longer and brighter. The basil seeds I am  trying to start have remained unconvinced however.

We continue to ski tour on the weekends, and you only need to venture up a few thousand vertical feet to wander around in a still wintry alpine environment. The above photo is from today. I nearly skied right over two ptarmigans who were out for a peaceful Sunday walk in their all white winter plumage. The three of us eyed each other for a while before I finally skied off to let them continue their amble that I had so rudely interrupted.

When we aren't skiing on the weekends we like taking beach walks. Sometimes we get a rare sunny day with spectacular views. A cold spell back in January brought temperatures into the teens, and Matt and I had a rather novel (for us) beach walk. We dressed in our mountaineering down jackets (and were still chilly) and ambled among frozen tide pools, rocks iced up from ocean spray, and some very hardy barnacles, mussels and seaweed.