Johannah

Captain, Just adding my prayers for you both as well.

Laura, here's an idea for you. When I was your age or a bit younger, my mother began a custom of giving me a hand tool of my own for my birthday every year. I continued this tradition with our kids. Perhaps you won't be surprised to learn that the boys were pretty careless with their tools and mostly lost them but our daughter, who is now 15, can actually find hers. We gave her a small cordless drill when she turned 14 and I borrow it all the time which is OK as long as I ask. 8)

Yo Admiral! If you share any of this conversation with your wife, Please tell her that there are some genuine, female-type worry-worts on this board, too. We will be channeling that fretting into much more productive prayer for you both. May loving, healing strength surround you. Our bodies are such a miracle and so maddening at the same time.

:shock: Happy Birthday Samuel!!!!!! We love the picture of you and your brother in the new calendar.

John, if you hadn't blown the gaff about the two-tone job, I would have assumed you did it on purpose. 8) Very nice job on the chocolate dipped banana Weekender cover. A fashion statement.

Frank, this year's calendar is a winner, even better than the first. I again bought an extra as a gift. You managed to include the world-wide community and give the kids pride of place as well. Two of the pictures strike me as art: the cover shot of Sully with her skiff and the central picture on the Kid's page of Alexander ghosting along under his square sail. I hope all these kids are saving the pics. Thank you for going to all the bother of putting together another beauty that we may enjoy.

Sorry, no one being silent at our house. Life just got even busier plus it's a bit hard to think of boats as the water is getting chilly. By Winter time, talk of boats helps to keep spirits up 'til Spring. Just a bit of local news: Tyler came to dinner last month and was just as good company in person as he is electronically. You would be in awe of the range of his interests (cars, trolleys, history etc.). The funniest revelation to emerge is that I grew up in the same neighbourhood and church as his father and aunt (he even pronounces "aunt" correctly, unlike those of you who think such persons are a form of insect). Hope Tyler is doing his homework. Freshman engineering is none too easy.

Jan, I just read your comment on another thread about your plans going to "sleep with the fishes" courtesy a restless daughter. Please don't think you have to tough it out without them! Give Mike Stevenson a shout for permission to get a xerox copy from another builder. It would probably be OK to go ahead but it would be good manners to check. I will root around for the plans that came with our boat but I'll bet there are others here who have them right at hand in epoxied glory. Whoever makes you a copy could use heavier paper so they hold up.

Also just catching up here. Great work, well done and I hope you are just popping with pride. That tiller stub failure may be nothing more than a weak pice of wood but you can always go with a nice chunk of straight-grained oak or ash for the next one. :roll: How do you like the sand bag ballast. Do you leave them in place? How are they restrained?

This stuff will happen to the most experienced sailor sometimes. Good argument for skipping the strongest adhesive, like 3M 5200. Lighter strength caulk is much more forgiving and really better for any purpose which will eventually need maintenance (almost everything).

Just an editorial note for the previous pic from the Alaskan pirates: all three Weekenders plus Alexander's Amphora are new (all '04?). Wolf is the founding pirate ship in those waters.

Is anyone keeping track of how many boats have made it into the water this year? Now don't everyone say "But mine wasn't really finished....etc." If it got wet, that's the main point, huh? Jan, I so enjoy your commentary and look forward to some good tales from the launch. We'll be thinking of you with a smile.

Celosia and Ageratum, I think. But half the fun is not knowing what on earth that plant is and seeing plants from a huge range of climate zones happily hanging around together. We went there kind of by accident as a side effect of driving from Boston to Vancouver for Chinese food many years ago (started out as a trip to Kansas City for barbecue and baseball and evolved). I dragged the crew on every ferry we came anywhere near.

We do things like this out of pure generosity so that our children will have a fresh supply of stories to tell about us. Who would want to have parents who never did anything colourful? Well, probably a lot of teenagers. That boat looks just great and will be on the water next year by the looks of it. For picnic boat purposes, try leaving the whole mast off sometimes and just motor around.

Thanks for the vicarious visit, Tim. Victoria is one of the great cities of the planet! It has ferries, lots of other boats and many people mad for horticulture, not to mention the gardens. Heaven on earth for me.