Since we’ve been down in Seattle, I’ve been missing my harbor seal. He’s always been the lowest maintenance pet ever. He swims by. I wave. That’s the extent of our interaction and it’s worked well for both of us.

As I was sitting on my bed (because the salon is in such a state of disrepair), typing away on the laptop, I glanced out my window to see Mama Duck napping with her babies tucked underneath her.

Last week there were 8 ducklings; this week there are only 5. I got them some bread and dropped it out the porthole. Apparently it’s not scary for ducks to get really close to a food source if they can’t see the person dropping the food. They came right up to the boat, ate their fill, and are now napping again with all the babies tucked under Mama’s wing.

Me? I’m off to sand, varnish, and clean up the jobsite a bit.

Anybody else think this was a particularly boneheaded idea?

While I’m sure it was beautiful for about three weeks after installation, it’s always bugged me that they chose white carpets for a boat interior. Hello? Were you planning on USING the boat at all? I’m sure it was very expensive; the quality is quite good. But with the oil that was on the decks, it’s far from what I would call “practical.” Traffic areas? Yeah, pretty much all traffic in a 90 square foot salon goes over the same route. Again. And again. And again. I’ve lived onboard two years now. It’s at the point where steaming the carpets clean doesn’t even touch them.

Enter the Next Project. Man oh man, she will be a complete knockout when we’re done with this one. I’ll save the details for the post in which I can unveil the new salon flooring.

Which should be soon, given that Brock works me like a slave. To be fair, he drives himself much harder than he ever makes me work. And Katherine Jane is showing all the benefits of having a hard-working master directing her maintenance. Go, us!