We’re down in Lake Union for the weekend (or until we feel like going back) and I must say that I love the You-Don’t-Have-To-Pack advantage of living aboard. Just untie the lines and *poof* it’s a vacation where you have everything you own with you. How completely cool is that? So there I was hanging out in the lounge chair, relaxing up on top when suddenly…

…You Know Who is at it again. The man just does not quit. Usually I’d be out there with him; this time I just offered to make him some hot chocolate. But he’s still up there scrubbing away despite my efforts to lure him inside. So you know where I’m off to…

At the risk of sounding like a terrible boat snob, which I’m really not, I must say I have never seen so much stuff piled on one boat before. I particularly like the checkered flags. This picture doesn’t even include the mass of crab pots piled on the swim step. I looked out my window and was quite surprised to find these folks floating about 10 feet off of my stern (much, much closer than in this picture!).

Apparently I have definite ideas about how close other people should be to my boat uninvited and this set off all of my internal proximity alarms. That may be where my “hostility” toward them came from. OK, that and cruising with fenders down. How can you trust a captain like that?

Weird. It does make you wonder what might go on around your boat when you’re not there. KJ-cam anyone?

Sitting on the aft deck, drinking a Corona, after a long day sanding and oiling the boat…that’s the good stuff. We’ve made amazing progress in the last week or two. KJ’s really starting to be serious eye-candy with all of the attention to detail she’s been getting. It’s funny how the more you do, the more the little things that still need doing pop out at you.

We donated a three hour cruise to the Kiwanis auction the other night and I was very pleased with the amount she made for the club. She is absolutely available for charters, with captain or bareboat, so c’mon people ~ tell everyone you know! I’d love to see her getting out even more frequently.

We’re heading to Seattle again for 4-5 days this week; it’ll save Brock the commute and will give us a change of scenery. We’ll be helping with the annual Canal Clean-up in Portage Bay, me and a couple of friends in kayaks and Brock in an Argosy boat. We’ll be hitting the Ballard Locks at about a -3.5 tide, so the lift should about 23′. I’ll post pics, of course.

Ta-da! We beat the incoming rain by finishing up late last night and having a dry day today to let them cure (or whatever you call it!). They lightened up a bit; I was worried they’d end up too dark, but I’m reasonably pleased with the way they turned out.

We also found that the box here is a lovely teak, which we’ve now oiled as well. Everything was covered up by the dark whatever-it-was that they had put on the decks previously. I also sanded and touched up part of the caprail with varnish. I’m not going to chance getting that rained on though, so the remainder will have to wait until we get some decent weather!