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Monday, June 2, 2014

Clouds In My Coffee

Although the official opening day of boating season in Seattle was May 3rd, it wasn't until May 31st before we:

a) were in town
b) on a weekend when
c) the weather was good, and
d) we didn't have something planned.

The boating gods were clearly with us.

The last time we were on the boat was September. I wouldn’t have imagined it had been over eight months since we’d been on the water but I checked our log and it’s true. The Captain’s log also reports that it was 93 degrees that day. I thought there must be some mistake but I checked historical records and it really was that hot.

We had a lot of work done on the boat over the winter so we were anxious to get the boat out and see how everything worked. We had a canvas repair, a new VHF antennae installed, new outdoor carpets made, new clutches, engines were serviced, and the zincs were replaced.

Everything seemed to work okay, even if we felt a little out of practice. We rounded the north side of Mercer Island and cut the engines just south of I-90 and got to work cleaning the boat while we floated on the lake. There were spiders and dusty cobwebs everywhere - and the boat had just been cleaned! (At least, that’s what our credit cards statement reported.) Still, moorage under cover can produce spiders at an alarming rate. You can brush them all away one night and find the boat covered again the next morning. I’m told this may be seasonal and the spider problem is worse now because they’re reproducing - or hatching, or whatever.

At some point over the winter the boat was without power and something went bad in the galley refrigerator. It reeked and was coated with mold. So while Hubby dealt with the spiders up above, I dealt with the mold down below, throwing away everything that was in there.

This was about the time I realized that I forgot to pack coffee for the weekend. Imagine! I ground fresh coffee at home but never transferred it from the grinder to the boat bag. Talk about out of practice! The only coffee we had was the leftover package I just threw away from our moldy refrigerator. It was that or nothing.

So it was that.

The coffee was stored in it’s original container which was inside a large Ziploc bag. How bad could it be? I opened it and took a sniff.

It was going to be bad.

We should have motored back. There’s a Starbucks within walking distance from the dock. (Of course.) But, we didn’t.

The first cup tasted surprisingly like coffee. I was was either desperate or hung over - or both - but I couldn’t get a second cup past my lips. I dumped it out.

Okay, that might have seemed like a logical decision, given the circumstances, but have you met me?

Everything else went okay, for the most part. We had an overhead speaker fall out of the radar arch, the screws having come loose. That was easy enough to fix but the bigger problem was the stereo didn't work. It went on the fritz during our last cruise and we forgot about it over the winter so we'll have to add that to the list. Along with:
  • Apply decals:
    • Coast Guard Inspection
    • Parks Department Pass
    • Registration
  • and, BUY FRESH COFFEE!

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