Cold and Cranky

Travis:

It is the beginning of December and the cold has become nearly unbearable. This only makes us want to work harder to complete our boat and sail off to a more livable climate. But, as is so often true, what we want to do is not what we are capable of doing. We find ourselves moving slower as it gets colder and knowing that the "real cold" doesn't usually happen until February is no consolation. We are doing what we can, which is pale in comparison to what we would like to do. It is fair to say that winter is not among my favorite things. To add to the difficulty of the time, I have been working a real job now for two whole weeks. I honestly didn't think I would last this long. I get up in the dark at 5:30 am and have a nice breakfast, fix my lunch and go to build boats until it is nearly dark again. Now it seems all I do is sleep and work on boats. As a result of a forty hour a week job, I can now only afford two days a week working on Me Voy instead of three like before. So, this week we decided to take off for Oxford on Friday night at about 5:00pm. Bad Idea. Rush hour through Annapolis is worse than rush hour through Baltimore. We arrived at about 8:30 to a very dark and cold boat. Our little heaters did little to warm the space through the night but some good hard work warmed it right up on Saturday. I began work in the galley, starting to build some new cabinetry. The first step was to cut a dado by hand in a new post. There is nothing like whittling away at a nice piece of mahogany with primitive tools. It is a great way to warm yourself on a cold day. The post is cut and most of the pieces are installed in the cabinet so next week I should get it all ready for the new drawer, which I will build here at the shop beside the wood stove.