Moving ahead and Making ready

Want to mention that I will be speaking and reading from The Fishermen's Ball on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at the Truro Public Library at 6:30 pm. WOW that's tomorrow. Hope to see you there. This will be the last public speaking engagement for awhile. It's stressful for me, I get nervous. I try to remember what Jerry Sinfeld said, "A survey was taken of the American public, asked what was their greatest fear, the #1 answer was public speaking, #2 was death. So Jerry said, People would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy." I guess I'd rather stand up and give the eulogy.

On the home front we are preparing to let go the lines and head the boat south to warmer waters for the winter. This will be the first time since 1981 that Dave and I have ventured forth on the water for an extended cruise. There are similarities but also this will be very different. We've been preparing the boat and ourselves. The Richard & Arnold has new batteries, inverter, hot water heater, alternator, new stove and a freezer. Today Dave is cleaning up his tools and making room for the freezer. I think the boat will do fine. I've got plenty of Bonine, so I'm ready. We will be moving aboard next week, I hope. We need to store gear: clothing, food, kitchen equipment and all the rest of the amenities that make living aboard possible, like flash-lights, netting, bungie cords, binoculars, air horn, survival suits, and a thousand other items that will keep us safe, warm and dry. The past week we put sound-down on the ceilings of the engine room and sound proofing floor mats for the wheel house, I'm hoping I wont't need ear plugs. We purchased, via Craig's list, two new wheelhouse chairs. These are  bucket seats out of a Honda Oddessey, never used, like new, with arm rests! Dave said it's a good thing he didn't have them last summer when he was fishing, he'd probably have fallen asleep at the helm. This is the first time in the 33 years that we have owned the Richard & Arnold that I have my own seat in the wheelhouse. Dave hopes this isn't going to lead to a mutiny.
A couple of days ago we learned that we couldn't take the tracking device off the boat for the winter, we thought because we were heading to Florida for vacation and there would be no fishing that we could just unplug the thing. No such luck, so now we are installing a new, mandated new, tracking device that will track our every move. And we thought Big Brother was a myth.
I have to sign off for now, my granddaughter is on the couch with a sore throat, needs some TLC. She hates the idea that her Nonnie is leaving for the winter. I will keep in touch as we journey south. Fair winds.